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Atlantic
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
How to Look at Paul Gauguin
The life of Paul Gauguin is the stuff of legend. Or several legends. There's the Romantic visionary invoked by his friend August Strindberg—'a child taking his toys to pieces to make new ones, rejecting and defying and preferring a red sky to everybody else's blue one.' There's the voracious malcontent whom Edgar Degas pegged as a 'hungry wolf without a collar.' There's the accomplished swordsman and brawny genius hammed up by Anthony Quinn in Lust for Life, who takes a break from bickering with Vincent van Gogh to growl, 'I'm talking about women, man, women. I like 'em fat and vicious and not too smart.' And there's the 21st-century trope of the paint-smattered, colonizing Humbert Humbert, bedding 13-year-old girls and sowing syphilis throughout the South Seas. This arc from rebel to swashbuckling art hero to repellent villain tells us less about the artist than it does about the audience (Quinn won an Oscar for that moody growling in 1957). Still, given the hand-wringing and self-righteous mudslinging that have accompanied recent Gauguin exhibitions, the time is ripe to ask what we actually know, and how that knowledge should impinge on our experience of art, if at all. Wild Thing, Sue Prideaux's new biography of Gauguin, aims 'not to condemn, not to excuse, but simply to shed new light on the man and the myth.' Charting his life from birth (in Paris in 1848) to death (in French Polynesia in 1903), she makes use of the recently recovered manuscript of his stream-of-consciousness semi-memoir, Avant et après, as well as fresh conclusions about his sexual health suggested by his teeth. More broadly, she chooses to consider events in view of historical circumstance rather than moral dicta. (Prideaux, whose previous books have examined the lives of Strindberg, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Edvard Munch, has a gift for disrupting snap judgments about difficult men.) If the Gauguin who emerges here is not easy to love, he does seem of a piece with the willfully contradictory, persistently gripping art he left behind. The biographical facts are improbably cinematic. On his mother's side, he traced his ancestry back to the Borgias; the family tree included a pope, a saint, the viceroy of Peru, and his grandmother, the rabble-rousing feminist Flora Tristan. (Karl Marx was a fan.) Gauguin's childhood might have been dreamed up, tag team, by Gabriel García Márquez and Émile Zola. When he was an infant, his family set sail for Peru, where his journalist father planned to establish a left-wing newspaper and his mother hoped to reclaim an inheritance. His father dropped dead en route in Tierra del Fuego, but his mother continued on to Lima with her two small children, joining the palatial household of a great-uncle. She never got the money, but as one of the rare Europeans to take a serious interest in pre-Columbian art, she acquired a substantial collection of ancient Moche ceramics. Those animated dogs and portrait heads would burrow deep into her son's imagination. For his part, Gauguin recalled running free in the streets with the enslaved girl who was his closest companion and being visited in the night by a madman who lived on an adjacent roof. When he returned to France at the age of 7, he couldn't speak the language and understood none of the social codes. 'I am a savage from Peru' was the belligerent self-explanation he would use for the rest of his life. Boarding school provided a bit of classical education and a habit of skeptical inquiry, but he flunked out of higher education and, with no discernible skills, went to sea as a lowly ship's boy at 17. Returning six years later, he took up a position trading futures on the Paris Bourse arranged for him by Gustave Arosa, a financier, an art collector, and his de facto stepfather. (Arosa and Gauguin's mother had had a very French arrangement.) Improbably, Gauguin excelled. He disdained most of his colleagues—'prosperity did not make him clubbable,' Prideaux notes—but he made lots of money, fell in love, and married a Dane, Mette Gad, who shared his indifference to bourgeois convention. 'Carelessly rich, gleefully opulent,' Gauguin began, for the first time, to take an interest in art—initially as a collector of the new Impressionism and then dabbling on his own. He enlisted the help of Arosa's friend Camille Pissarro and began painting softly churning landscapes en plein air. Within a few years, he was showing with the Impressionists himself. Money continued to roll in from the Bourse and, Prideaux writes, 'delightful babies magically appeared at two-year intervals.' From the December 2024 issue: Susan Tallman on the exhibit that will change how you see Impressionism This halcyon bliss was too good to last. When the market crashed in December 1882, Gauguin was wiped out and lost his job. He and Gad had saved nothing, and Arosa, his safety net, died within months. In lieu of any new employment opportunities, Gauguin decided that he would support his wife and five children as an avant-garde painter. (Like many people who enjoy early success in the markets, he did a lot of magical thinking about money.) To economize, they