tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-296764632024-03-19T21:50:16.975+13:00The Imaginary MuseumAdventures in Writing, Publishing, Book Collecting & Other PursuitsDr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comBlogger624125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-17319924310319211542024-03-03T10:48:00.003+13:002024-03-04T07:56:53.829+13:00Classic Ghost Story Writers: L. P. Hartley<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9al9QTKBpJ-WBxDzzjprhW4gp3BtizQ3PdxIwQj5Q78fXFOolsgC_UrqH8KXh36SNriFvSHF1j0RA30MeAt6t3qsI9pNDGxz2mjSuYUoY5dAO7bdPKVRMXnqSlSpbVNDF0oMQUIIBbULOgCieZ8gge2uAfDDiV-eZOEnPYrUD1feBCdsWyqac/s2100/24a96fd1-7cef-44ff-aec8-3590d37c21da.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9al9QTKBpJ-WBxDzzjprhW4gp3BtizQ3PdxIwQj5Q78fXFOolsgC_UrqH8KXh36SNriFvSHF1j0RA30MeAt6t3qsI9pNDGxz2mjSuYUoY5dAO7bdPKVRMXnqSlSpbVNDF0oMQUIIBbULOgCieZ8gge2uAfDDiV-eZOEnPYrUD1feBCdsWyqac/s600/24a96fd1-7cef-44ff-aec8-3590d37c21da.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Joseph Losey, dir.: <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw09921/LP-Hartley">The Go-Between</a> (1971)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 78%;">[writ. Harold Pinter / adapted from the 1953 novel by L. P. Hartley]</span><br /><br />
<br />
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”</div>
<br />
This, the opening line of <i>The Go-Between</i>, is certainly L. P. Hartley's most commonly quoted phrase - though it does closely resemble an expression first used by his friend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Go-Between#Interpretations">Lord David Cecil</a> in his inaugural lecture as Goldsmiths' Professor in 1949:
<blockquote>Past periods are like foreign countries: regions inhabited by men of like passions to our own, but with different customs and codes of behaviour.<div style="text-align: center;"><i>The Fine Art of Reading</i> (1957)</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2CSE4a8juzPpEJSDAM3QE3lTqLLzd3kYGYYM1AJJVN3cZZQjo5s8HE4WfZZV4hyphenhyphen2A0eNWQsKQD5JEzlpqw8pBBFdzJoZ2n5isEPxJ0HUzwoPtyjQ3bmgegxYlcsDPh7YsXwJKOUuSeaDR2aADG1ybY7_QFuJ1FDJJynWWzdqiFaeOmvwb-EH/s554/images.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2CSE4a8juzPpEJSDAM3QE3lTqLLzd3kYGYYM1AJJVN3cZZQjo5s8HE4WfZZV4hyphenhyphen2A0eNWQsKQD5JEzlpqw8pBBFdzJoZ2n5isEPxJ0HUzwoPtyjQ3bmgegxYlcsDPh7YsXwJKOUuSeaDR2aADG1ybY7_QFuJ1FDJJynWWzdqiFaeOmvwb-EH/s400/images.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://susannahfullerton.com.au/store/a-readers-guide-to-l-p-hartley-and-the-go-between/">L. P. Hartley</a> (1895-1972)</span></div><br />
<br />
Amongst all his other achievements as a novelist and man of letters, Hartley is perhaps <i>not</i> so well known as the author of some of the most effective ghost stories of the twentieth century.<br />
<br />
Which are the best among them? Well, "A Visitor from Down Under" certainly takes pride of place. "The Travelling Grave" runs it a close second, though. What else? "Podolo", certainly - possibly "Feet Foremost", also.<br />
<br />
You'll note that all of these are quite early stories, written, though not necessarily collected, before the Second World War, after which his energies turned decisively towards establishing himself as a novelist of manners, somewhat in the vein of Aldous Huxley or Henry James.<br />
<br />
So what is it that makes this handful of stories so outstanding?<br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>•</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD510IZ5FKJa5AcQcwOlLPvmrenDXmItLwwgEGZshWhyphenhyphenUIejxTHvvprnmPWqjeM5zi9RJzvTr-eSR48qUWHtrnZrMghkNbVCKixcqRvOqw1OtO0a0txeSivHFWu7FWTQB0RKYVLPXgQFS4cwz5tbDvQGJ0cOhljpFB0LBgncpLSiwnDHj-7Zy4/s540/34678285._SX540_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD510IZ5FKJa5AcQcwOlLPvmrenDXmItLwwgEGZshWhyphenhyphenUIejxTHvvprnmPWqjeM5zi9RJzvTr-eSR48qUWHtrnZrMghkNbVCKixcqRvOqw1OtO0a0txeSivHFWu7FWTQB0RKYVLPXgQFS4cwz5tbDvQGJ0cOhljpFB0LBgncpLSiwnDHj-7Zy4/s400/34678285._SX540_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">L. P. Hartley: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57937978-a-visitor-from-down-under">A Visitor from Down Under</a> (1926)</span></div><br />
<br />
Let's start with "A Visitor from Down Under".<br />
<br />
The protagonist of the story, Mr. Rumbold, has sat down in the lounge of his hotel to have an apéritif before dinner. After a while, he realises he can hear a voice - "A cultivated voice, perhaps <i>too</i> cultivated, slightly husky, yet careful and precise in its enunciation" - coming from the wall above his head:
<blockquote>
‘ . . . A Children’s Party,’ the voice announced in an even, neutral tone, nicely balanced between approval and distaste, between enthusiasm and boredom; ‘six little girls and six little’ (a faint lift in the voice, expressive of tolerant surprise) ‘boys. The Broadcasting Company has invited them to tea, and they are anxious that you should share some of their fun.’ (At the last word the voice became completely colourless.) ‘I must tell you that they have had tea, and enjoyed it, didn’t you, children?’ (A cry of ‘Yes,’ muffled and timid, greeted this leading question.) ‘We should have liked you to hear our table-talk, but there wasn’t much of it, we were so busy eating.’ For a moment the voice identified itself with the children. ‘But we can tell you what we ate. Now, Percy, tell us what you had.’
</blockquote>
Obviously a voice on the radio, obviously from some kind of children's hour broadcast. So far, so banal. But as it continues, things begin to seem just a little bit ... off:
<blockquote>A piping little voice recited a long list of comestibles; like the children in the treacle-well, thought Rumbold, Percy must have been, or soon would be, very ill. A few others volunteered the items of their repast. ‘So you see,’ said the voice, ‘we have not done so badly. And now we are going to have crackers, and afterwards’ (the voice hesitated and seemed to dissociate itself from the words) ‘Children’s Games.’ There was an impressive pause, broken by the muttered exhortation of a little girl. ‘Don’t cry, Philip, it won’t hurt you.’ Fugitive sparks and snaps of sound followed; more like a fire being kindled, thought Rumbold, than crackers. A murmur of voices pierced the fusillade. ‘What have you got, Alec, what have you got?’ ‘I’ve got a cannon.’ ‘Give it to me.’ ‘No.’ ‘Well, lend it to me.’ ‘What do you want it for?’ ‘I want to shoot Jimmy.’
</blockquote>
After that the games begin. After "Ring-a-Ring of Roses", it's "Oranges and Lemons", with its sinister refrain:
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>Here is a candle to light you to bed,<br />
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!<br />
<span style="padding-left: 4em;">Chop—chop—chop.</span></i>
</blockquote>
A child screamed, and there was silence.
</blockquote>
"Mr. Rumbold felt quite upset, and great was his relief when, after a few more half-hearted rounds of ‘Oranges and Lemons,’ the Voice announced, ‘Here We Come Gathering Nuts and May.’ At least there was nothing sinister in <i>that</i>."
<blockquote>
The game began afresh. This time there was an eager ring in the children’s voices: two tried antagonists were going to meet: it would be a battle of giants. The chant throbbed into a war-cry.
<blockquote>
<i>Who will you have for your Nuts and May,<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">Nuts and May, Nuts and May;</span><br />
Who will you have for your Nuts and May<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">On a cold and frosty morning?</span></i>
</blockquote>
They would have Victor Rumbold for Nuts and May, Victor Rumbold, Victor Rumbold: and from the vindictiveness in their voices they might have meant to have had his blood, too.
<blockquote>
<i>And who will you send to fetch him away,<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">Fetch him away, fetch him away;</span><br />
Who will you send to fetch him away<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">On a cold and frosty morning?</span></i>
</blockquote>
Like a clarion call, a shout of defiance, came the reply:
<blockquote>
<i>We’ll send Jimmy Hagberd to fetch him away,<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">Fetch him away, fetch him away;</span><br />
We’ll send Jimmy Hagberd to fetch him away<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">On a wet and foggy evening.</span></i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
I think by now we can tell that it's all up with Mr. Victor Rumbold. Whatever it is that he's been getting up to down under, Jimmy Hagberd's coming to deal with him. And, when the visitor finally arrives at the hotel:
<blockquote>‘... take this message to Mr. Rumbold,’ said the stranger. ‘Say, “Would he rather that I went up to him, or that he came down to me?” ’</blockquote>
It doesn't make much difference in the end.<br />
<br />
There are, to be sure, many such stories of nemesis being visited upon some smug fraudster, but it's the incidental details - such as the fact that the visitor comes to Mr. Rumbold on the top of a London bus, and finds considerable difficulty in paying his fare - which singles it out from the others:
<blockquote>
‘Look here, now. Where do you want this ticket? In your button-hole?’<br />
<br />
‘Put it here,’ said the passenger.<br />
<br />
‘Where?’ asked the conductor. ‘You aren’t a blooming letter-rack.’<br />
<br />
‘Where the penny was,’ replied the passenger. ‘Between my fingers.’<br />
<br />
The conductor felt reluctant, he did not know why, to oblige the passenger in this. The rigidity of the hand disconcerted him: it was stiff, he supposed, or perhaps paralysed. And since he had been standing on the top his own hands were none too warm. The ticket doubled up and grew limp under his repeated efforts to push it in. He bent lower, for he was a good-hearted fellow, and using both hands, one above and one below, he slid the ticket into its bony slot.
</blockquote>
That radio broadcast, steadily getting stranger and stranger, is the real prize of the piece, however. The person who wrote that had some personal demons, I would say, or at any rate found little difficulty in conjuring up such things.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>•</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrVO_M-I9YBlXaGkI-3YWdt0zY_Xo2oUlv5Ww0qyL8lBZRE9bW1on95-0WVMxG6Ei-51U-C7yZNKS0OZYpHv_VRYRU5kpiz7dWJPDMqx2jcTWt_tLLySJ-A_wscnHeNH-8poOb56UCbTdWC5k_KiWQA-NNvddM3uofjPfuPS_PowLsmJikce-/s600/71CpJ4VMhYL._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrVO_M-I9YBlXaGkI-3YWdt0zY_Xo2oUlv5Ww0qyL8lBZRE9bW1on95-0WVMxG6Ei-51U-C7yZNKS0OZYpHv_VRYRU5kpiz7dWJPDMqx2jcTWt_tLLySJ-A_wscnHeNH-8poOb56UCbTdWC5k_KiWQA-NNvddM3uofjPfuPS_PowLsmJikce-/s600/71CpJ4VMhYL._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Hermione Lee: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Penelope-Fitzgerald-Life-Hermione-Lee/dp/0804170495">Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life</a> (2014)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/01/my-favourite-vintage-bookshops-auckland.html">Penelope Fitzgerald</a>, before she took to writing fiction, spent quite a number of years researching a biography of L. P. Hartley. She'd already written a book about her father and three eccentric uncles, <i>The Knox Brothers</i> (1977), as well as a life of the poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Mew">Charlotte Mew</a>.<br />
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The L. P. Hartley book remained still-born, however, which is a bit of a shame. There are many respects in which she might have been the ideal commentator on the immense oddity of both his inner and outer lives.<br />
<br />
It's an open secret that the intense brother-and-sister relationship which is the principal subject of his <i>Eustace and Hilda</i> trilogy is based on his own feelings about his domineering older sister Enid. He was 49 before he dared to publish it, and it made him famous. When he followed it a few years later with <i>The Go-Between</i>, W. H. Auden told Hartley that he was his favourite novelist.<br />
<br />
Not everyone was so enthusiastic about his work. After the publication of his first long fiction <i>Simonetta Perkins</i> (1925), Virginia Woolf asked him, "Have you written any more shabby books, Mr. Hartley?" referring to it as "one that might have been written by a man with one foot in England and the other in Venice".<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBhBO0Sb0D32TGpH3SIAHfDI6Jpl8b6f7EKZLrTs7gSKk4RS52deqMfh0-sE1Lkel-b7eVSK8F5ITIYGm6k2GVe7uWdU_uSpCpLzlIhpelNKdr3PCwou4oP8J1JjOyt9euO5s/s380/Travelling_grave.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="260" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBhBO0Sb0D32TGpH3SIAHfDI6Jpl8b6f7EKZLrTs7gSKk4RS52deqMfh0-sE1Lkel-b7eVSK8F5ITIYGm6k2GVe7uWdU_uSpCpLzlIhpelNKdr3PCwou4oP8J1JjOyt9euO5s/s600/Travelling_grave.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 85%;">L. P. Hartley: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Travelling_Grave_and_Other_Stories">The Travelling Grave and Other Stories</a> (1948)</span></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>•</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDYFi7rwdU4stXkrUcwump1Nde6U2zUDXUybMdBg9vQyAmD0L92ijOMYpa_oPOGhoPASTCCBUQL_rH2v2q7OlvW-cp-kMyY6ltGp8uamBGMnwEgPBwXxSzCTftx3UFcrwwzX_p3a9WmDVGdPPvLAQsFibtKfJS_Av2AvYVYh2U5HPWIs3ckfR/s3264/Poveglia_Closeup_of_Hospital.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDYFi7rwdU4stXkrUcwump1Nde6U2zUDXUybMdBg9vQyAmD0L92ijOMYpa_oPOGhoPASTCCBUQL_rH2v2q7OlvW-cp-kMyY6ltGp8uamBGMnwEgPBwXxSzCTftx3UFcrwwzX_p3a9WmDVGdPPvLAQsFibtKfJS_Av2AvYVYh2U5HPWIs3ckfR/s400/Poveglia_Closeup_of_Hospital.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poveglia">Poveglia</a> (Venice)</span></div><br />
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The second story I've chosen to discuss is one which nicely illustrates the problems associated with being "a man with one foot in England and the other in Venice." It's called "Podolo," and is set on a small island in the Venetian lagoon. So far as I can tell, there <i>is</i> no island called "Podolo", but there's certainly one called "Poveglia" (pictured above):
<blockquote>
For more than 100 years, beginning in 1776, the island was used as a quarantine station for those suffering the plague and other diseases, and later as a mental hospital. The mental hospital closed in 1968, and the island has been vacant ever since ...<br />
<span style="padding-left: 1em;">Visits to the island are prohibited, but various books and articles report on visits by writers and/or photographers. Believers in the paranormal have claimed that Poveglia is the most haunted island, or the most haunted place in the world.</span><div style="text-align: center;">- <i>Wikipedia</i>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poveglia">Poveglia</a></div>
</blockquote>
What, then, of the story itself? It begins with some lighthearted plans for a visit to the island by the narrator, his friend Angela, and her husband Walter. Walter cries off, as he has business in Trieste, so the other two set off for their picnic together.
<blockquote>
The sunlight sparkled on the water; the gondola, in its best array, glowed and glittered. ‘Say good-bye to Angela for me,’ cried Walter as the gondolier braced himself for the first stroke. ‘And what is your postal address at Podolo?’ ‘Full fathom five,’ I called out, but I don’t think my reply reached him.</blockquote>
There are already some ominous undertones in this sunny opening. There's clearly something going on between the narrator and Angela, right under Walter's nose, and getting her away to a deserted spot seems more than a trifle devious on his part. As for their destination:
<blockquote>Until you get right up to Podolo you can form no estimate of its size. There is nothing near by to compare it with. On the horizon it looks like a foot-rule. Even now, though I have been there many times, I cannot say whether it is a hundred yards long or two hundred. But I have no wish to go back and make certain.</blockquote>
The trouble begins shortly after they reach the island. Angela spots a mangy little stray cat, and is determined to catch it and bring it back with them. After a few unavailing attempts to seize it, after luring to her with food, she changes her approach:
<blockquote>
‘I tell you what,’ Angela said suddenly, ‘if I can’t catch it I’ll kill it. It’s only a question of dropping one of these boulders on it. I could do it quite easily.’ She disclosed her plan to Mario [the gondolier], who was horror-struck. His code was different from hers. He did not mind the animal dying of slow starvation; that was in the course of nature. But deliberately to kill it! ‘Poveretto! It has done no one any harm,’ he exclaimed with indignation. But there was another reason, I suspected, for his attitude. Venice is overrun with cats, chiefly because it is considered unlucky to kill them. If they fall into the water and are drowned, so much the better, but woe betide whoever pushes them in.</blockquote>
Angela is unimpressed by Mario - and the narrator's - logic.
<blockquote>‘Let’s go and explore the island,’ she said, ‘until it’s time to bathe. The cat will have got over its fright and be hungry again by then, and I’m sure I shall be able to catch it. I promise I won’t murder it except as a last resource.’</blockquote>
I don't think I can say too much more without spoiling the story for you, but let's just say that the narrator dozes off after his meal, and Angela goes off exploring by herself. Their search for her, on the tiny, darkening island, is pretty perfunctory. Mainly because there appears to be someone - or some<i>thing</i> - else there.<blockquote>
We soon lost sight of each other in the darkness, but once or twice I heard Mario swearing as he scratched himself on the thorny acacias. My search was more successful than I expected. Right at the corner of the island, close to the water’s edge, I found one of Angela’s bathing shoes: she must have taken it off in a hurry for the button was torn away. A little later I made a rather grisly discovery. It was the cat, dead, with its head crushed. The pathetic little heap of fur would never suffer the pangs of hunger again. Angela had been as good as her word.</blockquote>
At this point, Mario rushes up, bundles him into the boat, and starts rowing frantically away from the island. Later on he explains:
<blockquote>
‘When I found her,’ he whispered, ‘she wasn’t quite dead.’<br />
<br />
I began to speak but he held up his hand.<br />
<br />
‘She asked me to kill her.’<br />
<br />
‘But, Mario!’<br />
<br />
‘ “Before it comes back,” she said. And then she said, “It’s starving, too, and it won’t wait. ...” ’ Mario bent his head nearer but his voice was almost inaudible.<br />
<br />
‘Speak up,’ I cried. The next moment I implored him to stop.<br />
<br />
Mario clambered on to the poop.<br />
<br />
‘You don’t want to go to the island now, signore?’<br />
<br />
‘No, no. Straight home.’<br />
<br />
I looked back. Transparent darkness covered the lagoon save for one shadow that stained the horizon black. Podolo. ...
