May 2011 Archive

Edward Lascelles Abercrombie

May 29th, 2011

Born on the evening of Thursday 26th, in fact, but haven’t really had a moment to make a post until now.  5 gruelling hours of labour but, you know, with my wife there to rub my back and whisper encouragements I made it through with just the gas and air.  That makes three, and I think that’ll be all, thank you very much…

In case you’re wondering, Lascelles was my Great Grandfather’s name.  He was an academic, critic, poet, close friend of Rupert Brooke, was the first name on the list of people to be immediately arrested in the event of a Nazi occupation of Britain (an alphabetical thing), and was once challenged to a duel by Ezra Pound, apparently.  Since he received the challenge, he had the right to choose weapons, and suggested that they bombard each other with unsold copies of their books.  Which would have given Lascelles a decided advantage in quantity of ammunition.

I like the way he already seems to be viewing the world with a slightly ironical raised eyebrow, as if to say, ‘I daresay writing speed will suffer for the next few weeks, father.  If not to say decades.’

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