moved to Copenhagen, but his painting stalled, so they decided that he should return to France and send for the family once he was again on a secure footing. Gad would stay in Copenhagen with the children, teaching French and sometimes selling things from his art collection to make ends meet. Prideaux depicts Gauguin's ensuing poverty without romance—the cold, the filth, the food insecurity. The son he briefly had charge of grew malnourished and contracted smallpox. The only job Gauguin managed to get was pasting up posters. As for the Paris art world, it was abuzz with Georges Seurat, color theory, and Pointillism. Gauguin, who never met a system he didn't despise, was exasperated. He decamped to Brittany, with its dramatic coast and folkloric peasants speaking their strange Celtic tongue, and there his art stopped looking like anybody else's. Where Impressionist landscapes had dissolved in light, Gauguin's grew solid. The brushwork flickered, but the edges were hard. Breton Women Chatting (1886) is packed with elbows and aprons and acrobatic headdresses. He cribbed its tipped-up perspective from Japanese woodcuts; the square-shouldered, profile posture from ancient Egypt; the girl fiddling with her shoe from Degas. This kind of appropriation and stitching-together had been practiced by Degas and Édouard Manet, but Gauguin's painting doesn't look like theirs either. The strange mix of naturalism and frozen poses, the lasso-like outlines, the marriage of the familiar and the otherworldly would become his brand. Gauguin's new mode attracted fervent acolytes among younger artists, but it produced nothing resembling an income stream, so he sailed to Panama with a friend in pursuit of a job through his sister's husband. He was again disappointed. From there he went to Martinique ('I have always had a fancy for running away,' he wrote), where he lived in a hut, contracted malaria, and painted dense landscapes that suggest the interlocking shapes and eventful surfaces of tapestries. Those paintings stunned Vincent van Gogh and his art-dealer brother, Theo, who proposed that the two painters spend some months together in Arles, living and working on Theo's dime. The experiment ended in a bloody spectacle, with a straight razor, a severed ear, and Gauguin briefly accused of murder when the police thought that the razor was his and that Van Gogh was dead. (The Van Gogh brothers held him blameless, but the experience was harrowing for everyone.) Soon afterward, the 1889 Exposition Universelle, with its unprecedented display of distant cultures, gave fresh fuel to Gauguin's wanderlust. He was far better traveled than most Europeans, but the Javanese dancers and the full-scale replica of a tower from Angkor Wat were revelations—alternative ways of conceptualizing narrative and space, of arranging figures, of living. He was now in his 40s and years had passed since he'd left Copenhagen, but he and Gad remained married and he continued to seek means of uniting his family. He began applying for jobs in French colonies, hoping for something in Tonkin (for its proximity to Angkor Wat) or perhaps Madagascar with a friend. In the end, he headed for Tahiti, without a job but with an agreement from the government to buy a painting produced there. Before leaving, he wrote Gad promising that they would all be together within three years. Papeete, the capital, was a disappointment: brick buildings laid out in a grid, populated by pompous Frenchmen and Native women cloaked in missionary-imposed smocks known as Mother Hubbards. It was, he wrote, 'the Europe which I had thought to shake off' only worse, given 'the aggravating circumstances of colonial snobbism, and the imitation, grotesque even to the point of caricature, of our customs, fashions, vices, and absurdities of civilization.' He alienated the officials who might have offered him work and washed out as a portrait painter. (Flattery was not in his wheelhouse.) So he went off to a remote village in search of the prelapsarian Tahiti of his imagination. Gauguin had little money, lacked the ability to fish or farm, and was bad at languages, yet the Tahitians accepted and assisted him. Somehow he soon became 'married' to a teenager named Teha'amana, or so the story goes; our key source of information about her and the relationship is Gauguin's romanticized account of his early Tahitian adventures, Noa Noa, written after the fact for a French audience to build a poetic context for his paintings. (Noa noa means 'fragrance.') In one passage, he writes about another woman in his village, calling her 'not at all handsome according to our aesthetic rules. She was beautiful.' The same might be said of the paintings that now poured forth, described by Prideaux as 'a collective hymn of love' for Teha'amana 'and, through her, for the place and its people.' In his extraordinary 1891 painting Ia Orana Maria ('Hail Mary'), an Indigenous Mary carries an Indigenous Christ child on one shoulder (both with halos), while Indigenous worshippers pray and a yellow-winged angel lurks in flowering bushes. (The nonwhite casting, Prideaux notes, was considered 'blasphemous for over half a century.') It's a mash-up of Renaissance iconography, Javanese postures, and the busy patterning of the Pre-Raphaelites, but