Date: 4th March 2025
Time: 7:00 PM , 11:05 PM
Location: The Yellow Salon, Pimlico Wilde, Mayfair
Attendees:
• Julian Molyneux (Chair, Pimlico Wilde)
• Fiona d’Abernon (Co-Founder; Acting Secretary)
• Lord E. Northcote
• Dr. Xanthe Lorrimer (Cultural Historian)
• Hugo Van Steyn
• India Trelawney (Fashion Archivist)
• Max Duclos (Collector)
• Conrad Smithe (Probationary member; status under review)
• Pascal (Afghan hound, wearing a small silk scarf in “muted ochre”)
Book Discussed:
The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
1. Welcome and Context
Molyneux opened with a remark on Carrington’s “polymorphic surrealism,” noting that the book’s anarchic humour and geriatric heroine offer “a reminder that the avant-garde need not be young to be dangerous.” The evening’s staging included an arrangement of Carrington-inspired objects: a gilt teapot shaped like a fox, a small egg-shaped reliquary filled with pomegranate seeds, and a taxidermy raven (on loan, not for sale).
2. Discussion Summary
• Dr. Lorrimer praised the novel’s subversion of patriarchal tropes through “feminist absurdity,” pointing out that Carrington “lets old women lead revolutions without apologising for it.” She compared it to the writings of Remedios Varo and Leonor Fini, sparking a brief sidebar on Surrealist domestic spaces.
• India Trelawney focused on costume: “The knitted balaclavas, the strange cloaks,they’re not just eccentricities, they’re political garments.” She drew a parallel to a recent Comme des Garçons collection, producing a lookbook from her Pimlico Wilde tote bag.
• Lord Northcote confessed to “not quite trusting” the narrative’s leaps into alchemy and lunar colonisation but admired its “camaraderie among the disobedient.” He likened the reading experience to “being on a train whose timetable one has accidentally burned, leaving one bereft of any arrival information.”
• Hugo Van Steyn was uncharacteristically playful, calling the novel “utterly unserious and therefore, in its way, profoundly serious.” He drew comparisons with Jean Dubuffet’s notion of “art brut as spiritual insurgency.”
• Max Duclos dismissed much of it as “Surrealist whimsy” and claimed Carrington’s visual art “does the work better.” Trelawney retorted that “Max prefers his magic on canvas where it can’t answer back.”
• Conrad Smithe questioned whether the satire risked obscuring the emotional core. D’Abernon countered that “emotion is what the satire is made of,” and a brief silence followed, broken only by Pascal sighing audibly.
3. Artworks on View
• Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse) reproduction with Molyneux’s annotations on Carrington’s symbolic lexicon
• A 1970s Surrealist deck of cards, believed to be a collaborative prototype between Carrington and Alejandro Jodorowsky (disputed)
• Two small ink drawings from the estate of Ithell Colquhoun, placed discreetly by the drinks table
• Contemporary ceramic sculpture Lunar Soup Tureen by Saskia Hoekstra, created for the occasion
4. Refreshments
• Pre-discussion cocktail: “The Trumpet Call” , gin, elderflower, sage, and a whisper of absinthe
• Canapés: blue cheese gougères, smoked almond pâté on oat biscuits, beetroot hummus in endive leaves
• Main wine: Château Simone Palette Blanc 2018
• Dessert: poached quince with rosemary cream, served in mismatched teacups
5. Other Business
• Next Book suggestion: Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir, proposed by Northcote, seconded by Lorrimer. Approved with the condition of a supplementary reading of the first chapter of The Second Sex.
• Decision taken to proceed with the Bibliophiles of Belgravia joint evening next month, venue to be neutral territory.
• Molyneux raised the possibility of an off-season “Ephemeral Pamphlets” weekend retreat in Rye; members expressed cautious enthusiasm.
6. Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 11:05 PM after a spirited post-discussion toast “to lunacy, longevity, and the liberty of old women.” Members lingered, inspecting the card deck under low light.
Respectfully submitted,
Fiona d’Abernon
Acting Secretary
Mayfair Book Groupette
