The nature and resonance of home

    If you scroll down to the end of the comments on the Where's your reading taking you? post from a few days ago you'll see that Rose said she was in the 20th century with Benjamin Britten via the pages of Paul Kildea's biography which, from what Rose writes, sounds compelling. If Britten (whose centenary year this is) and Aldeburgh are your sort of thing, then the forthcoming Place weekend in the Suffolk town, a cultural programme which combines bird walks, live film scores, live music premieres, readings and panel discussions with a strong literary element including participation by Paul Kildea himself, Ronald Blythe, Geoff Dyer, Blake Morrison, Marina Warner, Ali Smith and others, looks as though it's a must.

    The theme of the weekend is "the nature and resonance of home", and it draws its inspiration from the life and travels of Benjamin Britten who said, "Even when I visit countries as glorious as Italy, as friendly as Denmark or Holland—I am always homesick, and glad to get back to Suffolk.  I treasure these roots, my Suffolk roots; roots are especially valuable nowadays, when so much we love is disappearing or being threatened, when there is so little to cling to".

    Events explore subjects as diverse as considerations of domestic architecture, the psychology of unsettlement, the lure of the local and our place in the cosmos; Marina Warner will be speaking on "Looking for Home Elsewhere: Apocryphal landscapes and narrative ghosts", and Ronald Blythe, known to so many for Akenfield, will talk about the history of his home in Essex.

    This is a particularly rich, cross-culural weekend, and if I were nearer (and free) I'd certainly go.

Comments

[Freda]

Likewise! We spent a musical holiday there last summer and loved it all. Am looking forward to some good radio in Britten's centenary year.

[Cornflower]

I've never been to that part of the world but I'd love to see it, and to have the music, etc., would be a bonus.

[Margaret]

That looks to me like the walk which husband and I have done, although many years ago, from Snape Maltings to Iken church - ah, fond memories of such a glorious place!

[Cornflower]

It does look lovely. There's a rather nice short video here: http://www.brittenaldeburgh.co.uk/