everything fits together with the kind of breathless sublimity you see in Fra Angelico: a world that is both physical and metaphysical, intoxicating and inevitable. This idyll was interrupted by, of all things, success. Van Gogh had died in 1890, but in Copenhagen, the first joint exhibition of his work and Gauguin's, in 1893, had stirred great excitement. Urged to return to Europe, Gauguin made the 10-week voyage back. Remarkably, he still aimed to bring his European family to Tahiti, but once again, his sales proved insufficient. He took a studio in Paris, and then, on a trip to Brittany, he got into a row with some locals, who shattered his leg. Months in the hospital were followed by years of dependence on laudanum and morphine. The leg never fully healed, but by July 1895 he was well enough to re-embark for the South Seas. Though Papeete was even worse than he remembered, his need for medical attention kept him nearby. He built a hut in a village a few miles from the capital. Teha'amana came to visit for a few days, but in Gauguin's absence she had taken a Tahitian husband, to whom she returned. A new teenager, Pau'ura, filled her place, and Gauguin returned to his easel, painting dreamy narratives with mythological overtones, such as Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897–98), but his life refused to settle into the old idyll. He lost his home, and even attempted suicide. Unable to pay his hospital bills, he was declared 'indigent.' Eventually Gauguin got a job as a draftsman for the department of public works and began writing political commentary for a local paper, but his sense of having betrayed his values and gifts in Tahiti's colonial milieu only grew. In 1901, he moved on to the remote island of Hiva Oa, in the Marquesas. Pau'ura chose to remain in Tahiti with their infant son. In Europe, his paintings began to turn a profit at long last, but two years later he was dead, at 54. Posthumous exhibitions cemented Gauguin's status as the most transformative of the post-Impressionist painters. His willingness to reimagine the visible world pointed the way to symbolism, expressionism, and abstraction. Meanwhile, the warmth and muscular grace of his Polynesian paintings made them perennially popular. For a time, this combination of wayward emotional expression and cultural openness, this embrace of other forms of beauty, seemed to embody a new, modern ideal. All of this got turned on its head beginning in the 1970s, as the art world became sensitized to the deep inequities between men and women, white and nonwhite, colonizer and colonized. Paintings whose reverence for Indigenous people had once shocked were now held in contempt, viewed as defiling those same people. Gauguin was castigated for failing to shake off European pictorial traditions, and for appropriating non-European traditions. The man who from the age of 7 had considered himself an outsider to Western civilization was now seen as the abusive beneficiary of its entitlements. Because political power was vested in European men, interpersonal relations were presumed to follow suit. A narrative of exploitation was inferred. A Gauguin retrospective last year occasioned the headline: 'Paul Gauguin Was a Violent Paedophile. Should the National Gallery of Australia Be Staging a Major Exhibition of His Work?' Its description of the artist as a 'serial rapist' has been widely repeated online. We have no testimony from Teha'amana, and other than Pau'ura's late-in-life recollections of a man she fondly referred to as a 'rascal,' none from his other partners, so this accusation presumably reflects current definitions of statutory rape. Prideaux sees Teha'amana as a victim of her own family, who apparently offered her up before Gauguin had asked, as well as of 'the lust of the much older European man.' She is also at pains to note that even in France itself the age of consent was then 13 (in most American states, it was even younger), and that sex between teenagers and adults was 'unremarkable.' People today may find this repugnant, but what Teha'amana felt about it all, we cannot know. From the May 2023 issue: It's okay to like good art by bad people New scientific evidence, however, sheds light on one charge. An excavation of Gauguin's Hiva Oa property in 2000 turned up four teeth whose DNA matched that of his father's remains and of living descendants in Europe and Polynesia. Tests run for cadmium, mercury, and arsenic—the standard treatments for syphilis—were negative. Absence of treatment is not absence of illness, of course, but given how much time Gauguin spent in hospitals, that such a familiar disease would have been missed seems unlikely. Actual evidence for his syphilitic status appears to be nonexistent. For a man whose sex life has attracted so much attention, Gauguin appears surprisingly circumspect in Prideaux's telling. Surrounded by randy young artists helping themselves to everything on offer in Brittany, he remained 'strait-laced about casual sex.' Of brothels, he commented to a friend: 'Not my cup of tea.' In art, he derided the pliant painted ladies who dotted the walls of the Paris Salon clad in nothing but allegorical pretense, calling them 'bordello art.' The women he depicted, by contrast, come across as individual, self-possessed