The phrase ‘One Day’ set me thinking of a poem by Alun Lewis whose work I’d recently been re-reading, and try as I might I can’t get it out of my mind. One Day is not the same as All Day, yet the two phrases seemed to fuse. The Lewis poem, All Day It Has Rained, is about one day in the life of a group of soldiers stationed in Hampshire, during the Great War.
All Day It Has Rained
This is one of Lewis’s greatest poems, one of the great World War 1 poems even if guns and five-nines aren’t even mentioned. The wealth of observation and the matter-of-fact vocabulary lifts the poem from the everyday: nothing about the poem is predictable, from the down to earth vocabulary to rhythm and metre.
And now I shall have to read something else to get it out of my mind!
Here is the first part of the poem. If you don’t know it and would like to read the rest of it, it can be found online.
All Day It Has Rained
All day it has rained, and we on the edge of the moors Have sprawled in our bell-tents, moody and dull as boors, Groundsheets and blankets spread on the muddy ground And from the first grey wakening we have found No refuge from the skirmishing fine rain And the wind that made the canvas heave and flap And the taut wet guy-ropes ravel out and snap. All day the rain has glided, wave and mist and dream, Drenching the gorse and heather, a gossamer stream Too light to stir the acorns that suddenly Snatched from their cups by the wild south-westerly Pattered against the tent and our upturned dreaming faces. And we stretched out, unbuttoning our braces, Smoking a Woodbine, darning dirty socks, Reading the Sunday papers – I saw a fox And mentioned it in the note I scribbled home; – And we talked of girls and dropping bombs on Rome, And thought of the quiet dead and the loud celebrities Exhorting us to slaughter, and the herded refugees:
…….
Tomorrow maybe love; but now it is the rain Possesses us entirely, the twilight and the rain.
Not sure if this challenge is still running but I’ve found two more images of benches that I’d like to post.
On a walk along the sea cliffs in my home town I spied this one.
More than one bench here along the river Adige , the second longest river in Italy and a central feature of the city of Verona through which it runs before heading towards the Adriatic Sea. Verona’s historic centre is partly enclosed by the river and several of her historic bridges cross the river including the Scaligeri family’s Ponte di Castelvecchio.
Having just seen Jo’s Bench challenge and realising i have a lot of benches amongst my images, I thought I’d make an easy comeback to WP and dip my foot into the water again as it were, by posting “a bench” and re-joining the community. So, a stone bench with shadow!
I’m not even sure I know how to do this properly any more!
A resting place in the Botanical Gardens at Blanes, Spain
Image posted as part of the Bench photo challenge but I’m not sure if I link to Jo, Jude or Cee.
Strolling through old Hastings a few days ago, I saw this lovely old door. There were many rare looking doors and doorways but it’s high season and all seemed to have resting visitors. I could quite understand as it was one of England’s hottest days.
They work in silence over a hole in the ground, on their knees, lying flat on their stomachs to access the dig. On a table nearby are some bones, skulls too. The harsh sun has bleached the surrounding terrain but there is a little shade in the nearby wooded area and under the gazebo tented area in which they work.
The Barranco de Viznar has been declared a Place of Historical Memory in Granada, Spain, and as a life-long student of the Spanish Civil War, standing in this sloping, wooded area of about 10,000 square meters on a sharp curve of the road between Alfacar and Viznar, just has to be one of the best moment of 2024 for me.
We know where the bodies are
Imagine being given the opportunity to visit the site where the exhumation of thousands of young men assassinated by Franco’s troops during the Spanish civil war is taking place. Between September and November 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), it is reckoned that at least 173 people were killed here and thrown into mass graves. Even earlier, in July and August, just after the coup d’état that triggered the war, there had been other assassinations, including that of the poet Federico García Lorca, but no record was left of them.
Imagine how overwhelming it was , as a lover of Lorca’s poetry and plays, to be given the privilege of visiting the place where his assassination is presumed to have taken place in the opening days of that terrible conflict, and to talk with those involved in the ‘dig’.
In Lorca’s Footsteps in Granada
That is what happened when my friend Kathleen and I visited Granada recently to renew our acquaintance with a city that had charmed us both decades ago. We found it virtually unchanged, still intensely Spanish, catering mainly to Spanish visitors and still with the best tapas bars in Spain, but giving nods to a more modern vibe with the addition of Gin bars!