</blockquote>
Make of that what you will.<br />
<br />
It's not that the plot of the story is so remarkable. Just as "A Visitor from Down Under" is a fairly standard vengeful revenant story, so "Podolo" is an account of what you <i>fear</i> might happen if you wander around some haunted old ruins at twilight. But in both cases it's the odd, outré details that count: In "A Visitor" it's the threatening radio broadcast, and in "Podolo" it's the joint, unspoken decision both men, the gondolier and her <i>cavalier servente</i>, make to leave Angela behind on the island.<br />
<br />
<i>She</i> (it is implied) is the trouble-maker; <i>she</i> is the one who has insisted on hunting through all the crevices of the island for the small but viciously feral cat, despite Mario's warning that "It has been put here on purpose." And whatever she finds there is far beyond her powers, just as it turns out, unfortunately, to be equally beyond theirs.<br />
<br />
It's a dark, rather nasty story, which leaves a bad taste in the mouth. But it's also an almost perfect illustration of <a href="http://albany139329.blogspot.com/2016/02/section-3.html">M. R. James</a>'s doctrines on the best way to inculcate fear:
<blockquote> Let us be introduced to the actors in a placid way; let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings, pleased with their surroundings; and into this calm environment let the ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWQL3_qBgyhNhRa7vKZaMnKHXZzWb7nJj80v6A8OlELXZzbLKCB6K27HTXuwliLsuJ_vpE-33q0FJapM1jjTULR9J_VQfUAwhntX9h-kuEhjr2fvIuaiHyiE8TsqiPlkl0iJkNJ-stXutIvHbiSYy4rL9HeY0ZyXIdhYT28XwCS3g3xkZNOwDv/s1000/71PMn6Zm6GL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="625" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWQL3_qBgyhNhRa7vKZaMnKHXZzWb7nJj80v6A8OlELXZzbLKCB6K27HTXuwliLsuJ_vpE-33q0FJapM1jjTULR9J_VQfUAwhntX9h-kuEhjr2fvIuaiHyiE8TsqiPlkl0iJkNJ-stXutIvHbiSYy4rL9HeY0ZyXIdhYT28XwCS3g3xkZNOwDv/s600/71PMn6Zm6GL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">L. P. Hartley: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Travelling-Stories-Valancourt-Century-Classics/dp/1943910790">The Travelling Grave</a> (2017)</span></div><br />
<br />
I'd like to go on and analyse some more of his stories: "The Travelling Grave" itself, in particular, not to mention the haunted house story "Feet Foremost", but I hope that I've said enough to persuade you that L. P. Hartley was a haunted man, and therefore a haunted writer.<br />
<br />
Not everyone can combine the two conditions, and his later work does not really maintain the fierce intensity of these early stories. His <a href="https://www.you-books.com/book/L-P-Hartley/The-Complete-Short-Stories-Of-Lp-Hartley"><i>Complete Stories</i></a> is a fascinating book, however: well worth reading from cover to cover by anyone who has the time or the inclination.<br />
<br />
Though perhaps, as many of his stories imply, you'd better <i>make</i> time. The life you save may be your own. Even if it involves sacrificing a cat-killer - or (for that matter) a coffin-collector, or a few of their business associates - along the way ...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgNZ_SDWRZZMXKRaT5hz1lKJwKqiHyPGWP19dx6IFtae7906Olv_RG1ge6ucf1itZxc7pfUmlpPUJDuEgk0blG0WOUT1v6FSHn4qtv-98ytMI9JbN88aL7AYWQvu9fEqKjONgbdebgvYXZbI2ocM2rs-05oLfNT7zjZncFp-FyfONh0uv0yjZ/s1000/411Deq+OgwL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="673" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgNZ_SDWRZZMXKRaT5hz1lKJwKqiHyPGWP19dx6IFtae7906Olv_RG1ge6ucf1itZxc7pfUmlpPUJDuEgk0blG0WOUT1v6FSHn4qtv-98ytMI9JbN88aL7AYWQvu9fEqKjONgbdebgvYXZbI2ocM2rs-05oLfNT7zjZncFp-FyfONh0uv0yjZ/s600/411Deq+OgwL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Adrian Wright: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Foreign-Country-Life-L-P-Hartley/dp/0233989765">Foreign Country: The Life of L. P. Hartley</a> (1996)</span></div>
<blockquote><span style="font-size: 85%;">"Drawing on exclusive access to unpublished private papers, this is the first biography of novelist Leslie Poles Hartley, covering his life and work from his childhood at Fletton Tower, Peterborough, his relationship with his mother, his experiences in the Great War, his homes in Venice, Bath and London, and his struggle to come to terms with his homosexuality."</span></blockquote><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>•</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCFlVhkzGSUprEv5vJKEtL0fZqk1Q_n4xDjiL8ENdns8AkrJShsoezYoR2bH47n9eaEj56V2pKqYKn0DTbdLaJa_81d4gQ2MMOptRPntW08SAWDriieYDpmIXmnIBe1_C08e0/s800/LP-Hartley.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="656" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCFlVhkzGSUprEv5vJKEtL0fZqk1Q_n4xDjiL8ENdns8AkrJShsoezYoR2bH47n9eaEj56V2pKqYKn0DTbdLaJa_81d4gQ2MMOptRPntW08SAWDriieYDpmIXmnIBe1_C08e0/s600/LP-Hartley.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Henry Lamb: <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw09921/LP-Hartley">L. P. Hartley</a> (1938)</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">Leslie Poles Hartley</span></b><br />
(1895-1972)</div><br />
<br />
<ol>
<b>Novels:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Simonetta Perkins</i> (1925)<ul>
<li>Included in: <b><i>The Complete Short Stories of L. P. Hartley</i>. Introduction by Lord David Cecil. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1973.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Shrimp and the Anemone</i>. Eustace and Hilda Trilogy I (1944)</li>
<li><i>The Sixth Heaven</i>. Eustace and Hilda Trilogy II (1946)</li>
<li><i>Eustace and Hilda</i>. Eustace and Hilda Trilogy III (1947)<ul>
<li>Included in: <b><span style="font-style: italic;">Eustace and Hilda: A Trilogy</span>.
['The Shrimp and the Anemone,' 1944; 'The Sixth Heaven,' 1946; 'Eustace
and Hilda,' 1947]. 1958. Introduction by Lord David Cecil. London:
Faber, 1979.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Boat</i> (1949)</li>
<li><i>My Fellow Devils</i> (1951)</li>
<li><i>The Go-Between</i> (1953)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Go-Between</span>. 1953. The Modern Novel Series. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1966.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>A Perfect Woman</i> (1955)</li>
<li><i>The Hireling</i> (1957)</li>
<li><i>Facial Justice</i> (1960)</li>
<li><i>The Brickfield</i> (1964)</li>
<li><i>The Betrayal</i> (1966)<ul>
<li>Included in: <b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Brickfield and The Betrayal</span>. 1964 & 1966. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1973.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Poor Clare</i> (1968)</li>
<li><i>The Love-Adept: A Variation on a Theme</i> (1969)</li>
<li><i>My Sisters' Keeper</i> (1970)</li>
<li><i>The Harness Room</i> (1971)</li>
<li><i>The Collections: A Novel</i> (1972)</li>
<li><i>The Will and the Way</i> (1973)</li>
<br />
<b>Stories:</b><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>The Island (1924) [<b>NF</b>] [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Talent (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>Night Fears (1924) [<b>NF</b>] [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Telephone Call (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>St. George and the Dragon (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>Friends of the Bridegroom (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>A Portrait (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>A Sentimental Journey (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>A Beautiful Character (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>A Summons (1924) [<b>NF</b>] [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>A Visit to the Dentist (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>The New Prime Minister (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>A Condition of Release (1924) [<b>NF</b>] [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>A Tonic (1924) [<b>NF</b>] [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>Witheling End (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>Apples (1924) [<b>NF</b>] [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>The Last Time (1924) [<b>NF</b>]</li>
<li>A Visitor from Down Under (1932) [<b>KB</b>] [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Killing Bottle (1932) [<b>KB</b>] [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Conrad and the Dragon (1932) [<b>KB</b>] [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>A Change of Ownership (1932) [<b>KB</b>] [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Cotillon (1932) [<b>KB</b>] [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Feet Foremost (1932) [<b>KB</b>] [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Podolo (1948) [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Three, or Four, for Dinner (1948) [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Travelling Grave (1948) [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Thought (1948) [<b>TG</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The White Wand (1954) [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>Witheling End (1954) [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>Mr Blandfoot's Picture (1954) [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>A Rewarding Experience (1954) [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>W.S. (1954) [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Vaynes (1954) [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Monkshood Manor (1954) [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Up the Garden Path (1954) [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>Hilda's Garden (1954) [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>The Price of the Absolute (1954) [<b>WW</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>Two for the River (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Someone in the Lift (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Face (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Corner Cupboard (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Waits (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Pampas Clump (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Won by a Fall (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>A Very Present Help (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>A High Dive (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>The Crossways (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Per Far L'Amore (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Interference (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Noughts and Crosses (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>The Pylon (1961) [<b>TR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Mrs Carteret Receives (1971) [<b>MCR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Paradise Paddock (1971) [<b>MCR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Pains and Pleasures (1971) [<b>MCR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Please Do Not Touch (1971) [<b>MCR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Roman Charity (1971) [<b>MCR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Home Sweet Home (1971) [<b>MCR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Shadow on the Wall (1971) [<b>MCR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Silver Clock (1971) [<b>MCR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>]</li>
<li>Fall In at the Double (1971) [<b>MCR</b>] [<b>CSS</b>] [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Sound of Voices (2001) [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>Mrs G. G. (2001) [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
<li>The Stain on the Chair (2001) [<b>CMS</b>]</li>
</ol>
<br />
<b>Short Story Collections:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Night Fears</i> (1924) [<b>NF</b>]<ol>
<li>The Island</li>
<li>Talent</li>
<li>Night Fears</li>
<li>The Telephone Call</li>
<li>St. George and the Dragon</li>
<li>Friends of the Bridegroom</li>
<li>A Portrait</li>
<li>A Sentimental Journey</li>
<li>A Beautiful Character</li>
<li>A Summons</li>
<li>A Visit to the Dentist</li>
<li>The New Prime Minister</li>
<li>A Condition of Release</li>
<li>A Tonic</li>
<li>Witheling End</li>
<li>Apples</li>
<li>The Last Time</li>
</ol></li>
<li><i>The Killing Bottle</i> (1932) [<b>KB</b>]<ol>
<li>A Visitor from Down Under</li>
<li>The Killing Bottle</li>
<li>Conrad and the Dragon</li>
<li>A Change of Ownership</li>
<li>The Cotillon</li>
<li>Feet Foremost</li>
</ol></li>
<li><i>The Travelling Grave and Other Stories</i> (US 1948 / UK 1951) [<b>TG</b>]<ol>
<li>A Visitor from Down Under</li>
<li>Podolo</li>
<li>Three, or Four, for Dinner</li>
<li>The Travelling Grave</li>
<li>Feet Foremost</li>
<li>The Cotillon</li>
<li>A Change of Ownership</li>
<li>The Thought</li>
<li>Conrad and the Dragon</li>
<li>The Island</li>
<li>Night Fears</li>
<li>The Killing Bottle</li>
</ol></li>
<li><i>The White Wand and Other Stories</i> (1954) [<b>WW</b>]<ol>
<li>The White Wand</li>
<li>Apples</li>
<li>A Tonic</li>
<li>A Condition of Release</li>
<li>Witheling End</li>
<li>Mr Blandfoot's Picture</li>
<li>A Rewarding Experience</li>
<li>W.S.</li>
<li>The Vaynes</li>
<li>Monkshood Manor</li>
<li>Up the Garden Path</li>
<li>Hilda's Garden</li>
<li>A Summons</li>
<li>The Price of the Absolute</li>
</ol></li>
<li><i>Two for the River</i> (1961) [<b>TR</b>]<ol>
<li>Two for the River</li>
<li>Someone in the Lift</li>
<li>The Face</li>
<li>The Corner Cupboard</li>
<li>The Waits</li>
<li>The Pampas Clump</li>
<li>Won by a Fall</li>
<li>A Very Present Help</li>
<li>A High Dive</li>
<li>The Crossways</li>
<li>Per Far L'Amore</li>
<li>Interference</li>
<li>Noughts and Crosses</li>
<li>The Pylon</li>
</ol></li>
<li><i>The Collected Short Stories of L. P. Hartley</i> (1968)</li>
<li><i>Mrs. Carteret Receives</i> (1971) [<b>MCR</b>]<ol>
<li>Mrs Carteret Receives</li>
<li>Paradise Paddock</li>
<li>Pains and Pleasures</li>
<li>Please Do Not Touch</li>
<li>Roman Charity</li>
<li>Home Sweet Home</li>
<li>The Shadow on the Wall</li>
<li>The Silver Clock</li>
<li>Fall In at the Double</li>
</ol></li>
<li><i><a href="https://www.you-books.com/book/L-P-Hartley/The-Complete-Short-Stories-Of-Lp-Hartley">The Complete Short Stories of L. P. Hartley</a></i> (1973) [<b>CSS</b>]<ol>
<li><i>Simonetta Perkins</i> (1925)</li>
<li><i>The Travelling Grave and Other Stories</i> (1951)</li>
<li><i>The White Wand and Other Stories</i> (1954)</li>
<li><i>Two for the River</i> (1961)</li>
<li><i>Mrs. Carteret Receives</i> (1971)]</li>
</ol><ul>
<li><b><i>The Complete Short Stories of L. P. Hartley</i>. Introduction by Lord David Cecil. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1973.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Collected Macabre Stories</i> (2001) [<b>CMS</b>]<ol>
From the Introduction to Lady Cynthia Asquith’s <i>Third Ghost Book</i>
<li>A Visitor from Down Under</li>
<li>Podolo</li>
<li>Three, or Four, for Dinner</li>
<li>The Travelling Grave</li>
<li>Feet Foremost</li>
<li>The Cotillon</li>
<li>A Change of Ownership</li>
<li>The Thought</li>
<li>Conrad and the Dragon</li>
<li>The Island</li>
<li>Night Fears</li>
<li>The Killing Bottle</li>
<li>A Summons</li>
<li>W.S.</li>
<li>The Two Vaynes</li>
<li>Monkshood Manor</li>
<li>Two for the River</li>
<li>Someone in the Lift</li>
<li>The Face</li>
<li>The Corner Cupboard</li>
<li>The Waits</li>
<li>The Pampas Clump</li>
<li>The Crossways</li>
<li>Per Far L'Amore</li>
<li>Interference</li>
<li>The Pylon</li>
<li>Mrs Carteret Receives</li>
<li>Fall In at the Double</li>
<li>Paradise Paddock</li>
<li>Roman Charity</li>
<li>Pains and Pleasures</li>
<li>Please Do Not Touch</li>
<li>Home Sweet Home</li>
<li>The Shadow on the Wall</li>
<li>The Sound of Voices</li>
<li>Mrs G. G.</li>
<li>The Stain on the Chair</li>
</ol></li>
<br />
<b>Non-fiction:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Novelist's Responsibility</i> (1967)</li>
<br />
<b>Edited:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Essays by Divers Hands</i>. Volume XXXIV (1966)</li>
</ol>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-b2ULSY2PP0hCE6UBDanUdMtEZQViToGwJYjPdpB5G6R88c-rhGwOqmFO-3NvXncvt8wpSjkKyRZFFEVAbtGuFcUz6kubI0LMNQaiZh_Vf3HwRjMUG90EB9plGDNC4zuMkcdAz_XSPoJpeIDxdhCFPqoaQgG2GcHc4HLt8s0qUWXeFyrDtev7/s475/89906.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-b2ULSY2PP0hCE6UBDanUdMtEZQViToGwJYjPdpB5G6R88c-rhGwOqmFO-3NvXncvt8wpSjkKyRZFFEVAbtGuFcUz6kubI0LMNQaiZh_Vf3HwRjMUG90EB9plGDNC4zuMkcdAz_XSPoJpeIDxdhCFPqoaQgG2GcHc4HLt8s0qUWXeFyrDtev7/s400/89906.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">L. P. Hartley: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89906.The_Collected_Macabre_Stories">The Collected Macabre Stories</a> (2001)</span></div>
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<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-58165543932332865122024-02-24T10:42:00.002+13:002024-02-25T08:38:17.648+13:00Classic Ghost Story Writers: Algernon Blackwood<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWAafT4QBHv9mLXiu6qKFx_W5lr5Gs13GOJ1W8KjZHZRgjoR8oXhKQsPtVvF438SVJXFSS3Rjzx9tchhOC7FGdTYg368kDSHxMJeoM6jbQiR7MdJiXOuZmiW4hYQ7gvDzWkMuBK-7KBjyhSs8NAIuZhYc44T5jjqHxpb7EO6NZhAeZc9hh0H3Q/s608/9780198848882__09027.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWAafT4QBHv9mLXiu6qKFx_W5lr5Gs13GOJ1W8KjZHZRgjoR8oXhKQsPtVvF438SVJXFSS3Rjzx9tchhOC7FGdTYg368kDSHxMJeoM6jbQiR7MdJiXOuZmiW4hYQ7gvDzWkMuBK-7KBjyhSs8NAIuZhYc44T5jjqHxpb7EO6NZhAeZc9hh0H3Q/s600/9780198848882__09027.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Algernon Blackwood: <a href="https://scifier.com/the-wendigo-and-other-stories-algernon-blackwood-9780198848882/">The Wendigo and Other Stories</a> (2023)</span></div><br />
<br />
'The Wendigo' (1910) remains my favourite story by Algernon Blackwood, and - indeed - one of my favourite horror stories of all time.<br />
<br />
I know that H. P. Lovecraft preferred the earlier 'The Willows' (1907), and I certainly acknowledge the wonderfully atmospheric effects achieved by Blackwood in that story, but it just can't compare with the sense of cosmic terror, as well as the intensity of his descriptions of the Northern woods, in 'The Wendigo'.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiEQULnFSpFatMi6y7HxpULbtxTFvWzOdONeqrKIcQ3qPdw8MeSGsXjZllqhTsCQzyWt1H19PqAmA8XlWIIqQ3XmDQXQU3EJl-8R7s9khbiCfIk4K5_F3uCyTsAKOdvzmO_HJB38s5BHgOPJEx_vp_sNhxyuMTmMQaVK_UPl_AFKDJHxwE9UvN/s739/0345a7_5dc95e535d054bd0b6be689b88f48ca8~mv2.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="491" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiEQULnFSpFatMi6y7HxpULbtxTFvWzOdONeqrKIcQ3qPdw8MeSGsXjZllqhTsCQzyWt1H19PqAmA8XlWIIqQ3XmDQXQU3EJl-8R7s9khbiCfIk4K5_F3uCyTsAKOdvzmO_HJB38s5BHgOPJEx_vp_sNhxyuMTmMQaVK_UPl_AFKDJHxwE9UvN/s600/0345a7_5dc95e535d054bd0b6be689b88f48ca8~mv2.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">M. Grant Kellermeyer: <a href="https://www.oldstyletales.com/single-post/2019/01/23/algernon-blackwoods-the-wendigo-a-two-minute-summary-and-analysis-of-the-classic-camping">Classic Horror Blog</a> (2019)</span></div><br />
<blockquote>"Oh, oh! This fiery height! Oh, oh! My feet of fire! My burning feet of fire!"</blockquote>
If you haven't read the story (you can find an online text of it <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10897/10897-h/10897-h.htm">here</a>), those words will sound very strange to you. If you have, they'll be only too meaningful.<br />
<br />
But what exactly <i>is</i> a wendigo (or windigo, as it's also called)?
