tantalisingly incomplete

it's the 20th of april 1872 and kilvert is returning to clyro.

'left dear hospitable ilston rectory at 8.15 and drove to killay station with mr. and mrs. westhorp and henry. there I bade them all goodbye and they drove on to swansea. as I was taking my ticket hughes, rector of bryngwyn, clapped me on the back. he was going to hay...'

kilvert is obliged to accompany him in third class. 

the next day in clyro 'a day of wild driving snow'. 

meanwhile in the wilds of herefordshire...

horsemouth mostly spent the day reading isaiah berlin's three critics of the enlightenment: vico, hamann, herder and in particular the essay on herder - herder and the enlightenment. which, at about 92 pages, is a decent readable length.

now herder originated the term nationalism but there's less comfort there for a modern day right winger than you might suppose because he's not a fan of the state. his model of nationalism is a more cultural and linguistic one.

'we live in a world we ourselves create'

herder was big into the people and their culture. in his wikipedia entry he is praised for his tantalisingly incomplete ideas. 

a friend proposed benedict anderson's imagined communities as a way out of horsemouth's perplexity - he'll look at that soon. he read it a long time ago and has mostly forgotten it. 

in the evening he carried on reading italo svevo's my life. 

today another beautiful morning. he has planted out most of the runner beans and they seem to have survived the cold night. 

tonight a meeting of the commons water committee.