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On the Road

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Marylou" redirects here. For the album by Anna Rossinelli, see Marylou (album).

For other uses, see On the Road (disambiguation).

On the Road

 

1st edition

On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac. On the Road is based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across America. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry and drug use.

The idea for On the Road formed during the late 1940s. It was to be Kerouac's second novel, and it underwent several drafts before he completed it in April 1951. It was first published by Viking Press in 1957.

When the book was originally released, The New York Times hailed it as "the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat,' and whose principal avatar he is."[1] In 1998, the Modern Library ranked On the Road 55th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The novel was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.[2]

 

This section is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (December 2012)

Many aspects go into understanding the context of On the Road, and they must be viewed cohesively in order to appreciate why the book was as relevant and pertinent as it was. The following issues are important to consider as the foundation for the book and its reception by the public.

Kerouac biography[edit]

Kerouac was born in a French-Canadian neighborhood of Lowell, Massachusetts, and learned English at age six. (He had difficulty with the language into his teens.) He grew up in a devout Catholic home, and this influence manifested itself throughout the work. During high school, Kerouac was a star football player and earned a scholarship to Columbia University. After dropping out following a conflict with the football coach, he then served on several different sailing vessels before returning to New York in search of inspiration to write. Here he met the likes of Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs who would not only become characters in the book but also form the core of the Beat Generation.[3]

Many of the events depicted in the book are the experiences that shaped both its content and production. Kerouac met Neal Cassady, who would become Dean Moriarty, in December 1946 and began his road adventures in 1947 while writing what would become The Town and the City. The adventures themselves, which took place between 1947 and 1950, were meant to help him overcome writers block during early attempts to write the book. It was through letters and other interactions with his friends that Kerouac decided to write the first person narrative that became On the Road as we know it today.[3]

The publication process was another adventure unto itself, which took a major psychological toll on Kerouac. He was discouraged by the struggle (even though he continued to write during the period) and finally agreed to substantially revise the original version after years of failed negotiations with different publishers. He removed several parts in order to focus the story and also to protect himself from potential issues of libel. He also continued to write feverishly after its publication in spite of attacks from critics.[3]

Historical context[edit]

On the Road portrays the story of a fierce personal quest for meaning and belonging. This comes at an interesting point in American history when conformity was praised and outsiders were suspect. The Beat Generation arose out of a time of intense conflict, both internally and externally.

The issues of the Cold War, the Second Red Scare and McCarthyism took center stage of the cultural arena in the 1950s. As the U.S government cracked down on left-wing influences at home and abroad, the sentiment of unifying and banding together led to extreme measures of censorship and control.

The Cold War was the backdrop for this fight. In a short time after defeating Germany, the Soviet Union fell from ally to threat in the eyes of the United States. In the postwar reconstruction process, the two powers found themselves continually at odds. The sentiment arose clearly as a struggle between two opposing ways of life. Contention over Soviet support for alleged communist revolution in Iran, then Turkey and Greece, led to the American policy of containment and the Truman Doctrine. Before a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947, President Harry S. Truman stated, "I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support the people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."[4] That summer, Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed a plan for the economic reconstruction of Europe. While Western European countries planned how to go about rebuilding with American help, the Soviets walked away and forced the Eastern European countries to do the same. A Soviet aid and recovery plan followed for these countries and would mark the beginning of a punch and counterpunch pattern that would typify the early years of the Cold War. This laid a foundation for the tension that would define the period.[4]

Beat Generation summary[edit]

It was in this climate that some individuals of the young generation were seeking meaning outside the mainstream worldview. Amidst all the conflict and contradiction, the Beats were seeking out a way to navigate through the world. As John Clellon Holmes put it, "Everywhere the Beat Generation seems occupied with the feverish production of answers—some of them frightening, some of them foolish—to a single question: how are we to live?"[5]

The idea of what it means to be "beat" is still difficult to accurately describe. While many critics still consider the word "beat" in its literal sense of "tired and beaten down," others, including Kerouac himself promoted the generation more in sense of "beatific" or blissful.[6] "Beat" can also be read as a 'rhythm' such as in music, as in Jazz - a rhythmic beat or 'the rhythm of life' itself.

Holmes and Kerouac published several articles in popular magazines in an attempt to explain the movement. In the November 16, 1952 New York Times Sunday Magazine, he wrote a piece exposing the faces of the Beat Generation. "[O]ne day [Kerouac] said, 'You know, this is a really beat generation' ... More than mere weariness, it implies the feeling of having been used, of being raw. It involves a sort of nakedness of mind, and ultimately, of soul: a feeling of being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness. In short, it means being undramatically pushed up against the wall of oneself."[7] He distinguishes Beats from the Lost Generation of the 1920s pointing out how the Beats are not lost but how they are searching for answers to all of life's questions. Kerouac's preoccupation with writers like Ernest Hemingway shaped his view of the beat generation. He uses a prose style which he adapted from Hemingway and throughout On the Road he alludes to novels like The Sun Also Rises. "How to live seems much more crucial than why."[7] In many ways, it is a spiritual journey, a quest to find belief, belonging, and meaning in life. Not content with the uniformity promoted by government and consumer culture, the Beats yearned for a deeper, more sensational experience.

Holmes expands his attempt to define the generation in a 1958 article in Esquire magazine. This article was able to take more of a look back at the formation of the movement as it was published after On the Road. "It describes the state of mind from which all unessentials have been stripped, leaving it receptive to everything around it, but impatient with trivial obstructions. To be beat is to be at the bottom of your personality, looking up."[5]

Literary context[edit]

At the time of publication, On the Road was not the first book to criticize contemporary American culture. A nonconformist sentiment characterized the arts and popular culture of the 1950s as a way of rejecting societal norms. Many of the best selling books of the time achieved this same mission.[4]

J. D. Salinger produced the first shock to the tranquil suburban landscape with the publication of The Catcher in the Rye in 1951. His protagonist Holden Caulfield struck a chord with young readers also at odds with the adult world. Caulfield's rejection of the regimentation and "phoniness" of the world around him resonated with the struggle for meaning that drove the Beat Generation. Salinger's rejection of traditional middle-class values signaled the first widely recognized public stand against the cultural conformist pressure.[4]

Among the best-selling novels of 1950s was Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. Published in September 1956, it managed to be the second most sold book in the country that year and then to top the chart in 1957. In fact, it went on to be the best-selling book in American history up to that point.[8] Often cited as the prime example of the decline in American culture of the decade, the novel examines the traditional values of a New England mill town by introducing the complications of extramarital sexual affairs. A book that received a broad range of reviews after publication, Peyton Place's popularity shows that popular culture was ready for a break from their traditional expectations.[8]

Another popular contemporary was Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) that dealt with the increasing suburbanization of American society. Tom Rath struggles with the dilemma of following his conscience or pursuing the big salary and lush lifestyle typically portrayed of the 1950s family. In the end, though, he discovers that he can have both. While Wilson can be seen as chastising the societal norms at times, he concludes with his character achieving them. This shows the dichotomy of attitudes toward the middle-class values of the day.[9]

Production and publication[edit]

  

The scroll, exhibited at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts, summer 2007

Kerouac often promoted the story about how in April 1951 he wrote the novel in three weeks, typing continuously onto a 120-foot roll of teletype paper.[10] Although the story is true per se, the book was in fact the result of a long and arduous creative process. Kerouac carried small notebooks, in which much of the text was written as the eventful span of road trips unfurled. He started working on the first of several versions of the novel as early as 1948, based on experiences during his first long road trip in 1947. However, he remained dissatisfied with the novel.[11] Inspired by a thousand-word rambling letter from his friend Neal Cassady, Kerouac in 1950 outlined the "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" and decided to tell the story of his years on the road with Cassady as if writing a letter to a friend in a form that reflected the improvisational fluidity of jazz.[12]

The first draft of what was to become the published novel was written in three weeks in April 1951 while Kerouac lived with Joan Haverty, his second wife, at 454 West 20th Street in Manhattan, New York. The manuscript was typed on what he called "the scroll"—a continuous, one hundred and twenty-foot scroll of tracing paper sheets that he cut to size and taped together.[13] The roll was typed single-spaced, without margins or paragraph breaks. In the following years, Kerouac continued to revise this manuscript, deleting some sections (including some sexual depictions deemed pornographic in the 1950s) and adding smaller literary passages.[14] Kerouac authored a number of inserts intended for On the Road between 1951 and 1952, before eventually omitting them from the manuscript and using them to form the basis of another work, Visions of Cody.[15] On the Road was championed within Viking Press by Malcolm Cowley and was published by Viking in 1957, based on revisions of the 1951 manuscript.[16] Besides differences in formatting, the published novel was shorter than the original scroll manuscript and used pseudonyms for all of the major characters.

Viking Press released a slightly edited version of the original manuscript on 16 August 2007 titled On the Road: The Original Scroll corresponding with the 50th anniversary of original publication. This version has been transcribed and edited by English academic and novelist Dr. Howard Cunnell. As well as containing material that was excised from the original draft due to its explicit nature, the scroll version also uses the real names of the protagonists, so Dean Moriarty becomes Neal Cassady and Carlo Marx becomes Allen Ginsberg, etc.[17]

In 2007, Gabriel Anctil, a journalist of the Montreal's daily Le Devoir discovered, in Kerouac's personal archives in New York, almost 200 pages of his writings entirely in Quebec French, with colloquialisms. The collection included ten manuscript pages of an unfinished version of On the Road, written on January 19, 1951. The date of the writings makes Kerouac one of the earliest known authors to use colloquial Quebec French in literature.[18]

Plot summary[edit]

 

The two main characters of the book are the narrator, Salvatore "Sal" Paradise, and his new friend Dean Moriarty, much admired for his carefree attitude and sense for adventure, a free-spirited maverick eager to explore all kicks and an inspiration and catalyst for Sal's travels. The novel contains five parts, three of them describing road trips with Moriarty. The narrative takes place in the years 1947 to 1950, is full of Americana, and marks a specific era in jazz history, "somewhere between its Charlie Parker Ornithology period and another period that began with Miles Davis." The novel is largely autobiographical, Sal being the alter ego of the author and Dean standing for Neal Cassady. The epic nature of the adventures and the text itself creates a tremendous sense of meaning and purpose for the themes and lessons.

Part One[edit]

The first section describes Sal's first trip to San Francisco. Disheartened after a divorce, his life changes when he meets Dean Moriarty, who is "tremendously excited with life," and begins to long for the freedom of the road: "Somewhere along the line I knew there would be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me." He sets off in July 1947 with fifty dollars in his pocket. After taking several buses and hitchhiking, he arrives in Denver, where he hooks up with Carlo Marx, Dean, and their friends. There are parties — among them an excursion to the ghost town of Central City. Eventually Sal leaves by bus and gets to San Francisco, where he meets Remi Boncoeur and his girlfriend Lee Ann. Remi arranges for Sal to take a job as a night watchman at a boarding camp for merchant sailors waiting for their ship. Not holding this job for long, Sal hits the road again. "Oh, where is the girl I love?" he wonders. Soon he meets Terry, the "cutest little Mexican girl," on the bus to Los Angeles. They stay together, traveling back to Bakersfield, then to Sabinal, "her hometown," where her family works in the fields. He meets Terry's brother Ricky, who teaches him the true meaning of "mañana" ("tomorrow"). Working in the cotton fields, Sal realizes that he is not made for this type of work. Leaving Terry behind, he takes the bus back to New York and walks the final stretch from Times Square to Paterson, just missing Dean, who had come to see him, by two days.

In this section, Kerouac not only introduces many of the book's characters but also its central conflicts and dilemmas. He initially shows Sal as the deep thinking writer who yearns for greater freedom. As the plot unfolds he shows the depth and degree of Sal's internal conflict in the pursuit of "kicks," torn between the romanticized freedom of the open road and practicality of a more settled, domestic life. Dean appears as the "yellow roman candle" that catalyzes the action of the novel. His uncontainable spirit invites Sal to follow but also foreshadows problems of commitment and devotion that will reappear later on.

Part Two[edit]

In December 1948 Sal is celebrating Christmas with his relatives in Testament, Virginia when Dean shows up with Marylou (having left his second wife, Camille, and their newborn baby, Amy, in San Francisco) and Ed Dunkel. Sal's Christmas plans are shattered as "now the bug was on me again, and the bug's name was Dean Moriarty." First they drive to New York, where they meet Carlo and party. Dean wants Sal to make love to Marylou, but Sal declines. In Dean's Hudson they take off from New York in January 1949 and make it to New Orleans. In Algiers they stay with the morphine-addicted Old Bull Lee and his wife Jane. Galatea Dunkel joins her husband in New Orleans while Sal, Dean, and Marylou continue their trip. Once in San Francisco, Dean again leaves Marylou to be with Camille. "Dean will leave you out in the cold anytime it is in the interest of him," Marylou tells Sal. Both of them stay briefly in a hotel, but soon she moves out, following a nightclub owner. Sal is alone and on Market Street has visions of past lives, birth, and rebirth. Dean finds him and invites him to stay with his family. Together, they visit nightclubs and listen to Slim Gaillard and other jazz musicians. The stay ends on a sour note: "what I accomplished by coming to Frisco I don't know," and Sal departs, taking the bus back to New York.

In this section, Marylou sums up the dilemma of Dean's lack of commitment and selfishness when she says that he will always leave you if it isn't in his interest. This central conflict appears again after Dean returns to Camille in San Francisco, abandoning his two travel companions. Sal again finds himself at a loss for purpose and direction. He has spent his time following the other characters but is unfulfilled by the frantic nature of this life. Much of the euphoria has worn off as he becomes more contemplative and philosophical.

Part Three[edit]

In the spring of 1949, Sal takes a bus from New York to Denver. He is depressed and "lonesome"; none of his friends are around. After receiving some money, he leaves Denver for San Francisco to see Dean. Camille is pregnant and unhappy, and Dean has injured his thumb trying to hit Marylou for sleeping with other men. Camille throws them out, and Sal invites Dean to come to New York, planning to travel further to Italy. They meet Galatea, who tells Dean off: "You have absolutely no regard for anybody but yourself and your kicks." Sal realizes she is right — Dean is the "HOLY GOOF" — but also defends him, as "he's got the secret that we're all busting to find out." After a night of jazz and drinking in Little Harlem on Folsom Street, they depart. On the way to Sacramento they meet a "fag," who propositions them. Dean tries to hustle some money out of this but is turned down. During this part of the trip Sal and Dean have ecstatic discussions having found "IT" and "TIME." In Denver a brief argument shows the growing rift between the two, when Dean reminds Sal of his age, Sal being the older of the two. They get a '47 Cadillac from the travel bureau that needs to be brought to Chicago. Dean drives most of the way, crazy, careless, often speeding over 100 miles per hour, bringing it in a disheveled state. By bus they move on to Detroit and spend a night on Skid Row, Dean hoping to find his homeless father. From Detroit they share a ride to New York and arrive at Sal's aunt's new flat in Long Island. They go on partying in New York, where Dean meets Inez and gets her pregnant while his wife is expecting their second child.