<blockquote>
The wendigo is often said to be a malevolent spirit, sometimes depicted as a creature with human-like characteristics, which possesses human beings. It is said to cause its victims a feeling of insatiable hunger, the desire to eat other humans, and the propensity to commit murder. In some representations, the wendigo is described as a giant humanoid with a heart of ice, whose approach is signaled by a foul stench or sudden unseasonable chill.<div style="text-align: center;">- <i>Wikipedia</i>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo">Wendigo</a></div></blockquote>
This is far from Blackwood's description of it as a "moss-eater", with huge misshapen feet from its bounds up into the fiery upper air. In general he is careful to avoid its associations with cannibalism, a perennial problem for many of the Northern First Nations tribes, who often ran short of food in winter if the harvest had been bad the year before, and who therefore tended to be accused of acts of cannibalism by missionaries and colonisers (as historian <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/04/acquisitions-72-francis-parkman.html#_ftn4">Francis Parkman</a> records in his 1865 account <i>The Pioneers of France in the New World</i>).<br />
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Here's a typical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo#Description">Windigo folktale</a>, collected from a Chippewa informant by Lottie Chicogquaw Marsden:
<blockquote>
One time long ago a big Windigo stole an Indian boy, but the boy was too thin, so the Windigo didn't eat him up right away, but he travelled with the Indian boy waiting for him till he'd get fat. The Windigo had a knife and he'd cut the boy on the hand to see if he was fat enough to eat, but the boy didn't get fat. They travelled too much. One day they came to an Indian village and the Windigo sent the boy to the Indian village to get some things for him to eat. He just gave the boy so much time to go there and back. The boy told the Indians that the Windigo was near them, and showed them his hand where the Windigo cut him to see if he was fat enough to eat. They heard the Windigo calling the boy. He said to the boy "Hurry up. Don't tell lies to those Indians." All of these Indians went to where the Windigo was and cut off his legs. They went back again to see if he was dead. He wasn't dead. He was eating the juice (marrow) from the inside of the bones of his legs that were cut off. The Indians asked the Windigo if there was any fat on them. He said, "You bet there is, I have eaten lots of Indians, no wonder they are fat." The Indians then killed him and cut him to pieces. This was the end of this Giant Windigo.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxwuwb0X54pVHgWJ8UI0anhiJ5V-8PpE08RpPNHr-BPaju7LJxBt0ryDlwAq4rD6LZ9sBiotnHMtrpxzhbIBUV8IVuzqWiuWC0XkqlzNF2cDK70up9gADHQoMD0NKCLOwbJ1BVQXiphMPsnK9Qws8FV9kfVnl4k_oOrcAf9Eioi0lts4o5auHR/s806/il_570xN.2975083153_tt0w.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxwuwb0X54pVHgWJ8UI0anhiJ5V-8PpE08RpPNHr-BPaju7LJxBt0ryDlwAq4rD6LZ9sBiotnHMtrpxzhbIBUV8IVuzqWiuWC0XkqlzNF2cDK70up9gADHQoMD0NKCLOwbJ1BVQXiphMPsnK9Qws8FV9kfVnl4k_oOrcAf9Eioi0lts4o5auHR/s600/il_570xN.2975083153_tt0w.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Sophia Cathryn: <a href="https://scifier.com/the-wendigo-and-other-stories-algernon-blackwood-9780198848882/">Wendigo</a> (2022)</span></div><br />
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As you can see from the illustration above, Wendigos are generally depicted as being cadaverously thin, ravenously hungry, and prone to eating their own faces and limbs if no other food is available - hence their blood-stained teeth. They can also pass on this curse to others, which may account for the return of the French Canadian guide Défago in altered form at a crucial point in Blackwood's story. They don't always have horns, so it's not necessarily easy to identify them at first.<br />
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It's just one of many stories Blackwood set in the wilds of Canada. One of the best of the others is "<a href="https://americanliterature.com/author/algernon-blackwood/short-story/a-haunted-island">A Haunted Island</a>" (1899), though "<a href="https://americanliterature.com/author/algernon-blackwood/short-story/skeleton-lake-an-episode-in-camp">Skeleton Lake</a>" (1906) runs it a close second.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjooY8Vr_GrC2fHQ8EcqfTcFvsM7_xvSXirckIDr3nK1L_2sGSM1JzOyDyPsMqp67xWz1LxKhcm-jMvo8xgQgdnTClSNFED96P4qTUlBxAzd1uLu10nRQI3T1d1iGwKYfmQCkIsde8tHuo_orPVTu6ww_A81CSKEbG4lou186313_kjTFSItkDb/s1154/John_Silence.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1154" data-original-width="773" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjooY8Vr_GrC2fHQ8EcqfTcFvsM7_xvSXirckIDr3nK1L_2sGSM1JzOyDyPsMqp67xWz1LxKhcm-jMvo8xgQgdnTClSNFED96P4qTUlBxAzd1uLu10nRQI3T1d1iGwKYfmQCkIsde8tHuo_orPVTu6ww_A81CSKEbG4lou186313_kjTFSItkDb/s600/John_Silence.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Algernon Blackwood: <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Silence.jpg">John Silence, Physician Extraordinary</a> (1908)</span></div><br />
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Probably the most impressive of his many collections of mostly fantastic and supernatural stories is <a href="https://americanliterature.com/author/algernon-blackwood/book/john-silence-physician-extraordinary/summary"><i>John Silence, Physician Extraordinary</i></a>. John Silence is clearly an heir to <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2018/07/classic-ghost-story-writers-1-j.html">Sheridan Le Fanu</a>'s Dr. Martin Hesselius, the psychic physician, as well as <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2010/05/vampirology-2.html">Bram Stoker</a>'s Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, bane of vampires everywhere.<br />
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John Silence is, however, more of a spectator than an active participant in the events he witnesses. He's probably at his best in "Secret Worship," set at a haunted boys' school in the Black Forest of Germany, but all of the six stories he figures in (five in the original book; another, "A Victim of Higher Space," collected later) are well worth reading.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMMu8JEg41mMEJqhKHOc-8Og599dHiMF4xgCWTD3yB3itf37karzd7DwhakKP2vGN6tEcnn7Trtmmd0fQ8bnXAQJhmD3Eb0U0Ig5mXajJ-xJB6oxvc8AUoRAtlpjdGiG2HCu13hfP56RCutshugqxxKGo00w4RejKNfKQ1Zbd8dLmq9n_lrgV3/s2048/my4ad0ma86k51.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMMu8JEg41mMEJqhKHOc-8Og599dHiMF4xgCWTD3yB3itf37karzd7DwhakKP2vGN6tEcnn7Trtmmd0fQ8bnXAQJhmD3Eb0U0Ig5mXajJ-xJB6oxvc8AUoRAtlpjdGiG2HCu13hfP56RCutshugqxxKGo00w4RejKNfKQ1Zbd8dLmq9n_lrgV3/s600/my4ad0ma86k51.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkAcademia/comments/ijg0g9/theres_hardly_anything_as_da_as_the_ghost_stories/">Montague Rhodes James</a> (1862-1936)</span></div><br />
<br />
It's true that many of Algernon Blackwood's fictions offend against one or other of the three rules for effective ghost stories laid out by his close contemporary <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2011/12/two-jameses-1-m-r-james.html">M. R. James</a> in the preface to his own collection <i>More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary</i> (1911):
<blockquote>I think that, as a rule, the setting should be fairly familiar and the majority of the characters and their talk such as you may meet or hear any day. A ghost story of which the scene is laid in the twelfth or thirteenth century may succeed in being romantic or poetical: it will never put the reader into the position of saying to himself, ‘If I’m not very careful, something of this kind may happen to me!’ Another requisite, in my opinion, is that the ghost should be malevolent or odious: amiable and helpful apparitions are all very well in fairy tales or in local legends, but I have no use for them in a fictitious ghost story. Again, I feel that the technical terms of ‘occultism’, if they are not very carefully handled, tend to put the mere ghost story (which is all that I am attempting) upon a quasi-scientific plane, and to call into play faculties quite other than the imaginative.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOK2jOLSJ_gR3y7c38PmL1d3Lxk3jbFXSP2yS7ZyVlmz01uE5sdjk6j3tvf_vTULd-OJzVtSz2eklJzGvZqDaef97uvUcG9eRPxQT9PYyNY3T7lSMkSXtKDCC7ssukB9oz12An-0OABEPUmSs98HBSQylG7_qDVf9ntWSmiaqfilEihIvd47Kt/s1000/81qRclsbjkL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="649" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOK2jOLSJ_gR3y7c38PmL1d3Lxk3jbFXSP2yS7ZyVlmz01uE5sdjk6j3tvf_vTULd-OJzVtSz2eklJzGvZqDaef97uvUcG9eRPxQT9PYyNY3T7lSMkSXtKDCC7ssukB9oz12An-0OABEPUmSs98HBSQylG7_qDVf9ntWSmiaqfilEihIvd47Kt/s600/81qRclsbjkL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Algernon Blackwood: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Sorceries-Deluxe-proponents-supernatural/dp/1782278516">Ancient Sorceries</a> (2022)</span></div><br />
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<ol>
<li><b>the setting should be fairly familiar and the majority of the characters and their talk such as you may meet or hear any day</b> ...</li>
Blackwood, by contrast, is fond of setting his stories in Canada, or on the lower reaches of the Danube, or on an island in the Baltic, or in a mysterious small town in France. That is, in fact, part of their attraction. One feels, in almost every case, that he's writing about a place familiar to <i>him</i>, and describing the kinds of characters encountered by him in his adventurous early life.<br /><br />
<li><b>the ghost should be malevolent or odious</b> ...</li>
This is probably true of the Wendigo itself (though that's debatable), but as a general rule, Blackwood's ghosts and occult manifestations of various kinds tend to be largely indifferent to mankind: they operate according to their own rules, for reasons that remain largely obscure to us. The danger comes from the intersection of these otherwordly entities with our own quotidian concerns.<br /><br />
<li><b>the technical terms of ‘occultism’ tend to put the mere ghost story upon a quasi-scientific plane, and to call into play faculties quite other than the imaginative</b>.</li>
It seems probable that James had Blackwood specifically in mind when he wrote this sentence. There's a lot of 'quasi' (or pseudo-) scientific discourse in a good many of his stories, particularly the ones which star John Silence, though in this he was following the example of such classic supernatural novellas as Edward Bulwer-Lytton's "The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the Brain" (1859).</ol><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfE-AqROaYoXAH1kZxT6T5HzywNAJvjjnGKsEiLo5GIy1JeljOLmGKXOlXszFfgKIkDwDxtpS3yrC3yShclmng4anpnVm8xpoNtCBp-iPpMv-lQ88SvCB6DmS3qb5sN_blL4hbqUwIwYX70s39Xj_kRS-ukfT40S5cAS092-uc-9nM4eVLOGz/s297/738544075.0.m.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfE-AqROaYoXAH1kZxT6T5HzywNAJvjjnGKsEiLo5GIy1JeljOLmGKXOlXszFfgKIkDwDxtpS3yrC3yShclmng4anpnVm8xpoNtCBp-iPpMv-lQ88SvCB6DmS3qb5sN_blL4hbqUwIwYX70s39Xj_kRS-ukfT40S5cAS092-uc-9nM4eVLOGz/s600/738544075.0.m.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Algernon Blackwood: <a href="https://biblio.co.nz/booksearch/author/blackwood-algernon/title/the-empty-house-and-other-ghost?_gl=1*vrejip*_gcl_au*MTAxNzg1MDUzMC4xNzA4Mzc0MTY3&placement=domain-intercept">The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories</a> (1906)</span></div><br />
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There's an expansiveness and range to the best of Blackwood's early stories which far surpasses his later work in the genre, influenced (as it was) by the need to provide stories short enough to broadcast or to fit into the increasingly restrictive demands of magazines.<br />
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Despite this, over time he built quite a reputation as a reader of his own stories on radio, and (eventually) on the burgeoning medium of television. But he should really be seen - along with Wilkie Collins, M. R. James and Sheridan Le Fanu - as one of the principal ornaments of the golden age of ghost stories, roughly from the mid-nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War.<br />
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It's a shame that there's no really comprehensive collection of his work in this genre, uneven in quality though it undoubtedly is. Perhaps the best introduction to his work remains E. F. Bleiler's careful selection, published by Dover in 1973.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCy-HQzhmEV9dMDq5NiXA0w5Ynlb79sFUZaoOCv2Io8Xg3Z7WMLNGDmmuM-G2MGSpscMbIas_et4KGcpyDx56SuJygOh1xI0L7tkzWATODCwaupsHLu-W_eNikmsz5GORr2LHLY4aiNEcOeR_FQ84ZcAdyVa6xRh3RPcm0ONaA5WsRowGmZTpI/s1603/9780486229775.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1603" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCy-HQzhmEV9dMDq5NiXA0w5Ynlb79sFUZaoOCv2Io8Xg3Z7WMLNGDmmuM-G2MGSpscMbIas_et4KGcpyDx56SuJygOh1xI0L7tkzWATODCwaupsHLu-W_eNikmsz5GORr2LHLY4aiNEcOeR_FQ84ZcAdyVa6xRh3RPcm0ONaA5WsRowGmZTpI/s600/9780486229775.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">E. F. Bleiler, ed.: <a href="https://www.thenile.co.nz/books/algernon-blackwood/best-ghost-stories-of-algernon-blackwood/9780486229775">Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood</a> (1973)</span></div><br />
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Mind you, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo#In_popular_culture">wendigo</a> itself has gone on to become one of the standard 'cryptids' - along with Bigfoot, the chupacabra, the Loch Ness monster, and the Jersey Devil - investigated by proponents of the pseudoscience known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptozoology">Cryptozoology</a>. It also bears an obvious resemblance to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man">Slender Man</a> figure in contemporary pop culture.<br />
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It's even inspired a couple of feature films, as well as numerous stories, comics, novels and even role-playing games.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIIuhHiZZuNkLLsKsxImIwmNVe4aOWVjVMX9bnhKOS1m-Kq0zvdCci1r0tbLmjZytv2Kyt7xoE28Pi9yaITdFV_mVHk52Wrhf5P7-GRxu3htmO5aGNQui6B4xqXPeJCbwO_zpGLlB5-L2Imf0gO0u6tA_3G0orfCtSqMCbY-z2csMH_QV2coVq/s394/Wendigopost.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIIuhHiZZuNkLLsKsxImIwmNVe4aOWVjVMX9bnhKOS1m-Kq0zvdCci1r0tbLmjZytv2Kyt7xoE28Pi9yaITdFV_mVHk52Wrhf5P7-GRxu3htmO5aGNQui6B4xqXPeJCbwO_zpGLlB5-L2Imf0gO0u6tA_3G0orfCtSqMCbY-z2csMH_QV2coVq/s600/Wendigopost.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Larry Fessenden, dir. & writ.: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo_(film)">Wendigo</a> (2001)</span></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>•</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/12/22/algernon-blackwood-master-supernatural/">Algernon Blackwood</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Algernon Henry Blackwood</b></span><br />
(1869-1951)</div><br />
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<ol>
<b>Novels:</b><br /><br /><li><i>Jimbo: A Fantasy</i> (1909)</li><li><i>The Education of Uncle Paul</i> (1909)</li><li><i>The Human Chord</i> (1910)</li><li><i>The Centaur</i> (1911)</li><li><i>A Prisoner in Fairyland</i> [sequel to <i>The Education of Uncle Paul</i>] (1913)</li><li><i>The Extra Day</i> (1915)</li><li><i>Julius LeVallon</i> (1916)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Julius LeVallon: An Episode</span>. London: Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1916.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>The Wave</i> (1916)</li><li><i>The Promise of Air </i>(1918)</li><li><i>The Garden of Survival</i> (1918)</li><li><i>The Bright Messenger</i> [sequel to <i>Julius LeVallon</i>] (1921)</li><li><i>Dudley & Gilderoy: A Nonsense</i> (1929)</li><br /><b>Children's Books:</b><br /><br /><li><i>Sambo and Snitch</i> (1927)</li><li><i>The Fruit Stoners: Being the Adventures of Maria Among the Fruit Stoners</i> (1934)</li><br /><b>Plays:</b><br /><br /><li>[with Violet Pearn] <i>The Starlight Express</i>. Music by Edward Elgar (1915)</li><li>[with Violet Pearn] <i>Karma: A Reincarnation Play</i> (1918)</li><li>[with Bertram Forsyth] <i>The Crossing</i> (1920)</li><li>[with Violet Pearn] <i>Through the Crack</i> (1920)</li><li>[with Bertram Forsyth] <i>White Magic</i> (1921)</li><li>[with Elaine Ainley] <i>The Halfway House</i> (1921)</li><li>[with Frederick Kinsey Peile] <i>Max Hensig</i> (1929)</li><br /><b>Short story collections:</b><br /><br /><li><i>The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories</i> (1906)</li><li><i>The Listener and Other Stories</i> (1907)</li><li><i>John Silence</i> (1908)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">John Silence, Physician Extraordinary</span>. 1908. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1912.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>The Lost Valley and Other Stories</i> (1910)</li><li><i>Pan's Garden: A Volume of Nature Stories</i> (1912)</li><li><i>Ten Minute Stories</i> (1914)</li><li><i>Incredible Adventures</i> (1914)</li><li><i>Day and Night Stories</i> (1917)</li><li><i>Wolves of God, and Other Fey Stories</i> (1921)</li><li><i>Tongues of Fire and Other Sketches</i> (1924)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Tongues of Fire and Other Sketches</span>. 1924. London: Herbert Jenkins Limited, n.d.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>Shocks</i> (1935)</li><li><i>The Doll and One Other</i> (1946)</li><br /><b>Short Story Selections:</b><br /><br /><li><i>Ancient Sorceries and Other Tales</i> (1927)</li><li><i>The Dance of Death and Other Tales</i> (1927)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Dance of Death and Other Stories</span>. 1927. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1973.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>Strange Stories</i> (1929)</li><li><i>Short Stories of To-Day & Yesterday</i> (1930)</li><li><i>The Willows and Other Queer Tales</i>. Ed. G. F. Maine (1932)</li><li><i>The Tales of Algernon Blackwood</i> (1938)</li><li><i>Selected Tales of Algernon Blackwood</i> (1942)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Selected Tales: Stories of the Supernatural and Uncanny</span>. 1943. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1948.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>Selected Short Stories of Algernon Blackwood</i> (1945)</li><li><i>Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural</i> (1949)<ul><li>Included in: <b><span style="font-style: italic;">Tales of Terror & Darkness: Part One: Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural / Part Two: Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre</span>. 1949 & 1967. Spring Books. London: The Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1977.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>In the Realm of Terror</i> (1957)</li><li><i>Selected Tales of Algernon Blackwood</i> (1964)</li><li><i>Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre</i> (1967)<ul><li>Included in: <b><span style="font-style: italic;">Tales of Terror & Darkness: Part One: Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural / Part Two: Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre</span>. 1949 & 1967. Spring Books. London: The Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1977.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>Ancient Sorceries and Other Stories</i> (1968)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Ancient Sorceries and Other Stories</span>. 1906-1908. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood</i>. Ed. Everett F. Bleiler (1973)<ul><li><b><i>Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood</i>. Preface by the Author. 1938. Ed. E. F. Beiler. New York: Dover Books, Inc., 1973.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>The Best Supernatural Tales of Algernon Blackwood</i>. Ed. Felix Morrow (1973)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Best Supernatural Tales of Algernon Blackwood</span>. 1929. Introduction by Felix Morrow. New York: Causeway Books, 1973.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>Tales of Terror and Darkness</i> (1977)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Tales of Terror & Darkness: Part One: Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural / Part Two: Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre</span>. 1949 & 1967. Spring Books. London: The Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1977.</b></li></ul></li>
