A used copy of Rebecca West’s Black Lamb and Grey Falcon contained a telegram signed with West’s real name, Cicily Andrews, inviting journalist Ann Cottrell Free to lunch. Its discovery opens a story about the book’s brief portrait of the Bulbul, a Jewish singer in Sarajevo whose warmth, musical talent, and devotion to her husband captivated West. West visited Yugoslavia in 1937 and published her travelogue in 1941, as war destroyed the region’s social world. The book’s many characters appear under the shadow of that impending catastrophe, and Sarajevo’s Jewish community suffered devastating losses.
The Bulbul survived the war, but her husband and many friends did not. In 1947, Free encountered her in a Yugoslav refugee camp in Sinai and was struck by her singing. Seeking help for her, Free contacted West, who summoned her to Buckinghamshire. West listened to Free’s proposal to secure the Bulbul a teaching position, then abruptly sent her away and never answered her follow-up letters. Free later learned that West had in fact used her influence to find the woman a job, without acknowledging Free’s role. The account presents West as both effective and ruthless, while tracing how a chance encounter and a saved telegram preserve the story of a woman otherwise nearly erased from the record.
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Usenet Rewind makes decades of Usenet posts easier to search, opening the archive to researchers and curious readers. Its revival also exposes how supposedly ephemeral online conversations can resurface years later without their original context. (tedium.co)
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Richard Lloyd, Television’s guitarist and co-architect of its intricate art-rock sound, died at 75 from bile duct cancer. The band helped shape New York’s 1970s punk scene, and its acclaimed debut, “Marquee Moon,” influenced generations of musicians. (nytimes.com)
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