12.06.2012
Chess Match (28)
So they took the road and spoke together, till they came on a great castle and round it fields and orchards, and living waters and fish ponds and plough lands, and many ships were in its haven, for that castle stood above the sea. It was well fenced against all assault or engines of war, and its keep, which the giants had built long ago, was compact of great stones, like a chess board of vert and azure.
And when Tristan asked its name:
“Good liege,” they said, “we call it Tintagel.”
— from The Romance of Tristan & Iseult, drawn from the best French Sources and retold by J. Bédier. Rendered into English by H. Belloc.
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Twenty-eighth in an occasional series.
Joshua Glenn is a Boston-based writer, publisher, and cultural semiologist-for-hire.
He is coauthor and/or co-editor of TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY, THE IDLER'S GLOSSARY, THE WAGE SLAVE'S GLOSSARY, and — in 2012 — the object-oriented story collection SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS, and the kids' field guide to life UNBORED. He is editor of HILOBROW and publisher of the science fiction imprint HILOBOOKS; and he is co-founder of SEMIONAUT and the SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS experiment.
In the '00s, Glenn was an editor, columnist, and blogger (BRAINIAC) for the Boston Globe's IDEAS section, and he was new media producer for the paper's LIVING/ARTS section. In the '90s, he published the seminal high-lowbrow zine/journal HERMENAUT; was an editor at UTNE READER; and was co-producer of the pioneering DIY how-to website and social network TRIPOD.
Glenn produced and co-designed the iPhone app KER-PUNCH. He manages a secretive online community known as THE HERMENAUTIC CIRCLE. He does business as KING MIXER, LLC.
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