After seeing how he treats Camille and Marylou, Sal finally begins to realize the nature of his relationship with Dean. While he cares greatly about him, several times discussing future plans to live on the same street, he recognizes that the feeling may not be mutual. The situations are beginning to change, though, as Sal has received some money from his recently published book and can begin to support himself and also Dean when he comes to New York. Sal is taking a more active role in his freedom as opposed to just following Dean.

Part Four[edit]

In the spring of 1950, Sal gets the itch to travel again while Dean is working as a parking lot attendant in Manhattan, living with his girlfriend Inez. Sal notices that he has been reduced to simple pleasures — listening to basketball games and looking at erotic playing cards. By bus Sal takes to the road again, passing Washington, Ashland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and eventually reaching Denver. There he meets Stan Shephard, and the two plan to go to Mexico City when they learn that Dean had bought a car and is on the way to join them. In a rickety '37 Ford sedan the three set off across Texas to Laredo, where they cross the border. They are ecstatic, having left "everything behind us and entering a new and unknown phase of things." Their money buys more (10 cents for a beer), police are laid back, cannabis is readily available, and people are curious and friendly. The landscape is magnificent. In Gregoria, they meet Victor, a local kid, who leads them to a bordello where they have their last grand party, dancing to mambo, drinking, and having fun with prostitutes. In Mexico City Sal becomes ill from dysentery and is "delirious and unconscious." Dean leaves him, and Sal later reflects that "when I got better I realized what a rat he was, but then I had to understand the impossible complexity of his life, how he had to leave me there, sick, to get on with his wives and woes."

In this section we see Dean's selfishness finally extend to Sal, as he leaves Sal abandoned in Mexico City. Sal has sunk to the bottom of his reality having seen Victor put his family obligations over the freedom of the road and Dean was not ready to do the same thing. This is the moment where the paths diverge and Sal realizes that he has more to live for than just constantly moving.

Part Five[edit]

Dean, having obtained divorce papers in Mexico, had first returned to New York to marry Inez, only to leave her and go back to Camille. After his recovery from dysentery in Mexico, Sal returns to New York in the fall. He finds a girl, Laura, and plans to move with her to San Francisco. Sal writes to Dean about his plan to move to San Francisco. Dean writes back saying that he's willing to come and accompany Laura and Sal. Dean arrives over five weeks early but Sal is out taking a late-night walk alone. Sal returns home to Laura and sees a copy of Proust and knows that it is Dean's. Sal realizes that his friend has arrived, but at a time when Sal doesn't have the money to relocate to San Francisco. On hearing this Dean makes the decision to head back to Camille and Sal's friend Remi Boncoeur denies Sal's request to give Dean a short lift to 40th Street on their way to a Duke Ellington concert at the Metropolitan Opera House. Sal's girlfriend Laura realises that this is a painful moment for Sal and prompts him for a response as the party drives off without Dean; to which he replies "He'll be alright". Sal later reflects as he sits on a river pier under a New Jersey night sky about the roads and lands of America that he has travelled and states ". . . I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty."

Character key[edit]

Kerouac often based his fictional characters on friends and family.[19][20]

"Because of the objections of my early publishers I was not allowed to use the same person's name in each work."[21]

Real-life personCharacter name

Jack KerouacSal Paradise

Gabrielle KerouacSal's Aunt

Alan AnsenRollo Greb

William S. BurroughsOld Bull Lee

Joan VollmerJane

Lucien CarrDamion

Neal CassadyDean Moriarty

Carolyn CassadyCamille

Hal ChaseChad King

Henri CruRemi Boncoeur

Bea Franco (Beatrice Kozera)Terry

Allen GinsbergCarlo Marx

Diana HansenInez

Alan HarringtonHal Hingham

Joan HavertyLaura

Luanne HendersonMarylou

Al HinkleEd Dunkel

Helen HinkleGalatea Dunkel

Jim HolmesTom Snark

John Clellon HolmesIan MacArthur

Ed StringhamTom Saybrook

Herbert HunckeElmer Hassel

Frank JeffriesStan Shephard

Gene PippinGene Dexter

Allan TemkoRoland Major

Bill TomsonRoy Johnson

Helen TomsonDorothy Johnson

Ed UhlEd Wall

Helen GullionRita Betancourt

Major themes[edit]

 

The main ideas of the Beat Generation, the longing for belief and meaning in life, are reflected in On the Road. While interest in the book initially revolved more around Kerouac's personal life rather than the literary nature of the text, critical attention has burgeoned in recent years. Although the book can be viewed through many lenses, several major themes rise up from a deeper study.

Kerouac has admitted that the biggest of these themes is religion. In a letter to a student in 1961, he wrote:

"Dean and I were embarked on a journey through post-Whitman America to FIND that America and to FIND the inherent goodness in American man. It was really a story about 2 Catholic buddies roaming the country in search of God. And we found him."

[22]

This idea of an inward adventure is illustrated in all of the experimentation. The Beats had a more liberal definition of God and spirituality closely related to personal experience.

All of the travel and personal interaction in the book permit an examination of the ideas of masculinity and mobility in the 1950s. While these concepts may seem unrelated, Kerouac weaves them together to provide another form of rebellion against the social norm of conformity. Mary Pannicia Carden examines this and proposes that traveling was a way for the characters to assert their independence. "[Sal and Dean] attempt to replace the model of manhood dominant in capitalist America with a model rooted in foundational American ideals of conquest and self-discovery."[23] Travel is a very symbolic act both in history and in literature of coming of age and self-realization, especially for males. But not only do they see conformity as restricting, but in many senses, they view women this way as well. "Reassigning disempowering elements of patriarchy to female keeping, they attempt to substitute male brotherhood for the nuclear family and to replace the ladder of success with the freedom of the road as primary measures of male identity."[23] The interactions of the book come down to balances of power and gains and losses of masculinity. Even though they seek to defy its traditional markers, Dean and Sal also rely on this masculinity in their self-definition. In the end, their divergence to different paths reflects Sal's understanding of the limitations of complete freedom that is sought on the road in so far as it pertains to relations to culture and identity.

In a broader sense, On the Road's major lesson is about the proper way of growing up. Unlike Holden Caulfield, Sal Paradise is struggling with getting through adolescence and maturity rather than delaying it. We see this contrasted with Dean Moriarty who is portrayed as the depiction of a child, always on the move. Sal's struggle is how to balance these opposing forces. We saw these exact issues in Holmes's definition of the Beat Generation as a whole, of which Sal Paradise becomes the metaphorical face.

Language[edit]

 

In addition to the themes and controversial topics addressed in On the Road, Kerouac's apparently erratic writing style garnered much attention for the novel. Some have said that On the Road was merely a transitional phase in between the traditional narrative structure of The Town and the City (1951) and the so-called "wild form" of Kerouac's later books like Visions of Cody (1972).[24]

Kerouac's own explanation of his style begins with the publication of "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" (1953) in which he outlines the core features of his techniques. He likens his writing to Impressionist painters who sought to create art through direct observation. He endeavored to present a raw version of truth which did not lend itself to the traditional process of revision and rewriting but rather the emotionally charged practice of spontaneity he pursued.[25]

This spontaneity produced a book that was not only readable in 1957 but still captures the attention of audiences today. The personal nature of the text helps foster a direct link between Kerouac and the reader. Because he is writing about actual experiences, conveying appropriately the environment provided this connection. Kerouac chose to do this through his detailed descriptions, rarely pausing for a breath between sentences. His more casual diction and very relaxed syntax, although viewed as less than serious by some, was an intentional attempt to depict events as they happened and to convey all of the energy and emotion of the experiences.[25]

Reception[edit]

 

The book received a mixed reaction from the media in 1957. Some of the earlier reviews spoke highly of the book, but the backlash to these was swift and strong. Although this was discouraging to Kerouac, he still received great recognition and notoriety from the work. Since its publication, critical attention has focused on issues of both the context and the style, addressing the actions of the characters as well as the nature of Kerouac's prose.

Initial reaction[edit]

In his review for The New York Times, Gilbert Millstein wrote, "its publication is a historic occasion in so far as the exposure of an authentic work of art is of any great moment in an age in which the attention is fragmented and the sensibilities are blunted by the superlatives of fashion" and praised it as "a major novel."[1] Millstein was already sympathetic toward the Beat Generation and his promotion of the book in the Times did wonders for its recognition and acclaim. Not only did he like the themes, but also the style, which would come to be just as hotly contested in the reviews that followed. "There are sections of On the Road in which the writing is of a beauty almost breathtaking...there is some writing on jazz that has never been equaled in American fiction, either for insight, style, or technical virtuosity."[1] Kerouac and Joyce Johnson, a younger writer he was living with, read the review shortly after midnight at a newsstand at 69th Street and Broadway, near Joyce's apartment in the Upper West Side. They took their copy of the newspaper to a neighborhood bar and read the review over and over. "Jack kept shaking his head," Joyce remembered later in her memoir Minor Characters, "as if he couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t happier than he was." Finally, they returned to her apartment to go to sleep. As Joyce recalled: "Jack lay down obscure for the last time in his life. The ringing phone woke him the next morning, and he was famous.”[26]

The backlash began just a few days later in the same publication. David Dempsey published a review that contradicted most of what Millstein had promoted in the book. "As a portrait of a disjointed segment of society acting out of its own neurotic necessity, "On the Road", is a stunning achievement. But it is a road, as far as the characters are concerned, that leads to nowhere." While he did not discount the stylistic nature of the text (saying that it was written "with great relish"), he dismissed the content as a "passionate lark" rather than a novel."[27]

Other reviewers were also less than impressed. Phoebe Lou Adams in Atlantic Monthly wrote that it "disappoints because it constantly promises a revelation or a conclusion of real importance and general applicability, and cannot deliver any such conclusion because Dean is more convincing as an eccentric than as a representative of any segment of humanity."[28] While she liked the writing and found a good theme, her concern was repetition. "Everything Mr. Kerouac has to say about Dean has been told in the first third of the book, and what comes later is a series of variations on the same theme."[28]

The review from Time exhibited a similar sentiment. "The post-World War II generation—beat or beatific—has not found symbolic spokesmen with anywhere near the talents of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, or Nathaniel West. In this novel, talented Author Kerouac, 35, does not join that literary league, either, but at least suggests that his generation is not silent. With his barbaric yawp of a book, Kerouac commands attention as a kind of literary James Dean."[29] It considers the book partly a travel book and partly a collection of journal jottings. While Kerouac sees his characters as "mad to live...desirous of everything at the same time," the reviewer likens them to cases of "psychosis that is a variety of Ganser Syndrome" who "aren't really mad—they only seem to be."[29]

Current reactions[edit]

On the Road has been the object of much study since its publication. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of publication, several critics took a fresh look at the text in 2007. It is interesting to consider how the perception has evolved in the last half century.

David Brooks of the New York Times compiled several of these opinions and summarized them in an Op-Ed from October 2, 2007. Where as Millstein saw it as a story in which the heroes took pleasure in everything, George Mouratidis, an editor of a new edition, claimed "above all else, the story is about loss." "It's a book about death and the search for something meaningful to hold on to — the famous search for 'IT,' a truth larger than the self, which, of course, is never found," wrote Meghan O'Rourke in Slate. "Kerouac was this deep, lonely, melancholy man," Hilary Holladay of the University of Massachusetts Lowell told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "And if you read the book closely, you see that sense of loss and sorrow swelling on every page." "In truth, 'On the Road' is a book of broken dreams and failed plans," wrote Ted Gioia in The Weekly Standard.[30]

John Leland, author of Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think), says "We're no longer shocked by the sex and drugs. The slang is passé and at times corny. Some of the racial sentimentality is appalling" but adds "the tale of passionate friendship and the search for revelation are timeless. These are as elusive and precious in our time as in Sal's, and will be when our grandchildren celebrate the book's hundredth anniversary."[31]

To Brooks, this characterization seems limited. "Reading through the anniversary commemorations, you feel the gravitational pull of the great Boomer Narcissus. All cultural artifacts have to be interpreted through whatever experiences the Baby Boomer generation is going through at that moment. So a book formerly known for its youthful exuberance now becomes a gloomy middle-aged disillusion."[30] He laments how the book's spirit seems to have been tamed by the professionalism of America today and how it has only survived in parts. The more reckless and youthful parts of the text that gave it its energy are the parts that have "run afoul of the new gentility, the rules laid down by the health experts, childcare experts, guidance counselors, safety advisers, admissions officers, virtuecrats and employers to regulate the lives of the young."[30] He claims that the "ethos" of the book has been lost.

Influence[edit]

 

On the Road has been a major influence on many poets, writers, actors and musicians, including Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Jim Morrison, Hunter S. Thompson, and many more.

"It changed my life like it changed everyone else's," Dylan would say many years later. Tom Waits, too, acknowledged its influence, hymning Jack and Neal in a song and calling the Beats "father figures." At least two great American photographers were influenced by Kerouac: Robert Frank, who became his close friend — Kerouac wrote the introduction to Franks' book, The Americans — and Stephen Shore, who set out on an American road trip in the 1970s with Kerouac's book as a guide. It would be hard to imagine Hunter S. Thompson's road novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas had On the Road not laid down the template; likewise, films such as Easy Rider, Paris, Texas, and even Thelma and Louise.[32]

In his book Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors, Ray Manzarek (keyboard player of The Doors) wrote "I suppose if Jack Kerouac had never written On the Road, The Doors would never have existed."