people. They rarely smile and are never coy. The girls in his Tahitian village, he wrote, 'made me timid with their sure look, their dignity of bearing, and their pride of gait.' The one European nude he deeply admired was Manet's Olympia, with her hauteur, her calculating gaze, her hand clamped firmly over her crotch. He kept a reproduction with him throughout his adult life, along with the books of his radical-feminist grandmother. In a diatribe on the Catholic Church, he wrote that a woman 'has the right to love whomever she chooses' and 'to spit in the face of anyone who oppresses her.' One might be tempted to blame that 'fat and vicious and not too smart' line from Lust for Life on the macho art ethos of mid-century writers. But on page two of Avant et après, you can read in Gauguin's own hand, ' J'aime les femmes aussi quand elles sont vicieuses et qu'elles sont grasses ' ('I also like women when they're kinky and fat'). He might have been speaking from the heart, though his statement—as so often—has the ring of a provocation. Gauguin never outgrew the juvenile urge to scorn, shock, or just prank the elders. For his last home, he carved a horned portrait of the local monseigneur dubbed Father Lechery. And after all, contradiction was his stock-in-trade. Some pages further on in Avant et apr è s, he observed that 'precision often destroys the dream, takes all the life out of the Fable.' It was a sloppy life, full of colliding impulses, thwarted aspirations, and scattered commitments. But in his paintings, prints, and sculptures, he could make it right—building a world where unreasonable combinations contrive to make unexpected sense and things that don't belong nonetheless fit.
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Zodiac Signs as K-Pop Fandom Stereotypes
K-Pop fandoms: a world of dedication, inside jokes, and enough passion to power a small city. If the zodiac signs were K-Pop stans, they'd slide into these roles with uncanny accuracy: Aries – The Fanwar General: Charging headfirst into online battles like it's the final round of a survival show. Expect all-caps declarations of " STAN TALENT!" and a willingness to throw down (verbally, of course) for their faves. Energy level: perpetually high. Loyalty level: unbreakable. Taurus – The Photocard Collector: Possesses multiple versions of every album, because that rare photocard will be theirs. Calmly debates their bias's merits while meticulously browsing resale sites for coveted merch. Their collection? A shrine. Gemini – The Multi-Platform Mastermind: One minute they're sharing a flawless fancam, the next it's a detailed analysis of the group's astrological compatibility. They thrive on variety, know everyone's schedule by heart, and probably run a meme account on the side. Cancer – The Fandom Mom: Not an actual member, but the emotional anchor for everyone. Tears flow freely during every VLive, and comeback day involves homemade treats and a well-researched presentation on the members' need for rest and hydration. Leo – The Delusional Romantic: Fully convinced they share a secret, cosmic connection with their bias. Knows it's probably not real, but… what if? Their "He looked right at me!" comment under a concert video from across the globe is a testament to hope. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like פורטו קוראת לישראלים: דירות להשקעה ב-100 אלף אירו Channel22 Undo Virgo – The Data Analyst: Tracks every sale, stream, award nomination, and even their bias's rumored dietary preferences. Probably a moderator on a dedicated subreddit and secretly crafts the witty captions for the fan account. Libra – The Aesthetic Visionary: Their social media feeds are works of art. Moodboards? Museum-worthy. Story highlights? Could grace the pages of Vogue. They might not engage in messy fanwars, but their soft edits convert hearts with effortless grace. Scorpio – The Deep-Dive Investigator: Knows the trainee backstories, the messy disbandments of previous groups, and has a digital archive of pre-debut drama. Observes fanwars from the shadows, ready to drop a truth bomb at the most dramatic moment. Sagittarius – The Global Organizer: Coordinates banner projects in Seoul and coffee trucks in international locations. Manages a chaotic network of group chats and would happily cross continents for a glimpse of a fan sign, jetlag be damned. Capricorn – The Chart Topper: The first to refresh Melon, Spotify, and Billboard charts. Speaks fluently in streaming numbers and views every milestone as a major stock market victory: "100 million views in 24 hours. Iconic." Aquarius – The Lore Master: That one fan with a sprawling theory video explaining the intricate storyline behind a fifteen-second teaser. Their wild predictions are often eerily accurate, having likely deciphered the plot before the official announcement. Pisces – The Emotional Sponge: Sobs openly at airport photos and writes fanfiction that leaves everyone emotionally devastated. Dreams of a hug from their bias but would probably faint into oblivion if they ever encountered them in real life. Discover everything about astrology at the Times of India , including daily horoscopes for Aries , Taurus , Gemini , Cancer , Leo , Virgo , Libra , Scorpio , Sagittarius , Capricorn , Aquarius , and Pisces .
