They call it the Castle of Cold Water.There Ugolino on a pinnaclebuilt his lonely citadelin signal of his reign,as if mere height and commanding visionwould grant a man whole dominionover the very earth itself. And there from the Castle of … Read More
III. Infancy Secrecy; a ring; laughter of the cradle and laughter of solitude; the imp and the angel. We are begun strangely — are we not? One writes of a human being, precisely as he differs from his fellows, and therefore is … Read More
When he thought back on it, he remembered above all the impossible scene, the emergence of the girl from her tomb, how she had sat up there in the coffin askance in the grave, gasping amidst the splintered boards that … Read More
II. Origins. The soil; the seed; the sprout. The persons responsible for Samuel Thornfield’s conception, birth, and upbringing would perhaps best be described as normal, decent, upstanding, law-abiding, well-meaning folk, the sort of parents that both bless a child and … Read More
The mourners and their companions were moving, slow forms, some black, some pale, in the cemetery, like risen ghosts. The afternoon was high and the day brilliant in spring. A breeze moved languidly in their midst, like a bored and … Read More
I. Foreword and Forewarned. A summoning of the tale; tabula plena; whither we tend. About the lives and the deaths of certain individuals there hangs a cloak of secrecy. May be they themselves are secretive, as strangers to their fellow … Read More
The funeral of Victoria Tucker was witnessed by many, and attended by very many tears, as is perhaps no wonder given the youth of the girl and the terrible speed with which she had passed. It was known to all … Read More
There is a plague upon us. Would that ours were as that pest that by God’s occulted will rose in a fiery brazen lust to snatch the child from the mother’s breast, and stifle the virgin in her fair repose, … Read More
If a second wind were granted us to fill our flagging sails could we find the strength to steer our ships for Ithaca’s shining shores? Or would we yet harbor, fearful and frail, before Calypso’s gilded doors? … Read More