Our idea was to walk In the Footsteps of Federico Garcia Lorca, guided by the Ian Gibson book of the same name, and it was while we were doing this that we had a serendipitous encounter with a Granada local who shared our enthusiasm and who invited us to visit the dig in Viznar.
The Barranco de Viznar and its secrets
The Barranco de Víznar is a ravine in the province of Granada, Spain, where a team of researchers made up of archaeologists, geophysicists, anthropologists, forensic experts and historians led by Francisco Carrión Méndez, a Senior Lecturer in Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Granada has been searching for the bodies of the those assassinated during the Spanish Civil War, and searching for one in particular, the poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca, one of the first to be killed.
How Many Assassinations
No one knows exactly how many were assassinated in the Spanish Civil War but it is estimated that it was more than 500,000, thousands of whom were massacred in the Province of Granada, some, including Lorca, even before Franco’s military coup.
In the area of Viznar, to date, they have located 16 mass graves and recovered 124 bodies. In one mass grave they found the bodies of 10 people with gunshot wounds to the head and their hands tied behind their backs.
The area of Barranco de Víznar was replanted with a thick forest of pine trees which has covered up the graves left after the mass executions committed by platoons of assault guards, part of the ferocious repression that followed the uprising.
How is the Dig Funded
The project is funded by the state and the regional government and is being conducted under the 1922 Democratic Memory Lawwhich was enacted following the coming to power of the government of Pedro Sánchez. However, there are fears that this could be in jeopardy and the excavation stopped under a new government.
Some scenes of the Barranco, above. Throughout the woods are dotted tents where the archaeologists and forensic scientists are working, in difficult terrain and extreme heat.
One of the volunteers told me it usually takes four to six weeks to complete an exhumation, to excavate the personal effects and log, photograph and do the paperwork. Fortunately, the soil in the ravine of Víznar has managed to preserve the bones remarkably well, helpful in identifying the age and sex of the victims, as well as the injuries and the type of violence to which they were subjected. The DNA results can take a long time to come in but when the families are re-united with a family member, it is a great moment.
Each tree could be a Memorial
When a family is linked with a body from one of the mass graves via the DNA their permission is requested for a photograph of the victim to be displayed on a tree. Most families agree and it was an emotional moment to wander amongst the trees, see the photographs and read the names and occupations – some academics, a bullfighter but mostly ordinary citizens, killed because of their sympathies with the legally elected Republican government.
Among the bones of those discovered is a former Rector of the University of Granada, Salvador Vila (above) who was brought from Salamanca to Granada and shot on October 22nd 1936. His wife, Gerda Leimdörfer, daughter of the editor-in-chief of Berlin’s leading Jewish newspaper, the Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, was spared thanks to the mediation of Manuel de Falla, the Spanish composer, who obtained a pardon in exchange for her conversion from Judaism to Catholicism.
The burial area is accessed over uneven terrain and a paved dirt path has been laid by the City Council of Víznar that after a detour, leads to the main grave which is surrounded by a stone gallery filled with small metal plaques bearing the names and circumstances of those killed, placed there by Historical Memory Associations and the heirs of those shot.
The modern road to Viznar and Alfacar with Granada in the distance
The Death of Lorca
Lorca was spending time in the home of family friends, the Rosales, on Angulo Street, on 17th August 1936, when he was arrested and taken just 300 metres away to the Civil Government building, at that time a centre of terror: from there he was quickly transferred to Alfacar and Víznar, two small towns located only ten kilometres away where Franco’s rebel army had created a centre for the extermination of left-wing sympathizers. He was assassinated not only because of his beliefs and his ideology, but because he was homosexual.
Memorial to Lorca
All Were Lorcamemorial stone
Within the area there is a simple stone with the legend “All were Lorca. 18-08-2002″ and each year, on August 19, a poetry event takes place here beginning at midnight and lasting until the early hours of the morning. This celebration of Lorca’s poetry originally started as a clandestine event during the last years of the dictatorship and was the first open-air commemoration of Lorca’s assassination.