The Herald Scotland
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Beneditti entrances young and old in SCO finale
Keith Bruce four stars JOHANNES Brahms and child star violinist Joseph Joachim were friends from their teenage years, although well into their maturity when Brahms composed a concerto for him to play. Felix Mendelssohn was a published composer at 13 and conducted the precocious Joachim in London when the violinist was 12. There was plenty in the SCO's season finale programme to inspire the many young people in the audience, attracted by Scotland's classical star, Nicola Benedetti. The Brahms Violin Concerto has long been a staple of her repertoire, the rhythmic dance of the closing movement perhaps identified with her as much as any piece of music. Partnered with the chamber orchestra and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, the concerto was heard as a beautifully-integrated whole, and her dialogue with guest first oboe Jose Masmano Villar in the slow second movement as much of a highlight. There is still an arresting ferocity in Benedetti's first entry at the start of the work, and mature precision in her statement of the chords played across three strings now accompanies the expressive intensity that her fans, young and older, love in her playing. Emelyanychev ensured that every dynamic detail of the rich orchestration was heard in immaculate balance with his soloist. After the interval, the conductor's skills were even more in evidence on Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony, an old war horse brought to vibrant new life. Whether or not the opening bars conjure up images of Romantic ruins at the foot of the Royal Mile – and despite the stormy weather depicted in sound being a long way from the current climate – this is music most people already know. Few, however, will have heard the clarinet's statement of the opening theme so perfectly placed in the mix, or the cellos recapitulation of the melody in the slow movement so richly-toned. Alert young eyes might also have spotted the viola section cope with their leader's broken string with slick professionalism. The SCO strings added an exquisite encore of the second of Edvard Grieg's Elegiac Melodies, Last Spring. It was a poignant tribute to the orchestra's former principal cello David Watkin, who become a much-loved teacher at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland when illness cut short a stellar playing career, and who died aged 60 last week.
