Beatrice Groves, Research Lecturer and tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, and author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, has written a Hogwarts Professor Guest Post: Ink Black Corvids: Magpies, alchemy and Ink Black Heart. Join me after the jump for Prof. Groves’ delve into all things crow and Cormoran. This is the second of three posts by Beatrice in the run up to publication day. [Read more…]
Beatrice Groves: Ink Black Corvids: Magpies, Alchemy and Ink Black Heart
August 27, 2022 by 10 Comments
Beatrice Groves – Ink-Bottles, Anodos and Anomie
August 26, 2022 by 4 Comments
Beatrice Groves, Research Lecturer and tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, and author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, has written a Hogwarts Professor Guest Post: Ink-Bottles, Anodos and Anomie: Mary Elizabeth Coleridge and the epigraphs of Ink Black Heart. Join me after the jump for Prof. Groves’ introduction to how this all but forgotten poet could, very neatly, fit into The Ink Black Heart. This is the first of three posts by Beatrice in the run up to publication day.
Ink Black Heart – The Five Day Countdown Begins!
August 25, 2022 by Leave a Comment
It is that strange time before publication, when its too late to start a new book (I’ve just finished Great Expectations on very good advice) and too long to wait for the new book. For those who are tempted: Apple Books have release the first 120 pages as a preview, and for the rest of us, we must keep ourselves busy. To help us pass the time productively, Beatrice Groves- Research Lecturer and tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, and author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, will present three articles on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to whet our appetites.
Someone who is certainly keeping herself busy (and at work too!) is J. K. Rowling:
Meant to retweet this yesterday but was hard at work and forgot! Only 5 days to go now… https://t.co/PmarVy43yj
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 25, 2022
Which of course begs the question – what is she working on? Could it be ‘Love Stories for the Rich and Desperate’? ‘Final Cries of Men’? a new chapter in the Fantastic Beasts franchise or cracking on with Strike 7? She has surprised us before with two unexpected children’s books, so really anything is on the table. Let me know what you think down below.
Ink Black Heart – Anomie Online
August 24, 2022 by 2 Comments
Of all the characters playfully enjoying the run up to publication day on Twitter, none is more intriguing than Anomie. He has tweeted only thirty two times since joining twitter in June, including the deleted “Sister from another mr.” tweet, which is a possible misidentification for Mary Elizabeth Coleridge. It is notable that an image search for “Mary Elizabeth Coleridge” delivers a photograph for Mary Mapes Dodge and another of Emily Dickenson, explaining both the error by Anomie and our Headmaster. I can in fact only find one genuine photograph of Coleridge online.
There are several clues that Anomie has left. An Emily Dickenson poem, shortly after the audio snippet was revealed:
Tweet, tweet. pic.twitter.com/sQ8ymi4AjN
— Anomie (@AnomieInkBlack) August 14, 2022
And a snippet from Cattulus 8– advice to himself.
Time flies. https://t.co/gqZ9DsMo4I
— Anomie (@AnomieInkBlack) August 21, 2022
There are of course the pictures we discussed on Monday to which Anomie left the following cryptic reply:
Look again. Look closer. Look not at the words.
Yes, I believe this is the same Anomie that posts on Twitter, where he has left similar messages:
The trick is always to look beyond the silhouettes and look in the shadows. https://t.co/SDogOm8Ty7
— Anomie (@AnomieInkBlack) August 11, 2022
What do you think these messages are hinting at? Let me know in the comments down below!
Ink Black Heart – Twitter Character Update
August 22, 2022 by 6 Comments
Pat Chauncey has posted an update that suggests both she and Strike are still smoking, which poses an interesting if slightly meta question. In what time frame are the characters speaking from? The existence of Anomie would suggest they are operating from a frame at or about the time of Ink Black Heart. This would also explain the existence of the now ancient Wolfgang.
Like I said, sharing a cheeky cig on the doorstep earlier, you can quote Catullus all you like at me, but Spike sums up our day Boss. Also, you forgot your flask for the night shift. Sending a fresh pot over in an Uber now. pic.twitter.com/6mZzdXrhjo
— Pat Chauncey (@SuperkingPatC) August 15, 2022
Roddy Fforbes has disappointed. While we could infer that he was British and upper or upper-middle class from his brief mentions in the book, he has now become a full pastiche of Bertie Wooster. If the creators of this account have access to The Ink Black Heart, then I cannot believe that Roddy is written like this:
Put me in mind of our old school song!
Quare, quare vinum malum?
Gustibus sicit Jago pila sacci!
Cakers! Tenent lineam,
Domi, in schola et descendit pub.
Bebe! Bebe! Bebe de altus nulla novem!
Scoriam aliis hominibus relinque!— Roddy Fforbes (@RoddyFforbes) August 21, 2022
Anomie remains as mysterious as ever, posting four pictures. Firstly images of St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall and the Yorkshire Dales from early British Rail advertising. Then an image of the underground from the Ladybird book The Story of the Railways (1961) and the cover of a humorous modern Ladybird book for adults The Rock Star using original period illustrations.
Brian Mathers is continuing his sickly sweet posts followed by blood curdling threats, sure to end up swiftly in the “nutter drawer”.
… and also come in handy when you have a massacre in mind, eh, Strike? (2/2)
— Mr & Mrs Brian Mathers (@MrMrsBrianMath1) August 16, 2022
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