The road to Al
To date, Lorca’s body has not been discovered but hope remains high that one day it will be among those exhumed.
Peceful looking woodsWork in ProgressLorca Park
Postscript:
The project in the ravine, which is in its fourth and final phase, is now funded by the state and the regional government and is being conducted under the new Democratic Memory Law passed in 2022. It is not certain that this will continue if a more right-wing government should be installed in Madrid.
Essential Reading
For the politics of Spain during the Civil War and since, anything by Peter Preston is to be recommended.
Ian Gibson: Federico García Lorca: A Life (Faber & Faber)
Ian Gibson: The Assassination of Federico García Lorca (Penguin)
Ian Gibson: Lorca’s Granada (Faber & Faber): This is a great guide book to Granada as it takes you on ten routes, step by step from his birthplace to the site of his execution outside the city via the poets best-loved places in Granada.
Pull up a seat in the Parque Federico Garcia Lorca in Alfacar, Granada, Spain, and meditate on the poet’s death and those of his 3 close companions, plus the thousands of others assassinated by Franco’s rebel army in the area, just a few days after the outbreak of Spain’s Civil War.
The Park was inaugurated by the Provincial Council of Granada in 1986 to pay tribute to the thousands shot between Alfacar and Viznar and has been declared a Place of Historical Memory.
Sombre yes, but good to have such a place to commemorate a great poet and playwright, and the thousands of other victims of the Spanish Civil War..
Our battle was with the weather, and we were in Battle, Sussex, scene of the Battle of Hastings. If the wind and rain had been as bad in 1066 as it was during part of our stay, I think the Normans might have turned tail and gone back home.
As it was, we did what we Brits always do, grumbled a bit and then got on with it, struggling against the elements and elbowing our way into cafes to drink mugs of hot chocolate, in between sampling the Award winning local beer, Abbey Pale Ipa brewed by Battle Brewery. A shout out here to the very welcoming Abbey Pub just opposite the Abbey where the fire in the cosy nook added to the welcome.
English Heritage Accommodation
We had five days in the area so we managed to see and do a lot. We had a car, lots of reading matter and fabulous accommodation at The Lodge at Battle Abbey, an English Heritage rental which provided us with some of the best self-catering I’ve ever had. It was warm, the heating was superb, the bedrooms were luxurious and comfortable, the kitchen had everything one could wish for, from Jasper Conran china to Joseph utensils and state-of-the-art means of cooking. Oh, and a lovely hamper of local produce to start us off.
The living room with dining tableThe living room with dining tableThe kitchenBreakfast al frescoDouble bedroom
Photographs of The Lodge at Battle provided by English Heritage
We looked out on green fields where the sheep safely grazed and a flowering crab apple lit up the garden, our rental included VIP tickets to English Heritage sites in the area, discount in the shops and cafes, and access to the Abbey through the grounds in which our Lodge was situated. What more could travellers, history buffs and walkers want?
One of the houses in Battle High Street
Location of Battle?
Lying just 50 miles from London and 27 miles from Brighton, Battle is well placed for visitors to the UK to include a day trip to see the attractive town and its Abbey. It gets its name from the Battle of Hastings, fought between Harold the Saxon king and William the Conqueror in 1066, a battle that changed the course of English history.
Battle Abbey & St. Mary’s Church
After he won the battle, William built the Abbey of St. Martin, something he’d vowed to do if he won. Built between 1070 and 1094, the high altar is believed to have been placed on the spot where Harold fell, although this fact is disputed today.
Looking up Battle’s High Street with cottages and houses dated form the 1700’s on the left.
The Abbey ruins and the battlefield are a magnificent sight as you look down the length of Battle’s High Street, past the Georgian buildings that line the street. At the northern end can be found the Almonry, built in 1090, which now houses the Town Council and the Battle Museum of Local History.
At the other end of the street, the cottages and houses near the Abbey date from around 1700. The nearby parish church of St. Mary is for the most part 12th century in construction. This lovely old church is worth a visit for its rare 14th century wall paintings and its Norman font, but it also houses a modern tapestry in the style of the Bayeux tapestry, a community project conceived and designed by local inhabitant, Tina Greene. The contemporary tapestry is a three-metre long depiction of how the town of Battle might have grown between the years following the Battle of Hastings in 1066 to the founding of St Mary’s Parish Church in 1115. Started in 2016 and with contributions from 741 registered stitchers, not only from Battle but from the rest of the UK and abroad, the tapestry was finally completed in January 2017.