Scoop
11-05-2025
- Scoop
The World's Greatest Long Hikes
Hiking is considered one of the most popular outdoor activities worldwide, offering numerous mental and physical health benefits, and allowing us to connect with nature. Walking long distances, often through diverse biomes and habitats, was originally a necessary means of survival since nomadic tribes followed seasonal migration routes and foraged for resources in diverse landscapes. When religions were founded, hiking became part of a pilgrimage or an exodus, ranging from the Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, to the Camino de Santiago, also known as the 'Way of St. James,' in Spain. Even after hunter-gatherers evolved into farmers and settlers, many humans still felt the urge to go hiking through unexplored territories. The word 'hike' originates from the English dialectal word yike, meaning 'to walk vigorously.' One of the earliest examples of a person hiking recreationally rather than out of necessity is that of Petrarch, also known as Francesco Petrarca, a poet who wrote about his climb with his brother and two servants to the top of Mont Ventoux in southern France in April 1336. It was only in the 18th and 19th centuries that the Romantic movement in Europe encouraged a newfound interest in nature. Once, poets, artists, and philosophers championed the tranquility and splendor of the vivacious outdoors. Many, mainly the middle and upper classes during this period, became smitten by the natural, rural, and untamed landscapes outside big cities and towns. This set off a trend of spending quality time in nature and exploring the wilderness through hikes. Today, hikers can explore many routes, whether they prefer historic hikes or scenic nature trails. Inca Trail The Inca Trail winds through 26 miles of mountains and countryside in the Cusco region of southern Peru. Formerly a vital artery of trade and transportation during the Inca Empire, the Inca Trail now serves as a popular route for tourists and travelers as they traverse the majestic slopes of the Andes Mountains. This trail leads to the ruins of Machu Picchu, the 'Lost City of the Incas,' which sits high on a plateau overlooking the Andes Mountains and the Urubamba River Valley. You can also stop by other ancient landmarks like the Wiñay Wayna, an elegant ruin with terraces cascading down a steep slope, and Runkurakay, a 'semicircular construction… thought to have served either as a resting place for travelers and pilgrims, or a control post.' The highest point on the Inca Trail, Dead Woman's Pass (13,828 feet), is a challenging but rewarding destination that promises panoramic views of the surrounding valleys. Hikers here will experience several unique biomes and habitats found only in Peru, including cloud forests and high-altitude mountain passes. At the end of the Inca Trail is the Sun Gate (Inti Punku), where the first breathtaking glimpse of Machu Picchu is painted golden during sunrise. With its perfect combination of adventure, culture, and stunning scenery, the Inca Trail attracts thousands of adventurers who wish to experience historical sites and breathtaking natural beauty. Camino de Santiago The Camino de Santiago is one of the most popular pilgrimages in the world. It is a network of historic pathways across Europe culminating at the tomb of St. James the Great (Santiago in Spanish) in the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. The most popular trail in this network is the Camino Francés (French Way), which starts in the municipality of Sarria and stretches across the Galicia region of Spain, passing through several market towns, including Portomarín, Melide, and Arzúa. No matter what path one takes, the destination is all the same: the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, which is considered the final resting place of St. James the Apostle. This pilgrimage offers a chance to pass by some of Spain's many exquisite landmarks, such as the Puente la Reina, a beautiful Romanesque bridge, and the Cruz de Ferro, where pilgrims leave stones as a symbol of their burdens. The city of León, magnificent with its Gothic cathedral, and Burgos, home to the grand Cathedral of Santa María, are also notable stopping points on the way to Santiago de Compostela. The Camino de Santiago is a historically significant pilgrimage route, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is frequented by both pilgrims and those seeking 'a unique experience, personal challenge, or a break from daily life.' Torres Del Paine Circuit The Torres del Paine Circuit, also known as the O Circuit, is one of the most challenging long-distance hikes for diehard explorers eager for arduous journeys in dynamic landscapes. Located in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile, this route spans more than 80 miles of Patagonia's regional areas, including glacial valleys, windswept plains, pristine rivers, and jagged mountain peaks. Along the way, you might encounter some of South America's most unique wildlife that have thrived in the high- and low-altitude environments, such as guanacos, condors, and pumas. This trail offers opportunities to rest in several refugios (mountain huts) or campgrounds scattered along the way. Like many other famous hikes, travelers will find unforgettable landmarks and sights worth seeing, such as the three granite towers of Torres del Paine. At the John Garner Pass, you can get a grand panoramic view of the immense Grey Glacier, an impressive wall of ice that stretches 30 meters high and is around six kilometers wide, looming over Lago Grey. Finally, you will end up at the French Valley, a region flanked by hanging glaciers and rugged cliffs. In this circuit, founded by British mountaineer John Gardner and two Torres del Paine rangers, Pepe Alarcon and Oscar Guineo, travelers will test their endurance while having an unforgettable opportunity to experience Patagonia's varied and vivifying territory. Appalachian Trail In America's dynamic heartland, the Appalachian Trail winds a 2,190-mile snaking corridor that begins at Springer Mountain in Georgia and terminates at Mount Katahdin in Maine. Completed in 1937, the trail was the dream of conservationist Benton MacKaye, who envisioned the Appalachian Trail as a 'project in regional planning' and 'a new approach to the problem of