<li><i>Tales of the Supernatural</i>. Ed. Mike Ashley (1983)</li>
<li><i>The Magic Mirror</i>. Ed. Mike Ashley (1989)</li>
<li><i>The Complete John Silence Stories</i>. [with "A Victim of Higher Space"]. Ed. S. T. Joshi (1997)</li>
<li><i>Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories</i>. Ed. S. T. Joshi (2002)</li>
<li><i>Algernon Blackwood's Canadian Tales of Terror</i>. Ed. John Robert Colombo (2004)</li>
<li><i>Ancient Sorceries and Other Stories</i> (2022)</li>
<li><i>The Wendigo and Other Stories</i>. Ed. Aaron Worth. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.</ol>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQeWWbSr8oVQv28-B7xFqPfoDtdZ5vhDUc5Wa1BzqmWZfOc73_RKoABB8labw5J-wMZiDRVtJema_SokOPztNtFUqCUmVc7bS0ZvPrjPzuFrCLTmj0WzQpDib2YPwMFKatRUpeMTh0Z8_pYrX872Lv0JOq3UvUq26Lj2HdY580gjqojWNF-vC/s1165/wendigo.gif" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQeWWbSr8oVQv28-B7xFqPfoDtdZ5vhDUc5Wa1BzqmWZfOc73_RKoABB8labw5J-wMZiDRVtJema_SokOPztNtFUqCUmVc7bS0ZvPrjPzuFrCLTmj0WzQpDib2YPwMFKatRUpeMTh0Z8_pYrX872Lv0JOq3UvUq26Lj2HdY580gjqojWNF-vC/s400/wendigo.gif"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Matt Fox: <a href="https://biblioklept.org/2015/10/29/illustration-for-algernon-blackwoods-the-wendigo-matt-fox/">Illustration for The Wendigo</a> (2015)</span></div>
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<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-42396206045968545942024-02-17T09:53:00.002+13:002024-02-18T08:05:54.950+13:00Troy Town<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXEy2JA_a4Cq2RzxhZUYY06vRGvZzPqJCmE3sd4_-MQPMSZ-U9SL8fiH5w_RgbPCtM7hSYII07J1mF8d0xPMEwABHyGFHJ5vlFgNwTh_WjATb8To7EoO6d3bYjlN4_RcX-Z2v1b7APDoVAuTiakDfmfDTRt-Rs0RH2rjViq32G_KabQMSjLQ/s500/51i8idcoL0L._AC_SY780_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXEy2JA_a4Cq2RzxhZUYY06vRGvZzPqJCmE3sd4_-MQPMSZ-U9SL8fiH5w_RgbPCtM7hSYII07J1mF8d0xPMEwABHyGFHJ5vlFgNwTh_WjATb8To7EoO6d3bYjlN4_RcX-Z2v1b7APDoVAuTiakDfmfDTRt-Rs0RH2rjViq32G_KabQMSjLQ/s600/51i8idcoL0L._AC_SY780_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Leo Deuel, ed.: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Heinrich-Schliemann-documentary-autobiographical/dp/0060111062">Memoirs of Heinrich Schliemann</a> (1978)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Town">Troy Town</a> is the traditional name for many of the mazes and earthworks of England. This may refer to the tricky way in which the walls of Troy were constructed, full of dead-ends and blind corners to baffle an enemy. Or, alternatively, it may be just because the <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2018/11/11th-hour-of-11th-day-of-11th-month.html">razing of the city of Troy</a>, leaving only a few mounds of earth behind, has been seen ever since as emblematic of such scenes of utter devastation.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqY8CsHo90V3gK6vx5mNDajhYSAlUxAgjBuKlxOZ2ovdRnQYjgz0k9XcXs19Sr5xYM0JH7teyGkOTcrKi6gkjVbquR-3XUSFDa02iCLMCqsicDgNxTZ5MSJ975T8ow47gaGb-9PmRyDpQ704qHIXj7WJvdJ3ip0iddcoh8YZsmyyr5dk161Q/s1126/800px-Heinrich_Schliemann_%28HeidICON_28763%29_%28cropped%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1126" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqY8CsHo90V3gK6vx5mNDajhYSAlUxAgjBuKlxOZ2ovdRnQYjgz0k9XcXs19Sr5xYM0JH7teyGkOTcrKi6gkjVbquR-3XUSFDa02iCLMCqsicDgNxTZ5MSJ975T8ow47gaGb-9PmRyDpQ704qHIXj7WJvdJ3ip0iddcoh8YZsmyyr5dk161Q/s600/800px-Heinrich_Schliemann_%28HeidICON_28763%29_%28cropped%29.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Schliemann">Heinrich Schliemann</a> (1821-1890)</span></div><br />
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Recently I've been reading a compilation of autobiographical pieces by Heinrich Schliemann, the (so-called) discoverer of Troy. Schliemann was a bit of a con-man, an inveterate exaggerator, and a self-promoter on a Barnum-like scale, but there was also a touch of genius in him. His instincts often led him to the right place at the right time when others' well-reasoned arguments led them astray.<br />
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His initial excavations at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisarlik">Hisarlik</a>, the Anatolian hillock which he believed to be the site of Homer's Troy, were catastrophic. He dug a huge trench through the centre of the mound, in the process destroying many of the remains which might later have helped him and others reconstruct crucial layers of the ancient city. To some extent he made up for this in subsequent years as he found collaborators with a firmer knowledge of archaeological method, but the fact is that he probably did more harm than good as an actual excavator.<br />
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He was, however, largely responsible for the discovery of a hitherto unsuspected civilisation. Whether you call it Minoan or Mycenaean, the existence of an advanced, sophisticated culture in the Eastern Mediterranean, long before the Classical Age, was unsuspected before he began his explorations in the 1870s. In the process, Schliemann whipped up a frenzy of enthusiasm not just for treasure hunting but for scientific archaeology in the Europe of his time.<br />
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He remains an ambiguous figure, but his contribution to the debate over the historicity of Homer's Troy is undeniable.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_SIOhjC6yfGD95J00RidTzPKqN1NxU6TXo5tZmzGou51Xogm_MLZXGaY37OYYyd7vRDZ3k1-qVBdoZOFLlw-sg2cHeKpQ52x_Am5sg6tXYRNA3MnULZK7bD6pke1nlorrUphdYsfjAkOtbNkscoZEx0NLJ4pYERzBADyrN55K71wkjuXuVg/s500/9780452263642-us.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_SIOhjC6yfGD95J00RidTzPKqN1NxU6TXo5tZmzGou51Xogm_MLZXGaY37OYYyd7vRDZ3k1-qVBdoZOFLlw-sg2cHeKpQ52x_Am5sg6tXYRNA3MnULZK7bD6pke1nlorrUphdYsfjAkOtbNkscoZEx0NLJ4pYERzBADyrN55K71wkjuXuVg/s600/9780452263642-us.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Michael Wood: <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/9780452263642/Search-Trojan-Wood-Michael-0452263646/plp">In Search of the Trojan War</a> (1985)</span></div><br />
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But why should there even <i>be</i> such a debate? Is there anything intrinsically implausible in the story of Troy? Whether the war was fought because of the abduction of Helen of Sparta by the Trojan Prince Paris, as Homer claimed, or over trade-routes through the Bosphorus, as the Greek historian Herodotus preferred to describe it, the basic plotline of a destructive conflict between west and east hasn't changed that much over the past three millennia.<br />
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Nor have the ruinous results.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqtnCcktIMTIlQn9Bg5d70PNze7GegaH1ekOWOn0cxJg7YXIVgoleX1vyrqxMpao4g0HfP6R1oaM2HoFEzpqiEz6WZbVi_ZtcNLb55WndSLKki0_1npmsWPfF-1ozsgYm4YXaPoANkA7PkZBxRQGvdQgacGUwzmTpMwwW7KnaeFBdwM3emHJg/s1170/2023-12-04T110336Z_896420382_RC2P34A28JZ0_RTRMADP_3_YEAR-END-ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-1703365513.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqtnCcktIMTIlQn9Bg5d70PNze7GegaH1ekOWOn0cxJg7YXIVgoleX1vyrqxMpao4g0HfP6R1oaM2HoFEzpqiEz6WZbVi_ZtcNLb55WndSLKki0_1npmsWPfF-1ozsgYm4YXaPoANkA7PkZBxRQGvdQgacGUwzmTpMwwW7KnaeFBdwM3emHJg/s600/2023-12-04T110336Z_896420382_RC2P34A28JZ0_RTRMADP_3_YEAR-END-ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-1703365513.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Al Jazeera: <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/12/25/photos-israel-palestine-war">Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza Strip</a> (31/10/23)</span></div><br />
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As I write, Netanyahu's soldiers are invading hospitals and exulting as they blow up mosques. They film themselves doing it, in fact. Shades of Ajax and Achilles looting and desecrating their enemies' bodies!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ08fqx_wA177ruDT5TEJuatyyfwWGXukqe2SGrRsBj9dBmcXzZRd8rEz_ZpXWG76YRCoBBH-cI_0amBuCipBFFVU0Qj0ZSFEcMPQjlVbmMigfqjBk_4kZ3xFW13NB66SSQfOzlA2fHuOxjRtctHmD9keDqU92rxXlr0LXaDKrsvbShDgNb5h2/s1336/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-17%20at%2008.53.54.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ08fqx_wA177ruDT5TEJuatyyfwWGXukqe2SGrRsBj9dBmcXzZRd8rEz_ZpXWG76YRCoBBH-cI_0amBuCipBFFVU0Qj0ZSFEcMPQjlVbmMigfqjBk_4kZ3xFW13NB66SSQfOzlA2fHuOxjRtctHmD9keDqU92rxXlr0LXaDKrsvbShDgNb5h2/s400/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-17%20at%2008.53.54.png"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">CNN: <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/12/25/photos-israel-palestine-war">Israeli soldier films himself blowing up a mosque</a> (17/2/24)</span></div><br />
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Has anything changed in the intervening period? The weapons have got more powerful, and the propaganda easier to slipstream around the world. Otherwise, it's business as usual for humanity: hatred, lies, contempt for anyone you can define as 'Other', on whatever flimsy pretext you can find.<br />
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Perhaps in another few hundred years archaeologists will be speculating on the various layers of pulverised debris they find in their excavations in ancient Canaan / Judea, modern Israel / Palestine. Maybe they'll conclude that the whole idea of an Israel-Gaza war was just a myth: after all, the subsequent layers of radioactive fallout will have wiped out any sense of whatever civilisation (if any) proceeded the bombardment.<br />
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For the moment, though, women and children are dying in their thousands. It seems impossible to exaggerate the terror and privations being suffered by the people of Gaza: 27,708 is this morning's total of dead. <i>Just stop</i>. How can that be so impossible to achieve? Have we learned nothing at all from those previous massacres and cataclysms?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQafuTxcWS8sbf1x0Dt_fqhoU2TpbnA8fo1dMsba6JH4izxUFlo0n09KBVEMgBzPL01cKOF314qRj8_3Z7D8YM_Qo_TDLj3aUyDxZW-fJC1eH0y9WXd3RlnhTNccOPVROCtnln7yvuZIiB5E_ouTU-jIn-ydtw7YxxiEl5VsRvP9w_wcn4H5jA/s798/Klee,_paul,_angelus_novus,_1920.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQafuTxcWS8sbf1x0Dt_fqhoU2TpbnA8fo1dMsba6JH4izxUFlo0n09KBVEMgBzPL01cKOF314qRj8_3Z7D8YM_Qo_TDLj3aUyDxZW-fJC1eH0y9WXd3RlnhTNccOPVROCtnln7yvuZIiB5E_ouTU-jIn-ydtw7YxxiEl5VsRvP9w_wcn4H5jA/s600/Klee,_paul,_angelus_novus,_1920.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Paul Klee: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Novus">Angelus Novus</a> (1920)</span></div><br />
<blockquote>
A Klee painting named <i>Angelus Novus</i> shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.<div style="text-align: center;">
- Walter Benjamin, <i>Theses on the Philosophy of History</i> (1940)</div></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEismjh1p_RNQvKyNt4EVwVSIsES2w0rEM0JE7hl9F2l5-jh7DV6qkTvYZ5QmrwuyxfeakK4Y3FSc-ROWLTGofUKOjiyZt1xXD_7uOPaq-KPwZ87tsbBh7QLhvdeU5loz4eyTcVwSYhmoCY12yUj28BcCkULbQV8lEXHznTTf1Ek2hAU0uEDRa9v/s532/Walter_Benjamin_vers_1928.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEismjh1p_RNQvKyNt4EVwVSIsES2w0rEM0JE7hl9F2l5-jh7DV6qkTvYZ5QmrwuyxfeakK4Y3FSc-ROWLTGofUKOjiyZt1xXD_7uOPaq-KPwZ87tsbBh7QLhvdeU5loz4eyTcVwSYhmoCY12yUj28BcCkULbQV8lEXHznTTf1Ek2hAU0uEDRa9v/s400/Walter_Benjamin_vers_1928.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin">Walter Benjamin</a> (1892-1940)</span></div><br />
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<blockquote>
<pre><b><span style="font-size: 130%;">Rear Window</span></b>
A friend of mine
set up a camera
in the back of her car
and drove down the hill
to the beach and back
<i>art film</i>
scoffed her boyfriend
and yet
there was something
so strange in the way
it bucked and leapt
as it recorded
the unchanging mountains
behind
with no hint of the wild sea in front
Benjamin’s angel of history
does that
sweeps on
looking back
unable to help
as the rubble and graves pile up
they used to project it at rock concerts
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZGoPy2jGxLjjnKRGYQfMDvI09uaUyLaXq52GZbAgPhcz5DXD_fghDcHOLyflSvvMnpSK2GbDUOUwsSbDMdPApXD97h_6DGtkuP-ssB27S_ne0g7Fd6qFCNjHYS8A3r0CxKri9DyGsLX7tsYC53inM76G1EX5mVCWp2iH7s4hgWviNSGv-Mi7T/s2048/skynews-london-protes-protest_6321618.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZGoPy2jGxLjjnKRGYQfMDvI09uaUyLaXq52GZbAgPhcz5DXD_fghDcHOLyflSvvMnpSK2GbDUOUwsSbDMdPApXD97h_6DGtkuP-ssB27S_ne0g7Fd6qFCNjHYS8A3r0CxKri9DyGsLX7tsYC53inM76G1EX5mVCWp2iH7s4hgWviNSGv-Mi7T/s400/skynews-london-protes-protest_6321618.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/this-jew-stands-with-gaza-messages-of-peace-and-pockets-of-unrest-at-london-protest-12984619">Demonstration in London</a> (14/10/23)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><b>CEASEFIRE NOW!</b></span></div><br />
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Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-48100204761143612742024-01-19T08:42:00.003+13:002024-01-20T07:29:22.335+13:00Who the heck is Solar Pons?<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFJ4oSB941em0qsP2g2QU1d1DyZclbqQNZVBlgSw2hWh6szFruRA8ti0X0n557kjYvWH4bphc-qtdCxGT4SDL5TZ1aNcmdFi0SoDyH23M94fYiPPUTTTC66aRtcjpN1AZ24TNTU2XHV8gsHuczpBKavBebluM9XsgwKBWblHWE7-KJl-aM6ww/s1000/31262.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="701" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFJ4oSB941em0qsP2g2QU1d1DyZclbqQNZVBlgSw2hWh6szFruRA8ti0X0n557kjYvWH4bphc-qtdCxGT4SDL5TZ1aNcmdFi0SoDyH23M94fYiPPUTTTC66aRtcjpN1AZ24TNTU2XHV8gsHuczpBKavBebluM9XsgwKBWblHWE7-KJl-aM6ww/s600/31262.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">August Derleth: <a href="https://www.jwkbooks.com/pages/books/31262/august-derleth/the-solar-pons-omnibus-edited-by-basil-copper">The Solar Pons Omnibus</a> (1982)</span></div>
<blockquote>August Derleth. <i>The Solar Pons Omnibus</i>. 2 vols. Ed. Basil Copper. Drawings by Frank Utpatel. Foreword by Robert Bloch. A Mycroft & Moran Book. Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House Publishers, Inc., 1982.</blockquote>
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The other day I ran across this strange pair of volumes in a local secondhand bookshop. Solar Pons? Who on earth could <i>that</i> be? I was, of course, familiar with the name of the author, August Derleth, from my extensive reading of the late <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2010/07/acquisitions-32-s-t-joshi.html">H. P. Lovecraft</a>, whose literary executor he was ... or claimed to be.<br />
<br />
"Solar Pons", though ... "<i>pons</i>" is the Latin word for bridge, and "<i>solar</i>" for all things pertaining to the sun. Was the intention, perhaps, to suggest some kind of Bifrost-like bridge leading to enlightenment?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcn9_jpPg8knuWxA6PWcyZhwEs4ST-6ecsx8kI8V5r1-_ufDp7lHjak-x_vBVMypnYZO6nbXDoZsBVbmFSgxF3qJtPvmo34P8rRexTBSRsievRbgZUokboGH4rVU2lAaExyWRZ1Px0enmg1n4WFN00jksHQ3hYg7oTOh_Ugqm-LMUXvpqC2FUs/s1244/furtheradventure0000unse_f0g6_0001.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1244" data-original-width="750" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcn9_jpPg8knuWxA6PWcyZhwEs4ST-6ecsx8kI8V5r1-_ufDp7lHjak-x_vBVMypnYZO6nbXDoZsBVbmFSgxF3qJtPvmo34P8rRexTBSRsievRbgZUokboGH4rVU2lAaExyWRZ1Px0enmg1n4WFN00jksHQ3hYg7oTOh_Ugqm-LMUXvpqC2FUs/s600/furtheradventure0000unse_f0g6_0001.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Richard Lancelyn Green, ed.: <a href="https://archive.org/details/furtheradventure0000unse_f0g6">The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</a> (1985)</span><br />
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"God said: <i>Let Sherlock be!</i> and all was light ..."<br />
- John Masefield</div><br />
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But enough of this trifling. "Solar Pons" is an avatar of "Sherlock Holmes", as I knew already from a scatter of references here and there. He isn't included in Richard Lancelyn Green's classic anthology <i>The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</i>, as that collection is confined solely to stories using the original names.<br />
<br />
But then that was Derleth's original intention, too:<blockquote>
On hearing that Doyle did not plan to write more Sherlock Holmes stories, the young Derleth wrote to him, asking permission to take over the series. Doyle graciously declined, but Derleth, despite having never been to London, set about finding a name that was syllabically similar to "Sherlock Holmes," and wrote his first set of pastiches in 1928, which were published in <i>The Dragnet Magazine</i> in 1929.<div style="text-align: center;">- <i>Wikipedia</i>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Pons">Solar Pons</a></div>
</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83lLnkrcevA0JqAmsfNasw-_M0vk7SaEi_M7MR2nUYKolU_fauu95qK8RuHDcvf8bo4oo693nTTcf4g1Xv6jTh1e2KGHfZT2oCbn9yU9hYDQ6KTwYQj7DkDNgcPkpV8q8Mdwz3HXscE9NSm-kczmoqFWUb9J_F-U2lAjcU1rNu4_onf_6CkZj/s1200/Elementary_showtile.png.3e05a705cf2195494ad65e4158935de9.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83lLnkrcevA0JqAmsfNasw-_M0vk7SaEi_M7MR2nUYKolU_fauu95qK8RuHDcvf8bo4oo693nTTcf4g1Xv6jTh1e2KGHfZT2oCbn9yU9hYDQ6KTwYQj7DkDNgcPkpV8q8Mdwz3HXscE9NSm-kczmoqFWUb9J_F-U2lAjcU1rNu4_onf_6CkZj/s400/Elementary_showtile.png.3e05a705cf2195494ad65e4158935de9.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/elementary">Elementary</a> (7 series: 2012-2019)</span></div><br />
