The blogging of literary text continues, with a blog for The Natural History of Selborne (1789*). This is a work of natural history, focusing on detailed observations of the immediate environment, and written by Gilbert White.
The project resembles other litblogs with its alignment of calendar dates (today with July 21st in a previous year), such as the Pepys Diary or our Draculablog. Yet it differs in aggregating multiple years upon a single date. For example, on May 28th of this year, we see
May 28, 1793 – My weeding-woman swept up on the grass-plot a bushel-basket of blossoms from the white apple-tree: & yet that tree seems still covered with bloom.
May 28, 1793 – The season is so cold, that no species of Hirundines make any advances towards building, & breeding. Brother Benjamin & Mrs. White, & Mary White, & Miss Mary Barker came.
May 28, 1791 – Bantam-hen brings out four chickens.
May 28, 1789 – A fly-catcher has built a nest in the great apricot-tree, in which there is one egg.
May 28, 1788 – The Flycatcher, which was not seen ’till the 18th, has got a nest and four eggs.
May 28, 1784 – Timothy the tortoise has been missing for more than a week.
And so on. Each of those days has its own URL (for example), but the main site aggregates many years. It's an interesting move, forcing our attention into a comparative stance. Makes sense, given the ecological nature of this text.
The blogger is Sydney Padua.
*1789... which reminds me: has anyone started blogging historical events along these lines? Focused events, such as a trial, an election, or a military campaign, for example. 1789 of course suggests doing "this day in the French Revolution," perhaps over a series of years. Or the Napoleon 101 duo could blog the Russian campaign, with podcast highlights, such as letters read aloud. One could post summary texts, quotes, maps, pictures, and so on to the blog.
(via BoingBoing)
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