living,' according to a 2019 article by historical geographer Garrett Dash Nelson. The project was supposed to be a 'thoroughgoing cultural critique of industrial modernity—a template for comprehensive economic redevelopment at a scale never before attempted in the United States.' The Appalachian Trail traverses 14 states, and along the trail, you can stop at some of America's most stunning landscapes and landmarks, including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Shenandoah National Park, and the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Other extraordinary highlights include McAfee Knob, one of the most photographed spots on the trail; the Mahoosuc Notch, known as the 'toughest mile'; and the Franconia Ridge, a promising vista filled with alpine sceneries. Whether tackling the complete thru-hike or exploring a small section, the Appalachian Trail continues to uphold Benton MacKaye's ideals to 'align the dimensions of regional planning with the geography of ecological zones rather than political jurisdictions.' The rugged terrain makes the hike challenging, and while 'more than 3,000 people attempt to walk the entire Appalachian Trail every year, only about a quarter of them succeed,' according to a 2024 article in Outside Magazine. Tour du Mont Blanc The Tour du Mont Blanc circles one of the highest peaks in Western Europe, Mont Blanc, located on the Franco-Italian border in the Alps and rising approximately 15,775 feet. The Tour du Mont Blanc spans around 105 miles of rural and near-urban countryside through the European nations of France, Italy, and Switzerland. This immense trek, officially established as a walking route in the 18th century after Swiss geologist and physicist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure made it public knowledge, was originally a series of ancient trade and shepherding paths that continue to offer impressive mountain and valley scenery in Europe's untamed wilderness. Along the way, you will be sojourning through some of the Alps' most exquisite landmarks like the Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve, the dramatic Col du Bonhomme, and the picturesque Lac Blanc, renowned for its mirror-perfect reflections of Mont Blanc. Trekkers will also pass through charming alpine villages, such as Courmayeur, Champex-Lac, and Les Contamines, where they can enjoy local cheeses, wines, and warm hospitality. With its fusion of frigid mountain passes, glacial valleys, and meadowed small towns, the Tour du Mont Blanc is as physically demanding as it is rewarding. Unlike more remote long hikes, this route offers a variety of accommodations, including mountain refuges, resorts, and luxury lodges. Milford Track Within New Zealand, you can undertake your own epic journey similar to the ones you see in The Lord of the Rings by traversing the Milford Track, known as the 'finest walk in the world.' The track runs along 33 miles of terrain and goes through Fiordland National Park on New Zealand's South Island. Established in 1888, this historic route was used by Māori to gather pounamu, also known as greenstone, which is used in New Zealand's Indigenous cultures to make spiritual ornaments and jewelry. When European explorers arrived in New Zealand, they used the Milford Track to seek safe passage into Milford Sound. Those wishing to traverse this historic route can begin their adventures at Glade Wharf, which winds through ancient rainforests, alpine passes, and glacier-carved valleys. Hikers will encounter some of New Zealand's most stunning natural landmarks, notably Mackinnon Pass, where one can catch panoramic views of the surrounding mountain peaks. Similarly, you will discover Sutherland Falls, one of the tallest waterfalls in the world, at 1,904 feet. The Milford Track is not just a hike; it's an unexpected adventure through one of the most breathtaking corners of the world. The Great Wall of China Trail The Great Wall of China, one of the most significant artificial structures on Earth, is also one of the world's most extended hikes worth traversing. Stretching more than 13,000 miles across China's countryside, the Great Wall was a monumental engineering project that spans from Mount Hu, near Dandong in southeastern Liaoning province, to Jiayu Pass, west of Jiuquan in northwestern Gansu province. Although much of the wall's bulwarks lay in ruins, several sections provide incredible trekking opportunities through history and breathtaking landscapes. Popular hiking routes include the Jinshanling to Simatai section, known for its well-preserved watchtowers and stunning views of rolling mountains. The Jiankou section, meanwhile, offers a more rugged and adventurous trek with its steep, wild, and unrestored paths. The Mutianyu section features many restored segments of the Great Wall, which wind and weave through lush forests. Finally, the Gubeikou section, having remained unharmed for centuries, offers hikers insights into the wall's historical significance and past battles. Unlike traditional long-distance trails, the Great Wall of China trek offers a more historically immersive experience as you walk in the footsteps of ancient warriors who protected China's northern border. It endures and regales visitors by being one of the most significant monuments of man's engineering and architectural capabilities. Hiking: Connecting With Yourself and Nature Often, we need to break out of our comfort zones and seek new things, worlds, and opportunities. Movement breaks the monotony of boredom and the staleness that comes with sitting still and being idle. Hiking is one of the best ways for everyone to reconnect with themselves and nature. Whether you are taking the road less traveled or are on popular hiking routes, you will be enamored by the world's greatest long hikes. So pack appropriate gear for the weather, bring friends or family along, and prepare yourself for a journey of a lifetime that will help you feel healthier from the inside out. Author Bio: John Divinagracia is a writer and novelist. He is the author of It's Always Snowing in Iberia (2021) and was a fellow at the 19th Ateneo National Writers Workshop in 2022. He is a writer at WorldAtlas and a contributing editor at the Observatory. He holds a cum laude degree in creative writing from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.
