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Neuqun City (2015) Volume 6 All Rights Reserved

News from northern Patagonia to the world and viceversa

23rd April 23rd April

International Book Day

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

29/09/1547-23/04/1616

William Shakespeare

26/04/1564-23/04/1616

Hi everybody!!!

All my friends know Im a big fan of international TV series not only because they are well acted with excellent plots, but because somehow they show the social trends of Western civilization. Ive just seen the first episode of a new one called Younger by the creator of Sex in NY, which was back in its day a turnover and huge hit on American TV. This is not the time or place to discuss its merits as a TV show but nonetheless something caught my attention

and Id like to share it with you. Its how the apparition of social media, which is here to stay forever, has produced a change in young peoples habits taking them away from the good old habit of reading books. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many others have kidnapped peoples lives with their acquiescence. But its

not only that these new ways of communication are responsible for this result, but also the lack of interest of

some teachers and parents which has also contributed to this situation; probably because they are also

immersed in the same problem.

The result? Youngsters dont read. And as Ray Bradbury said: You dont need to burn books to destroy a

culture, just get people to stop reading them. Unfortunately this is happening, there are millions of people who

are illiterate, which is in itself something terrible, but what makes it worse is that those who can dont read more

than 140 characters. And preferably if they are preceded by a hashtag or they are trending.

Before somebody starts arguing let me tell you that I dont discuss or object to some of the benefits of social

media as an open forum of ideas or making their users immediate reporters of reality and a means to invite

others to join a protest, a cultural event or even a party. I merely want to encourage our readers to guide young

people into the amazing path of reading books. It isnt important if they read them in paper form, kindle and pdf or

as e-books, the important issue here is to make them read. Theyll learn patience, exercise their imagination,

their mind will open to new worlds and ideas. Thats what I want for my own grandchildren and the rest of the

kids in the world.

Looking forward to reading your answers at info.thepatagonian@gmail.com

See you soon Mir

MICROSTORY

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Ernest Hemingway

If one reads enough books one has a

fighting chance. Or better, ones

chances of survival increase with each book

one reads. Sherman Alexie

Girls w

ho

read are

dan

gerou

s

A mythical journey.

Today we are not going to speak about any of the

wonders of the Patagonia. The 23 rd of April is also the

celebration of St George and in some places such as

Catalonia books, saints and dragons are celebrated all

together.

So here you have St Georges story, a Turkish saint

who became the English patron and symbol of the

books day somewhere else.

Saint George travelled to Libya. When he arrived there

he found it had a large pond, almost as big as a lake,

where a ferocious dragon lived. The dragon was

terrorising the country and, every day, the people had

been feeding the dragon a sheep to appease it.

When the sheep had all gone, the dragon had demand-

ed that the people sacrifice a young maiden to him

each day. Saint George found that all the young girls

had now been killed

and only the King of Egypts daughter was left. Unless

a knight could be found to slay the dragon, the prin-

cess would be sacrificed the next day. The King of

Egypt had promised his daughters hand in marriage to

the knight who could overcome the terrible dragon.

Saint George was determined to save the princess,

and the next day he rode out to the lake. When he

arrived, he found the princess there, waiting to be

fed to the dragon. Saint George sent her home to the

palace and

approached the dragons cave. When the dragon

heard Saint Georges horse approaching, he came

out of his cave and roared at him. The dragon was

huge and its

roar sounded like thunder, but Saint George was not

afraid. He struck the monster with his spear, but the

dragons scales were so hard that the spear simply

broke into pieces.

Saint George fell from his horse but did not give up.

Instead, he rushed at the dragon and used his sword

to slay it under its wing where there were no scales.

The dragon fell dead at Saint Georges feet.

Jujuy 370 - (0299) 449616

thebookshopneuquen@gmail.com

Science, technology and

exploration in Shakespeares times

Lacking a dominant genius or a formal structure for re-

search (the following century had both Sir Isaac Newton

and the Royal Society), the Elizabethan era nonetheless

saw significant scientific progress. The astronomers

Thomas Digges and Thomas Harriot made important

contributions; William Gilbert published his seminal

study of magnetism, De Magnete, in 1600. Substantial

advancements were made in the fields of cartography

and surveying. The eccentric but influential John Dee

also merits mention.

Much of this scientific and technological progress related

to the practical skill of navigation. English achievements

in exploration were noteworthy in the Elizabethan era.

Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe between

1577 and 1581, and Martin Frobisher explored the Arc-

tic. The first attempt at English settlement of the eastern

seaboard of North America occurred in this erathe

abortive colony at Roanoke Island in 1587.