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We've certainly become rather accustomed to updated film and television versions of Sherlock Holmes over the past couple of decades.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7hO9G_368027shM8Z9LPdTBo0JqAVVSxaCBlvWvEj9AskTBHivRm3_kB3n7I-aclri9Pt-RtvnVErcqiqp9GQyzKknRZ-5WNKYyBskwwTq-v5XtxPQkHFrGHzIybRnPAkYrcdaiKkYEsK94n1PKWuXO_OoaDF3CJjytQxTftNXo6cA9P6wpqx/s1920/p8989411_b_h10_aa.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7hO9G_368027shM8Z9LPdTBo0JqAVVSxaCBlvWvEj9AskTBHivRm3_kB3n7I-aclri9Pt-RtvnVErcqiqp9GQyzKknRZ-5WNKYyBskwwTq-v5XtxPQkHFrGHzIybRnPAkYrcdaiKkYEsK94n1PKWuXO_OoaDF3CJjytQxTftNXo6cA9P6wpqx/s400/p8989411_b_h10_aa.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/sherlock/s02">Sherlock</a> (4 series: 2010-2017)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZS13d6JYHMGAznJY0jpMkAIg2_LzvoJJxyApKIzv6M6hCKvstcOFvzxLxVZSO1H_NK84MyU_THGldsRerHzXEoetpHQ_-vHdb5nNGwzd9YOR2_fAt_MxRDhHUf3FNHkWGf9ILML5v24ho2k8EYlSa6YAv9RNlk0oF5xMT0ROc71j04JqywfFk/s512/unnamed.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZS13d6JYHMGAznJY0jpMkAIg2_LzvoJJxyApKIzv6M6hCKvstcOFvzxLxVZSO1H_NK84MyU_THGldsRerHzXEoetpHQ_-vHdb5nNGwzd9YOR2_fAt_MxRDhHUf3FNHkWGf9ILML5v24ho2k8EYlSa6YAv9RNlk0oF5xMT0ROc71j04JqywfFk/s400/unnamed.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.moviesmackdown.com/2011/12/sherlock-holmes-a-game-of-shadows-vs-sherlock-holmes-2/">Sherlock Holmes</a> (2 films: 2009 & 2011)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWYXevKJs5T9uOTOSQJVkGVStgloF0N6F3eYQBh4coqD-cKhp3cmOtLvJKsj3tZ3WgP8Hm5UBbmbX_gX0T5SLlO-SOKuLWdRZKHQRAG3pz2MY7W5dH8E6EDxZq0K-hOR6OsCVUcaJOAxhP1nyaXXK_gkalE-uowERkx5VZZDPgjkAeUcYjcsJ/s1920/8-mind-blowing-facts-about-house-m-d-1695619824.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWYXevKJs5T9uOTOSQJVkGVStgloF0N6F3eYQBh4coqD-cKhp3cmOtLvJKsj3tZ3WgP8Hm5UBbmbX_gX0T5SLlO-SOKuLWdRZKHQRAG3pz2MY7W5dH8E6EDxZq0K-hOR6OsCVUcaJOAxhP1nyaXXK_gkalE-uowERkx5VZZDPgjkAeUcYjcsJ/s400/8-mind-blowing-facts-about-house-m-d-1695619824.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://facts.net/lifestyle/entertainment/8-mind-blowing-facts-about-house-m-d/#google_vignette">House, M.D.</a> (8 series: 2004-2012)</span></div><br />
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And if you're tempted to query the presence of Dr. House in this grouping, what can one say of a man whose best friend is called "Wilson" (= Watson), and who's segued from a consulting detective to a consulting <i>diagnostician</i>? In any case, I've canvassed that subject extensively <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-makes-house-so-darn-loveable.html">here</a>.<br />
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Of the other three pictured above: Robert Downey Jr's steampunk version of Holmes; Benedict Cumberbatch's excessively cerebral, almost Alan Turing-like incarnation of the great man; and Jonny Lee Miller's New York-based junkie impersonation of the detective, I'm rather surprised to put on record here that at present it's Jonny Lee Miller who scoops the prize for me. <br />
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No doubt that has something to do with a serendipitous pairing with the dazzling Lucy Liu, definitely the most impressive Watson to date - so much better than Martin Freeman's petulant misery-guts, or even Jude Law's no-nonsense action man. In any case, for those of you who haven't seen it, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_(TV_series)"><i>Elementary</i></a> is a very satisfying exercise in suspension of disbelief.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjALpo9KzwyZGRWyfbblJoDEJkToHenBBbw7u1O7P7GMupYGyipowSD8JB3ZUJKxIdFlqK8zSu3xzYxJxiX7ygna_t-g5wJpKvDAbevePK8PE3n4fAF62-nzQuEbTasXA0vbRJee4DNgHmFqTJxB9Zo-JXtxeh2SsECktJJ_mvdFYSU3IJbBs9P/s2560/Jeremy-Brett-36-scaled.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1950" data-original-width="2560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjALpo9KzwyZGRWyfbblJoDEJkToHenBBbw7u1O7P7GMupYGyipowSD8JB3ZUJKxIdFlqK8zSu3xzYxJxiX7ygna_t-g5wJpKvDAbevePK8PE3n4fAF62-nzQuEbTasXA0vbRJee4DNgHmFqTJxB9Zo-JXtxeh2SsECktJJ_mvdFYSU3IJbBs9P/s400/Jeremy-Brett-36-scaled.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/event/an-evening-with-jeremy-bretts-sherlock-holmes/">Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes.</a> (4 series: 1984-1994)</span></div><br />
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So what's next? Sherlock Holmes on ice? With an eventual total of 154 episodes, Jonny Lee Miller is now (according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_(TV_series)#Main">Wikipedia</a>) "the actor who has portrayed Sherlock Holmes the most times in television and/or film, overtaking Jeremy Brett (with 41 television episodes) and Eille Norwood (with 47 silent films)."<br />
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It may, however, interest you to know that Derleth wrote "more stories about Pons than Conan Doyle did about Holmes." Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories about Holmes, whereas Derleth wrote more than seventy stories (plus a couple of novels) about Pons.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBQprwkFeYVmXIYuIz6iB34pPShm7SdK6ipDgxO6XkNG1RVOAIt2MXxUB4E6_G24TZbRwNmvw-dRB31xxJiMcBI8Uwed3WF7JdxQA7bhT5lp1lp0mn6nflTEZ0KnBsJ3hO68YolR0-Sw65IOKkYUPDR-Ed2QzGmuQ5DE3d_R5fh8I677GUWVIT/s1607/Studio_portrait_of_August_Derleth_by_Ephraim_Burt_Trimpey_%28cropped%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1607" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBQprwkFeYVmXIYuIz6iB34pPShm7SdK6ipDgxO6XkNG1RVOAIt2MXxUB4E6_G24TZbRwNmvw-dRB31xxJiMcBI8Uwed3WF7JdxQA7bhT5lp1lp0mn6nflTEZ0KnBsJ3hO68YolR0-Sw65IOKkYUPDR-Ed2QzGmuQ5DE3d_R5fh8I677GUWVIT/s600/Studio_portrait_of_August_Derleth_by_Ephraim_Burt_Trimpey_%28cropped%29.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Derleth#/media/File:Studio_portrait_of_August_Derleth_by_Ephraim_Burt_Trimpey_(cropped).jpg">August Derleth</a> (1909-1971)</span></div><br />
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There are obvious similarities between the two. Pons lives at 7B Praed Street; Holmes at 221B Baker Street. Pons' companion in crime is called Dr. Parker; Holmes's Dr. Watson. Pons' landlady is Mrs. Johnson; Holmes's Mrs. Hudson. Pons' Inspector Jamison stands in for Holmes' Inspector Lestrade - et al. Each has a group of "Irregulars" who assists him in scouring the labyrinthine warrens of Old London Town ...<br />
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There are, however, significant differences as well. The Pons stories are set in the 1920s and 30s, starting just after the First World War. The Holmes stories are set some forty years earlier, in the twilight years of the Victorian era (with one significant flash-forward, in "His Last Bow," to a piece of espionage during the Great War). Pons frequently mentions his "great predecessor," and even comments on the resemblance of some investigation or another to once conducted by Holmes himself.<br />
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Nor are the other characters precisely interchangeable. Dr. Parker is a far more peevish and irritable companion than Watson, and there is far less sniping at the official police in the Pons adventures. Nor is Mrs. Johnson's <i>sang-froid</i> at the goings-on of her unusual tenant nearly as tenuous as Mrs. Hudson's.<br />
<br />
Pons lives in a rather more cushioned fantasy world than his progenitor Holmes. He also encounters other heroes of the time, such as Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu, Agatha Christie's Poirot, Somerset Maugham's Ashenden, and even Leslie Carteris's Saint on various occasions, which might have the deleterious effect of breaking the fourth wall, but which nevertheless provides innocent amusement to fans such as myself.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf9w1E50UzYF4l0fo_IE7T8GAl2zOCD3oPLbl7JLmxgDSnCpaTs613x6IXTmBb0Lqx2ilcs3LpPsxhpzN3KZ89VPaV5vgXbl1bUyHikmVnmhhgg_3z7ZiRff3SdmuHZpKZnTaB1uMKT1N8CwZBxmRUFr6FsruWxQyDImSwzkLH_nRZryOzS6j6/s2000/162647.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf9w1E50UzYF4l0fo_IE7T8GAl2zOCD3oPLbl7JLmxgDSnCpaTs613x6IXTmBb0Lqx2ilcs3LpPsxhpzN3KZ89VPaV5vgXbl1bUyHikmVnmhhgg_3z7ZiRff3SdmuHZpKZnTaB1uMKT1N8CwZBxmRUFr6FsruWxQyDImSwzkLH_nRZryOzS6j6/s600/162647.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">August Derleth: <a href="https://www.lwcurrey.com/pages/books/162647/august-derleth/the-casebook-of-solar-pons">The Casebook of Solar Pons</a> (1965)</span></div><br />
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But are the stories themselves any good? Well, that's debatable. They're surprisingly readable. Pons is seldom at a loss when it comes to solving the neat little puzzles that present themselves to him (more often than not by an attractive young lady who "instinctively" addresses herself to him despite the presence in the room of the gloomy Dr. Parker). He often repeats classical Holmesian adages such as "the game's afoot", and is seldom seen without a deerstalker - an item of clothing invented by Doyle's illustrators rather than by the author.<br />
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Here's a list of Derleth's original collections:
<ol>
<li><i>"In Re: Sherlock Holmes": The Adventures of Solar Pons</i> (1945)</li>
<li><i>The Memoirs of Solar Pons</i> (1951)</li>
<li><i>The Return of Solar Pons</i> (1958)</li>
<li><i>The Reminiscences of Solar Pons</i> (1961)</li>
<li><i>The Casebook of Solar Pons</i> (1965)</li>
<li><i>A Praed Street Dossier</i> (1968)</li>
<li><i>Mr. Fairlie's Final Journey</i> (1968)</li>
<li><i>The Chronicles of Solar Pons</i> (1973)</li>
</ol>
All of the stories in these books, including the novel <i>Mr. Fairlie's Final Journey</i>, are included in <i>The Solar Pons Omnibus</i> (1982), pictured above.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPIhNCgxfZLn3oPH-HwLOo5u4y9Mdoo392MseJDbp1Zy0AJoaBCWXdcQpXituz5q7qAR5nzV1dk69nnR6t44QvyEg2kFk_Xi902GbtFEI2Pfyh0RSMBrL6YY5MWkp3Or3K2L8HuibgGuZzYrb6E0KUVIMoe6CCL7VEukbikqUSguvo6yGPnTl/s802/Basil%20Copper.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPIhNCgxfZLn3oPH-HwLOo5u4y9Mdoo392MseJDbp1Zy0AJoaBCWXdcQpXituz5q7qAR5nzV1dk69nnR6t44QvyEg2kFk_Xi902GbtFEI2Pfyh0RSMBrL6YY5MWkp3Or3K2L8HuibgGuZzYrb6E0KUVIMoe6CCL7VEukbikqUSguvo6yGPnTl/s400/Basil%20Copper.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2013/07/basil-copper-camera-obscura.html">Basil Copper</a> (1924-2013)</span></div><br />
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The story doesn't finish there, though - not by a long chalk. After Derleth's death in 1971, the character was revived by British horror and detective writer Basil Copper (author of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necropolis_(Copper_novel)"><i>Necropolis</i></a>, among many other titles). He went on to write a further <i>eight</i> volumes of Solar Pons adventures, initially with the cooperation of Derleth's estate, but later on his own:
<ol>
<li><i>The Dossier of Solar Pons</i> (1979)</li>
<li><i>The Further Adventures of Solar Pons</i> (1979)</li>
<li><i>The Secret Files of Solar Pons</i> (1979)</li>
<li><i>The Uncollected Cases of Solar Pons</i> (1979)</li>
<li><i>The Exploits of Solar Pons</i> (1993)</li>
<li><i>The Recollections of Solar Pons</i> (1995)</li>
<li><i>Solar Pons Versus The Devil’s Claw</i> (2004)</li>
<li><i>Solar Pons: The Final Cases</i> (2005)</li>
</ol>
Most challenging of all to true believers, however, was his editing of <i>The Solar Pons Omnibus</i>. As well as breaking the continuity of Derleth's original volumes into approximate chronological order (as in <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2010/05/marginalising-dracula.html">William Baring-Gould</a>'s similarly controversial <i>Annotated Sherlock Holmes</i>), Copper, an Englishman, also "corrected" faults of orthography and idiom in the stories themselves! Not very assiduously, it must be said, given the number of solecisms they still include.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisWEkfC3OSL_I4P-BFHxcQ1WsLqm-kVKMRrQLusBwT9K8HnV3bD_bm0GhCzuYIaSwQ86wrCsYmuSw-Ox9foLocZyxMJ025fKwKL2y6clISnjxruvheYs2CX-QYQ84wl2Hh9UxpZ0IEX0Spk3YLYqbs1t0FQkC9m6qoYIyzINSsmqTOgSnPI5Gh/s272/OTSolarPonsOmnibus.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisWEkfC3OSL_I4P-BFHxcQ1WsLqm-kVKMRrQLusBwT9K8HnV3bD_bm0GhCzuYIaSwQ86wrCsYmuSw-Ox9foLocZyxMJ025fKwKL2y6clISnjxruvheYs2CX-QYQ84wl2Hh9UxpZ0IEX0Spk3YLYqbs1t0FQkC9m6qoYIyzINSsmqTOgSnPI5Gh/s600/OTSolarPonsOmnibus.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">August Derleth: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Original_Text_Solar_Pons_Omnibus_Edition">The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus Edition</a> (2000)</span></div><br />
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As a result, <i>The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus Edition</i> was published in 2000 by Mycroft & Moran. It restores the original text as it was before Basil Copper's edits, and includes - as well as the six collections and one novel in order, the full text of <i>A Praed Street Dossier</i> (1968), as well as <i>The Final Adventures of Solar Pons</i> (1998).<br />
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To the 71 canonical stories by Derleth included in the 1982 <i>Solar Pons Omnibus</i>, then, one should add the following supplementary publications:
<ol>
<li><i>The Unpublished Solar Pons</i> (1994)</li>
<li><i>The Final Adventures of Solar Pons</i> (1998)</li>
<li><i>The Dragnet Solar Pons et al.: Original Pulp Magazine and Manuscript Versions</i> (2011)</li>
<li><i>The Novels of Solar Pons: Terror Over London and Mr. Fairlie's Final Journey</i> (2018)</li>
<li><i>The Apocrypha of Solar Pons</i> (2018)</li>
<li><i>The Arrival of Solar Pons: Early Manuscripts and Pulp Magazine Appearances of the Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street</i> (2023)</li>
</ol>
The last in the list (it should be stressed) is simply a revised and expanded version of <i>The Dragnet Solar Pons</i>.<br />
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So what is one to conclude from all this? That some people have far too much time on their hands? That the idea of fan fiction goes back far further in time than one might have supposed (as far back as Cervantes in the 17th century, at least ...) That the Transatlantic battles between American Sherlockians and English Holmesians now have their echo in the battle between these two warring omnibuses? (Or is the correct term <i>omnibi</i>? Basil Copper would know ...)<br />
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If you're curious to know more about Solar Pons and his adventures, I strongly recommend the website, <a href="http://solarpons.com/">http://solarpons.com/</a>, devoted to him and his adventures. Its creator, Bob Byrne, who is clearly a pop culture fanatic after my own heart, has also written a good introductory article, "<a href="https://www.blackgate.com/2014/11/17/the-public-life-of-sherlock-holmes-solar-pons/">The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Meet Solar Pons</a>" (17/11/2014), on his blog <a href="https://www.blackgate.com/"><i>Black Gate: Adventures in Fantasy Literature</i></a>.<br />
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I certainly don't regret purchasing Basil Copper's handsomely bound and curated collection of the Solar Pons mysteries - not to mention the many happy hours I've spent poring over its contents. There <i>are</i> only 60 actual Holmes stories to read and re-read, after all, and even a somewhat watered-down version of his mythos such as this can be very entertaining.<br />
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I'm also trying very hard to tell myself that I <i>don't need</i> the (even rarer) <i>Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus Edition</i>, but if anyone has a copy for sale at a reasonable price, you could do worse than drop me a line in the comments section below ... There's no fool like a bibliophile, as the saying has it, and I have to plead guilty to the imputation.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4NGBNF-YQCc6Qocp7vHwqzz0SqNs-W1j4kdvJ0NJZ_Bb0tU7dh6Op0VS08UkCGOgcUPtZW9uvjme1LANuvyVQByGP2W2pdy9fk8UffiGfEiZtbVyqWuykDTfOsHnHih1w_MZ-V9c2JH-geyIsAlVmlHVaUucjlvQzb6Jw8XOpedgnF_kwRDQ/s1000/in-re-sherlock-holmes-the-adventures-of-solar-pons-original-imagqtfzyxvebbzg.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4NGBNF-YQCc6Qocp7vHwqzz0SqNs-W1j4kdvJ0NJZ_Bb0tU7dh6Op0VS08UkCGOgcUPtZW9uvjme1LANuvyVQByGP2W2pdy9fk8UffiGfEiZtbVyqWuykDTfOsHnHih1w_MZ-V9c2JH-geyIsAlVmlHVaUucjlvQzb6Jw8XOpedgnF_kwRDQ/s600/in-re-sherlock-holmes-the-adventures-of-solar-pons-original-imagqtfzyxvebbzg.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">August Derleth: <a href="https://www.flipkart.com/solar-pons-1-re-sherlock-holmes-adventures/p/itmdf3ca7e9fbef1?otracker=product_breadCrumbs_Solar+Pons+1%3A+In+Re%3A+Sherlock+Holmes+-+The+Adventures+of+Solar+Pons+%28English%2C+Paperback%2C+Derleth+August%29">In Re: Sherlock Holmes: The Adventures of Solar Pons</a> (1945)</span></div><br />
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Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-82315007669528857102024-01-01T11:30:00.002+13:002024-01-02T08:11:18.151+13:00The World of Hercule Poirot<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZdfFh7F6al-WPTXSwr5MAn2PybmuQMmHJ0BnrDNOhsukSO9mb0YDoeAjLo5nHh0kJBValgFk9oJERZHOVd4QFW6q6McCepo3koWqOkGCo4RLgvKW72Dkkte66IjU0ilJ1DV7WcfVK_R_PEAD60zaWmtkctLfJ3U-M_iUC8Sx0I9zkD2URr7E7/s1887/IMG_6329.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1416" data-original-width="1887" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZdfFh7F6al-WPTXSwr5MAn2PybmuQMmHJ0BnrDNOhsukSO9mb0YDoeAjLo5nHh0kJBValgFk9oJERZHOVd4QFW6q6McCepo3koWqOkGCo4RLgvKW72Dkkte66IjU0ilJ1DV7WcfVK_R_PEAD60zaWmtkctLfJ3U-M_iUC8Sx0I9zkD2URr7E7/s400/IMG_6329.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">The World of Hercule Poirot</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 78%;">[photograph: Bronwyn Lloyd (2023)]</span></div>
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We didn't really intend to make a tradition out of it, but at the beginning of 2022 I posted a piece about finishing a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle called <a href="http://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-world-of-charles-dickens.html"><i>The World of Charles Dickens</i></a>; then, in 2023, another about completing a new puzzle called <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/01/down-for-count.html"><i>The World of Dracula</i></a> to usher in the New Year:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfeflLtIGgKJe3tzWeOWoE1TC-0bhM_hhmRl-rCCv46zg6FIHHKZ6ZwiDwcsFskfFsNelnAlqXXPPKVD6KaJ1WA_mUmyMMF4FuBq8o8jbw99VnA9rbV7S_A008YREN5qMoGIyJ2TdqoYCfW7hm4YEl2NNgK8ar79ql0CWI795NO5L3lmq_l8Jg/s500/The-World-of-Dickens.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfeflLtIGgKJe3tzWeOWoE1TC-0bhM_hhmRl-rCCv46zg6FIHHKZ6ZwiDwcsFskfFsNelnAlqXXPPKVD6KaJ1WA_mUmyMMF4FuBq8o8jbw99VnA9rbV7S_A008YREN5qMoGIyJ2TdqoYCfW7hm4YEl2NNgK8ar79ql0CWI795NO5L3lmq_l8Jg/s400/The-World-of-Dickens.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Barry Falls: <a href="https://www.laurenceking.com/products/the-world-of-charles-dickens">The World of Charles Dickens</a> (2021)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJJKRZVQMa1oetL-2Be00E4L9j-7iobPvvNDEzrSz1qX63m6fFIz51JGqG47mrZvhX4EYzXFn3E0VE9KTIWVJodnCjP0d4FPaBGHz1LbZxh_sb7U4eE88OmeoU3zZoX69p8xUO8h9G87cyy9ekqdzYVTe_I61ALimvb0UNS8Oopc7FVftkg/s800/m.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="566" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJJKRZVQMa1oetL-2Be00E4L9j-7iobPvvNDEzrSz1qX63m6fFIz51JGqG47mrZvhX4EYzXFn3E0VE9KTIWVJodnCjP0d4FPaBGHz1LbZxh_sb7U4eE88OmeoU3zZoX69p8xUO8h9G87cyy9ekqdzYVTe_I61ALimvb0UNS8Oopc7FVftkg/s600/m.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Adam Simpson: <a href="https://booksandcompany.ca/item/Iuvg02N8GGe4DYcvtN9jdQ">The World of Dracula</a> (2021)</span></div>