Since the mobile lifestyle popularized by "On The Road" had a strong influence on the large market segment of baby boomers who joined the hippie movement the death of Jack Kerouac was of interest to the readers of the pioneering new journalism publication Rolling Stone. As a result, editor and publisher of the tabloid, Jann Wenner, printed a detailed account of the funeral of the "On The Road" author by writers Stephen Davis and Eric Ehrmann. According to the Rolling Stone article, Jack Kerouac's open casket viewing at the Archambault Funeral Home and subsequent burial funeral at the Edson Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts were attended by few of his "On The Road" era friends. Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty in the book) had died the year before in 1968. San Francisco poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti chose not to come east to attend. Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx in the book) showed up with Peter Orlovsky and Gregory Corso was there filming the event. Author Terry Southern sent a floral arrangement that was on display near the bier. One writer in attendance not associated with the "On The Road" group or Beatnik crowd was New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin, who, like Kerouac, came from a working-class background. Breslin, who had been inspired by "On The Road" in his youth, journeyed up to Lowell to pay his respects, his feelings about Kerouac's appearing as part of the Rolling Stone coverage. Many writers, actors and artists including Ann Charters and Hettie Jones, inter alia, would later share their feelings about how they were influenced by "On The Road" and the Beat culture in the Rolling Stone Book of The Beats edited by Holly George Warren published by Hyperion in 1999.

 

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Nayade. Febrero 2009.

 

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The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separated from the eastern edge of the square mile of the City of London by the open space known as Tower Hill. It was founded toward the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 and was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new Norman ruling class. The castle was also used as a prison from 1100 (Ranulf Flambard) until 1952 (Kray twins), although that was not its primary purpose. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat. There were several phases of expansion, mainly under kings Richard I, Henry III, and Edward I in the 12th and 13th centuries. The general layout established by the late 13th century remains despite later activity on the site.

 

The Tower of London has played a prominent role in English history. It was besieged several times, and controlling it has been important to controlling the country. The Tower has served variously as an armoury, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a public record office, and the home of the Crown Jewels of England. From the early 14th century until the reign of Charles II in the 17th century, a procession would be led from the Tower to Westminster Abbey on the coronation of a monarch. In the absence of the monarch, the Constable of the Tower is in charge of the castle. This was a powerful and trusted position in the medieval period. In the late 15th century, the Princes in the Tower were housed at the castle when they mysteriously disappeared, presumed murdered. Under the Tudors, the Tower became used less as a royal residence, and despite attempts to refortify and repair the castle, its defences lagged behind developments to deal with artillery.

 

The zenith of the castle's use as a prison was the 16th and 17th centuries, when many figures who had fallen into disgrace, such as Elizabeth I before she became queen, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Elizabeth Throckmorton, were held within its walls. This use has led to the phrase "sent to the Tower". Despite its enduring reputation as a place of torture and death, popularised by 16th-century religious propagandists and 19th-century writers, only seven people were executed within the Tower before the world wars of the 20th century. Executions were more commonly held on the notorious Tower Hill to the north of the castle, with 112 occurring there over a 400-year period. In the latter half of the 19th century, institutions such as the Royal Mint moved out of the castle to other locations, leaving many buildings empty. Anthony Salvin and John Taylor took the opportunity to restore the Tower to what was felt to be its medieval appearance, clearing out many of the vacant post-medieval structures.

 

In the First and Second World Wars, the Tower was again used as a prison and witnessed the executions of 12 men for espionage. After the Second World War, damage caused during the Blitz was repaired, and the castle reopened to the public. Today, the Tower of London is one of the country's most popular tourist attractions. Under the ceremonial charge of the Constable of the Tower, operated by the Resident Governor of the Tower of London and Keeper of the Jewel House, and guarded by the Yeomen Warders, the property is cared for by the charity Historic Royal Palaces and is protected as a World Heritage Site.

 

Architecture

The Tower was oriented with its strongest and most impressive defences overlooking Saxon London, which archaeologist Alan Vince suggests was deliberate. It would have visually dominated the surrounding area and stood out to traffic on the River Thames. The castle is made up of three "wards", or enclosures. The innermost ward contains the White Tower and is the earliest phase of the castle. Encircling it to the north, east, and west is the inner ward, built during the reign of Richard I (1189–1199). Finally, there is the outer ward which encompasses the castle and was built under Edward I. Although there were several phases of expansion after William the Conqueror founded the Tower of London, the general layout has remained the same since Edward I completed his rebuild in 1285.

 

The castle encloses an area of almost 12 acres (4.9 hectares) with a further 6 acres (2.4 ha) around the Tower of London constituting the Tower Liberties – land under the direct influence of the castle and cleared for military reasons. The precursor of the Liberties was laid out in the 13th century when Henry III ordered that a strip of land adjacent to the castle be kept clear. Despite popular fiction, the Tower of London never had a permanent torture chamber, although the basement of the White Tower housed a rack in later periods. Tower Wharf was built on the bank of the Thames under Edward I and was expanded to its current size during the reign of Richard II (1377–1399).

 

White Tower

The White Tower is a keep (also known as a donjon), which was often the strongest structure in a medieval castle, and contained lodgings suitable for the lord – in this case, the king or his representative. According to military historian Allen Brown, "The great tower [White Tower] was also, by virtue of its strength, majesty and lordly accommodation, the donjon par excellence". As one of the largest keeps in the Christian world, the White Tower has been described as "the most complete eleventh-century palace in Europe".

 

The White Tower, not including its projecting corner towers, measures 36 by 32 metres (118 by 105 ft) at the base, and is 27 m (90 ft) high at the southern battlements. The structure was originally three storeys high, comprising a basement floor, an entrance level, and an upper floor. The entrance, as is usual in Norman keeps, was above ground, in this case on the south face, and accessed via a wooden staircase which could be removed in the event of an attack. It was probably during Henry II's reign (1154–1189) that a forebuilding was added to the south side of the tower to provide extra defences to the entrance, but it has not survived. Each floor was divided into three chambers, the largest in the west, a smaller room in the north-east, and the chapel taking up the entrance and upper floors of the south-east. At the western corners of the building are square towers, while to the north-east a round tower houses a spiral staircase. At the south-east corner there is a larger semi-circular projection which accommodates the apse of the chapel. As the building was intended to be a comfortable residence as well as a stronghold, latrines were built into the walls, and four fireplaces provided warmth.

 

The main building material is Kentish ragstone, although some local mudstone was also used. Caen stone was imported from northern France to provide details in the Tower's facing, although little of the original material survives as it was replaced with Portland stone in the 17th and 18th centuries. Reigate stone was also used as ashlar and for carved details. Its location, in the lower courses of the building and at higher levels corresponding to a building break, suggest it was readily available and may have been used when access to Caen stone was restricted. As most of the Tower's windows were enlarged in the 18th century, only two original – albeit restored – examples remain, in the south wall at the gallery level.

 

The tower was terraced into the side of a mound, so the northern side of the basement is partially below ground level. As was typical of most keeps, the bottom floor was an undercroft used for storage. One of the rooms contained a well. Although the layout has remained the same since the tower's construction, the interior of the basement dates mostly from the 18th century when the floor was lowered and the pre-existing timber vaults were replaced with brick counterparts. The basement is lit through small slits.

 

The entrance floor was probably intended for the use of the Constable of the Tower, Lieutenant of the Tower of London and other important officials. The south entrance was blocked during the 17th century, and not reopened until 1973. Those heading to the upper floor had to pass through a smaller chamber to the east, also connected to the entrance floor. The crypt of St John's Chapel occupied the south-east corner and was accessible only from the eastern chamber. There is a recess in the north wall of the crypt; according to Geoffrey Parnell, Keeper of the Tower History at the Royal Armouries, "the windowless form and restricted access, suggest that it was designed as a strong-room for safekeeping of royal treasures and important documents".

 

The upper floor contained a grand hall in the west and residential chamber in the east – both originally open to the roof and surrounded by a gallery built into the wall – and St John's Chapel in the south-east. The top floor was added in the 15th century, along with the present roof. St John's Chapel was not part of the White Tower's original design, as the apsidal projection was built after the basement walls. Due to changes in function and design since the tower's construction, except for the chapel little is left of the original interior.[20] The chapel's current bare and unadorned appearance is reminiscent of how it would have been in the Norman period. In the 13th century, during Henry III's reign, the chapel was decorated with such ornamentation as a gold-painted cross, and stained glass windows that depicted the Virgin Mary and the Holy Trinity.

 

Innermost ward

The innermost ward encloses an area immediately south of the White Tower, stretching to what was once the edge of the River Thames. As was the case at other castles, such as the 11th-century Hen Domen, the innermost ward was probably filled with timber buildings from the Tower's foundation. Exactly when the royal lodgings began to encroach from the White Tower into the innermost ward is uncertain, although it had happened by the 1170s. The lodgings were renovated and elaborated during the 1220s and 1230s, becoming comparable with other palatial residences such as Windsor Castle. Construction of Wakefield and Lanthorn Towers – located at the corners of the innermost ward's wall along the river – began around 1220. They probably served as private residences for the queen and king respectively.

 

The earliest evidence for how the royal chambers were decorated comes from Henry III's reign: the queen's chamber was whitewashed, and painted with flowers and imitation stonework. A great hall existed in the south of the ward, between the two towers. It was similar to, although slightly smaller than, that also built by Henry III at Winchester Castle. Near Wakefield Tower was a postern gate which allowed private access to the king's apartments. The innermost ward was originally surrounded by a protective ditch, which had been filled in by the 1220s. Around this time, a kitchen was built in the ward. Between 1666 and 1676, the innermost ward was transformed and the palace buildings removed. The area around the White Tower was cleared so that anyone approaching would have to cross open ground. The Jewel House was demolished, and the Crown Jewels moved to Martin Tower.

 

Inner ward

The inner ward was created during Richard the Lionheart's reign, when a moat was dug to the west of the innermost ward, effectively doubling the castle's size. Henry III created the ward's east and north walls, and the ward's dimensions remain to this day. Most of Henry's work survives, and only two of the nine towers he constructed have been completely rebuilt. Between the Wakefield and Lanthorn Towers, the innermost ward's wall also serves as a curtain wall for the inner ward. The main entrance to the inner ward would have been through a gatehouse, most likely in the west wall on the site of what is now Beauchamp Tower. The inner ward's western curtain wall was rebuilt by Edward I. The 13th-century Beauchamp Tower marks the first large-scale use of brick as a building material in Britain, since the 5th-century departure of the Romans. The Beauchamp Tower is one of 13 towers that stud the curtain wall. Clockwise from the south-west corner they are: Bell, Beauchamp, Devereux, Flint, Bowyer, Brick, Martin, Constable, Broad Arrow, Salt, Lanthorn, Wakefield, and the Bloody Tower. While these towers provided positions from which flanking fire could be deployed against a potential enemy, they also contained accommodation. As its name suggests, Bell Tower housed a belfry, its purpose to raise the alarm in the event of an attack. The royal bow-maker, responsible for making longbows, crossbows, catapults, and other siege and hand weapons, had a workshop in the Bowyer Tower. A turret at the top of Lanthorn Tower was used as a beacon by traffic approaching the Tower at night.

 

As a result of Henry's expansion, St Peter ad Vincula, a Norman chapel which had previously stood outside the Tower, was incorporated into the castle. Henry decorated the chapel by adding glazed windows, and stalls for himself and his queen. It was rebuilt by Edward I at a cost of over £300[36] and again by Henry VIII in 1519; the current building dates from this period, although the chapel was refurbished in the 19th century. Immediately west of Wakefield Tower, the Bloody Tower was built at the same time as the inner ward's curtain wall, and as a water-gate provided access to the castle from the River Thames. It was a simple structure, protected by a portcullis and gate. The Bloody Tower acquired its name in the 16th century, as it was believed to be the site of the murder of the Princes in the Tower. Between 1339 and 1341, a gatehouse was built into the curtain wall between Bell and Salt Towers. During the Tudor period, a range of buildings for the storage of munitions was built along the inside of the north inner ward. The castle buildings were remodelled during the Stuart period, mostly under the auspices of the Office of Ordnance. In 1663, just over £4,000 was spent building a new storehouse (now known as the New Armouries) in the inner ward. Construction of the Grand Storehouse north of the White Tower began in 1688, on the same site as the dilapidated Tudor range of storehouses; it was destroyed by fire in 1841. The Waterloo Block, a former barracks in the castellated Gothic Revival style with Domestic Tudor details, was built on the site and remains to this day, housing the Crown Jewels on the ground floor.

 

Outer ward

A third ward was created during Edward I's extension to the Tower, as the narrow enclosure completely surrounded the castle. At the same time a bastion known as Legge's Mount was built at the castle's northwest corner. Brass Mount, the bastion in the northeast corner, was a later addition. The three rectangular towers along the east wall 15 metres (49 ft) apart were dismantled in 1843. Although the bastions have often been ascribed to the Tudor period, there is no evidence to support this; archaeological investigations suggest that Legge's Mount dates from the reign of Edward I. Blocked battlements (also known as crenellations) in the south side of Legge's Mount are the only surviving medieval battlements at the Tower of London (the rest are Victorian replacements). A new 50-metre (160 ft) moat was dug beyond the castle's new limits; it was originally 4.5 metres (15 ft) deeper in the middle than it is today. With the addition of a new curtain wall, the old main entrance to the Tower of London was obscured and made redundant; a new entrance was created in the southwest corner of the external wall circuit. The complex consisted of an inner and an outer gatehouse and a barbican, which became known as the Lion Tower as it was associated with the animals as part of the Royal Menagerie since at least the 1330s. The Lion Tower itself no longer survives.

 

Edward extended the south side of the Tower of London onto land that had previously been submerged by the River Thames. In this wall, he built St Thomas's Tower between 1275 and 1279; later known as Traitors' Gate, it replaced the Bloody Tower as the castle's water-gate. The building is unique in England, and the closest parallel is the now demolished water-gate at the Louvre in Paris. The dock was covered with arrowslits in case of an attack on the castle from the River; there was also a portcullis at the entrance to control who entered. There were luxurious lodgings on the first floor. Edward also moved the Royal Mint into the Tower; its exact location early on is unknown, although it was probably in either the outer ward or the Lion Tower. By 1560, the Mint was located in a building in the outer ward near Salt Tower. Between 1348 and 1355, a second water-gate, Cradle Tower, was added east of St Thomas's Tower for the king's private use.

 

Foundation and early history

Victorious at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the invading Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror, spent the rest of the year securing his holdings by fortifying key positions. He founded several castles along the way, but took a circuitous route toward London; only when he reached Canterbury did he turn towards England's largest city. As the fortified bridge into London was held by Saxon troops, he decided instead to ravage Southwark before continuing his journey around southern England. A series of Norman victories along the route cut the city's supply lines and in December 1066, isolated and intimidated, its leaders yielded London without a fight. Between 1066 and 1087, William established 36 castles, although references in the Domesday Book indicate that many more were founded by his subordinates. The Normans undertook what has been described as "the most extensive and concentrated programme of castle-building in the whole history of feudal Europe". They were multi-purpose buildings, serving as fortifications (used as a base of operations in enemy territory), centres of administration, and residences.

