A week has passed, and in it so much change:

On a personal level to have re-embarked on a career in publishing, and having the great fortune to attend the Robb lectures given by Marina Warner at the University of Auckland, most notably Thursday’s discussion: Metamorphosis: After Ovid.

This idea of alchemical transmutation was evoked by Marina Warner’s sensuous and exotic use of language and illustrated through literature and contemporary artists. It seems that the 'soul leaping from one shape to another' has brought light into the events of the week.

On Tuesday, Alistair Cooke passed away at the age of 95 after 58 years of broadcasting Letter to America. At the announcement of his retirement just a few weeks ago, it was noted that this may well be his final signing off. Nick Clarke, Cooke’s biographer, accurately described Letter as providing 'the thread of continuity through his life…'

Our own literary giant, Michael King’s untimely death on the same day, has created a ripple that one knows affects the whole of the New Zealand sub-conscious.

And as Ovid noted in Metamorphosis 'But nothing dies' there is simply a shifting of residence, a pulse in the body of art…