Irish Post
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
New play revisits Percy Shelley's radical politics through the lens of modern society
PERCY Shelley, celebrated today as a Romantic poet of rare brilliance, was once considered a dangerous subversive. A new play at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in north London reimagines his life not just as poetic legend but as political dissident – and explores the resonance of his story in our age of surveillance capitalism. Regarding Shelley, written by Richard Bradbury and directed by Jack Herlihy, opens with Shelley and his young wife Harriet fleeing Ireland, having supported a failed rebellion and a campaign for Irish emancipation that made them enemies of the state. Hounded by the Home Secretary's watchful eye, the couple attempt to start again in North Devon – but the forces of state suspicion continue to haunt them. Percy Bysshe Shelley by Amelia Curran The play asks a stark question: what does it mean to live and love under constant observation? And what can the story of a 19th-century revolutionary teach us about the digital scrutiny of the 21st? Bradbury, whose previous play Become a Man explored slavery's legacy through the story of Frederick Douglass, returns to his central theme – how the past informs the present – with biting clarity. Herlihy, hot off the success of 1984 on stage in London and across Europe, brings Orwellian tension to Shelley's radical tale. Director Jack Herily Blending historical drama with contemporary political unease, Regarding Shelley imagines a world not so different from ours – one in which radicalism is a threat, surveillance is ubiquitous, and the line between public safety and personal freedom is as fraught as ever. Shelley's time in Ireland LONG before he became one of the towering figures of English Romanticism, Percy Bysshe Shelley—radical, restless, and barely 20—landed in Dublin in 1812 with revolution on his mind. It was not a literary pilgrimage but a political one: Shelley had come to campaign for Irish independence, armed with pamphlets, ideals, and possibly something of a shaky grasp of Irish realities. Shelley's six-week stay in Dublin is often overlooked in accounts of his life, but for the poet himself, it marked a formative experience. Deeply influenced by Enlightenment thinkers and the republican ideals of the French Revolution, Shelley saw Ireland's struggle for independence as a cause worthy of support — namely, his support. In his own words, he believed Ireland could be 'an arena for the operations of reason and virtue'. Shelley and his young wife, Harriet Westbrook, set up lodgings near the city centre and wasted no time in producing and distributing political tracts. Chief among them was An Address to the Irish People , a pamphlet he penned urging Catholic emancipation, non-violent resistance, and unity between Protestants and Catholics. It was direct, impassioned—and largely ignored. Ella Dorman-Gajic plays Harriet Shelley Shelley also attended and spoke at a public meeting in Fishamble Street, though contemporary reports suggest his reception was lukewarm at best. He struggled to gain the trust of Irish activists, who regarded the privileged English youth with suspicion. Shelley's efforts, though earnest, were often politically naive. He misunderstood the depth and complexity of Ireland's grievances and the caution bred by centuries of colonial oppression. Despite the limited impact of his mission, the visit left its mark. The themes of liberty, justice, and resistance to tyranny that Shelley explored in Dublin would echo throughout his poetry in the years to come. His Irish adventure may have been brief and somewhat quixotic, but it crystallised a sense of moral purpose that would define his writing until his early death a decade later. In an age when Romantic poets are often remembered for clouds, cliffs and the odd Grecian urn, Shelley's brief encounter with Irish politics is a reminder of how engaged—even idealistically so—these writers could be with the world around them. And if nothing else, it proves one thing beyond doubt: the Irish question has never lacked for passionate supporters—even from the ranks of England's literary elite. Regarding Shelley runs at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate, London N6 4BD from May 20–25, 2025 For tickets click here.