Dissolution of the Monastery in 1538
Battle’s influence grew over the years until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry Vlll and the closure of the Abbey in 1538. In later centuries however, the town achieved fame through its charcoal-making technique and Battle became famous in the 17th and 18th centuries for its gunpowder, rated by Daniel Defoe as the finest in Europe.
Battle Today
Now today, this quiet market town concentrates on the finer things in life and, apart from its great historical appeal, it offers the visitor great food experiences from the comfort of tiny cafés and tea rooms that spill out onto the pavements (and a special mention here to Bluebells Tea Rooms) to fine dining at chef Paul Webbe’s The Wild Mushroom, in nearby Westfield, right up to tastings at Oastbrook Estate Vineyard.
Shopping is a delight too, as Battle’s historic high street features many of the type of shops you don’t often see elsewhere, independent clothes shops, craft shops, wool shops and book shops, and my favourite, the delightful British Design British Made, showing the best of British design. For beer lovers, Battle Brewery and Bottle Shop is a don’t-miss, offering beer from their own microbrewery as well as other locally produced ciders, wines and snacks.
Battle High Street
There are mapped walks ranging from 4.5 miles to 37 miles and the helpful tourist office can offer guidance on these.
In fact, the weather doesn’t really matter in Battle as there is just so much to do. I know this for a fact, five days in Battle flew by and we even made time to visit Hastings (more about that another day).
One of the Apps on my computer offers what it calls Memories. It flags up a photo taken on the same date years before. A few weeks ago, the photograph was one taken some years back at the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival in New Orleans.
My photo was one taken at a very quirky part of that festival – the ‘Stella Shouting Contest’ – a homage to A Streetcar Named Desire and the character of Stanley Kowalski, the hero/antihero of the play.
Image from Wikicommons
The Stella Shouting Contest in New Orleans
“Stellllllaaaaa! Stellllllaaaaa!”
The cry reverberates around the French Quarter of New Orleans and the crowd jostling in the packed courtyard applauds. From the balcony above, Stella waves to the damp-haired man in the sweat-stained shirt below who blows kisses to the crowd as the next tee-shirted Stanley steps forward to chance his luck at outshouting the other participants.
For this is the Stella Shouting Contest, part of the Literary Festival, held for nearly 40 years in honour of New Orleans’ favourite son, the playwright, Tennessee Williams. The Stella contest pays homage to his classic A Streetcar Named Desire and for the last three decades or so, the primal screams of wannabe Stanley Kowalskis have been echoing around the magnolia-laden French Quarter to mark the Festival.
Photo credit: Tennessee Williams Literary FestivalPhoto credit: Tennessee Williams Literary Festival
A Streetcar Named Desire
“They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields”, says Blanche when she arrives at the house in which her sister Stella lives with Stanley.
Williams used the title metaphorically: there was no street-car named Desire trundling along the tramlines to Stella’s house, but there was, and is, Elysian Fields Avenue, a name is forever linked to the steamy tragedy of Stella, Stanley and Blanche.
Image from Wikicommons (Brando in Streetcar)
Marlon Brando in Streetcar
Marlon Brando played Stanley in the original Broadway production, and in the 1951 film adaptation of the play, he set the standard for all future Stanleys. His despairing “Stellllaaaa” echoed around cinemas and lodged in the minds of filmgoers forever when drunk, sweat-soaked and half-dressed, he stumbled onto the sidewalk and fell to his knees, bellowing for his wife, “Stellllaaaa” – probably the most famous line from any of Williams’ plays. Little did anyone guess then that this angst-ridden howl would one day become a feature of one of the USA’s Literary Festivals.
Getting into the partPhoto credit: Tennessee Williams Literary Festival
What Happens During the Literary Festival
Events like the Stella Shouting Contest, theatre productions, in-depth writing workshops, and lectures from best-selling authors on everything from scene-setting to stereotypes in fiction, attract attendees from all over the world. Giants from the world of literature and theatre mingle with would-be-playwrights and authors, to offer advice, give talks and join in the celebrations, all overlain with that N’awlins easy charm.
