Literary mysteries: 5 Books that remain a mystery to the greatest minds of humanity: Plus another 4 in part 2 of this article. Of course, it kicks off with the Voynich manuscript but I’d not heard of the Prodigiorum Ac Ostentorum Chronicon or the Rohonc Codex.
The Artist Who Embraced the Occult and Defied the Surrealists: the first time I heard of Ithell Colquhoun was in China Mieville’s “The Last Days of New Paris” and I always meant to follow up but good Google Alert-fu got ahead of me and found this article about her embrace of the occult. Most of the surrealists had an interest in the occult but Colquhoun’s systematic study set her apart and ultimately alienated her from her artistic peers. I’m especially intrigued by her use of automatism – automatic writing, but with art. Now I definitely need to read up on her, along with Doreen Valiente, Rosaleen Norton, and other 20th c. women occultists.