 

William sent an advance party to prepare the city for his entrance, to celebrate his victory and found a castle; in the words of William's biographer, William of Poitiers, "certain fortifications were completed in the city against the restlessness of the huge and brutal populace. For he [William] realised that it was of the first importance to overawe the Londoners". At the time, London was the largest town in England; the foundation of Westminster Abbey and the old Palace of Westminster under Edward the Confessor had marked it as a centre of governance, and with a prosperous port it was important for the Normans to establish control over the settlement. The other two castles in London – Baynard's Castle and Montfichet's Castle – were established at the same time. The fortification that would later become known as the Tower of London was built onto the south-east corner of the Roman town walls, using them as prefabricated defences, with the River Thames providing additional protection from the south. This earliest phase of the castle would have been enclosed by a ditch and defended by a timber palisade, and probably had accommodation suitable for William.

 

Most of the early Norman castles were built from timber, but by the end of the 11th century a few, including the Tower of London, had been renovated or replaced with stone. Work on the White Tower – which gives the whole castle its name – is usually considered to have begun in 1078, however the exact date is uncertain. William made Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, responsible for its construction, although it may not have been completed until after William's death in 1087. The White Tower is the earliest stone keep in England, and was the strongest point of the early castle. It also contained grand accommodation for the king. At the latest, it was probably finished by 1100 when Bishop Ranulf Flambard was imprisoned there. Flambard was loathed by the English for exacting harsh taxes. Although he is the first recorded prisoner held in the Tower, he was also the first person to escape from it, using a smuggled rope secreted in a butt of wine. He was held in luxury and permitted servants, but on 2 February 1101 he hosted a banquet for his captors. After plying them with drink, when no one was looking he lowered himself from a secluded chamber, and out of the Tower. The escape came as such a surprise that one contemporary chronicler accused the bishop of witchcraft.

 

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 1097 King William II ordered a wall to be built around the Tower of London; it was probably built from stone and likely replaced the timber palisade that arced around the north and west sides of the castle, between the Roman wall (to the east) and the Thames (to the south). The Norman Conquest of London manifested itself not only with a new ruling class, but in the way the city was structured. Land was confiscated and redistributed amongst the Normans, who also brought over hundreds of Jews, for financial reasons. The Jews arrived under the direct protection of the Crown, as a result of which Jewish communities were often found close to castles. The Jews used the Tower as a retreat, when threatened by anti-Jewish violence.

 

The death in 1135 of Henry I left England with a disputed succession; although the king had persuaded his most powerful barons to swear support for the Empress Matilda, just a few days after Henry's death Stephen of Blois arrived from France to lay claim to the throne. The importance of the city and its Tower is marked by the speed at which he secured London. The castle, which had not been used as a royal residence for some time, was usually left in the charge of a Constable, a post held at this time by Geoffrey de Mandeville. As the Tower was considered an impregnable fortress in a strategically important position, possession was highly valued. Mandeville exploited this, selling his allegiance to Matilda after Stephen was captured in 1141 at the Battle of Lincoln. Once her support waned, the following year he resold his loyalty to Stephen. Through his role as Constable of the Tower, Mandeville became "the richest and most powerful man in England". When he tried the same ploy again, this time holding secret talks with Matilda, Stephen had him arrested, forced him to cede control of his castles, and replaced him with one of his most loyal supporters. Until then the position had been hereditary, originally held by Geoffrey de Mandeville, but the position's authority was such that from then on it remained in the hands of an appointee of the monarch. The position was usually given to someone of great importance, who might not always be at the castle due to other duties. Although the Constable was still responsible for maintaining the castle and its garrison, from an early stage he had a subordinate to help with this duty: the Lieutenant of the Tower.[70] Constables also had civic duties relating to the city. Usually they were given control of the city and were responsible for levying taxes, enforcing the law and maintaining order. The creation in 1191 of the position of Lord Mayor of London removed many of the Constable's civic powers, and at times led to friction between the two.

 

Expansion

The castle probably retained its form as established by 1100 until the reign of Richard I (1189–1199). The castle was extended under William Longchamp, King Richard's Lord Chancellor and the man in charge of England while he was on crusade. The Pipe Rolls record £2,881 1s 10d spent at the Tower of London between 3 December 1189 and 11 November 1190, from an estimated £7,000 spent by Richard on castle building in England. According to the contemporary chronicler Roger of Howden, Longchamp dug a moat around the castle and tried in vain to fill it from the Thames. Longchamp was also Constable of the Tower, and undertook its expansion while preparing for war with King Richard's younger brother, Prince John, who in Richard's absence arrived in England to try to seize power. As Longchamp's main fortress, he made the Tower as strong as possible. The new fortifications were first tested in October 1191, when the Tower was besieged for the first time in its history. Longchamp capitulated to John after just three days, deciding he had more to gain from surrender than prolonging the siege.

 

John succeeded Richard as king in 1199, but his rule proved unpopular with many of his barons, who in response moved against him. In 1214, while the king was at Windsor Castle, Robert Fitzwalter led an army into London and laid siege to the Tower. Although under-garrisoned, the Tower resisted and the siege was lifted once John signed the Magna Carta. The king reneged on his promises of reform, leading to the outbreak of the First Barons' War. Even after the Magna Carta was signed, Fitzwalter maintained his control of London. During the war, the Tower's garrison joined forces with the barons. John was deposed in 1216 and the barons offered the English throne to Prince Louis, the eldest son of the French king. However, after John's death in October 1216, many began to support the claim of his eldest son, Henry III. War continued between the factions supporting Louis and Henry, with Fitzwalter supporting Louis. Fitzwalter was still in control of London and the Tower, both of which held out until it was clear that Henry III's supporters would prevail.

 

In the 13th century, Kings Henry III (1216–1272) and Edward I (1272–1307) extended the castle, essentially creating it as it stands today. Henry was disconnected from his barons, and a mutual lack of understanding led to unrest and resentment towards his rule. As a result, he was eager to ensure the Tower of London was a formidable fortification; at the same time Henry was an aesthete and wished to make the castle a comfortable place to live. From 1216 to 1227 nearly £10,000 was spent on the Tower of London; in this period, only the work at Windsor Castle cost more (£15,000). Most of the work was focused on the palatial buildings of the innermost ward. The tradition of whitewashing the White Tower (from which it derives its name) began in 1240.

 

Beginning around 1238, the castle was expanded to the east, north, and north-west. The work lasted through the reign of Henry III and into that of Edward I, interrupted occasionally by civil unrest. New creations included a new defensive perimeter, studded with towers, while on the west, north, and east sides, where the wall was not defended by the river, a defensive ditch was dug. The eastern extension took the castle beyond the bounds of the old Roman settlement, marked by the city wall which had been incorporated into the castle's defences. The Tower had long been a symbol of oppression, despised by Londoners, and Henry's building programme was unpopular. So when the gatehouse collapsed in 1240, the locals celebrated the setback. The expansion caused disruption locally and £166 was paid to St Katherine's Hospital and the prior of Holy Trinity in compensation.

 

Henry III often held court at the Tower of London, and held parliament there on at least two occasions (1236 and 1261) when he felt that the barons were becoming dangerously unruly. In 1258, the discontented barons, led by Simon de Montfort, forced the King to agree to reforms including the holding of regular parliaments. Relinquishing the Tower of London was among the conditions. Henry III resented losing power and sought permission from the pope to break his oath. With the backing of mercenaries, Henry installed himself in the Tower in 1261. While negotiations continued with the barons, the King ensconced himself in the castle, although no army moved to take it. A truce was agreed with the condition that the King hand over control of the Tower once again. Henry won a significant victory at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, allowing him to regain control of the country and the Tower of London. Cardinal Ottobuon came to England to excommunicate those who were still rebellious; the act was deeply unpopular and the situation was exacerbated when the cardinal was granted custody of the Tower. Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, marched on London in April 1267 and laid siege to the castle, declaring that custody of the Tower was "not a post to be trusted in the hands of a foreigner, much less of an ecclesiastic". Despite a large army and siege engines, Gilbert de Clare was unable to take the castle. The Earl retreated, allowing the King control of the capital, and the Tower experienced peace for the rest of Henry's reign.

 

Although he was rarely in London, Edward I undertook an expensive remodelling of the Tower, costing £21,000 between 1275 and 1285, over double that spent on the castle during the whole of Henry III's reign. Edward I was a seasoned castle builder, and used his experience of siege warfare during the crusades to bring innovations to castle building. His programme of castle building in Wales heralded the introduction of the widespread use of arrowslits in castle walls across Europe, drawing on Eastern influences. At the Tower of London, Edward filled in the moat dug by Henry III and built a new curtain wall along its line, creating a new enclosure. A new moat was created in front of the new curtain wall. The western part of Henry III's curtain wall was rebuilt, with Beauchamp Tower replacing the castle's old gatehouse. A new entrance was created, with elaborate defences including two gatehouses and a barbican. In an effort to make the castle self-sufficient, Edward I also added two watermills. Six hundred Jews were imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1278, charged with coin clipping. Persecution of the country's Jewish population under Edward began in 1276 and culminated in 1290 when he issued the Edict of Expulsion, forcing the Jews out of the country. In 1279, the country's numerous mints were unified under a single system whereby control was centralised to the mint within the Tower of London, while mints outside of London were reduced, with only a few local and episcopal mints continuing to operate.

 

Later Medieval Period

During Edward II's reign (1307–1327) there was relatively little activity at the Tower of London. However, it was during this period that the Privy Wardrobe was founded. The institution was based at the Tower and responsible for organising the state's arms. In 1321, Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere became the first woman imprisoned in the Tower of London after she refused Queen Isabella admittance to Leeds Castle and ordered her archers to target Isabella, killing six of the royal escort. Generally reserved for high-ranking inmates, the Tower was the most important royal prison in the country. However it was not necessarily very secure, and throughout its history people bribed the guards to help them escape. In 1323, Roger Mortimer, Baron Mortimer, was aided in his escape from the Tower by the Sub-Lieutenant of the Tower who let Mortimer's men inside. They hacked a hole in his cell wall and Mortimer escaped to a waiting boat. He fled to France where he encountered Edward's Queen. They began an affair and plotted to overthrow the King.

 

One of Mortimer's first acts on entering England in 1326 was to capture the Tower and release the prisoners held there. For four years he ruled while Edward III was too young to do so himself; in 1330, Edward and his supporters captured Mortimer and threw him into the Tower. Under Edward III's rule (1312–1377) England experienced renewed success in warfare after his father's reign had put the realm on the backfoot against the Scots and French. Amongst Edward's successes were the battles of Crécy and Poitiers where King John II of France was taken prisoner, and the capture of the King David II of Scotland at Neville's Cross. During this period, the Tower of London held many noble prisoners of war. Edward II had allowed the Tower of London to fall into a state of disrepair, and by the reign of Edward III the castle was an uncomfortable place. The nobility held captive within its walls were unable to engage in activities such as hunting which were permissible at other royal castles used as prisons, for instance Windsor. Edward III ordered that the castle should be renovated.

 

When Richard II was crowned in 1377, he led a procession from the Tower to Westminster Abbey. This tradition began in at least the early 14th century and lasted until 1660. During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 the Tower of London was besieged with the King inside. When Richard rode out to meet with Wat Tyler, the rebel leader, a crowd broke into the castle without meeting resistance and looted the Jewel House. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury, took refuge in St John's Chapel, hoping the mob would respect the sanctuary. However, he was taken away and beheaded on Tower Hill. Six years later there was again civil unrest, and Richard spent Christmas in the security of the Tower rather than Windsor as was more usual. When Henry Bolingbroke returned from exile in 1399, Richard was imprisoned in the White Tower. He abdicated and was replaced on the throne by Bolingbroke, who became King Henry IV. In the 15th century, there was little building work at the Tower of London, yet the castle still remained important as a place of refuge. When supporters of the late Richard II attempted a coup, Henry IV found safety in the Tower of London. During this period, the castle also held many distinguished prisoners. The heir to the Scottish throne, later King James I of Scotland, was kidnapped while journeying to France in 1406 and held in the Tower. The reign of Henry V (1413–1422) renewed England's fortune in the Hundred Years' War against France. As a result of Henry's victories, such as the Battle of Agincourt, many high-status prisoners were held in the Tower of London until they were ransomed.

 

Much of the latter half of the 15th century was occupied by the Wars of the Roses between the claimants to the throne, the houses of Lancaster and York. The castle was once again besieged in 1460, this time by a Yorkist force. The Tower was damaged by artillery fire but only surrendered when Henry VI was captured at the Battle of Northampton. With the help of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (nicknamed "the Kingmaker") Henry recaptured the throne for a short time in 1470. However, Edward IV soon regained control and Henry VI was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he was probably murdered. In 1471, during the Siege of London, the Tower's Yorkist garrison exchanged fire with Lancastrians holding Southwark, and sallied from the fortress to take part in a pincer movement to attack Lancastrians who were assaulting Aldgate on London's defensive wall. During the wars, the Tower was fortified to withstand gunfire, and provided with loopholes for cannons and handguns: an enclosure called the Bulwark was created for this purpose to the south of Tower Hill, although it no longer survives.

 

Shortly after the death of Edward IV in 1483, the notorious murder of the Princes in the Tower is traditionally believed to have taken place. The incident is one of the most infamous events associated with the Tower of London. Edward V's uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester was declared Lord Protector while the prince was too young to rule. Traditional accounts have held that the 12-year-old Edward was confined to the Tower of London along with his younger brother Richard. The Duke of Gloucester was proclaimed King Richard III in June. The princes were last seen in public in June 1483;[105] it has traditionally been thought that the most likely reason for their disappearance is that they were murdered late in the summer of 1483. Bones thought to belong to them were discovered in 1674 when the 12th-century forebuilding at the entrance to the White Tower was demolished; however, the reputed level at which the bones were found (10 ft or 3 m) would put the bones at a depth similar to that of the Roman graveyard found, in 2011, 12 ft (4 m) underneath the Minories a few hundred yards to the north. Opposition to Richard escalated until he was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 by the Lancastrian Henry Tudor, who ascended to the throne as Henry VII. As king, Henry VII built a tower for a library next to the King's Tower.