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This year, as you'll have gathered from the picture at the head of my post, we have the world of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot - and here I am starting on the task on (or about) Christmas day:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW4ltwair6ajoOhh-X9fo7iRAXyh7atnuTcdbbWDBCr1DWg_Ho5S0fmYIiJl5tUtfDamBXh5svynlx16tBGiHpFZos-P1qfGuKmna0V19_QbUj97AdxlE2qbDmtxbNblAMd4NxIkYUdawynCol31hmqs01xcy-ltNOGWATfdZaThiJGFVLDzTZ/s1280/FD8182F5-F0E9-4F98-87CC-22AC18840E75.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1028" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW4ltwair6ajoOhh-X9fo7iRAXyh7atnuTcdbbWDBCr1DWg_Ho5S0fmYIiJl5tUtfDamBXh5svynlx16tBGiHpFZos-P1qfGuKmna0V19_QbUj97AdxlE2qbDmtxbNblAMd4NxIkYUdawynCol31hmqs01xcy-ltNOGWATfdZaThiJGFVLDzTZ/s600/FD8182F5-F0E9-4F98-87CC-22AC18840E75.JPG"/></a></div><br />
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So why Poirot? I can remember a time when some people adopted a rather sneering attitude towards Agatha Christie. Not a <i>real</i> author, they said (whatever that means) - a mere hack, a penny-a-line writer with no real sense of style of atmosphere.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHDHkfXXyNc7ePfegHzoDdLWBnP5nvodEr1bQabCY9UgfPVeTQw8rn-UOiLbM4FWO6iccN0NMzW9YWd5pQQvggM2Dj13p9z54DFJBkSeEetDmX1vvIIwJQkMW9MS15YKGd-jNraNRXTfWe1OGAVLBUKJzRwbTAl45hXsfXeRprVhtx6S-XPlOg/s1200/B72842E0-2AB2-4366-B06390A898B921D0_source.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="871" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHDHkfXXyNc7ePfegHzoDdLWBnP5nvodEr1bQabCY9UgfPVeTQw8rn-UOiLbM4FWO6iccN0NMzW9YWd5pQQvggM2Dj13p9z54DFJBkSeEetDmX1vvIIwJQkMW9MS15YKGd-jNraNRXTfWe1OGAVLBUKJzRwbTAl45hXsfXeRprVhtx6S-XPlOg/s400/B72842E0-2AB2-4366-B06390A898B921D0_source.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/was-agatha-christie-rsquo-s-mysterious-amnesia-real-or-revenge-on-her-cheating-spouse/">Agatha Christie (née Miller)</a> (1890-1976)</span></div><br />
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She was contrasted adversely with more self-consciously literary crime writers such as <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-many-faces-of-dorothy-l-sayers.html">Dorothy L. Sayers</a> and <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-fiction-of-g-k-chesterton.html">G. K. Chesterton</a> - wordsmiths for whom detective fiction was simply a day-job, a way to finance their more artistic endeavours. How absurd - and patronising - all that sounds now!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUeKAyXQEPZBbjrhkIYYaHsFRfzOtMo2j1ZdJiqH0rw58v0XuUjs8Qd2Yq4QGqk7GO3M5k_E7zPFMtKPnhbGmqvySNV3MCfvCGWl9PGoprqr0AWIJyIpJNzMY6vQzcDeyw-v-petwK1rtqxOZh4-thKHmGEWv2xC372ok9-Q5VdfJlgFBtOIkM/s400/large_temp_img.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUeKAyXQEPZBbjrhkIYYaHsFRfzOtMo2j1ZdJiqH0rw58v0XuUjs8Qd2Yq4QGqk7GO3M5k_E7zPFMtKPnhbGmqvySNV3MCfvCGWl9PGoprqr0AWIJyIpJNzMY6vQzcDeyw-v-petwK1rtqxOZh4-thKHmGEWv2xC372ok9-Q5VdfJlgFBtOIkM/s400/large_temp_img.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ilya Milstein: <a href="https://www.laurenceking.com/products/the-world-of-hercule-poirot">The World of Hercule Poirot</a> (2023)</span></div><br />
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I guess what did it for me - and, no doubt, for many others - was David Suchet's superlative interpretation of the character in the wonderfully entertaining British TV show <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094525/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm"><i>Poirot</i></a>, which ran for a quarter of a century, from 1989 to 2013.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5LcALHYnpuKxLRs5Z2TiFOQAmHcdAeMMHZO07_uor2kYrKPKZL7mNnfESNRPfvG2ma3X9GNCgqJmROrxTgUe9Xhl8hNuCCvulVg5USYDJ5tph3VBR5J4rafglwCeaYYe17KkE4Sn_rWm5eOrN1rDeebB3RU3m8sQg8aBtF476ADvogflDE1lX/s1620/MV5BYjllNTYxNWEtN2YxZC00MTJiLTk3Y2YtZjljMWFjMTcwMzg0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjcwMzExMzU@._V1_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1620" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5LcALHYnpuKxLRs5Z2TiFOQAmHcdAeMMHZO07_uor2kYrKPKZL7mNnfESNRPfvG2ma3X9GNCgqJmROrxTgUe9Xhl8hNuCCvulVg5USYDJ5tph3VBR5J4rafglwCeaYYe17KkE4Sn_rWm5eOrN1rDeebB3RU3m8sQg8aBtF476ADvogflDE1lX/s600/MV5BYjllNTYxNWEtN2YxZC00MTJiLTk3Y2YtZjljMWFjMTcwMzg0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjcwMzExMzU@._V1_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094525/">Poirot</a>: 70 episodes (UK, 1989-2013)</span></div>
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I'd read a number of the books as a teenager (my father had a huge collection of them upstairs jammed onto an old wire display frame he'd liberated from a local stationery shop which was going out of business; it made a horrible graunching sound when you swung it around, so we always referred to it as 'the squeaker' ...)<br />
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I, however, I tended to prefer such stand-alone mysteries as <i>Crooked House</i> (1949) and <i>The Hound of Death</i> (1933) to what seemed to me then the more predictable puzzles of Poirot and Miss Marple (let alone the egregious Tommy and Tuppence).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0OaCRmlkLzP5kO9X1q4kV5EGSMYCK4vzIlmrnxcml6j4ScJD0A21KsgDwR3NrB9ZUb9j4_1fA8-MOPywWhm5ZBxb0Egwog1m3qbhD5VZe6Fyvx0pUfP6h1fOIgYT46Z7oPZPp8rgF3yUIbVsDanMG19kIdsx6ceAurZHxPXJ1TwYP7En9TVg0/s1200/Murder_on_the_Orient_Express-556621437-large.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="823" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0OaCRmlkLzP5kO9X1q4kV5EGSMYCK4vzIlmrnxcml6j4ScJD0A21KsgDwR3NrB9ZUb9j4_1fA8-MOPywWhm5ZBxb0Egwog1m3qbhD5VZe6Fyvx0pUfP6h1fOIgYT46Z7oPZPp8rgF3yUIbVsDanMG19kIdsx6ceAurZHxPXJ1TwYP7En9TVg0/s600/Murder_on_the_Orient_Express-556621437-large.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Sidney Lumet, dir.: <a href="https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film463461.html">Murder on the Orient Express</a> (1974)</span></div><br />
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I did enjoy Albert Finney's interpretation of Poirot in the original 1974 movie, and (to a somewhat lesser extent) that of Peter Ustinov in <i>Death on the Nile</i> (1978) and its successors. David Suchet took the character in an entirely new direction, though: away from slapstick to the intensely <i>serious</i> world Poirot himself inhabits.<br />
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It's not that the Suchet Poirot isn't funny - it's just that he himself is completely unaware of the fact. Ustinov, in particular, tended to play to the audience on the other side of the camera. Suchet never does that.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_UvLZt9ajwEFwkEmLJ9ujBNhYJY9bl0F1N8W7YCJ0ogPtir-cZlRpJ_SPPWhwLU5UUPBBELl9JtpSEceMVw63ylOBn9E5UQ9e6kclfJnc0rV6zg6AJpMu8cAAh-6dnPT9csD8R_Ntp9xBGUv_8DnS-Oqv9xUagnR_N6agpqn1z6WHso3zlopY/s3000/MV5BMTk5OGFiYzktMTkwNS00ZjQ5LWFkNGQtNGM0MjA4MWE2MDIwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODY1NDk1NjE@._V1_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2025" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_UvLZt9ajwEFwkEmLJ9ujBNhYJY9bl0F1N8W7YCJ0ogPtir-cZlRpJ_SPPWhwLU5UUPBBELl9JtpSEceMVw63ylOBn9E5UQ9e6kclfJnc0rV6zg6AJpMu8cAAh-6dnPT9csD8R_Ntp9xBGUv_8DnS-Oqv9xUagnR_N6agpqn1z6WHso3zlopY/s600/MV5BMTk5OGFiYzktMTkwNS00ZjQ5LWFkNGQtNGM0MjA4MWE2MDIwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODY1NDk1NjE@._V1_.jpg"/></a><span style="font-size: 85%;">Kenneth Branagh, dir.: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3402236/">Murder on the Orient Express</a> (2017)</span></div><br />
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Which leads us to the vexed question of Kenneth Branagh's Poirot trilogy (if it actually <i>is</i> a trilogy, that is - there seems little reason for him to stop at three if they're still pulling in audiences). There's no question that they're all sumptuous-looking films, with dazzling casts of A-listers.<br />
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They are awfully <i>gloomy</i>, though. Branagh's Poirot is constantly castigating himself for various crimes of omission (and commission), and large slabs of invented biography - his First World War service, for instance - have been rather awkwardly shoehorned into the original plots.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzY5iwDcPS0dZhL1u3tT9PRQO4sm0n6SfVyyUtgYmHtvViWo8Bteq2U5BIE9hKjdA5rkNKK5Vo5znJz1TIoQ7p3jmYe-G5nFCT9W76zEMnsBSMyzKdtzGwmTr1KSpftHigBxdOieLie_uz8irRTc0SnINovNBr7pOr4I0IjLNCVlnVEQvW5pG/s384/Death_on_the_Nile_%282020_film%29_poster.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzY5iwDcPS0dZhL1u3tT9PRQO4sm0n6SfVyyUtgYmHtvViWo8Bteq2U5BIE9hKjdA5rkNKK5Vo5znJz1TIoQ7p3jmYe-G5nFCT9W76zEMnsBSMyzKdtzGwmTr1KSpftHigBxdOieLie_uz8irRTc0SnINovNBr7pOr4I0IjLNCVlnVEQvW5pG/s600/Death_on_the_Nile_%282020_film%29_poster.png"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Kenneth Branagh, dir.: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_on_the_Nile_%282022_film%29">Death on the Nile</a> (2022)</span></div><br />
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It's hard not to admire the durability of stories which continue to invite this kind of reappraisal and reinvention so many years after they were written, though. The ingenuity and originality of Agatha Christie's plots continues to astonish after all this time. She was, it seems, constantly being castigated for offending against the spirit (if not the letter) of the oath sworn solemnly by members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detection_Club">Detection Club</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
Do you promise that your detectives shall well and truly detect the crimes presented to them using those wits which it may please you to bestow upon them and not placing reliance on nor making use of Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition , Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence or Act of God?</blockquote>
It was Monsignor <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/01/my-favourite-vintage-bookshops-auckland.html">Ronald Knox</a> who codified these rules into a set of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Detective_Fiction#Description_of_the_genre">Ten Commandments</a> (or Decalogue) for detective writers:<br />
<ol>
<li>The criminal must be mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to know.</li>
<li>All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.</li>
<li>Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.</li>
<li>No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.</li>
<li>No Chinaman must figure in the story.</li>
<li>No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.</li>
<li>The detective himself must not commit the crime.</li>
<li>The detective is bound to declare any clues which he may discover.</li>
<li>The "sidekick" of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal from the reader any thoughts which pass through his mind: his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.</li>
<li>Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.</li>
</ol>
It was claimed - at least by some - that the central conceit of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murder_of_Roger_Ackroyd"><i>The Murder of Roger Ackroyd</i></a> (1926), where the narrator is himself the murderer [<i>sorry for the plot spoiler for those of you who haven't read it - but it </i>has<i> been in the public eye for the past century, so I do feel that it's roughly equivalent with revealing that Hamlet dies at the end of the play</i>] was not really an acceptable innovation, but with the passage of time it's Christie's brilliance as a fabulist is what shines out from these early novels, in particular.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCjCmiT6q49PfTY6jf_hB6N_6tMExPdk8aaqI_T4fG8CLq5BkYjFz4iGWkVWzGJ3Eb7TEyLyvuTI6CdQJTansqaVuFGVOr3MkWEEbzrn8IXo_HH3nrV3cyf0kgPC4plnfm8vSBkQWckAnH1PklKGc0y_qH5tMVtNesTGZvgj4jTlFSbjm93sE6/s1259/MV5BYmI4MzE2YjQtYWMxYi00MjBhLThhOTYtYjdiOGQ4NzE4MWViXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzUwNDIxMjQ@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1259" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCjCmiT6q49PfTY6jf_hB6N_6tMExPdk8aaqI_T4fG8CLq5BkYjFz4iGWkVWzGJ3Eb7TEyLyvuTI6CdQJTansqaVuFGVOr3MkWEEbzrn8IXo_HH3nrV3cyf0kgPC4plnfm8vSBkQWckAnH1PklKGc0y_qH5tMVtNesTGZvgj4jTlFSbjm93sE6/s600/MV5BYmI4MzE2YjQtYWMxYi00MjBhLThhOTYtYjdiOGQ4NzE4MWViXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzUwNDIxMjQ@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Kenneth Branagh, dir.: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22687790/">A Haunting in Venice</a> (2023)</span></div><br />
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In any case, as the proverb has it, "the dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.' Whatever your opinion of Branagh's own innovations, the result is certainly very watchable, if a little too self-consciously Orson-Wellesian at times. In any case, it's very much in the spirit of other modern adaptations of Christie. Such films as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crooked_House_(film)"><i>Crooked House</i></a> (2017) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None_(TV_serial)"><i>And Then There Were None</i></a> (2015) showed that there was still lots of room for manoeuvre in these old tales.<br />
<br />
For me, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8463714/"><i>The ABC Murders</i></a> (2018) went a step too far. John Malkovich's portrayal of Poirot as an aging loser suffering from depression at his failing powers was certainly original, but not precisely <i>enchanting</i> - if that's the right word. The joy and zest of Christie's story was lost in a morass of self-pity (together with a truly awful performance by Rupert Grint as an grim and humourless young police detective). But no doubt the book will survive it, and go on into further incarnations in the future ...<br />
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That is, if the Agatha Christie Estate can be dissuaded from <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/agatha-christie-novels-poirot-rewritten-b2308494.html">rewriting all her old books</a> in line with modern sensibilities. It's not that it's not shocking to come across the "n-" word in the original title of <i>And Then There Were None</i>, and the offensively racist and misogynist attitudes of many of Christie's characters might well be a stumbling block to some readers (as they are in that throwaway remark about "Chinamen" in Knox's Decalogue, quoted above).<br />
<br />
But Bowdlerising Shakespeare doesn't seem to have done much good in the long run: except to illustrate the absurdity of rewriting an author to fit a completely different cultural context. One of the many reasons we read is to learn about the past: how people lived, how they thought. If we try to recast them in our own (surely equally flawed?) image, then all we're really doing is adding another wing to our own hall of mirrors.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WmI5PIv4Y5xCaPopNEFMUAd_8feevvvPvBWpkTfUpKqYuvy7a__etqh47kxk_HrxPu3SUSvCXFL_vDGVekUfKYsHGruxXCWUyxdvkv6AXpEHBNqUFvDxFZ8vodmqj6nfSIX-VxYCdZnYxci9cpwH9IHWcLASU6sdpXeqc0g-g5AjUgDLjP5b/s1000/9781399608671.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="996" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WmI5PIv4Y5xCaPopNEFMUAd_8feevvvPvBWpkTfUpKqYuvy7a__etqh47kxk_HrxPu3SUSvCXFL_vDGVekUfKYsHGruxXCWUyxdvkv6AXpEHBNqUFvDxFZ8vodmqj6nfSIX-VxYCdZnYxci9cpwH9IHWcLASU6sdpXeqc0g-g5AjUgDLjP5b/s600/9781399608671.jpg"/></a><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">•</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">A Happy New Year to All in</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 180%;">2024!</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">•</span></b></div><br />
<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-3269012162888464652023-12-28T09:05:00.004+13:002023-12-28T13:53:31.125+13:00Napoleon - For and Against<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIiCfQdtey7eWiXkSGqqHJhgxWk8ywy3AbqSuJVcOyQG59CXyxYib9HW-oyR3I-JjCXLZM998ucVSO24Gsg4Lcdprc9TG0Dyvk_J1QUzUOkNKjhJSRqdmNZCLqv3KYaoujHMpHXnOCQdzql_wH2iwxpXNKFMw8PyzEpT2Nw0b3lb1TyPWrpv5/s1482/MV5BZWIzNDAxMTktMDMzZS00ZjJmLTlhNjYtOGUxYmZlYzVmOGE4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODk4OTc3MTY@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1482" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIiCfQdtey7eWiXkSGqqHJhgxWk8ywy3AbqSuJVcOyQG59CXyxYib9HW-oyR3I-JjCXLZM998ucVSO24Gsg4Lcdprc9TG0Dyvk_J1QUzUOkNKjhJSRqdmNZCLqv3KYaoujHMpHXnOCQdzql_wH2iwxpXNKFMw8PyzEpT2Nw0b3lb1TyPWrpv5/s600/MV5BZWIzNDAxMTktMDMzZS00ZjJmLTlhNjYtOGUxYmZlYzVmOGE4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODk4OTc3MTY@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ridley Scott, dir. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13287846/trivia/">Napoleon</a> (2023)</span></div><br />
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Even bad Ridley Scott movies are generally worth seeing. As he himself has remarked, "I have an eye." There are definitely ravishing moments in <i>Napoleon</i>, as well as any number of nods to famous pieces of Napoleonic iconography.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh87zDJlZ9QTd0zYp2tbCorcLBu1vjTZQWbZDPZLUiMKTmG3Untsbuxx6GgUiB7SPqF7bZTD4nlEJxwiN7nweR0ddWydbFUkmh8t_Klf1MKDzmX74_6-iOabEPGPbOMwm6u1ExaSixXo2pMytgsPqUZWSIOZxxeEHANGC_fQygf3fCtRLH0OAFQ/s1600/l-intro-1700072023.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh87zDJlZ9QTd0zYp2tbCorcLBu1vjTZQWbZDPZLUiMKTmG3Untsbuxx6GgUiB7SPqF7bZTD4nlEJxwiN7nweR0ddWydbFUkmh8t_Klf1MKDzmX74_6-iOabEPGPbOMwm6u1ExaSixXo2pMytgsPqUZWSIOZxxeEHANGC_fQygf3fCtRLH0OAFQ/s400/l-intro-1700072023.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ridley Scott, dir. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAZWXUkrjPc">Napoleon</a> (2023)</span></div><br />
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Most famously, of course, there's the above juxtaposition from the (alas, rather too short) Egyptian section of the movie, which echoes Jean-Léon Gérôme's classic late nineteenth century heroic painting:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie-Pu0Q4xHitpmoU3hfZhUYT_pvgcioKafqL8UGHfT-e0InV4qPW58m1BlxEUfR6wzTzO5ubppgU7Ctlk1V597wGQVJBuuuYcU3pLIldiJiaoOjdtrZkh9_-Br3Z7K4CtsL5TXwRPq7jzSXwK89R2GxdKBxN-GSDKXe9gXrgk017fS8CkI7SIL/s1024/Gerome-Getty-1024x613.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie-Pu0Q4xHitpmoU3hfZhUYT_pvgcioKafqL8UGHfT-e0InV4qPW58m1BlxEUfR6wzTzO5ubppgU7Ctlk1V597wGQVJBuuuYcU3pLIldiJiaoOjdtrZkh9_-Br3Z7K4CtsL5TXwRPq7jzSXwK89R2GxdKBxN-GSDKXe9gXrgk017fS8CkI7SIL/s400/Gerome-Getty-1024x613.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Jean-Léon Gérôme: <a href="https://news.artnet.com/news/napoleon-sphinx-ridley-scott-2398545">Bonaparte Before the Sphinx</a> (1886)</span></div><br />
