FACTOID #53: If you thought Antarctica was inhospitable, think again - its land area is only ninety-eight percent ice. Reassuringly, the other 2% is categorised as "barren rock".
Catherine Barton (1679-?) was Isaac Newton's half-niece, and had a relationship with Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax after his wife's death in 1698. An excerpt of an uncharacteristically warm letter from Newton survives, regarding her contraction of smallpox: "Pray let me know by your next how your [face is] and if your fevour be going. Perhaps warm milk from ye Cow may [help] to abate it. I am Your loving Unkle, Is. Newton." Sir Isaac Newton in Knellers 1689 portrait Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727 by the Julian calendar in use in England at the time; or 4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727 by the Gregorian calendar) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and alchemist who wrote... Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax (April 16, 1661 - May 19, 1715) was Chancellor of the Exchequer, poet, statesman, and Earl of Halifax. ... Smallpox (also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera) is a highly contagious disease unique to humans. ...
For Barton, what happens to his characters in their relationships, framed by their connection to their homes, the family store, or a strip club, is far more important than any family trait passed down through the generations.
Barton adheres to the premise that universal truths are universal precisely because they cannot be avoided by forewarning but must be learned anew by each generation.
Barton endeavors to remind man “of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past,” an obligation with which Faulkner sought to imbue future generations of writers.
Feeds |
Contact