 

Changing use

The beginning of the Tudor period marked the start of the decline of the Tower of London's use as a royal residence. As 16th-century chronicler Raphael Holinshed said the Tower became used more as "an armouries and house of munition, and thereunto a place for the safekeeping of offenders than a palace roiall for a king or queen to sojourne in". Henry VII visited the Tower on fourteen occasions between 1485 and 1500, usually staying for less than a week at a time. The Yeoman Warders have been the Royal Bodyguard since at least 1509. In 1517 the Tower fired its cannon at City crowds engaged in the xenophobic Evil May Day riots, in which the properties of foreign residents were looted. It is not thought that any rioters were hurt by the gunfire, which was probably meant merely to intimidate the mob.

 

During the reign of Henry VIII, the Tower was assessed as needing considerable work on its defences. In 1532, Thomas Cromwell spent £3,593 on repairs and imported nearly 3,000 tons of Caen stone for the work. Even so, this was not sufficient to bring the castle up to the standard of contemporary military fortifications which were designed to withstand powerful artillery. Although the defences were repaired, the palace buildings were left in a state of neglect after Henry's death. Their condition was so poor that they were virtually uninhabitable. From 1547 onwards, the Tower of London was only used as a royal residence when its political and historic symbolism was considered useful, for instance each of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I briefly stayed at the Tower before their coronations.

 

In the 16th century, the Tower acquired an enduring reputation as a grim, forbidding prison. This had not always been the case. As a royal castle, it was used by the monarch to imprison people for various reasons, however these were usually high-status individuals for short periods rather than common citizenry as there were plenty of prisons elsewhere for such people. Contrary to the popular image of the Tower, prisoners were able to make their life easier by purchasing amenities such as better food or tapestries through the Lieutenant of the Tower. As holding prisoners was originally an incidental role of the Tower – as would have been the case for any castle – there was no purpose-built accommodation for prisoners until 1687 when a brick shed, a "Prison for Soldiers", was built to the north-west of the White Tower. The Tower's reputation for torture and imprisonment derives largely from 16th-century religious propagandists and 19th-century romanticists. Although much of the Tower's reputation is exaggerated, the 16th and 17th centuries marked the castle's zenith as a prison, with many religious and political undesirables locked away. The Privy Council had to sanction the use of torture, so it was not often used; between 1540 and 1640, the peak of imprisonment at the Tower, there were 48 recorded cases of the use of torture. The three most common forms used were the infamous rack, the Scavenger's daughter, and manacles. The rack was introduced to England in 1447 by the Duke of Exeter, the Constable of the Tower; consequentially it was also known as the Duke of Exeter's daughter. One of those tortured at the Tower was Guy Fawkes, who was brought there on 6 November 1605; after torture he signed a full confession to the Gunpowder Plot.

 

Among those held and executed at the Tower was Anne Boleyn. Although the Yeoman Warders were once the Royal Bodyguard, by the 16th and 17th centuries their main duty had become to look after the prisoners. The Tower was often a safer place than other prisons in London such as the Fleet, where disease was rife. High-status prisoners could live in conditions comparable to those they might expect outside; one such example was that while Walter Raleigh was held in the Tower his rooms were altered to accommodate his family, including his son who was born there in 1605. Executions were usually carried out on Tower Hill rather than in the Tower of London itself, and 112 people were executed on the hill over 400 years.[119] Before the 20th century, there had been seven executions within the castle on Tower Green; as was the case with Lady Jane Grey, this was reserved for prisoners for whom public execution was considered dangerous. After Lady Jane Grey's execution on 12 February 1554, Queen Mary I imprisoned her sister Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth I, in the Tower under suspicion of causing rebellion as Sir Thomas Wyatt had led a revolt against Mary in Elizabeth's name.

 

The Office of Ordnance and Armoury Office were founded in the 15th century, taking over the Privy Wardrobe's duties of looking after the monarch's arsenal and valuables. As there was no standing army before 1661, the importance of the royal armoury at the Tower of London was that it provided a professional basis for procuring supplies and equipment in times of war. The two bodies were resident at the Tower from at least 1454, and by the 16th century they had moved to a position in the inner ward. The Board of Ordnance (successor to these Offices) had its headquarters in the White Tower and used surrounding buildings for storage. In 1855 the Board was abolished; its successor (the Military Store Department of the War Office) was also based there until 1869, after which its headquarters staff were relocated to the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich (where the recently closed Woolwich Dockyard was converted into a vast ordnance store).

 

Political tensions between Charles I and Parliament in the second quarter of the 17th century led to an attempt by forces loyal to the King to secure the Tower and its valuable contents, including money and munitions. London's Trained Bands, a militia force, were moved into the castle in 1640. Plans for defence were drawn up and gun platforms were built, readying the Tower for war. The preparations were never put to the test. In 1642, Charles I attempted to arrest five members of parliament. When this failed he fled the city, and Parliament retaliated by removing Sir John Byron, the Lieutenant of the Tower. The Trained Bands had switched sides, and now supported Parliament; together with the London citizenry, they blockaded the Tower. With permission from the King, Byron relinquished control of the Tower. Parliament replaced Byron with a man of their own choosing, Sir John Conyers. By the time the English Civil War broke out in November 1642, the Tower of London was already in Parliament's control.

 

The last monarch to uphold the tradition of taking a procession from the Tower to Westminster to be crowned was Charles II in 1661. At the time, the castle's accommodation was in such poor condition that he did not stay there the night before his coronation. Under the Stuart kings the Tower's buildings were remodelled, mostly under the auspices of the Office of Ordnance. Just over £4,000 was spent in 1663 on building a new storehouse, now known as the New Armouries in the inner ward. In the 17th century there were plans to enhance the Tower's defences in the style of the trace italienne, however they were never acted on. Although the facilities for the garrison were improved with the addition of the first purpose-built quarters for soldiers (the "Irish Barracks") in 1670, the general accommodations were still in poor condition.

 

When the Hanoverian dynasty ascended the throne, their situation was uncertain and with a possible Scottish rebellion in mind, the Tower of London was repaired. Most of the work in this period (1750 to 1770) was done by the King's Master Mason, John Deval. Gun platforms added under the Stuarts had decayed. The number of guns at the Tower was reduced from 118 to 45, and one contemporary commentator noted that the castle "would not hold out four and twenty hours against an army prepared for a siege". For the most part, the 18th-century work on the defences was spasmodic and piecemeal, although a new gateway in the southern curtain wall permitting access from the wharf to the outer ward was added in 1774. The moat surrounding the castle had become silted over the centuries since it was created despite attempts at clearing it. It was still an integral part of the castle's defences, so in 1830 the Constable of the Tower, the Duke of Wellington, ordered a large-scale clearance of several feet of silt. However this did not prevent an outbreak of disease in the garrison in 1841 caused by poor water supply, resulting in several deaths. To prevent the festering ditch posing further health problems, it was ordered that the moat should be drained and filled with earth. The work began in 1843 and was mostly complete two years later. The construction of the Waterloo Barracks in the inner ward began in 1845, when the Duke of Wellington laid the foundation stone. The building could accommodate 1,000 men; at the same time, separate quarters for the officers were built to the north-east of the White Tower. The building is now the headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The popularity of the Chartist movement between 1828 and 1858 led to a desire to refortify the Tower of London in the event of civil unrest. It was the last major programme of fortification at the castle. Most of the surviving installations for the use of artillery and firearms date from this period.

 

During the First World War, eleven men were tried in private and shot by firing squad at the Tower for espionage. During the Second World War, the Tower was once again used to hold prisoners of war. One such person was Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's deputy, albeit just for four days in 1941. He was the last state prisoner to be held at the castle. The last person to be executed at the Tower was German spy Josef Jakobs who was shot on 15 August 1941. The executions for espionage during the wars took place in a prefabricated miniature rifle range which stood in the outer ward and was demolished in 1969. The Second World War also saw the last use of the Tower as a fortification. In the event of a German invasion, the Tower, together with the Royal Mint and nearby warehouses, was to have formed one of three "keeps" or complexes of defended buildings which formed the last-ditch defences of the capital.

 

Restoration and tourism

The Tower of London has become established as one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. It has been a tourist attraction since at least the Elizabethan period, when it was one of the sights of London that foreign visitors wrote about. Its most popular attractions were the Royal Menagerie and displays of armour. The Crown Jewels also garner much interest, and have been on public display since 1669. The Tower steadily gained popularity with tourists through the 19th century, despite the opposition of the Duke of Wellington to visitors. Numbers became so high that by 1851 a purpose-built ticket office was erected. By the end of the century, over 500,000 were visiting the castle every year.

 

Over the 18th and 19th centuries, the palatial buildings were slowly adapted for other uses and demolished. Only the Wakefield and St Thomas's Towers survived. The 18th century marked an increasing interest in England's medieval past. One of the effects was the emergence of Gothic Revival architecture. In the Tower's architecture, this was manifest when the New Horse Armoury was built in 1825 against the south face of the White Tower. It featured elements of Gothic Revival architecture such as battlements. Other buildings were remodelled to match the style and the Waterloo Barracks were described as "castellated Gothic of the 15th century". Between 1845 and 1885 institutions such as the Mint which had inhabited the castle for centuries moved to other sites; many of the post-medieval structures left vacant were demolished. In 1855, the War Office took over responsibility for manufacture and storage of weapons from the Ordnance Office, which was gradually phased out of the castle. At the same time, there was greater interest in the history of the Tower of London.

 

Public interest was partly fuelled by contemporary writers, of whom the work of William Harrison Ainsworth was particularly influential. In The Tower of London: A Historical Romance he created a vivid image of underground torture chambers and devices for extracting confessions that stuck in the public imagination. Ainsworth also played another role in the Tower's history, as he suggested that Beauchamp Tower should be opened to the public so they could see the inscriptions of 16th- and 17th-century prisoners. Working on the suggestion, Anthony Salvin refurbished the tower and led a further programme for a comprehensive restoration at the behest of Prince Albert. Salvin was succeeded in the work by John Taylor. When a feature did not meet his expectations of medieval architecture Taylor would ruthlessly remove it; as a result, several important buildings within the castle were pulled down and in some cases post-medieval internal decoration removed.

 

Although only one bomb fell on the Tower of London in the First World War (it landed harmlessly in the moat), the Second World War left a greater mark. On 23 September 1940, during the Blitz, high-explosive bombs damaged the castle, destroying several buildings and narrowly missing the White Tower. After the war, the damage was repaired and the Tower of London was reopened to the public.

 

A 1974 bombing in the White Tower Mortar Room left one person dead and 41 injured. No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but the police investigated suspicions that the IRA was behind it.

 

In the 21st century, tourism is the Tower's primary role, with the remaining routine military activities, under the Royal Logistic Corps, having wound down in the latter half of the 20th century and moved out of the castle. However, the Tower is still home to the regimental headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and the museum dedicated to it and its predecessor, the Royal Fusiliers. Also, a detachment of the unit providing the King's Guard at Buckingham Palace still mounts a guard at the Tower, and with the Yeomen Warders, takes part in the Ceremony of the Keys each day. On several occasions through the year gun salutes are fired from the Tower by the Honourable Artillery Company, these consist of 62 rounds for royal occasions, and 41 on other occasions.

 

Since 1990, the Tower of London has been cared for by an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, which receives no funding from the Government or the Crown. In 1988, the Tower of London was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, in recognition of its global importance and to help conserve and protect the site. However, recent developments, such as the construction of skyscrapers nearby, have pushed the Tower towards being added to the United Nations' Heritage in Danger List. The remains of the medieval palace have been open to the public since 2006 where visitors can explore the restored chambers. Although the position of Constable of the Tower remains the highest position held at the Tower, the responsibility of day-to-day administration is delegated to the Resident Governor. The Constable is appointed for a five-year term; this is primarily a ceremonial post today but the Constable is also a trustee of Historic Royal Palaces and of the Royal Armouries. General Sir Gordon Messenger was appointed Constable in 2022.

 

At least six ravens are kept at the Tower at all times, in accordance with the belief that if they are absent, the kingdom will fall. They are under the care of the Ravenmaster, one of the Yeoman Warders. As well as having ceremonial duties, the Yeoman Warders provide guided tours around the Tower.

 

Garrison

The Yeomen Warders provided the permanent garrison of the Tower, but the Constable of the Tower could call upon the men of the Tower Hamlets to supplement them when necessary. The Tower Hamlets, aka Tower Division of Middlesex's Ossulstone Hundred was an area, significantly larger than the modern London Borough of the same name, which owed military service to the Constable in his ex officio role as Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets.

 

The earliest surviving reference to the inhabitants of the Tower Hamlets having a duty to provide a guard for the Tower of London is from 1554, during the reign of Mary I, but the relationship is thought to go back much further. Some believe the connection goes back to the time of the Conqueror. The duty is likely to have had its origin in the rights and obligations of the Manor of Stepney which covered most or all of the Hamlets area.

 

Crown Jewels

The tradition of housing the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London probably dates from the reign of Henry III (1216–1272). The Jewel House was built specifically to house the royal regalia, including jewels, plate, and symbols of royalty such as the crown, sceptre, and sword. When money needed to be raised, the treasure could be pawned by the monarch. The treasure allowed the monarch independence from the aristocracy and consequently was closely guarded. A new position for "keeper of the jewels, armouries and other things" was created, which was well rewarded; in the reign of Edward III (1327–1377) the holder was paid 12d a day. The position grew to include other duties including purchasing royal jewels, gold, and silver, and appointing royal goldsmiths and jewellers.

 

In 1649, during the English Commonwealth following Charles I's execution, the contents of the Jewel House were disposed of along with other royal properties, as decreed by Cromwell. Metal items were sent to the Mint to be melted down and re-used, and the crowns were "totallie broken and defaced".

 

When the monarchy was restored in 1660, the only surviving items of the coronation regalia were a 12th-century spoon and three ceremonial swords. (Some pieces that had been sold were later returned to the Crown.) Detailed records of old regalia survived, and replacements were made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661 based on drawings from the time of Charles I. For the coronation of Charles II, gems were rented because the treasury could not afford to replace them.

 

In 1669, the Jewel House was demolished and the Crown Jewels moved into Martin Tower (until 1841). They were displayed here for viewing by the paying public. This was exploited two years later when Colonel Thomas Blood attempted to steal them. Blood and his accomplices bound and gagged the Jewel House keeper. Although they laid their hands on the Imperial State Crown, Sceptre and Orb, they were foiled when the keeper's son turned up unexpectedly and raised the alarm.

