Lambent: (literary) (of light or fire) glowing, gleaming, or flickering with a soft radiance.
Lucent: (literary) glowing with or giving off light.
Refulgent: (literary) shining very brightly
CAMPFIRE
My life has been told to me through camprfire tales — stories that spill over when the fire has burned low and silence must be filled. They’re like old coats hauled from the back of the cupboard. Dusted off, aired out, good as new. My mother, Vivienne, doled them out as reward or consolation, depending on her mood. And so I came to know myself — through the telling and retelling.
Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield, Australian author
Tall tales are a storytelling tradition that extends far back into human history. In our imaginations, tall tales happen around the camp fire.
LE DIEU VIVANT (1974) DH Comes campfireEvgenii Rachev (1906 – 1997) 1960 illustration for Russian Folk Tales.
Khasui Kawase (1883 – 1957)
Paul Zelinsky – Swamp Angel Anne Isaacs
postcard from Finland, illustrated by Rolf Lidberg in the 1970s
Jenny Eugenia Nystrom (1854-1946) ~ Swedish painter and illustrator who created numerous Christmas cards and magazine coversSmoking Animals, Theodor de Bry, after Johann Theodor de Bry, 1591 fire
Leonid Zolotarev – The Snow QueenTop-Notch v016 n05 [1914-05-20]PRIJDTE K NAM, MUZIKANTI (1960) Jiri Trnka camp fire
Olivier Tallec campfire
from How To Make Friends With A Ghost by Rebecca Green
Edward Gorey, for an adaptation of ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ by Edith Tarcov
Rumpelstiltskin’s camp firePaul Zelinsky – Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs. I think there might be more to this one than ‘camp fire’.
HEARTH
For more on the significance and symbolism of the home hearth, see this post.
Another one from Louis Wain, Cats by the Fire. I’m pretty sure the black cat started a conflagration.
Krystyna Turska, 1972
BURN OFFS
A PRAIRIE BOY’S SUMMER (1975) William KurelekEdna Eicke (1919-1979)
CONFLAGRATION
Fire in the Admiralty line jobs, 1673, Romeyn de Hooghe (attributed to), after Jan van der Heyden, 1690 – 1735Cover by Achille Beltrame 1906The Great Sea Horse 1909 by Isabel Anderson
N. Zeitlin – Tales of the Brothers Grimm Three Lucky Ones
‘Stampede’ This Western painting was salvaged from the Coney Island House of Horrors, c. 1935 artist unknown, fireJohn Atkinson Grimshaw, In Peril, 1879Illustration by Ed Emberley in ‘Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home’ written by Judy Hawes. First published 1967, this reprint in Butler and Tanner, 1970Huckle’s Mum sets the house on fire while ironing Daddy’s shirt, Richard ScarryAnastasia Arkhipova – The Steadfast Tin Soldier
By Kay Nielsen (1886-1957) ‘The Lovers Perish in the Fire’ f. Arabian Nights, 1917
Gary Larsson
BONFIRE
A bonfire is a big campfire, right? Except it’s not just for warmth but for fun and celebration and to raise the emotional charge of a celebration.
Bonfire Night by John Kenney 1967‘Bonfire Night’ (1951) John Bull magazine by Ronald LampittTom Adams (1926 – 2019) 1973 book cover illustration for ‘Destination Unknown’ by Agatha Christie
CORPSE BURNING
Corpse burning at a tribe in a distant land, Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, 1623 – 1628A woman jumps on the stake of her dead husband, 1597, anonymous, after Johannes of Lucas van Doetechum, 1646.
HELL FIRE
Devil stokes the fire in France and Holland, 1830, William Heath, 18301909 Frank Pape, for Anatole France’s Penguin IslandWeird Tales v05 n02 (1925-02)
FIRE AS LIGHTING
Lennart Helje (1940)Charles Santore, William the Curious: Knight of the Water Lilies
WHAT EVEN IS THIS
Edward Gorey, probably a big bowl of wassail lit on fire. It might be a game of Snap-dragon.Nineteenth Century German Tales illustrated by Edward Gorey 1959
European Expressionist painter Marianne von Werefkin, Police Post, Wilna, 1914
De Coulanges, 1928-Christmas Fontanet (1898-1982)
Fire can be a powerful and sometimes all consuming force. Helpful and dangerous in equal measure, the ability to use fire sets man apart from the animals. It should not be too surprising then that fire features heavily in our folklore and traditions.