Tag Archives: Corsica

Posts on Corsican themes.

Seneca in Corsica The Roman senator and philosopher spent several miserable years in exile on the island in the first century A.D. Paoli in London ‘The 18th century Che Guevara’ produced one of the first constitutions of the enlightenment era and fought … Continue reading

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When Corsica welcomed thousands of Serb refugees (1916)

Kathleen Courtney in Corsica. In 1916, around 5,000 Serb refugees were evacuated to Corsica via Salonika, Corfu and the Adriatic coast to escape the conflict in the Balkans. On arrival they were settled in the major towns of Bastia and … Continue reading

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My islands – by Line Mariani Playfair

I have always had a strong affinity for atlases and islands. Whether a single volcanic rock or one likely to fragment or disappear underwater, each one seems to be calling me, speaking to my imagination. I was fascinated by Thor … Continue reading

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The last Corsican.

“I’ve decided to keep this diary because I’m going to die in the next few days…I am condemned because, having refused to be evacuated with the others, I will be annihilated by the incendiary bombs which are systematically ravaging the … Continue reading

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Matisse in Corsica.

The great artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was inspired to use colour in radical new ways during his first visit to Corsica. After their wedding in early 1898, Matisse and his wife Amélie Parayre spent their honeymoon first in London and … Continue reading

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Boswell in Corsica.

The Scottish lawyer and writer James Boswell (1740-1795), famous for his Life of Samuel Johnson, was also a great supporter of Pasquale Paoli and Corsican independence. Boswell met enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and Rousseau and was encouraged by Rousseau to … Continue reading

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Escher in Corsica.

The Dutch artist M.C.Escher (1898-1972) is well known for his meticulous geometric and ‘impossible’ prints, his optical distortions, his extreme viewpoints and his tessellated patterns which seem to move from two to three dimensions. His early work is perhaps less … Continue reading

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Sebald in Corsica: ‘Campo Santo’.

Campo Santo is one of four short pieces with Corsican settings in W.G. Sebald’s collection given the same title. These were fragments for a book about Corsica which remained unfinished at his untimely death in a road accident in 2001. Campo Santo … Continue reading

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Edward Lear in Corsica

Edward Lear (1812-1888) is probably best known for the limericks and nonsense rhymes of his Book of Nonsense (1846) but he was also an accomplished and well-travelled zoological, botanical and landscape artist. He was the twentieth of twenty-one children born into a middle-class family … Continue reading

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Poem: Corsica

Corsica Corsica Our island Rest and refuge So wild and warm In our hearts and minds Casting shadows on every other place Always there and forever yearning for us Cold spring water to quench our thirst On a sun baked granite … Continue reading

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John Minton in Corsica

John Minton (1917-1957) was a brilliant English artist and contemporary of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. He was one of the foremost English painters of the 1940’s and 50’s whose influences include De Chirico and the surrealists as well as … Continue reading

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The multilingual citizen in a multicultural society

I want to speak about the experience of being bilingual and bicultural and its educational benefits. I am not an expert or an academic and I have no research findings to share. I have worked in diverse communities for over … Continue reading

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Paoli in London

He’s been called the Che Guevara of the 18th century. He was a freedom fighter, a democrat and an intellectual. He was celebrated by Voltaire and Rousseau for producing one of the first republican constitutions of the enlightenment era; one … Continue reading

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Village wisdom: Corsican proverbs and sayings

Every Corsican comes from a village and Corsican wisdom is the wisdom of village life. Such village wisdom looks inwards for its universal insights into human frailty and mortality, luck and jealousy. Its laconic sayings find truth in food and … Continue reading

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Conrad in Corsica

“My task is…by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel – it is, above all, to make you see” Joseph Conrad     The writer Joseph Conrad visited Corsica with his wife Jessie … Continue reading

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