Yeah, things have been a little weird in the background of this blog. Job hunting and a succession of family crisises have made me a little uncommunicative of late.
The work:
The more I read about this family and this mongoose the more I realise I don't know and the harder the decisions will be to make. What started out as a simple tale of a talking animal and his family has unfurled into a mess of small-town mores, physical and pyschological isolation, implied and inferred abuse and the strange tug between a person's desire for privacy and recognition.
The two best links about the whole thing thus far:
http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/4915/gef_the_talking_mongoose.html
Fortean Times published this online in January and it gives the best referenced overview of the entire thing. The photos are fantastic containing several purportedly to be of Gef, and some interesting family shots- staged by Lambert and Price, but revealing nonetheless of how the family wished to be seen (Margaret's dress, Voirrey's shoes)
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11118503209
The Gef Facebook page. It is totally public, so no need to join. There are many fantastic photos and scans including the 5 paragraphs from the Usborne book of Ghosts which started me off on Gef. Only 5 paragraphs! Also, of coincidental personal (New Zealand) interest, James Irving had a print of a Maori Chief on the wall of their house, and the group has a scan of a print showing the same chief, plus a scan of a photo of the house showing the print in situ.
These people know their Gef, and the discussions bring up a lot of interesting ideas.