Photo credit: Tennessee Williams Literary Festival
What Happens in the Stanley Shouting Contest
The famous scene, and the scream, is replayed again and again by men who come to The Big Easy to test their screams against other men. Technically it’s a Stanley/Stella shouting contest as females can also take part, but as Stella didn’t yell “Stanley” it doesn’t resonate with the public in quite the same way so there are few entries on the Stella side.
Photo credit: Tennessee Williams Literary Festival
Standing beneath the filigreed balconies of the houses around the green oasis of Jackson Square the contestants direct their howls of desire and angst at local actors attired as Stella and Blanche on a balcony above. Celebrity judges lounge on adjoining balconies, while festival go-ers and voodoo hustlers jostle for positions from which to watch the fun.
One by one the contestants give it their best shot in the allotted three shouts in which they must portray Stanley’s despair, rage and emotion. They fall to their knees, tear their shirts – the iconic torn white tee-shirt is a given – and douse themselves with water to conjure up the image of Stanley’s sweat-soaked torso.
To whoops and cheers, six finalists are selected and they go on to compete a few hours later, on the main stage of Le Petit Theatre, the venue for the Festival’s workshops, play readings and lectures. We, the onlookers and audience, troop in after them, by now having a favourite to encourage in the tension-filled finals.
Interior of Le Petit Theatre
On the stage at Le Petit, the Stanleys now scream with more gusto and histrionics, encouraged by their fans in the crowd. Hyped up – alcohol may play a part as well – cheering for their man and booing the opposition, the audience sounds as primal as Stanley.
All this for the grand prize of the Golden Stella Trophy, holidays in New Orleans, hampers of local goodies, and trips on Ole Miz, the muddy brown Mississippi.
Interior Courtyard of Le Petit Theatre by David Ohmer, creative commons.org/licenses/by/2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Few Festivals have such a strong performance element as the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival – two full-length plays and several one-act plays of the master are usually staged alongside film screenings, tours of the French Quarter, book signings, and jazz evenings. All this plus work-shops and lectures from writers like David Simon, James Lee Burke, Richard Ford, Laura Lipman, and dozens of others. You’re bound to meet your favourite author there and for some reason, crime writers are particularly well represented.
Tennessee Williams – Photo: Orlando Fernandez, World Telegraph staff photographer, via Wikimedia Commons
New Orleans
The Big Easy still lives up to its motto of ‘Laissez les bon temps rouler’ – let the good times roll – and outside the theatre the city goes about its business, partying along Bourbon Street and entertaining the tourists in Jackson Square where the voodoo priestesses, hawkers of hats and beads, and groups of wild looking Cajun and Zydeco musicians straight from central casting come together in a gloriously chaotic, laid-back cocktail.
There are also city tours, swamp tours, plantation tours, and that old standby, shopping, and that for which New Orleans is best known – music – from trad jazz to funk, zydeco to gospel. While there you can take in a session with one of the city’s best bands, Jon Cleary and the Monster Gentlemen Band, who will take you on a jazz voyage like you’ve never experienced before.
St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, the oldest continuous use cathedral in the USA.
So if you’re in the area next March and fancy your chances of being a ripped-shirt Stanley with a voice that could persuade Stella not to leave him, then go for it.
Tennessee Williams loved this mixture of the pious and the profane, the sinners and the saints – isn’t that what all his plays are about?
Get ready to party New Orleans style.
Factfile:
The 38th Annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival took place this year between March 20th—24th. Next year’s dates not yet published. Sign-up for the Stella Shouting Contest will begin at 1.30 3 or 4 days prior to the opening.
The Tennessee Williams Literary Festival: 938 Lafayette Street, Suite 513, New Orleans, Louisiana 70113. Tel: 504 581 1144. info@tennesseewilliams.net
British Airways flies direct to New Orleans from £575 Return and also offers hotel bookings. Other airlines fly via Chicago – a good place for a stop-off.
MARI'S TRAVELS WITH HER CAMERA 