 

Since 1994, the Crown Jewels have been on display in the Jewel House in the Waterloo Block. Some of the pieces were once regularly used by Queen Elizabeth II. The display includes 23,578 gemstones, the 800-year-old Coronation Spoon, St Edward's Crown (traditionally placed on a monarch's head at the moment of crowning) and the Imperial State Crown.

 

Royal Menagerie

There is evidence that King John (1166–1216) first started keeping wild animals at the Tower. Records of 1210–1212 show payments to lion keepers.

 

The Royal Menagerie is frequently referenced during the reign of Henry III. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II presented Henry with three leopards, c. 1235, which were kept in the Tower. In 1252, the sheriffs were ordered to pay fourpence a day towards the upkeep of the King's polar bear, a gift from Haakon IV of Norway in the same year; the bear attracted a great deal of attention from Londoners when it went fishing in the Thames while tied to the land by a chain. In 1254 or 1255, Henry III received an African elephant from Louis IX of France depicted by Matthew Paris in his Chronica Majora. A wooden structure was built to house the elephant, 12.2 m (40 ft) long by 6.1 m (20 ft) wide. The animal died in 1258, possibly because it was given red wine, but also perhaps because of the cold climate of England.

 

In 1288, Edward I added a lion and a lynx and appointed the first official Keeper of the animals.[179] Edward III added other types of animals, two lions, a leopard and two wildcats. Under subsequent kings, the number of animals grew to include additional cats of various types, jackals, hyenas, and an old brown bear, Max, gifted to Henry VIII by Emperor Maximilian.[180] In 1436, during the time of Henry VI, all the lions died and the employment of Keeper William Kerby was terminated.

 

Historical records indicate that a semi-circular structure or barbican was built by Edward I in 1277; this area was later named the Lion Tower, to the immediate west of the Middle Tower. Records from 1335 indicate the purchase of a lock and key for the lions and leopards, also suggesting they were located near the western entrance of the Tower. By the 1500s that area was called the Menagerie. Between 1604 and 1606 the Menagerie was extensively refurbished and an exercise yard was created in the moat area beside the Lion Tower. An overhead platform was added for viewing of the lions by the royals, during lion baiting, for example in the time of James I. Reports from 1657 include mention of six lions, increasing to 11 by 1708, in addition to other types of cats, eagles, owls and a jackal.

 

Natural History Museum

By the 18th century, the menagerie was open to the public; admission cost three half-pence or a cat or dog to be fed to the lions. By the end of the century, that had increased to 9 pence. A particularly famous inhabitant was Old Martin, a large grizzly bear given to George III by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1811. An 1800 inventory also listed a tiger, leopards, a hyena, a large baboon, various types of monkeys, wolves, and "other animals". By 1822, however, the collection included only a grizzly bear, an elephant, and some birds. Additional animals were then introduced. In 1828, there were over 280 representing at least 60 species as the new keeper Alfred Copps was actively acquiring animals.

 

After the death of George IV in 1830, a decision was made to close down the Menagerie on the orders of the Duke of Wellington. In 1831, most of the stock was moved to the London Zoo which had opened in 1828. This decision was made after an incident, although sources vary as to the specifics: either a lion was accused of biting a soldier, or Ensign Seymour had been bitten by a monkey. The last of the animals left in 1835, relocated to Regent's Park. The Menagerie buildings were removed in 1852 but the Keeper of the Royal Menagerie was entitled to use the Lion Tower as a house for life. Consequently, even though the animals had long since left the building, the tower was not demolished until the death of Copps, the last keeper, in 1853.

 

In 1999, physical evidence of lion cages was found, one being 2x3 metres (6.5x10 feet) in size, very small for a lion that can grow to be 2.5 meters (approximately 8 feet) long. In 2008, the skulls of two male Barbary lions (now extinct in the wild) from northwest Africa were found in the moat area of the Tower. Radiocarbon tests dated them from 1280 to 1385 and 1420–1480. In 2011, an exhibition was hosted at the Tower with fine wire sculptures by Kendra Haste.

 

In folklore

The Tower of London has been represented in popular culture in many ways. As a result of 16th and 19th century writers, the Tower has a reputation as a grim fortress, a place of torture and execution.

 

One of the earliest traditions associated with the Tower was that it was built by Julius Caesar; the story was popular amongst writers and antiquaries. The earliest recorded attribution of the Tower to the Roman ruler dates to the mid-14th century in a poem by Sir Thomas Gray. The origin of the myth is uncertain, although it may be related to the fact that the Tower was built in the corner of London's Roman walls. Another possibility is that someone misread a passage from Gervase of Tilbury in which he says Caesar built a tower at Odnea in France. Gervase wrote Odnea as Dodres, which is close to the French for London, Londres. Today, the story survives in William Shakespeare's Richard II and Richard III, and as late as the 18th century some still regarded the Tower as built by Caesar.

 

Anne Boleyn was beheaded in 1536 for treason against Henry VIII; her ghost supposedly haunts the Church of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower, where she is buried, and has been said to walk around the White Tower carrying her head under her arm. This haunting is commemorated in the 1934 comic song "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm". Other reported ghosts include Henry VI, Lady Jane Grey, Margaret Pole, and the Princes in the Tower. In January 1816, a sentry on guard outside the Jewel House claimed to have witnessed an apparition of a bear advancing towards him, and reportedly died of fright a few days later. In October 1817, a tubular, glowing apparition was claimed to have been seen in the Jewel House by the Keeper of the Crown Jewels, Edmund Lenthal Swifte. He said that the apparition hovered over the shoulder of his wife, leading her to exclaim: "Oh, Christ! It has seized me!" Other nameless and formless terrors have been reported, more recently, by night staff at the Tower.

Work by CAN2

WRITERS RESIST: Louder Together for Free Expression was a literary protest on the steps of the New York Public Library’s Schwarzman Building at 42nd St. that brought together hundreds of writers and artists and thousands of New Yorkers on the birthday of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. American poet laureates Robert Pinsky, Author and Rita Dove offered each other hope and inspiration with "inaugural" poems.

Nikon D90

Nikon Battery Grip MB-D80

Af-S Nikkor 16-85mm. G ED DX VR

Lunghezza focale 34mm.

F9 1/40sec.

200 ISO

January 17, 2016: Writers Resist, PEN protest on the NYC Library steps

Spain Female Writer

Artist headshot of Jayita Bhattacharya, writer and performer

gouache/heavy paper 8" x 6". sold.

writer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Rencontres d'Arles

The Rencontres d’Arles (formerly called Rencontres internationales de la photographie d’Arles) is an annual summer photography festival founded in 1970 by the Arles photographer Lucien Clergue, the writer Michel Tournier and the historian Jean-Maurice Rouquette.

 

The Rencontres d’Arles has an international impact by showing material that has never been seen by the public before. In 2015, the festival welcomed 93,000 visitors.

 

The specially designed exhibitions, often organised in collaboration with French and foreign museums and institutions, take place in various historic sites. Some venues, such as 12th-century chapels or 19th-century industrial buildings, are open to the public throughout the festival.

 

The Rencontres d’Arles has revealed many photographers, confirming its significance as a springboard for photography and contemporary creativity.

 

In recent years the Rencontres d’Arles has invited many guest curators and entrusted some of its programming to such figures as Martin Parr in 2004, Raymond Depardon in 2006 and the Arles-born fashion designer Christian Lacroix.

  

Contents

1Art directors

2The festival

3The Rencontres d'Arles award winners

4References

5External links

Art directors[edit]

 

A photographer, Jean-Pierre Sudre, discussing his work, Rencontres d'Arles, 1975

1970 – 1972: Lucien Clergue, Michel Tournier, Jean-Maurice Rouquette

1973 – 1976: Lucien Clergue

1977: Bernard Perrine

1978: Jacques Manachem

1979 – 1982: Alain Desvergnes [fr]

1983 – 1985: Lucien Clergue

1986 – 1987: François Hébel

1988 – 1989: Claude Hudelot [fr]

1990: Agnès de Gouvion Saint-Cyr

1991 – 1993: Louis Mesplé [fr]

1994: Lucien Clergue

1995 – 1998, délégué général: Bernard Millet [fr]

1995, artistic director: Michel Nuridsany [fr]

1996, artistic director: Joan Fontcuberta

1997, artistic director: Christian Caujolle [fr]

1998, artistic director: Giovanna Calvenzi

1999 – 2001: Gilles Mora [fr]

2002 – 2014: François Hébel

Since 2015: Sam Stourdzé [fr]

The festival[edit]

 

A photography exhibition, Rencontres d'Arles, 2010

Events[edit]

Opening week at the Rencontres d’Arles features photography-focused events (projections at night, exhibition tours, panel discussions, symposia, parties, book signings, etc.) in the town's historic venues, some of which are only open to the public during the festival. Memorable events in recent years include Europe Night (2008), an overview of European photography; Christian Lacroix's fashion show for the festival's closing (2008); and Patti Smith's concert for the Vu agency's 20th anniversary (2006).

 

Nights at the Roman Theatre[edit]

At night, work by a photographer or a photography expert is projected in the town's open-air Roman theatre accompanied by concerts and performances. Each event is a one-off creation. In 2009, 8,500 people attended evenings at the Roman theatre, an average of 2,000 a night, and 2,500 were there on closing night, when the Tiger Lilies played during a projection of Nan Goldin's “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency”. In 2013 over 6,000 people attended the nighttime photography projections, an average of approximately 1,000 each night.

 

The Night of the Year[edit]

The Night of the Year, which was created in 2006, allows visitors to walk around and see the festival's favourite works by artists and photographers as well as carte blanche exhibitions by institutions.

 

Cosmos-Arles Books[edit]

Cosmos-Arles Books is a Rencontres d’Arles satellite event dedicated to new publishing practices.

 

Over the past 15 years large-scale photographic publications, self-published books, and ebooks have become essential media for experimentation by photographers and artists. They allow photography to be rediscovered as a means of expression and distribution, providing a rich terrain of expression for the art's fundamentally hybrid forms.

 

Symposia and panel discussions[edit]

Photographers and professionals participating in symposia and panel discussions during opening week discuss their work or issues raised by the images on display. In recent years the themes included whether a black-and-white aesthetic is still conceivable in photography (2013); the impact of social networks on creativity and information (2011); breaking with past, a key idea for photography today (2009); photography commissions: freedom or constraint (2008); challenges and changes in the photography market (2007).

 

The Rencontres d’Arles awards[edit]

Since 2002 the Rencontres d’Arles awards have been an opportunity to discover new talents. In 2007 the number of annual awards was reduced to three, presented at the closing ceremony of the festival's professional week: the Discovery Award (€25,000), Author's Book Award (€8,000) and History Book Award (€8,000).

 

Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award[edit]

In 2015 the Rencontres d’Arles offered an award to assist with the publication of a dummy book. Endowed with a €25,000 budget production budget, this new prize is open to all photographers and artists using photography who submit a dummy book that has never been published.

 

The winner's book will be produced in autumn 2015 and be presented at the 2016 Rencontres d’Arles.

 

Photo Folio Review & Gallery[edit]

Since 2006 aspiring photographers have been able to submit their portfolios to international photography experts in various fields, including publishers, exhibition curators, heads of institutions, agency directors, gallery owners, collectors, critics and photo editors, for appraisal during the festival's opening week. Photo Folio Review & Gallery offers them an opportunity to show their work throughout the festival.

 

Photography classes[edit]

The Rencontres d’Arles has always been a place where professional photographers and practitioners on every level have been able to meet each other and exchange ideas. Each year, photography class participants undertake a personal journey of creation through photography's aesthetic, ethical and technological issues. Leading photographers such as Guy le Querrec, Antoine d’Agata, Martin Parr, René Burri and Joan Fontcuberta regularly teach at the Rencontres d’Arles.

 

Rentrée en Images[edit]

“Rentrée en Images” has been a key part of the festival's educational activities since 2004. During the first two weeks in September, special mediators take students from the primary to graduate school level on guided tours of the exhibitions. Based on the festival's programming, the event aims to introduce young people to the visual arts and fits in with a wider policy of cultural democratisation. “Rentrée en Images” reaches thousands of students, and for many of them it is their first exposure to contemporary art.

 

Budget[edit]

Public funding accounted for 40% of the 2015 festival's €6.3-million budget, sales (mainly of tickets and derivative products), 40% and private partnerships, 20%[clarification needed][citation needed].

 

Executive Committee[edit]

Hubert Védrine, president

Hervé Schiavetti, vice-president

Jean-François Dubos, vice-president

Marin Karmitz, treasurer

Françoise Nyssen, secretary

Lucien Clergue, Jean-Maurice Rouquette, Michel Tournier, founding members

The Rencontres d'Arles award winners[edit]

2002[edit]

Jury: Denis Curti, Alberto Anault, Alice Rose George, Manfred Heiting, Erik Kessels, Claudine Maugendre, Val Williams

Discovery Award: Peter Granser

No Limit award: Jacqueline Hassink

Dialogue of the humanity award: Tom Wood

Photographer of the year award: Roger Ballen

Help to the project: Pascal Aimar, Chris Shaw

Author's Book Award: Sibusiso Mbhele and His Fish Helicopter by Koto Bolofo (powerHouse Books, 2002)

Help to publishing: Une histoire sans nom by Anne-Lise Broyer

2003[edit]

Jury: Giovanna Calvenzi, Hou Hanru, Christine Macel, Anna Lisa Milella, Urs Stahel

Discovery Award: Zijah Gafic

No Limit award: Thomas Demand

Dialogue of the humanity award: Fazal Sheikh

Photographer of the year award: Anders Petersen

Help to the project: Jitka Hanzlova

Author's Book Award: Hide That Can by Deirdre O’Callaghan (Trolley Books, 2002)

Help to publishing: A Personal Diary of Chinese Avant-Garde in the 1990s, China (1993–1998) by Xing Danwen

2004[edit]

Jury: Eikoh Hosoe, Joan Fontcuberta, Tod Papageorge, Elaine Constantine, Antoine d’Agata

Discovery Award: Yasu Suzuka

No Limit award: Jonathan de Villiers

Dialogue of the humanity award: Edward Burtynsky

Help to the project: John Stathatos

Author's Book Award: Particulars by David Goldblatt (Goodman Gallery, 2003)

2005[edit]

Jury: Ute Eskildsen, Jean-Louis Froment, Michel Mallard, Kathy Ryan, Marta Gili

Discovery Award: Miroslav Tichý[1]

