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Thomas Browne Champion Kevin Faulkner Kevin says, in a Facebook post dated 10 October 2020 'For most years since 2011, I've written an essay closely related to Sir Thomas Browne to commemorate his birth and death on October 19th. What shall I be writing on for this year's Browne day?' A clue - ' For if Plagues or pestilential Atoms have been conveyed in the Air from distant Regions, if men at a distance have infected each other,..... we cannot reasonably deny, that ...there may proceed from subtiler seeds, more agile emanations, which contemn those Laws, and invade at distance unexpected'. Book 3 chapter 7 of Pseudodoxia Epidemica 'On the Basilisk'. For 2011 On Browne's extraordinary relationship to Carl Jung http://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/2011/06/carl-jung-and-sir-thomas-browne.html For 2012 On Browne and Kepler http://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/2012/09/kepler-and-quincunx.html For 2013 On 'The Garden of Cyrus' as a work of hermetic philosophy https://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/2013/05/what-is-more-beautiful-than-quincunx.html For 2014 Thomas Browne and China http://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/2014/05/sir-thomas-browne-and-china.html For 2015 - On Browne's deep interest and understanding of the Judaic esoteric tradition of the kabbalah. https://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/.../sir-thomas... For 2016 - On Thomas Browne's knowledge of Opium and opiate imagery in his writings. https://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/.../thomas-browne... For 2017 - On Thomas Browne's interest and understanding of astronomy and the western esoteric tradition of astrology. https://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/.../stargazing-with... For 2018 - The symbolism of salt in Browne's writings. https://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/.../dr-brownes... For 2019 - A bit early (September) On the relationship between Bettini and Browne. https://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/.../mathematical... For 2020 For the first year of the Global pandemic On 'Urn- Burial' as exemplary of the Nigredo of alchemy https://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/2020/10/ For 2021 For the second year of the Global pandemic On the diptych discourses of 1658 as an alchemical mandala https://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/2021/10/ For 2022 On Thomas Browne's Egyptology https://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/2022/10/ |
Kevin welcoming visitors from Australia to St Peter Mancroft January 2020
About Kevin Faulkner
Norvicensian scholar of the arts, Sir Thomas Browne and western esotericism. Kevin Faulkner (b. Norwich 1957 and resident in Norwich for many years) was also a student at the University of East Anglia. Kevin has studied Browne to a depth few others have achieved. He has been a champion of Sir Thomas for over 25 years and has campaigned to make the works and life of this unsung hero of Norwich more widely known. With an interest in philosophy and related disciplines, Kevin is widely read. He maintains the Sir Thomas Browne Facebook page and a regular blog, The Aquarium of Vulcan, the home of many essays and articles, including the annual essay that he writes to celebrate Sir Thomas Browne Day on 19 October each year. He also often dresses in Browne-style garb and recites some of Browne's words which helps to bring the man and the rather archaic language to life, often performing on Hay Hill which was on the doorstep of Browne's house for most of the time he lived in the city of Norwich. In addition, he helps to maintain this website and to welcome visitors to the city who are interested in Browne, such as former nurse Vivien Lane and retired surgeon Milton Roxanas who were interested in the link between Browne and Sir William Oslerand the Osler Club of London. Kevin left a message for them 'it may impress them to know that Browne coined the word 'Australize' into English. As in to tend towards the south Pole. check it out P.E. book 2 chapter 1.' With reference to Dr Anthony Batty Shaw I first met Dr. Batty Shaw in 1996 having possessed a copy of his excellent booklet on Thomas Browne's Natural History and associations with Norfolk since 1982. At the time we were both eagerly awaiting the publication of the English translation of W.G.Sebald's 'Rings of Saturn', having heard that Thomas Browne is featured throughout Sebald's near indefinable autobiographical travelogue. Throughout several years I assisted D. Batty Shaw in meeting and greeting visitors to Norwich who were interested in Thomas Browne. Many were surprised at how little Norwich valued its World famous citizen. Remarkably, Dr. Batty Shaw's life and career followed closely in Thomas Browne's footsteps. Like Thomas Browne he also was a Londoner who studied at Oxford and who also began his medical career in Norwich. Perhaps Dr. Batty Shaw's greatest achievement in the half century in which he indefatigably promoted interest in Thomas Browne was his ensuring that the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital's Medical library would continue to be named after Sir Thomas Browne when the hospital relocated to Colney in 2001. |