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<i>Is</i> it a bad film, though? The question is a complex one. Earlier this year I wrote a long blogpost about the (so-called) "<a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/05/acquisitions-89-napoleon.html">Man of Destiny</a>" on my bibliography blog.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjf7KRMbrzo8NI6KH-ezHAO6LBruqczOhHPhnlViauCS9NSWcYakfeVLYMz-di77wGGdF9pq2XUJkemOaT6-N-sJhsxn17FVV2g7xkZVAwt91uKmbIySR-fo4o24_Rzi4ck6f29cABvr32iVnkCQiDbTH1u_cx06-7Md5Wowr_z9bLpLxa9kYT/s450/cms_visual_1525846.jpg_1607864436000_288x450.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjf7KRMbrzo8NI6KH-ezHAO6LBruqczOhHPhnlViauCS9NSWcYakfeVLYMz-di77wGGdF9pq2XUJkemOaT6-N-sJhsxn17FVV2g7xkZVAwt91uKmbIySR-fo4o24_Rzi4ck6f29cABvr32iVnkCQiDbTH1u_cx06-7Md5Wowr_z9bLpLxa9kYT/s600/cms_visual_1525846.jpg_1607864436000_288x450.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Pieter Geyl: <a href="https://www.deslegte.com/napoleon-for-and-against-703495/">Napoleon: For and Against</a> (1949)</span></div><br />
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I used there as my leit-motif there Dutch historian Pieter Geyl's classic analysis of Napoleonic historiography early and late. Written shortly after the Second World War, the inevitable comparison with a more recent charismatic dictator inevitably arose:
<blockquote>
The case of the persecution of the Jews remains singular: for the rest we must be alive to the fact, when we compare them then and now, that although there is a difference in degree, there is none in principle.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ywjYo8e-jGPAjgPV5UWI5bnHToozbHMeVEf2wZSyC41x1BooSNyL8fS0D7wae1zwLEZz4FXiTj_J4T7D1ab3Gkhic0uprXjx3esenzOhbRXzIaLoITNB_84QU8Hm9QzhiybwDkqWf7T9MHtWS67bpfYng2TE8YU9SbkY3jEDl_RH32JFiVAO/s522/NapoleonOfficialIMAXPoster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ywjYo8e-jGPAjgPV5UWI5bnHToozbHMeVEf2wZSyC41x1BooSNyL8fS0D7wae1zwLEZz4FXiTj_J4T7D1ab3Gkhic0uprXjx3esenzOhbRXzIaLoITNB_84QU8Hm9QzhiybwDkqWf7T9MHtWS67bpfYng2TE8YU9SbkY3jEDl_RH32JFiVAO/s600/NapoleonOfficialIMAXPoster.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ridley Scott, dir. <a href="https://www.landmarkcinemas.com/film-info/napoleon-the-imax-experience">Napoleon</a> (2023)</span></div><br />
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Recently I've been indulging myself by reading through English novelist <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/05/acquisitions-97-fanny-burney.html">Fanny Burney</a>'s letters and diaries, which cover the whole period of the Napoleonic wars - as well as their aftermath, the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_White_Terror">White Terror</a>" of the restored Bourbon regime.<br />
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Fanny was an almost grovellingly loyal admirer of the English Royal Family, whom she served as assistant Mistress of the Robes in the mid-1790s (interestingly, the period of George III's first madness). Subsequently she lived from almost ten years in France with her husband, Royalist general Alexandre d'Arblay, between 1802 and 1812.<br />
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Her testimony, then, while undoubtedly partisan, cannot be faulted for its quality of personal witness. Her defence of the systematic programme of executions which began immediately after Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo, does, however, seem a little tone-deaf, to say the least:
<blockquote>Once restored to its rightful monarch, all foreign interference was at an end. Having been seated on the throne by the nation, and having never abdicated, though he had been chased by rebellion from his kingdom, [Louis XVIII] had never forfeited his privilege to judge which of his subjects were still included in his original amnesty, and which had incurred the penalty or chances of being tried by the laws of the land - and by them, not by royal decree, condemned or acquitted.</blockquote>
As Fanny's Victorian editor reminds us, this rather chilling passage was written <i>à propos</i> of a daring attempt by three Englishmen to smuggle a French diplomat, condemned to death by the Bourbons, out of jail:
<blockquote>
His wife implored the king's mercy in vain, Lavalette was confined in the Conciergerie, and December 21, 1815, was the day fixed for his execution. The evening before that day his wife visited him in the prison. He exchanged clothes with her, and thus disguised, succeeded in making his escape. His safety was secured by three English gentlemen, one of whom, Sir Robert Wilson, conveyed Lavalette, in the disguise of an English officer, across the Belgian frontier. For this generous act the three Englishmen were tried in Paris, and sentenced, each, to three months' imprisonment.</blockquote>
It's as well to bear this in mind when condemning the undoubted brutality and cruelty of Napoleon's wars. It's not as if the realms and rulers he displaced were models of compassion and probity. The imposition of the Code Napoléon on so many conquered regions was literally the first glimpse many of their inhabitants had ever had of legal process and the rights of man.<br />
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No wonder Fanny Burney and her like were so anxious to restore a system which guaranteed the subordination of the many to the luxurious lifestyles of the few.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulaUNxDPo65fubyHFFZ_rg7xWnGpKWxbf7HCgUDeP2CM_Nf-CpeKIJKIHAkSk8-hWOl7ow2evllOfbGb2lDzLZw9_zQWbippnvD3yqgFCt_6jckbVt4SUMKaKocpO44g2xw5uCi2mbRB0aobrtjGtgTMY4KyTvHCS0mMi5zDMWBP5TJJsUIOI/s1350/ems.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulaUNxDPo65fubyHFFZ_rg7xWnGpKWxbf7HCgUDeP2CM_Nf-CpeKIJKIHAkSk8-hWOl7ow2evllOfbGb2lDzLZw9_zQWbippnvD3yqgFCt_6jckbVt4SUMKaKocpO44g2xw5uCi2mbRB0aobrtjGtgTMY4KyTvHCS0mMi5zDMWBP5TJJsUIOI/s600/ems.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/napoleon_2023">Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon</a></span></div><br />
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However, while there may be a good deal to say in defence of Napoleon himself, what about Ridley Scott's movie? I was reading Michael Sullivan's enticingly titled article "<a href="">The 21 movies we hated in 2023</a>" this morning: Napoleon clocks in at no. 15, with an explanatory quote from film critic Ann Hornaday:
<blockquote>The biggest flaw in <i>Napoleon</i>, it turns out, is the actor who plays him. It's difficult to understand why [Ridley] Scott would cast Joaquin Phoenix - one of the most subtle, recessive, almost fey actors working today - to play someone with such a commanding temperament.</blockquote>
There's something in that, I'm afraid. Phoenix was brilliant as the Joker, <i>and</i> as the evil emperor Commodus in <i>Gladiator</i>, but he lacks the epic intensity of a Russell Crowe or a Harrison Ford. He behaves more like a sleepwalker than a man of destiny: so childishly pleased by the adulation of the midshipmen on the British ship he ends up on at the end of the bio-pic that any remaining doubts he might be feeling over Waterloo seem quite submerged.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDR69rByiX0iXaOPc9IlYlf6_HiHxw19151o5OwBdq3BSxPbo1RddxeIod7T_HKCeK6MT07JqFWmMUJyLAnUwORZ6N-SCug42qgyfA5r0UiRpsxwnDczU0PWImlUwS2lYF8Ahznqx43a9TaBtsblYW2h1gaBxlZuCoNm9sCVLPN2uyxOSVDp_f/s1000/81Wjkx853DL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="675" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDR69rByiX0iXaOPc9IlYlf6_HiHxw19151o5OwBdq3BSxPbo1RddxeIod7T_HKCeK6MT07JqFWmMUJyLAnUwORZ6N-SCug42qgyfA5r0UiRpsxwnDczU0PWImlUwS2lYF8Ahznqx43a9TaBtsblYW2h1gaBxlZuCoNm9sCVLPN2uyxOSVDp_f/s600/81Wjkx853DL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Vanessa-Kirby-Josephine-Poster/dp/B0CH1D9ZGX">Vanessa Kirby as Josephine</a></span></div><br />
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I <i>would</i> be interested to see the four-hour 'director's cut' we've been promised at some point in the future, but it's doubtful whether this central piece of miscasting can really be overcome no matter how conscientiously the rest of the action - and characterisation - is filled in.<br />
<br />
All in all, Scott's film leaves one wishing that Stanley Kubrick had lived to complete his own big screen epic about the Emperor. The one thing I'm genuinely thankful for is that they didn't cast Adam Driver. He seems to star in every other film nowadays, and it's a relief that he must have been otherwise occupied at the time chasing dinosaurs in the singularly charmless <i>65</i> ...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOlhVLAxryJX1WnRITY-O-jCC50n3yTLNNCn7pmoDjsycaClgYk41FyrDUkJPkHnZlrgCFpQT4vEvkmN_-RgsM5rblLqM-JqkEdY8aOPs4P7XCFKM51v7XO-PDKVwyfMiPKDPRj2L4a1tVFNO3ONPpD0WK_Ri-taiSob6DwwEK-uTjRrWmvay/s735/MV5BOTNlNWIyYjUtY2Q2NS00MzkxLTgzZjctN2YyMDlhMzBlNTUzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA3MDk2NDg2._V1_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="735" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOlhVLAxryJX1WnRITY-O-jCC50n3yTLNNCn7pmoDjsycaClgYk41FyrDUkJPkHnZlrgCFpQT4vEvkmN_-RgsM5rblLqM-JqkEdY8aOPs4P7XCFKM51v7XO-PDKVwyfMiPKDPRj2L4a1tVFNO3ONPpD0WK_Ri-taiSob6DwwEK-uTjRrWmvay/s600/MV5BOTNlNWIyYjUtY2Q2NS00MzkxLTgzZjctN2YyMDlhMzBlNTUzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA3MDk2NDg2._V1_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Scott Beck & Bryan Woods, dir.: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12261776/">65</a> (2023)</span></div><br />
<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-22164976386189329592023-10-21T11:15:00.014+13:002023-10-25T08:22:17.670+13:00100 Years of Darkness<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSq97WCViDhnOPZObV1_dzWP4ucwQ1tEBkHU1FP5RCGkEw7DqaP-QJ9h-g1kTjsyQrX9rairW-0FbxJuuMDovnGMB7KXbXgWUZfBXhd8GQi4NOlvAgRCcs-TxqOV-3rz-p9W8b9pEqdS1NPCj1cgou0LZxBEt_B3qDM1bxF3Tf3F8tEKgEROft/s2000/BillDireenBook.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSq97WCViDhnOPZObV1_dzWP4ucwQ1tEBkHU1FP5RCGkEw7DqaP-QJ9h-g1kTjsyQrX9rairW-0FbxJuuMDovnGMB7KXbXgWUZfBXhd8GQi4NOlvAgRCcs-TxqOV-3rz-p9W8b9pEqdS1NPCj1cgou0LZxBEt_B3qDM1bxF3Tf3F8tEKgEROft/s600/BillDireenBook.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Bill Direen: <a href="https://flyingout.co.nz/products/bill-direen-100-years-of-darkness-book">100 Years of Darkness</a> (2023)</span></div>
<br />
<br />
Bill Direen's latest poetry collection includes poems about 100-odd films which have enthused him - or at any rate attracted his attention - over the years.<br />
<br />
There are definitely some rhymes there with my own filmocopia (to coin a term) - though perhaps more with directors than specific films. I too am a Jan Švankmajer devotee; Fritz Lang, Lars von Trier, Jean Vigo: the landmarks are all there.<br />
<br />
Here are a few quotes from his book (one for each of the above):
<blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-8ynljsTa4RCwY5W_zILGNfkyzuL1hlvRqcYQ82em6KG92CXXmY8JoINzlgfM9GYnEDat9iy2EYtNTvJlWNckJcbPxCgf4jI7bB9kwRFGtKgrRDJTAdbGyhFSq2R-ALX9GwUr0Hq0gZ0Gdl6vWSxVnWiyooqo5frZhsgarVKfhvWfRWWDrSa4/s376/DerMudeTodDVD.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-8ynljsTa4RCwY5W_zILGNfkyzuL1hlvRqcYQ82em6KG92CXXmY8JoINzlgfM9GYnEDat9iy2EYtNTvJlWNckJcbPxCgf4jI7bB9kwRFGtKgrRDJTAdbGyhFSq2R-ALX9GwUr0Hq0gZ0Gdl6vWSxVnWiyooqo5frZhsgarVKfhvWfRWWDrSa4/s320/DerMudeTodDVD.png"/></a></div>
<i>Death<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">who lives in celluloid,</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">and is tired of witnessing suffering,</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">and of feeding off that</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">of which men are capable.</span></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- 'Destiny'<br />
[after Fritz Lang, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destiny_(1921_film)"><i>Der müde Tod</i></a> (1921)]</div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJrLacRcts0_eO9dK-Q2B7rMUP3g83x9cZVmLq-lzMhnVacVGPz3bT1Y1Fm28zf4-i_cD_O3HWcx_PVZALtypM09CeJz32HmUzz6xtOkMhMzu_tHKfbmMkluk4LhXZbPucUflZfh2125C-2-OrOnEYfcAa_15uz25wJmAa-0rgqGn8ScUlBRsq/s300/Zero_de_conduite.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJrLacRcts0_eO9dK-Q2B7rMUP3g83x9cZVmLq-lzMhnVacVGPz3bT1Y1Fm28zf4-i_cD_O3HWcx_PVZALtypM09CeJz32HmUzz6xtOkMhMzu_tHKfbmMkluk4LhXZbPucUflZfh2125C-2-OrOnEYfcAa_15uz25wJmAa-0rgqGn8ScUlBRsq/s320/Zero_de_conduite.jpg"/></a></div>
<i>In memory of his murdered father<br />
the filmaker raises a punkster flag<br />
against dictator midgets on thrones<br />
preening themselves in mirrors</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- 'Zero for Conduct'<br />
[after Jean Vigo, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_for_Conduct"><i>Zéro de Conduite</i></a> (1933)]</div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQNVILVdmAjzcA0z2GxQmSJOYI-sVu5iE2gw9JWS5-htkEoRiq3jBJAvMYd-XPbSw3PnlavuDMVfpBzWgvsRsAyhaiXe89t0W2fXw6tXvuUI1xnZEkR8w6jYsHZTpByntEJIH-uE-C-KrryuBWSnESlL6yR_xfJR2slOuuuVU9PEfrLZUV1PBh/s365/Jabberwocky1973.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQNVILVdmAjzcA0z2GxQmSJOYI-sVu5iE2gw9JWS5-htkEoRiq3jBJAvMYd-XPbSw3PnlavuDMVfpBzWgvsRsAyhaiXe89t0W2fXw6tXvuUI1xnZEkR8w6jYsHZTpByntEJIH-uE-C-KrryuBWSnESlL6yR_xfJR2slOuuuVU9PEfrLZUV1PBh/s320/Jabberwocky1973.jpg"/></a></div>
<i>The beginning is pain.<br />
A professional slaps your rear faces.<br />
A sailor suit dances a pretty dance.<br />
Perseverance is your only name</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- 'Jabberwocky'<br />
[after Jan Švankmajer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky_(1971_film)"><i>Žvahlav aneb šatičky slaměného Huberta</i></a> (1971)]</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7OPlYe7imX_n1DxtgdSsK9tOQTOG7dxlPAI7HiPiae1zI91XWd_K3wQAtqd8nXPEGmGbHaXywmqHXLLmzoBg8S38IGuqSQHx_ZkewmXxn7eXWO-RgxbH6ZlOb7CvbPLPJnFz-9bUoJMBCNRTf0gyrV8IVjK-U4Sw_Q4w_NUhF2IPW6Gk2lS4f/s373/Medea_%28Lars_von_Trier_film%29_poster_art.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7OPlYe7imX_n1DxtgdSsK9tOQTOG7dxlPAI7HiPiae1zI91XWd_K3wQAtqd8nXPEGmGbHaXywmqHXLLmzoBg8S38IGuqSQHx_ZkewmXxn7eXWO-RgxbH6ZlOb7CvbPLPJnFz-9bUoJMBCNRTf0gyrV8IVjK-U4Sw_Q4w_NUhF2IPW6Gk2lS4f/s320/Medea_%28Lars_von_Trier_film%29_poster_art.jpg"/></a></div>
<i>Shame, that happiness should exist<br />
for you to debase.<br />
Shame, that my great love must kill<br />
what yours lacked greatness to save.</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- 'Medea'<br />
[after Lars von Trier, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea_(1988_film)"><i>Medea</i></a> (1988)]</div>
</blockquote><br />
I note, too, the presence of Alain Corneau's resplendent <i>Tous le matins du monde</i> (1991) and Paul Schrader's fascinating <i>Mishima</i> (1985), as well as such classics as Hitchcock's <i>The Birds</i> (1963), Fred Wilcocks' <i>Forbidden Planet</i> (1956) and Murnau's <i>Nosferatu</i> (1922).<br />
<br />
As a kind of tribute to Direen's audacious project, rather than simply discussing his myriad choices - not all of which I'm familar with, in any case - I thought I might riposte with my own "top 100" movies, spread out chronologically over the past century of film.<br />
<br />
You'll note, as you scroll down, that I've made up a few rules for myself:
<ol>
<li><b>Each director gets one film each</b> - or else I could have easily filled up the tally with the likes of Hitchcock, Kubrick, or John Ford without ever straying into more esoteric regions.</li>
<li><b>They're arranged alphabetically, by director's surname</b>, within each year, without worrying about exactly <i>when</i> they were released (since such things are staggered around the world, there doesn't seem much point in being too over-precise there).</li>
<li>Nor have I entered into the - otherwise vital - question of <b>who is the actual 'author' of a film?</b> The director or the screenwriter? Or (for that matter) a combination of both, together with cinematographer, designer, composer, producer(s), etc.? I tend towards the last hypothesis myself, but it's probably a discussion for another day.</li>
</ol>
There's definitely something revealing about such exercises. I note in myself a weakness for big spectacle, unabashedly emotive plots, and pretty broad humour. There is - to put it mildly - a lack of <i>subtlety</i> in many of the selections below. But these are the films I watch again and again - often in preference to far more celebrated items in each director's filmography.<br />
<br />
I decided early on that if you're not being honest you might as well not bother. I like Jimmy Stewart, whether he's playing straight or serious. Sue me. I'm not a fan of teen movies in general, but I do have a weakness for <i>The Breakfast Club</i>. I don't know why, but the fact remains. Maybe you had to be there. I love ghost stories, Sci-fi, and heroic war movies. All of the above are well represented here.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">•<br />
<br />
My Own Century of Cinema:</span></b></div><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title="">1910s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title="">1920s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title="">1930s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title="">1940s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title="">1950s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title="">1960s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title="">1970s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title="">1980s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title="">1990s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title="">2000s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title="">2010s</a></li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title="">2020s</a></li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">•</span></b></div><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<ol>