No Limit award: Mathieu Bernard-Reymond

Dialogue of the humanity award: Simon Norfolk

Help to the project: Anna Malagrida

Author's Book Award: Temporary Discomfort (Chapter I-V) by Jules Spinatsch (Lars Müller Publishers, 2005)

2006[edit]

Jury: Vincent Lavoie, Abdoulaye Konaté, Yto Barrada, Marc-Olivier Wahler, Alain d’Hooghe

Discovery Award: Alessandra Sanguinetti

No Limit award: Randa Mirza

Dialogue of the humanity award: Wang Qingsong

Help to the project: Walid Raad

Author's Book Award: Form aus Licht und Schatten by Heinz Hajek-Halke (Steidl, 2005)

2007[edit]

[2]

 

Jury: Bice Curiger, Alain Fleischer, Johan Sjöström, Thomas Weski, Anne Wilkes Tucker

Discovery Award: Laura Henno

Author's Book Award: Empty Bottles by WassinkLundgren (Thijs groot Wassink and Ruben Lundgren) (Veenman Publishers, 2007)

Historical Book Award: László Moholy-Nagy: Color in Transparency: Photographic Experiments in Color, 1934–1946 by Jeannine Fiedler (Steidl & Bauhaus-Archiv, 2006)

2008[edit]

[3]

 

Jury: Elisabeth Biondi, Luis Venegas, Nathalie Ours, Caroline Issa and Massoud Golsorkhi, Carla Sozzani

Discovery Award: Pieter Hugo

Author's Book Award: Strange and Singular by Michael Abrams (Loosestrife, 2007)

Historical Book Award: Nein, Onkel: Snapshots from Another Front 1938–1945 by Ed Jones and Timothy Prus (Archive of Modern Conflict, 2007)

2009[edit]

[4]

 

Jury: Lucien Clergue, Bernard Perrine, Alain Desvergnes, Claude Hudelot, Agnès de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Louis Mesplé, Bernard Millet, Michel Nuridsany, Joan Fontcuberta, Christian Caujolle, Giovanna Calvenzi, Martin Parr, Christian Lacroix, Arnaud Claass, Christian Milovanoff

Discovery Award: Rimaldas Viksraitis

Author's Book Award: From Back Home by Anders Petersen and JH Engström (Bokförlaget Max Ström, 2009)

Historical Book Award: In History by Susan Meiselas (Steidl and International Center of Photography, 2008)

2010[edit]

[5][6]

 

Discovery Award: Taryn Simon

LUMA award: Trisha Donnelly

Author's Book Award: Photography 1965–74 by Yutaka Takanashi (Only Photograph, 2010)

Historical Book Award: Les livres de photographies japonais des années 1960 et 1970 by Ryuichi Kaneko and Ivan Vartanian (Seuil, 2009)

2011[edit]

[7][8]

 

Discovery Award: Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse[9]

Author's Book Award: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters by Taryn Simon (Mack, 2011)[9]

Historical Book Award: Works by Lewis Baltz (Steidl, 2010)[9]

2012[edit]

[10][11][12]

 

Discovery Award: Jonathan Torgovnik

Author's Book Award: Redheaded Peckerwood by Christian Patterson (Mack, 2011)

Historical Book Award: Les livres de photographie d’Amérique latine by Horacio Fernández (Images en Manœuvres Éditions, 2011)

2013[edit]

Discovery Award: Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh and Rozenn Quéré

Author's Book Award: Anticorps by Antoine d’Agata (Xavier Barral & Le Bal, 2013)[13]

Historical Book Award: AOI [COD.19.1.1.43] – A27 [S | COD.23 by Rosângela Rennó (Self-published, 2013)

2014[edit]

Discovery Award: Zhang Kechun

Author's Book Award: Hidden Islam by Nicolo Degiorgis (Rorhof, 2014)

Historical Book Award: Paris mortel retouché by Johan van der Keuken (Van Zoetendaal Publishers, 2013)

2015[edit]

Discovery Award: Pauline Fargue

Author's Book Award: H. said he loved us by Tommaso Tanini (Discipula Editions, 2014)

Historical Book Award: Monograph Vitas Luckus. Works & Biography by Margarita Matulytė and Tatjana Luckiene-Aldag (Kaunas Photography Gallery and Lithuanian Art Museum, 2014)

Dummy Book Award: The Jungle Book by Yann Gross

Photo Folio Review: Piero Martinelo (winner); Charlotte Abramow, Martin Essi, Elin Høyland, Laurent Kronenthal (special mentions)

2016[edit]

Discovery Award: Sarah Waiswa

Author's Book Award: Taking Off. Henry My Neighbor by Mariken Wessels (Art Paper Editions, 2015)

Historical Book Award: (in matters of) Karl by Annette Behrens (Fw: Books, 2015)

Photo-Text Award: Negative Publicity: Artefacts of Extraordinary Rendition by Edmund Clark and Crofton Black (Aperture, 2015)

Dummy Book Award: You and Me: A project between Bosnia, Germany and the US by Katja Stuke and Oliver Sieber

Photo Folio Review: David Fathi (winner); Sonja Hamad, Eric Leleu, Karolina Paatos, Maija Tammi (special mentions)

2017[edit]

Discovery Award: Carlos Ayesta and Guillaume Bression

Author's Book Award: Ville de Calais by Henk Wildschut (self-published, 2017)

Special Mention for Author's Book Award: Gaza Works by Kent Klich (Koenig, 2017)

Historical Book Award: Latif Al Ani by Latif Al Ani (Hannibal Publishing, 2017)

Photo-Text Award: The Movement of Clouds around Mount Fuji by Masanao Abe and Helmut Völter (Spector Books, 2016)

Dummy Book Award: Grozny: Nine Cities by Olga Kravets, Maria Morina, and Oksana Yushko

Photo Folio Review: Aurore Valade (winner); Haley Morris Cafiero, Alexandra Lethbridge, Charlotte Abramow, Catherine Leutenegger (special mentions)[14]

2018[edit]

[15][16][17]

 

Discovery Award: Paulien Oltheten

Author's Book Award: Photographic Treatment by Laurence Aëgerter (Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2017)

Special Mention for Author's Book Award: The Iceberg by Giorgio di Noto (Edition Patrick Frey, 2017)

Historical Book Award: The Pigeon Photographer by Julius Neubronner (Rorhof, 2017)

Photo-Text Award: War Primer 2 by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin (Mack Books, 2018)

Dummy Book Award: Phénomènes by Marina Gadonneix

Special Mention for Dummy Book Award: State of Shame by Indrė Urbonaitė

Photo Folio Review: Kurt Tong (winner)

Exhibitions

1970

 

Gjon Mili, Edward Weston, ...

1971

 

Pedro Luis Raota, Charles Vaucher, Olivier Gagliani, Steve Soltar, Judy Dater, Jack Welpott, Gordon Bennett, John Weir, Linda Connor, Neal White, Jean-Claude Gautrand, Jean Rouet, Pierre Riehl, Roger Doloy, Georges Guilpin, Alain Perceval, Jean-Louis Viel, Jean-Luc Tartarin, Frédéric Barzilay, Jean-Claude Bernath, André Recoules, Etienne-Bertrand Weill, Rodolphe Proverbio, Jean Dieuzaide, Paul Caponigro, Jerry Uelsmann, Heinz Hajek-Halke, Rinaldo Prieri, Jean-Pierre Sudre, Denis Brihat, …

1972

 

Hiro, Lucien Clergue, Eugène Atget, Bruce Davidson, …

1973

 

Imogen Cunningham, Linda Connor, Judy Dater, Allan Porter, Paul Strand, Edward S. Curtis, …

1974

 

Brassaï, Ansel Adams, Georges A. Tice, …

1975

 

Agence Viva, André Kertész, Yousuf Karsh, Robert Doisneau, Lucien Clergue, Jean Dieuzaide, Ralph Gibson, Charles Harbutt, Tania Kaleya, Eva Rubinstein, Michel Saint Jean, Kishin Shinoyama, Hélène Théret, Georges Tourdjman, …

1976

 

Ernst Haas, Bill Brandt, Man Ray, Marc Riboud, Agence Magnum, Eikō Hosoe, Judy Dater, Jack Welpott, Doug Stewart, Duane Michals, Leslie Krims, Bob Mazzer, Horner, S. Sykes, David Hurn, Mary Ellen Mark, René Groebli, Guy Le Querrec, …

1977

 

Will Mac Bride, Paul Caponigro, Neal Slavin, Max Waldman, Dennis Stock, Josef Sudek, Harry Callahan, R. Benvenisti, P. Carroll, William Christenberry, S. Ciccone, W. Eggleston, R. Embrey, B. Evans, R. Gibson, D. Grégory, F. Horvat, W. Krupsan, W. Larson, U. Mark, J. Meyerowitz, S. Shore, N. Slavin, L. Sloan-Théodore, J. Sternfeld, R. Wol, …

1978

 

Lisette Model, Izis, William Klein, Hervé Gloaguen, Yan Le Goff, Serge Gal, Marc Tulane, Lionel Jullian, Alain Gualina, …

1979

 

David Burnett, Mary Ellen Mark, Jean-Pierre Laffont, Abbas, Pedro Meyer, Yves Jeanmougin, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, …

1980

 

Willy Ronis, Arnold Newman, Jay Maisel, Christian Vogt, Ben Fernandez, Julia Pirotte, …

1981

 

Guy Bourdin, Steve Hiett, Sarah Moon and Dan Weeks, Art Kane, Cheyco Leidman, André Martin, François Kollar, …

1982

 

Willy Zielke, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alexey Brodovitch, Robert Frank, William Klein, Max Pam, Bernard Plossu, …

1983

 

Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Davidson, …

1984

 

Jean Dieuzaide, Marilyn Bridges, Mario Giacomelli, Augusto De Luca, Joyce Tenneson, Luigi Ghirri, Albato Guatti, Mario Samarughi, Arman, Raoul Ubac, …

1985

 

David Hockney, Fritz Gruber, Franco Fontana, Milton Rogovin, Gilles Peress, Jane Evelyn Atwood, Eugene Richards, Sebastião Salgado, Robert Capa, Lucien Hervé, …

1986

 

Collection Graham Nash, Annie Leibovitz, Sebastião Salgado, Martin Parr, Robert Doisneau, Paulo Nozolino, Ugo Mulas, Bruce Gilden, Georges Rousse, Peter Knapp, Max Pam, Miguel Rio Branco, Michelle Debat, Andy Summers, Baron Wolman. …

1987

 

Brian Griffin, Dominique Issermann, Nan Goldin, Max Vadukul, Gabriele Basilico, Paul Graham, Thomas Florschuetz, Gianni Berengo Gardin, … Autres invités des Rencontres 88: Hans Namuth, Jean-Marc Tingaud, Mary Ellen Mark, Charles Camberoque, Martine Voyeux, Marie-Paule Nègre, Xavier Lambours, Patrick Zachmann, Jean-Marie Del Moral, Nittin Vadukul, Jean Larivière, Bruce Weber, Germaine Krull, Jean-Paul Goude, Jean-Louis Boissier, Sandra Petrillo, Daniel Schwartz, Laurent Septier, Jean-Marc Zaorski, Bernard Descamps, Marc Garanger, Yan Layma, Michel Delaborde, Michel Semeniako, Françoise Huguier, Paolo Calia, Deborah Turbeville, Gundunla Schulze. Ainsi que Henri Alekan, Arielle Dombasle, Jacques Séguéla, Roland Topor, Serge July, Lucinda Childs, invited to comment on their private screening at parties in Roman Theatre, where Christian Lacroix organised a show.

1988

 

La danse, la Chine, la pub. Chinese photography is presented for the first time abroad as a major exhibition with 40 Chinese photographers, including Wu Yinxian, Zhang Hai-er, Chen Baosheng, Ling Fei, Xia Yonglie, curated by Karl Kugel, co-director of the film China: Inner views / Chine: vues intérieures, released at the opening of the festival. Most major photographers who have covered this country are also present either in the exhibition of Magnum Photos, curated by François Hébel, either in solo exhibitions, such as Marc Riboud ou de Jeanloup Sieff.

1989

 

Arles fête ses vingt ans (1969-1989); with Lucien Clergue, Lee Friedlander, Cristina García Rodero, John Demos, Philippe Bazin, George Hashigushi, Eduardo Masférré, Hervé Gloaguen, Elizabeth Sunday, Pierre de Vallombreuse, Robert Frank's The lines of My Hand (commissioned by Charles-Henri Favrod); in honour of Pierre de Fenoÿl; Julio Mitchel, Roland Schneider, Rafael Vargas, John Phillips, Annette Messager, Christian Boltanski, la collection Bonnemaison, Javier Vallhonrat, Thierry Girard, Dennis Hopper. Exhibition Ils annoncent la couleur with Stéphane Sednaoui, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Max Vadukul, Nick Night, Nigel Shafran, Tony Viramontes, Cindy Palmano; commissioned by Marc Vascoli. Exposition et soirée Deep South with Robert Frank, Bruce Davidson, Duane Michals, Gordon Parks, Alain Desvergnes, Gilles Mora, Paul Kwilecki, William Christenberry, William Eggleston, Marylin Futtermann, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Fern Koch, Jay Leviton, Eudora Welty; commissioned by Gilles Mora.