While Elizabethan England is not thought of as an age

of technological innovation, some progress did occur. In

1564 Guilliam Boonen came from the Netherlands to be

Queen Elizabeth's first coach-builder thus introducing

the new European invention of the spring-suspension

coach to England, as a replacement for the litters and

carts of an earlier transportation mode. Coaches quickly

became as fashionable as sports cars in a later century;

social critics, especially Puritan commentators, noted

the "diverse great ladies" who rode "up and down the

countryside" in their new coaches.

What is the oldest book in the world?

There has been verifiable writing since about the 3rd mil.

BCE. Much of that, of course, has not survived. These writ-

ings included things like the Ancient Egyptian Book of the

Dead, the books of the Pentateuch, and Sumerian poetry

and epic. It is very hard to date these definitively, so know-

ing which is "first" is difficult.

If we look at works still read today, the earliest would have

to be the five books of the Hebrew Torah and the first five

of the Christian Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Num-

bers, and Deuteronomy, known collectively as the Penta-

teuch). Most scholars believe that those books were written

between the 15th and 10th centuries BCE. However, the

earliest surviving versions of the scriptures date only to

about 200 BCE. It is known as the Septuagint and is written

in Greek. Other surviving versions are written in a combina-

tion of Hebrew and Aramaic.

One of the earliest novel-like stories which survives (and is

still read) today is the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian epic

poem. The surviving version was written on clay tablets in

the 7th century BCE, though the oral tradition certainly goes

back much farther. The epic is written in a form of writing

called cuneiform, which is the earliest known (surviving)

form of writing. Cuneiform consists of triangular wedges

chiseled in different patterns into clay, rock or stone.

Cuneiform writing

The spring-suspension coach

FOOD

WINES

THE WINE IN CERVANTESS WORKS

In all of Cervantes's works, the characters drink wine at any

time and in different circumstances. Sometimes they take no

notice of their characteristics or origin while in others they

may describe some of its organoleptic properties or place of

origin, if from La Mancha or other regions of Spain and from

abroad. Of these, we will highlight the wines of Ciudad Real.

Toms Rodaja (El Licenciado Vidriera) described them as

the "chamber of the god of laughter." They were praised by

some of the characters, among whom is one of the masters

of Berganza (El Coloquio de los Perros) when his master the

"atambor" makes him jump giving indications such as: "Now

jump for Esquivias liquor, famous couple of Ciudad Real,

San Martin and Rivadavia ". El Caballero del Bosque, who is

a character who tries to convince Don Quixote to return to

his home, highlighting the quality of the wine of Ciudad Real

and adjudging Sancho the quality of taster, as he is able to

recognize it by saying Bravo Cairn! In truth, it is not from

elsewhere, and having some of my old age.

They are not Patagonian but worth trying !

Old Elizabethan Recipes

Shakespeare lived during a remarkable period of English

history, a time of relative political stability that followed and

preceded eras of extensive upheaval. Elizabeth I became

the Queen of England in 1558, six years before Shake-

speare's birth. During her 45-year reign, London became a

cultural and commercial centre where learning and literature

thrived.

Food during Elizabethan times, Shakespeares times, was

changing. New foods such as the tomato, potato and the

turkey were being introduced from the New World. Chilli

peppers of the capsicum family including red peppers, cay-

enne, paprika and chilli were also imported from America.

Upper Class Elizabethans were quite adventurous with their

recipes and cooking.

The early Crusaders had brought to England elements of

Eastern cookery requiring spices such as pepper, cinna-

mon, mace, ginger, cloves, raisins, saffron and sugar and

these were introduced into Old Medieval recipes and

passed down to Elizabethan recipes. Spices were extremely

expensive and therefore used in cooking recipes by the

upper classes. The use of spices in Elizabethan cooking

recipes therefore became a matter of both social fashion

and social prestige.

To make the best Old Elizabethan

Orange Marmalade

Take the rinds of the deepest coloured oranges, boil them in

several waters till they are very tender, then mince them

small, and to one pound of oranges, take a pound of pippins

cut small, one pound of the finest sugar, and one pint of

spring-water, melt your sugar in the water over the fire, and

scum it, then put in your pippins, and boil them till they are

very clear, then put in the orange rind, and boil them togeth-

er, till you find by cooling a little of it, that it will jelly very well,

then put in the juice of two oranges, and one limmon, and

boil it a little longer; and then put it up in gally-pots

*The words limmon and gally-pots are from that time.