1990

 

Volker Hinz, Erasmus Schröter, Stéphane Duroy, Raymond Depardon, Frédéric Brenner, Drtikol, Saudek, …

1991

 

Tina Modotti, Edward Weston, Graciela Iturbide, Martín Chambi, Sergio Larrain, Sebastião Salgado, Juan Rulfo, Miguel Rio Branco, Eric Poitevin, Alberto Schommer, …

1992

 

Don McCullin, Dieter Appelt, Béatrix Von Conta, Denise Colomb, José Ortiz-Echagüe, Wout Berger, Thibaut Cuisset, Knut W. Maron, John Statathos, …

1993

 

Richard Avedon, Larry Fink, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Cecil Beaton, Raymonde April, Koji Inove, Louis Jammes, Eiichiro Sakata, …

1994

 

Andres Serrano, Roger Pic, Marc Riboud, Bogdan Konopka, Sarah Moon, Pierre et Gilles, Marie-Paule Nègre, Edward Steichen and Josef Sudek, Robert Doisneau, André Kertész, …

 

1995

 

Alain Fleischer, Roger Ballen, Noda, Toyoura, Slocombe, Nam June Paik, France Bourély. …

1996

 

Ralph Eugene Meatyard, William Wegman, Grete Stern, Paolo Gioli, Nancy Burson, John Stathatos, Sophie Calle, Luigi Ghirri, Pierre Cordier, …

1997

 

Collection Marion Lambert, Eugene Richards, Mathieu Pernot, Aziz + Cucher, Jochen Gerz, Antoni Muntadas, Ricard Terré, …

1998

 

David LaChapelle, Herbert Spring, Mike Disfarmer, Francesca Woodman, Federico Patellani, Massimo Vitali, Dieter Appelt, Samuel Fosso, Urs Lu.thi, Pierre Molinier, Yasumasa Morimura, Roman Opalka, Cindy Sherman, Sophie Weibel, …

1999

 

Lee Friedlander, Walker Evans, …

2000

 

Tina Modotti, Jakob Tuggener, Peter Sakaer, Masahisa Fukase, Herbert Matter, Robert Heinecken, Jean-Michel Alberola, Tom Drahaos, Willy Ronis, Frederick Sommer, Lucien Clergue, Sophie Calle, …

2001

 

Luc Delahaye, Patrick Tosani, Stéphane Couturier, David Rosenfeld, James Casebere, Peter Lindbergh, …

2002

 

Guillaume Herbaut, Baader Meinhof, Astrid Proll, Josef Koudelka, Gabriele Basilico, Rineke Dijkstra, Lise Sarfati, Jochen Gerz, Collection Ordoñez Falcon, Larry Sultan, Alex Mac Lean, Alastair Thain, Raeda Saadeh, Zineb Sedira, Serguei Tchilikov, Jem Southam, Alexey Titarenko, Andreas Magdanz, Sophie Ristelhueber, …

2003

 

Collection Claude Berri, Lin Tianmiao & Wang Gongxin, Xin Danwen, Gao Bo, Shao Yinong & Mu Chen, Hong Li, Hai Bo, Chen Lingyang, Ma Liuming, Hong Hao, Naoya Hatakeyama, Roman Opalka, Jean-Pierre Sudre, Suzanne Lafont, Corinne Mercadier, Adam Bartos, Marie Le Mounier, Yves Chaudouët, Galerie VU, Harry Gruyaert, Vincenzo Castella, Alain Willaume, François Halard, Donovan Wylie, Jérôme Brézillon & Nicolas Guiraud, Jean-Daniel Berclaz, Monique Deregibus, Youssef Nabil, Tina Barney, …

2004

 

Dayanita Singh, Les archives du ghetto de Lodz, Stephen Gill, Oleg Kulik, Arsen Savadov, Keith Arnatt, Raphaël Dallaporta, Taiji Matsue, Tony Ray-Jones, Osamu Kanemura, Kawauchi Rinko, Chris Killip, Chris Shaw, Kimura Ihei, Neeta Madahar, Frank Breuer, Hans van der Meer, James Mollison, Chris Killip, Mathieu Pernot, Paul Shambroom, Katy Grannan, Lucien Clergue, AES + F, György Lörinczy, …

2005

 

Collection William M. Hunt, Miguel Rio Branco, Thomas Dworzak, Alex Majoli, Paolo Pellegrin, Ilkka Uimonen, Barry Frydlender, David Tartakover, Michal Heiman, Denis Rouvre, Denis Darzacq, David Balicki, Joan Fontcuberta, Christer Strömholm, Keld Helmer-Petersen, …

2006

 

La photographie américaine à travers les collections françaises, Robert Adams, Cornell Capa, Gilles Caron, Don McCullin, Guy Le Querrec, Susan Meiselas, Julien Chapsal, Michael Ackerman, David Burnett, Lise Sarfati, Sophie Ristelhueber, Dominique Issermann, Jean Gaumy, Daniel Angeli, Paul Graham, Claudine Doury, Jean-Christophe Bechet, David Goldblatt, Anders Petersen, Philippe Chancel, Meyer, Olivier Culmann, Gilles Coulon, …

2007

 

The 60th year of Magnum Photos, Pannonica de Koenigswarter, Le Studio Zuber, Collections d’Albums Indiens de la Collection Alkazi, Alberto Garcia-Alix, Raghu Rai, Dayanita Singh, Nony Singh, Sunil Gupta, Anay Mann, Pablo Bartholomew Bharat Sikka, Jeetin Sharma, Siya Singh, Huang Rui, Gao Brothers, RongRong & inri, Liu Bolin, JR, …

2008

 

Richard Avedon, Grégoire Alexandre, Joël Bartoloméo, Achinto Bhadra, Jean-Christian Bourcart, Samuel Fosso, Charles Fréger, Pierre Gonnord, Françoise Huguier, Grégoire Korganow, Peter Lindbergh, Guido Mocafico, Henri Roger, Paolo Roversi, Joachim Schmid, Nigel Shafran,[14] Georges Tony Stoll, Patrick Swirc, Tim Walker, Vanessa Winship, …

2009

 

Robert Delpire, Willy Ronis, Jean-Claude Lemagny, Lucien Clergue, Elger Esser, Roni Horn, Duane Michals, Nan Goldin (invitée d'honneur), Brian Griffin, Naoya Hatakeyama, JH Engström, David Armstrong, Eugene Richards[15] (The Blue Room), Martin Parr, Paolo Nozolino, …[16]

2010

 

Robert Mapplethorpe[17] Lea Golda Holterman[18]

2011

 

Chris Marker, photos du New York Times, Robert Capa, Wang Qingsong, Dulce Pinzon, JR, ...

2012

 

Les 30 ans de l'ENSP, Josef Koudelka, Amos Gitai, Klavdij Sluban & Laurent Tixador, Arnaud Claass,[19] Grégoire Alexandre, Édouard Beau, Jean-Christophe Béchet, Olivier Cablat, Sébastien Calvet, Monique Deregibus & Arno Gisinger, Vincent Fournier, Marina Gadonneix, Valérie Jouve, Sunghee Lee, Isabelle Le Minh, Mireille Loup, Alexandre Maubert, Mehdi Meddaci, Collection Jan Mulder, Alain Desvergnes,[20] Olivier Metzger, Joséphine Michel, Erwan Morère, Tadashi Ono, Bruno Serralongue, Dorothée Smith, Bertrand Stofleth & Geoffroy Mathieu, Pétur Thomsen, Jean-Louis Tornato, Aurore Valade, Christian Milovanoff,[21]

2013

 

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Sergio Larrain, Guy Bourdin, Alfredo Jaar,[22] John Stezaker,[23] Wolfgang Tillmans,[24] Viviane Sassen,[25] Jean-Michel Fauquet, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Miguel Angel Rojas, Pieter Hugo,[26] Michel Vanden Eeckhoudt, Xavier Barral,[27] John Davis, Antoine Gonin,[28] Thabiso Sekgala, Philippe Chancel, Raphaël Dallaporta, Alain Willaume, Cedric Nunn, Santu Mofokeng, Harry Gruyaert, Jo Ractliffe, Zanele Muholi, Patrick Tourneboeuf, Thibaut Cuisset, Antoine Cairns, Jean-Louis Courtinat, Christina de Middel, Stéphane Couturier, Frédéric Nauczyciel, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Pierre Jamet, Raynal Pellicer, Studio Fouad, Erik Kessels.

2014

 

Lucien Clergue, Christian Lacroix, Raymond Depardon, Léon Gimpel, David Bailey, Vik Muniz, Patrick Swirc, Denis Rouvre, Vincent Pérez, Chema Madoz, Élise Mazac, Robert Drowilal, Anouck Durand, Refik Vesei, Pleurat Sulo, Katjusha Kumi,Ilit Azoulay, Katharina Gaenssler, Miguel Mitlag, Victor Robledo, Youngsoo Han, Kechun Zhang, Pieter Ten Hoopen, Will Steacy, Kudzanai Chiurai, Patrick Willocq, Ciril Jazbec, Milou Abel, Sema Bekirovic, Melanie Bonajo, Hans de Vries, Hans Eijkelboom, Erik Fens, Jos Houweling, Hans van der Meer, Maurice van Es, Benoît Aquin, Luc Delahaye, Mitch Epstein, Nadav Kander.

2015

 

Walker Evans, Stephen Shore, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Toon Michiels, Olivier Cablat, Markus Brunetti, Paul Ronald, Sandro Miller, Eikoh Hosoe, Masahisa Fukase, Daido Moriyama, Masatoshi Naito, Issei Suda, Kou Inose, Sakiko Nomura, Daisuke Yokota, Martin Gusinde, Paolo Woods, Gabriele Galimberti, Natasha Caruana, Alex Majoli, Paolo Pellegrin, Ambroise Tézenas, Thierry Bouët, Anna Orlowska, Vlad Krasnoshchok, Sergiy Lebedynskyy, Vadym Trykoz, Lisa Barnard, Robert Zhao Renhui, Pauline Fargue, Julián Barón, Delphine Chanet, Omar Victor Diop, Paola Pasquaretta, Niccolò Benetton, Simone Santilli, Dorothée Smith, Rebecca Topakian, Denis Darzacq, Swen Renault, Paolo Woods, Elsa Leydier, Alice Wielinga, Cloé Vignaud, Louis Matton, Swen Renault et Pablo Mendez.

References

 

O'Hagan, Sean (11 July 2011). "Tower blocks and tomes dominate the Rencontres d'Arles". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2014.

www.rencontres-arles.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ARL_709_V...

www.rencontres-arles.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ARL_709_V...

O'Hagan, Sean (9 July 2012). "Torgovnik's powerful portraits from Rwanda take top prize at Arles". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2 February 2015.

O'Hagan, Sean (8 July 2013). "Lost and found: Discovery award winners at Recontres d'Arles 2013". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2015.

"2017 Book Awards". Rencontres d'Arles. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017.

"Exhibitions". Rencontres d'Arles. Retrieved 26 August 2016.

"Exhibitions: Eugene Richards: The Blue Room". Rencontres d'Arles. Retrieved 26 June 2015.

"Rencontres d’Arles 2009 Photography", Rencontres d'Arles. Accessed 3 December 2014.

Présentation de Robert Mapplethorpe sur le site rencontres-arles.com

"Lea Golda Holterman, Orthodox Eros". Retrieved 24 August 2016.

Arles 2012: Arnaud Claass sur La Lettre de la Photographie.com

Arles 2012: Alain Desvergnes sur La Lettre de la Photographie.com

Signe des temps: Arles 2012, un festival courageux (Photographie.com)

Fiche d'Alfredo Jaar sur rencontres-arles.com

Fiche de John Stezaker sur rencontres-arles.com

Fiche de Wolfgang Tillmans sur rencontres-arles.com

Fiche de Viviane Sassen sur rencontres-arles.com

Fiche de Pieter Hugo sur rencontres-arles.com

Fiche de Xavier Barral sur rencontres-arles.com

Fiche de Antoine Gonin sur rencontres-arles.com

Lomo, Holga, 120mm, Xpro

Bourgogne, France

Culver City, CA

The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts

 

writers portrait series

Work bt Esprit Graffiti

Anteprima del secondo set con Kiggy Arworks (www.kiggyartworks.com)

WRITERS RESIST: Louder Together for Free Expression was a literary protest on the steps of the New York Public Library’s Schwarzman Building at 42nd St. that brought together hundreds of writers and artists and thousands of New Yorkers on the birthday of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. American poet laureates Robert Pinsky, Author and Rita Dove offered each other hope and inspiration with "inaugural" poems.

found on the Pantheon Paris V

View On Black

I had fun creating this frame.. My oldest daughter firmly states she is going to be a writer/editor for mystery books. She was looking for a bit of of cool shot for inspiration.

 

Strobist: Godox AD200 camera right into the EzyBox. 1/8 power and Triggered by Godox XT1.

 

Camera info: Fuji XT3 | 16mm (ƒ1.4) | ƒ1.4 | ISO 200 | 1/250th sec —

 

© Andy L Cuadra 2019

All rights reserved - no unauthorized copying allowed.

 

Olympus E-5

Leica D 25mm summilux F/1.4

So I´ve been struggling with a bit of writer´s block. I knew where I wanted the story to go up until now. So far I had no idea how to continue it and feeling obligated to finish it didn´t help at all… Being swamped with work didn´t help either. So I took some time away from my Twisted Tales. During my summer break I suddenly knew where I wanted the story to go. However there still is room for alterations. So where would you like to see the story go?

Question mark made from pencil shavings on a writers notepad. generating new ideas concept. Writer workplace on a dark background.

Writers’ Tears undertakes a programme of celebrations for the Centenary of Ulysses; Carlow, Ireland – 25, May 2022: Writers’ Tears® super-premium Irish whiskey has released a limited, collector’s edition bottle of its Copper Pot expression. The bottling commemorates the centenary of one of the world’s most renowned literary works – James Joyce’s Ulysses.

 

A family member was in Ireland recently and picked this up for me for Father's Day. Not available for sale directly in US. I don't know why.

 

Don't spam my Photostream! Comments or invitations with award banners will be deleted

 

For best viewing click on the arrows in the upper RH corner of your screen & hit F11

Thriller Writers for Arena magazine....more

 

By the studio of Ghemar Freres, Brussels.

    

One of the most important French writers of the 19th century, Victor Hugo's (1802-1885) best known works include The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Miserables (1862). Hugo's political ideas won him both acclaim and hostility - he fled France in 1851 due to his opposition to Napoleon. At his death in 1885 he was publicly celebrated, receiving burial in the Pantheon with great honours.

    

This portrait is called a carte-de-visite and was taken at the studio of Ghemar Freres, Brussels, in about 1870.A carte-de-visite is a photograph mounted on a piece of card the size of a formal visiting card of the 1850s. The format was introduced by the French photographer Andre-Adolphe-Eugene Disdéri (1819-1889) in 1854. The craze for collecting celebrity cartes-de-visite in albums reached its peak during the 1860s but the format remained popular until the beginning of the twentieth century.

    

We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions of the original physical version of apply though; if you're unsure please visit the National Media Museum website.

    

For obtaining reproductions of selected images please go to the Science and Society Picture Library.

 

A paperbark maple tree in the arboretum of Glasgow Botanic Gardens. According to the blurb:

 

"Plant collector Ernest Wilson brought seeds back to the UK in 1901. This tree is probably descended from one of them. While the tree produces lots of seeds, only around 1% germinate. Consequently it's extremely rare, particularly here in Europe.

 

Its papery copper-brown bark peels off in crisp shaped pieces. In spring it produces pendant flowers. In autumn the leaves turn bright red."

ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved

Do not use without permission.

 

Green tea, a chocolate mousse cake, a mp3-player and a notepad, and any writer would be set (at least I am)!