The Globe theatre

The Elizabethan Theatre was a booming business. People loved the Theatre. The plays and theatres were as popular as the movies and cinemas of the early 20th century. Vast amounts of money could be made. The inn-keepers increased their profits by allowing plays to be shown on temporary sta-ges erected in the yards of their inns (inn-yards). Soon purpo-se-built playhouses and great open theatres were being cons-

tructed.

Theatres were new - the very first theatre in London was intro-duced by an entrepreneur called James Burbage and was aptly called 'The Theatre'. The Globe was built from the tim-bers of the 'Theatre' - William Shakespeare and his company of actors helped with the construction. It was an amazing success. There was money to be made from this new and exciting form of entertainment. The London audience clamou-

red for more and more new plays.

The plays written by playwrights, such as William Shakespea-re, were in great demand. Great actors like Richard Burbage, Will Kempe and Edward Alleyn became the Superstars of this era and the audiences of the theatres, including the Globe. A day out at the theatre was a real event - the design of it was magnificent, based on the design of the old Roman

Amphitheatres .

Nowadays plays are still on and especially tourists visit the

theatre.

http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on

www.fb.com/ThePatagonian

Book review: The Remains of the Day

I had always found it difficult to

answer the question of what

my favourite book is until I

read Kazuo Ishiguros The

Remains of the Day. I cant put

my finger on the exact reasons

why this particular novel

comes so readily to mind

when asked for a book recom-

mendation; it simply has a

strange appeal to me.

Ostensibly it is a strange book: a character study of a quintes-

sential butler in mid-Twentieth century England, a time when

that old, anachronistic world of landed gentry and hereditary

wealth is starting to die. It is a novel which deals with weighty

themes of duty, loyalty and sacrifice (and obsession?) leading

to emotional repression (imprisonment, even). It is a frustrat-

ing novel and one of unbearable tensions as Mr Stevens, the

deeply committed career-butler, juggles his priorities and

loyalties, in questionable and tragic fashion, to those people

around him.

However, there is a real humour that underpins the writing

and leavens the inherent sadness of the novel: seeing Mr

Stevenss futile attempts at getting to grips with the alien con-

cept of banter in order to ingratiate himself to his new Ameri-

can employer is hilarious.

Ishiguros prose is masterly. Spare, minimalist and elegant,

his writing perfectly complements the clipped, self-conscious

speech of Mr Stevens. There is a surgical precision to Ishi-

guros prose that would be almost pompous if it wasnt so

expertly wielded and applied. It is a style that certainly gives

the novel a period feel. In fact, it being the first book of his

that I had read, I wasnt sure whether his style was a con-

scious mimicking of Austenian-style English or his natural

style (having since read almost everything he has had pub-

lished, Ive learnt, somewhat disappointingly, that it is his

natural style).

There is so much that I love about this book but perhaps, old

romantic that I am, it is Mr Stevenss relationship with Miss

Kenton which forms the novels crux that really contains its

appeal for me. The classic Pride-and-Prejudicial Will they?

Wont they? question will take you to the novels final pages

and its surprising denouement.

By Simon Neal Ong

Elizabethan Team Sports

Elizabethan Team sports gained in popularity during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The team sports were enjoyed by both the players and the spectators. The Elizabethan era was dangerous and violent. Blood sports were enjoyed involving bears, bulls, cocks and dogs - team sports were also rough and violent. Even some card games were pla-yed in teams such as 'Ruff and Honors'. And the outcome of team sports contests were subject to heavy gaming and

gambling.

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A Tournament was a series of mounted and armoured com-bats, fought as contests, in which a number of combatants compete and the one that prevails through the final round or that finishes with the best record is declared the winner and is awarded the prize. Tournaments were imported from France during the 12th century and formed an important element of Elizabethan military and social life. The contests in the tourna-ment were fought with blunted swords or lances. However there were still many casualties, as many as 10% were inju-red, and there were also fatalities. The number of fatalities dropped as the tournaments became better regulated. Eliza-bethan physicians were always at hand during the tourna-ments. Knights would fight as individuals but there would also

be team events.

Ruff and honors card game

Blood sports

Dangerous blunted swords

The origine of tennis???

The Patagonian- Ao 1 - No. 56 La nica publicacin norpatagnica de aparicin quincenal

y distribucin gratuita en ingls. Depsito legal fijado por Ley 11.342 de Propiedad Intelectual /Editor responsable: Mirta Castro / /Proofreader: Simon Neil Ong (UK)/

Contacto: /info.thepatagonian@gmail.com /

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