<div id="ftn1">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>1910s:</b></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihG7kj9AaHGax-t6H0M0j1pOb3Juuq0y2NW1IQqqCD62msCFXT9LwnrGCQz4x70b5Ab49JWD_9t_prjEkcjn5X-32eHvVQmlwQygAAP0TENz5p73mcAsunqDDZ_zdoWvlCG5VIcnx-acU3QNqLpHczl_Vo1kiSeGmIG9VKOyfpKy1nSFFtuLho/s654/440px-Intolerance_%28film%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihG7kj9AaHGax-t6H0M0j1pOb3Juuq0y2NW1IQqqCD62msCFXT9LwnrGCQz4x70b5Ab49JWD_9t_prjEkcjn5X-32eHvVQmlwQygAAP0TENz5p73mcAsunqDDZ_zdoWvlCG5VIcnx-acU3QNqLpHczl_Vo1kiSeGmIG9VKOyfpKy1nSFFtuLho/s320/440px-Intolerance_%28film%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>D. W. Griffith, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intolerance_(film)"><i>Intolerance</i></a> (1916)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn2">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>1920s:</b></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLs9HVO0EhnQhcaWMpctDgAT2kgiKsSR7iLDR2q2f_jm01IH-FLuP9rNB5mmjmRvaRkFiO9caZ1LFlLubQcLBOUFBx5WnU7d0qcZK9rGvFqufZ4FZv7brnbKLUdovxaf96U4Qiz20pZPRa4Nj3l5IRc68Q35w9cV830uGWlAOBhPP4V7Tf_-fa/s593/440px-The_Cabinet_of_Dr._Caligari_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLs9HVO0EhnQhcaWMpctDgAT2kgiKsSR7iLDR2q2f_jm01IH-FLuP9rNB5mmjmRvaRkFiO9caZ1LFlLubQcLBOUFBx5WnU7d0qcZK9rGvFqufZ4FZv7brnbKLUdovxaf96U4Qiz20pZPRa4Nj3l5IRc68Q35w9cV830uGWlAOBhPP4V7Tf_-fa/s320/440px-The_Cabinet_of_Dr._Caligari_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Robert Wiene, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cabinet_of_Dr._Caligari"><i>The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari</i></a> (1920)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRHxSIMerLPjXgzwJlDuQrSmriIFTSztmFdYdo9N7hoytiV5nBN1FADNxt7UpQlaTIZAS9lyaINJnzkz0zi9k9zcICrMRhnF_ir7-V4K2lFCwS5eNW7OInfgKYKBxHns5p8aL4jxsC5Dbesa4RK1ytDia79HgZu_g7GVff2ej3EVzmjmvzBs-/s299/Abel_gance_napoleon.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRHxSIMerLPjXgzwJlDuQrSmriIFTSztmFdYdo9N7hoytiV5nBN1FADNxt7UpQlaTIZAS9lyaINJnzkz0zi9k9zcICrMRhnF_ir7-V4K2lFCwS5eNW7OInfgKYKBxHns5p8aL4jxsC5Dbesa4RK1ytDia79HgZu_g7GVff2ej3EVzmjmvzBs-/s320/Abel_gance_napoleon.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Abel Gance, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napol%C3%A9on_(1927_film)"><i>Napoléon</i></a> (1927)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggCexeSMYyQ9TmXGo9dCf7cNz1lmTdbDFeEESbTaLapaNXlqtJVE00YMqaqGWdB7Ju3G7NbFoaHOth_3rfZT1OHvwyPQZk6sMT-JUdTUkTci-MV6IvimMNy6L2fPRYfMWAyfKy8R7PCRPM-MJwsN_CBcjfzXpErIPlovFmj7kXRno4VP0wprpb/s975/Metropolis_%28German_three-sheet_poster%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggCexeSMYyQ9TmXGo9dCf7cNz1lmTdbDFeEESbTaLapaNXlqtJVE00YMqaqGWdB7Ju3G7NbFoaHOth_3rfZT1OHvwyPQZk6sMT-JUdTUkTci-MV6IvimMNy6L2fPRYfMWAyfKy8R7PCRPM-MJwsN_CBcjfzXpErIPlovFmj7kXRno4VP0wprpb/s320/Metropolis_%28German_three-sheet_poster%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Fritz Lang, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film)"><i>Metropolis</i></a> (1927)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn3">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>1930s:</b></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzaPCTJdTg2qCdOKEPy5-xFXCH_-2BD86xdoZTXfA_dy2Uh4Xd403v87g_dHHKYsaHTweTe7zmPH9DaG5DFATivjaA9Mco8kgYL6GPPEUAHYV8TvFbAMK4wPNOGiCI6tDfU5zzTfmJyhPzxKykkeGfXD-F4RIam9cc8BoxUgHjEDLJehC-jTmA/s658/440px-Frankenstein_poster_1931.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzaPCTJdTg2qCdOKEPy5-xFXCH_-2BD86xdoZTXfA_dy2Uh4Xd403v87g_dHHKYsaHTweTe7zmPH9DaG5DFATivjaA9Mco8kgYL6GPPEUAHYV8TvFbAMK4wPNOGiCI6tDfU5zzTfmJyhPzxKykkeGfXD-F4RIam9cc8BoxUgHjEDLJehC-jTmA/s320/440px-Frankenstein_poster_1931.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>James Whale, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1931_film)"><i>Frankenstein</i></a> (1931)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij4UX9uusE9VXYO8zOnhzUENhfpB0UX6W1dTRGW1dKT20JuYNE5fkb3VTkCvIcRd7Hck7IgDQ0IOVjQrKlvraBNxEh2h12H0Jmq0esTPCfRvTQP32WiCpUa1RhUru71gHL2jvf5Em7WLAkU5Dx2_PbjnjUSGJXzfyQSKFu2HPzwG4Jivvo69ot/s365/GrandeIllusion.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij4UX9uusE9VXYO8zOnhzUENhfpB0UX6W1dTRGW1dKT20JuYNE5fkb3VTkCvIcRd7Hck7IgDQ0IOVjQrKlvraBNxEh2h12H0Jmq0esTPCfRvTQP32WiCpUa1RhUru71gHL2jvf5Em7WLAkU5Dx2_PbjnjUSGJXzfyQSKFu2HPzwG4Jivvo69ot/s320/GrandeIllusion.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Jean Renoir, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Grande_Illusion"><i>La Grande Illusion</i></a> (1937)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5tbmKSqO2GuFDQltcd317VYDmVW_6sjzqvCZeNPsQPeNQNh5CCxjV2g9uSEQW6vDW3hQzHFf86wpKuSoUSGjgp5_cqYNDg4iML71m9ayAYlos4BRtz7mks2TLdxImhcny0M4yQcRjjoWAslmqOKbSwAt1jlFOaLYpl99CetJNrX-Mayessvwe/s376/The_Lady_Vanishes_1938_Poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5tbmKSqO2GuFDQltcd317VYDmVW_6sjzqvCZeNPsQPeNQNh5CCxjV2g9uSEQW6vDW3hQzHFf86wpKuSoUSGjgp5_cqYNDg4iML71m9ayAYlos4BRtz7mks2TLdxImhcny0M4yQcRjjoWAslmqOKbSwAt1jlFOaLYpl99CetJNrX-Mayessvwe/s320/The_Lady_Vanishes_1938_Poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Alfred Hitchcock, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_Vanishes"><i>The Lady Vanishes</i></a> (1938)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHHCcWz5nAm6TzdrS9SRN1K7Cx4R2PJrHIwwD6kCX8hM_TNcKdumKtHfNGdok-gXTD7POJFq0EepGDkzIbIhfa-OIeXZ2s6IvgrYHxGJHJzBgJHamtz3SX9C4wYR_bWPfZTLVIfY4n4R1vELqz12XceJIIpjrdrjfo6aO6z4vRauzk1jAUVPn/s657/440px-Mr._Smith_Goes_to_Washington_%281939_poster%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHHCcWz5nAm6TzdrS9SRN1K7Cx4R2PJrHIwwD6kCX8hM_TNcKdumKtHfNGdok-gXTD7POJFq0EepGDkzIbIhfa-OIeXZ2s6IvgrYHxGJHJzBgJHamtz3SX9C4wYR_bWPfZTLVIfY4n4R1vELqz12XceJIIpjrdrjfo6aO6z4vRauzk1jAUVPn/s320/440px-Mr._Smith_Goes_to_Washington_%281939_poster%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Frank Capra, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Smith_Goes_to_Washington"><i>Mr Smith Goes to Washington</i></a> (1939)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYXHl_G81CfwfSt68WDoVBZQTxodFb5x1mX-UtvNcSzcuCfKRyvDkbvWNMGj4ftYabukzDToHdjfJK6PwCNpdAaBVD8DWyF-l3akYLECcjeeX5Imy9i9GjixwX4mUB2P7kAU9UlVKyx1CDHo-OVJD4dwUJ7hj-4OIbui-8etdCeCEQFljf7qig/s658/440px-Wizard_of_oz_movie_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYXHl_G81CfwfSt68WDoVBZQTxodFb5x1mX-UtvNcSzcuCfKRyvDkbvWNMGj4ftYabukzDToHdjfJK6PwCNpdAaBVD8DWyF-l3akYLECcjeeX5Imy9i9GjixwX4mUB2P7kAU9UlVKyx1CDHo-OVJD4dwUJ7hj-4OIbui-8etdCeCEQFljf7qig/s320/440px-Wizard_of_oz_movie_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Victor Fleming, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1939_film)"><i>The Wizard of Oz</i></a> (1939)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSA39-x5KdqRQtZjfs7bw2PQ1hghVp61sbFiXWORU6xVKkVFFFhJ0zXXPh2WFaVgq8en8p4Clh1LHOiAAdpuejP01aVPEufuj4U-FKe5bNCKAnk_NdG7YxJeuUM3MOCUZ0hxy5oYaMTpbn82ucRFc_MRhdDr3vlm0UEOUcVztl_HUOAh1r5EFT/s653/Young_Mr._Lincoln_%281939_poster_-_Style_B_one-sheet%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSA39-x5KdqRQtZjfs7bw2PQ1hghVp61sbFiXWORU6xVKkVFFFhJ0zXXPh2WFaVgq8en8p4Clh1LHOiAAdpuejP01aVPEufuj4U-FKe5bNCKAnk_NdG7YxJeuUM3MOCUZ0hxy5oYaMTpbn82ucRFc_MRhdDr3vlm0UEOUcVztl_HUOAh1r5EFT/s320/Young_Mr._Lincoln_%281939_poster_-_Style_B_one-sheet%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>John Ford, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Mr._Lincoln"><i>Young Mr Lincoln</i></a> (1939)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn4">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>1940s:</b></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1UhelOxYndEUv4OaHHnvSszabiIP-a8zwEJBUYcBnPq8KeSm5knhSwvfipdZlZ8TMupBrkOpXyyOgl0S62fs_npNwTIBIAil_NzDfaGVVjAD5B75PZnxIUNIYKt40CLAaonbytTMaMMag6skEx6_Z3mBJpoo1zmZxr38gL4inuv4EhGn8PmWC/s661/The_Great_Dictator_%281940%29_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1UhelOxYndEUv4OaHHnvSszabiIP-a8zwEJBUYcBnPq8KeSm5knhSwvfipdZlZ8TMupBrkOpXyyOgl0S62fs_npNwTIBIAil_NzDfaGVVjAD5B75PZnxIUNIYKt40CLAaonbytTMaMMag6skEx6_Z3mBJpoo1zmZxr38gL4inuv4EhGn8PmWC/s320/The_Great_Dictator_%281940%29_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Charlie Chaplin, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dictator"><i>The Great Dictator</i></a> (1940)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju-ZCt3Cv1WSVkyjn1tBO1Q-X5nvrPLanP2pdyLyylehyphenhyphenzipsfOpcql346bl7UnWbL_3qO44jjTFbf2_OkTdf540U6mJTPLd2CPGPomMukP57YgawjmjBZvFFyjsDjh23_WEmHfCzRhWCId1Fm3GYqtaJkNb758ggP7NnQo9xn4DCfP-po-Rga/s383/Pinocchio-1940-poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju-ZCt3Cv1WSVkyjn1tBO1Q-X5nvrPLanP2pdyLyylehyphenhyphenzipsfOpcql346bl7UnWbL_3qO44jjTFbf2_OkTdf540U6mJTPLd2CPGPomMukP57YgawjmjBZvFFyjsDjh23_WEmHfCzRhWCId1Fm3GYqtaJkNb758ggP7NnQo9xn4DCfP-po-Rga/s320/Pinocchio-1940-poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Walt Disney, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio_(1940_film)"><i>Pinocchio</i></a> (1940)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVm95NXKEo1Aqdj4n1juPijdOJytlh3JCNFZo3FEEPwX9oLyxodgVjC84Lx8ooylYXRcHCZfxt8qHIxjZhW4eh47zFpDhn-1nePgNd2UTsqeWniUNKZrj6ipoXYHOLBkysZQeh1yEIsW4NKaftjhIHAfXRjJic-80bEzOiy3nXCQqmG_a1kad2/s661/Citizen_Kane_poster,_1941_%28Style_B,_unrestored%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVm95NXKEo1Aqdj4n1juPijdOJytlh3JCNFZo3FEEPwX9oLyxodgVjC84Lx8ooylYXRcHCZfxt8qHIxjZhW4eh47zFpDhn-1nePgNd2UTsqeWniUNKZrj6ipoXYHOLBkysZQeh1yEIsW4NKaftjhIHAfXRjJic-80bEzOiy3nXCQqmG_a1kad2/s320/Citizen_Kane_poster,_1941_%28Style_B,_unrestored%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Orson Welles, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible_(1944_film)"><i>Citizen Kane</i></a> (1941)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK8chqNaoDtGae0olQMOurC6pfzYTcfAUlYUplE-0jEaVYEKWAX8__UeqdmeZwuKPSuMzMyu8EVDhm4VZ_3BH2UR64EWdfa5Edh-Mx_sBzkWEWpYAn4FVkq0fLxJq6T_Ll0gphLQlFPbrMtHLYo1de9r8k2_bdwSG2x0-k9KJjENIZw_HqKg2V/s386/For_whom_movieposter.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK8chqNaoDtGae0olQMOurC6pfzYTcfAUlYUplE-0jEaVYEKWAX8__UeqdmeZwuKPSuMzMyu8EVDhm4VZ_3BH2UR64EWdfa5Edh-Mx_sBzkWEWpYAn4FVkq0fLxJq6T_Ll0gphLQlFPbrMtHLYo1de9r8k2_bdwSG2x0-k9KJjENIZw_HqKg2V/s320/For_whom_movieposter.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Sam Wood, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Whom_the_Bell_Tolls_(film)"><i>For Whom the Bell Tolls</i></a> (1943)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibZsTUKQpOYB7luHDv68d-3qF0i_18adklN0XHJTL2BQ6UvUbzUACFWkQ2AHJspHxgMwgcDJRQDNZac_lKF7HS71euIHZNbb9yp5Qc2zaG9DGt9T5BUkDd7H5hK1fGAWY3uhXnMzmiw2O3_6psqD7K_a9K6ZIeyhn49EpGtTKx57GQOX-qa1ic/s359/Ivan_Groznyj_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibZsTUKQpOYB7luHDv68d-3qF0i_18adklN0XHJTL2BQ6UvUbzUACFWkQ2AHJspHxgMwgcDJRQDNZac_lKF7HS71euIHZNbb9yp5Qc2zaG9DGt9T5BUkDd7H5hK1fGAWY3uhXnMzmiw2O3_6psqD7K_a9K6ZIeyhn49EpGtTKx57GQOX-qa1ic/s320/Ivan_Groznyj_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Sergei Eisenstein, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible_(1944_film)"><i>Ivan the Terrible</i></a> (1944)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAAssRdTDLg_lyguPd51RrUljh52vhFkihcHQRetPIFHfv-I_QIP5bPmKJ97vVir0RWXvrhfetLs94p7Br2UHtNNEbLE7T_LeIlgvGevMjI1nlXRb1-BAERCHP2PZ6wXqiUXdbRiVqnfhrczfG-7VO2Br3w2nu4TduGm7LVFADERRF2r-jQFJT/s372/Open_City_DVD.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAAssRdTDLg_lyguPd51RrUljh52vhFkihcHQRetPIFHfv-I_QIP5bPmKJ97vVir0RWXvrhfetLs94p7Br2UHtNNEbLE7T_LeIlgvGevMjI1nlXRb1-BAERCHP2PZ6wXqiUXdbRiVqnfhrczfG-7VO2Br3w2nu4TduGm7LVFADERRF2r-jQFJT/s320/Open_City_DVD.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Roberto Rossellini, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome,_Open_City"><i>Rome, Open City</i></a> (1945)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn2yfDmiJzz2osvnploxeYy_oUrg8IRq-w-Om-h6aYjAFoaD7XGhebAjHq2lxfFONAAIk0AZk1LULyrKi_kVx4HVtU68GpC8nodsEYrzeHY-1ccq3lWbFljd58ddc42G0TOw5O2QP0Pr1qZ_gvGPiSNfdpbG0kLLJaYH2bGM24r5nXhzDSw7Nj/s672/The_Treasure_of_the_Sierra_Madre_%281947_poster%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn2yfDmiJzz2osvnploxeYy_oUrg8IRq-w-Om-h6aYjAFoaD7XGhebAjHq2lxfFONAAIk0AZk1LULyrKi_kVx4HVtU68GpC8nodsEYrzeHY-1ccq3lWbFljd58ddc42G0TOw5O2QP0Pr1qZ_gvGPiSNfdpbG0kLLJaYH2bGM24r5nXhzDSw7Nj/s320/The_Treasure_of_the_Sierra_Madre_%281947_poster%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>John Huston, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treasure_of_the_Sierra_Madre_(film)"><i>The Treasure of the Sierra Madre</i></a> (1948)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgubOQdVGlUhqT-J8TQdp6-pBqhmQI5Kv9EZCn9WpujzmIg3x81YATh6wmUMhmXcpjbKM6EDCcfs9erY4HIeifl20qpbfgcDpw7Jbhfh62bppU9qXtItxADUqeBvM8JAPTHAvklqKa5kHW1lvAA5SmCDVH8yYSlVPtOkY6vgRrrPwOrFx7YmqUE/s668/The_Third_Man_%281949_American_theatrical_poster%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgubOQdVGlUhqT-J8TQdp6-pBqhmQI5Kv9EZCn9WpujzmIg3x81YATh6wmUMhmXcpjbKM6EDCcfs9erY4HIeifl20qpbfgcDpw7Jbhfh62bppU9qXtItxADUqeBvM8JAPTHAvklqKa5kHW1lvAA5SmCDVH8yYSlVPtOkY6vgRrrPwOrFx7YmqUE/s320/The_Third_Man_%281949_American_theatrical_poster%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Carol Reed, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Man"><i>The Third Man</i></a> (1949)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn5">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>1950s:</b></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxZj2jsoCTRxLSChUJ-8Y5bK3H1sbs4n4AlRhXeHcNxAuUn8yBhATapyN8OXjhOta5f4WOInPPJS7EDetaOdLiiq76tNjA5YWOih-5ldG9BnHeeiBrFMXAqUe_L6VJy1H5SIkJNyOWEtDiUTj5SwQEQDI7J91CeeuIdgIvOYb3S_VmJG7pXes9/s393/Harvey_1950_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxZj2jsoCTRxLSChUJ-8Y5bK3H1sbs4n4AlRhXeHcNxAuUn8yBhATapyN8OXjhOta5f4WOInPPJS7EDetaOdLiiq76tNjA5YWOih-5ldG9BnHeeiBrFMXAqUe_L6VJy1H5SIkJNyOWEtDiUTj5SwQEQDI7J91CeeuIdgIvOYb3S_VmJG7pXes9/s320/Harvey_1950_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Henry Koster, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_(1950_film)"><i>Harvey</i></a> (1950)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpqXYhehPnq-90OVpHv5VL6DOXnkIlQK-4-eDG1otVZxfDVNBYszDHjlJu0w93Szpploed7bOsD5-lmNH31_Dbn7YW1wbAnGeHNl18yTMUQ2I1gt0VnWx4sltop45SPClLVaKRrwbcZVxXstekFF4-J3TTsFp6NMMPRpvjazatHvZwBHp_XW6/s613/440px-Rashomon_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpqXYhehPnq-90OVpHv5VL6DOXnkIlQK-4-eDG1otVZxfDVNBYszDHjlJu0w93Szpploed7bOsD5-lmNH31_Dbn7YW1wbAnGeHNl18yTMUQ2I1gt0VnWx4sltop45SPClLVaKRrwbcZVxXstekFF4-J3TTsFp6NMMPRpvjazatHvZwBHp_XW6/s320/440px-Rashomon_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Akira Kurosawa, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashomon"><i>Rashomon</i></a> (1950)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgYod5aJViYdKoMC-09kFoi6MHMhNIaaSOgvdLe3vhjooUGwzlXyxoCZOYkwoX5IIjhkITdVIIrsuyEMSNwhFOsSgpF-I3VnHLVsa0cOgMGMa-cTdkp1Fed6nlDjUpx4gDJs9AYFYaIdAuhF8y9YekTPJsr0_wjcb3Ibu17543Hm1em08HFgs/s668/440px-A_Streetcar_Named_Desire_%281951%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgYod5aJViYdKoMC-09kFoi6MHMhNIaaSOgvdLe3vhjooUGwzlXyxoCZOYkwoX5IIjhkITdVIIrsuyEMSNwhFOsSgpF-I3VnHLVsa0cOgMGMa-cTdkp1Fed6nlDjUpx4gDJs9AYFYaIdAuhF8y9YekTPJsr0_wjcb3Ibu17543Hm1em08HFgs/s320/440px-A_Streetcar_Named_Desire_%281951%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Elia Kazan, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Streetcar_Named_Desire_(1951_film)"><i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i></a> (1951)</li>
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<li>Billy Wilder, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_in_the_Hole_(1951_film)"><i>Ace in the Hole</i></a> (1951)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5xuMhs5QmeuqXBnLmLrKFnRw6wCO8rQiVTyXdTlXlQDfeRCPgc2s3oXMyhczrUeg86AdghClRV0I_lflK-sQiexYEA7pm5tv-AG_7BctAMoTznPTc2hHufNetxCn25K5F6cFVAfZ40Xo8EAvdZUWj3klIJNFh-jVZ-NYgAmfj_o7mqdWmUzj/s372/UmbertoD.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5xuMhs5QmeuqXBnLmLrKFnRw6wCO8rQiVTyXdTlXlQDfeRCPgc2s3oXMyhczrUeg86AdghClRV0I_lflK-sQiexYEA7pm5tv-AG_7BctAMoTznPTc2hHufNetxCn25K5F6cFVAfZ40Xo8EAvdZUWj3klIJNFh-jVZ-NYgAmfj_o7mqdWmUzj/s320/UmbertoD.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Vittorio De Sica, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_D."><i>Umberto D.</i></a> (1952)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRD3_CILCc7zzZIbeDDxm2DprJZ5k9aeKz9KzuqTg4TDaXghWfR6M5heQsWnwMIc9hrGfd9ji275ebG5mJH9Cr5y2Su-XStuZeduAmf6n2kbo2L0Cnl0kFjlKzqhZO2vtM-Cjbjx3fuj6fzijJThbE8EXfBmFi-GbEZhvJBtkvF-S3qmBt3UrT/s300/SalairedelapeurR350.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRD3_CILCc7zzZIbeDDxm2DprJZ5k9aeKz9KzuqTg4TDaXghWfR6M5heQsWnwMIc9hrGfd9ji275ebG5mJH9Cr5y2Su-XStuZeduAmf6n2kbo2L0Cnl0kFjlKzqhZO2vtM-Cjbjx3fuj6fzijJThbE8EXfBmFi-GbEZhvJBtkvF-S3qmBt3UrT/s320/SalairedelapeurR350.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Henri-Georges Clouzot, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wages_of_Fear"><i>The Wages of Fear</i></a> (1953)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiznzQeQRfWDM-d5X1rEEzNej-ItDKRDx7OTlIkA_8dLDDBNEwpKrm83KfY-D1RUR8DtkfdYcC5kvuXOA3S4FTBAQbSr0hRpe_vvo5Z0lAjkmQw0QiZ7F5rncWZPvRREpIagmPMqpw0aoRe3vwN1xWWaPql0xgnNnb0Cik0HIw3LZjp9JdA8eP/s674/440px-The_Ten_Commandments_%281956_film_poster%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiznzQeQRfWDM-d5X1rEEzNej-ItDKRDx7OTlIkA_8dLDDBNEwpKrm83KfY-D1RUR8DtkfdYcC5kvuXOA3S4FTBAQbSr0hRpe_vvo5Z0lAjkmQw0QiZ7F5rncWZPvRREpIagmPMqpw0aoRe3vwN1xWWaPql0xgnNnb0Cik0HIw3LZjp9JdA8eP/s320/440px-The_Ten_Commandments_%281956_film_poster%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Cecil B. De Mille, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ten_Commandments_(1956_film)"><i>The Ten Commandments</i></a> (1956)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYJOm8ECZqViP6xA_Nv18sr0aiUt1fGwmsUhrAkY0cXfMpshW_bbdsBAPxG-yaLuvH0qkSIZnVYx5O0MZ9hDvpEUYhxidcx-F3XpEAWEriR4EWpg_L13GLAfPEDG5ikJI0wsy96EXmhPgGuo8hyphenhyphenCrc0pNLP2Kdtc3FKxsLxP0tnQHJ7D03Gmv/s665/440px-Sweet_Smell_of_Success_%281957_poster%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYJOm8ECZqViP6xA_Nv18sr0aiUt1fGwmsUhrAkY0cXfMpshW_bbdsBAPxG-yaLuvH0qkSIZnVYx5O0MZ9hDvpEUYhxidcx-F3XpEAWEriR4EWpg_L13GLAfPEDG5ikJI0wsy96EXmhPgGuo8hyphenhyphenCrc0pNLP2Kdtc3FKxsLxP0tnQHJ7D03Gmv/s320/440px-Sweet_Smell_of_Success_%281957_poster%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Alexander Mackendrick, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Smell_of_Success"><i>Sweet Smell of Success</i></a> (1957)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYVM4JjU5dWz9mJElnzRgMNZECqgyQ1Va7iPwUcfK2E90Sw-e53jPyQZeAiAQE1CzAnWjlHJMhgEN27rW7zO0ggqX_9q8lluEwk5I6G6hLevOHb2c3nGyUtPTZQ_kxFskaxOA755Ei7hiAn802qNV8De46bYBRFkt3rGUcqTQe2v6b_C22040n/s370/Ice_Cold_in_Alex_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYVM4JjU5dWz9mJElnzRgMNZECqgyQ1Va7iPwUcfK2E90Sw-e53jPyQZeAiAQE1CzAnWjlHJMhgEN27rW7zO0ggqX_9q8lluEwk5I6G6hLevOHb2c3nGyUtPTZQ_kxFskaxOA755Ei7hiAn802qNV8De46bYBRFkt3rGUcqTQe2v6b_C22040n/s320/Ice_Cold_in_Alex_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>J. Lee Thompson, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Cold_in_Alex"><i>Ice Cold in Alex</i></a> (1958)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn6">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>1960s:</b></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikizsRPoNKDxIW3SUhNwTd6Uvm2Jykcw1Fytsu3GJxqYUgsxbh7zft6Cz2RMfuZizGkjdMYU2pLdschFmBNV6864qvKXHXpDStJlPka8RrTqzbayU2A7Cf8iWKz2y6Y2fUnu9ELiSTi80hggbTd-JmorFw8i9o5pjyFFcVRGqtnTHoEMjOO4If/s674/440px-The_Magnificent_Seven_%281960_poster%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikizsRPoNKDxIW3SUhNwTd6Uvm2Jykcw1Fytsu3GJxqYUgsxbh7zft6Cz2RMfuZizGkjdMYU2pLdschFmBNV6864qvKXHXpDStJlPka8RrTqzbayU2A7Cf8iWKz2y6Y2fUnu9ELiSTi80hggbTd-JmorFw8i9o5pjyFFcVRGqtnTHoEMjOO4If/s320/440px-The_Magnificent_Seven_%281960_poster%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>John Sturges, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magnificent_Seven"><i>The Magnificent Seven</i></a> (1960)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWLBss5aOWsycDhdCq6JBc1t1mPw6yhllUiUqeoHSL1orqp32J0FSGtSQE9w8brh_IOQlQJ1gn-1i4h8ACGea3qZpJ78vujWPdtbmWDvhju5LSA8I_vRRsnNwJjsfBXeJIOmp9k_ZutpkLor66ok5iM0a9gWdICFPX_ck0xAAA2Zln-cm6ZhG/s327/DrZhivago_Asheet.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWLBss5aOWsycDhdCq6JBc1t1mPw6yhllUiUqeoHSL1orqp32J0FSGtSQE9w8brh_IOQlQJ1gn-1i4h8ACGea3qZpJ78vujWPdtbmWDvhju5LSA8I_vRRsnNwJjsfBXeJIOmp9k_ZutpkLor66ok5iM0a9gWdICFPX_ck0xAAA2Zln-cm6ZhG/s320/DrZhivago_Asheet.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>David Lean, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Zhivago_(film)"><i>Doctor Zhivago</i></a> (1965)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgef9EoefqqRVPUoLt4Q0OTkYhxxXFfggAATyk9yLaWHUIxE4DLbcA-CAUQzwj7iZG0t96tBD4Zz7s2guJBmTkseVp7tkbvnh0RhCe-xQMYXmxtfMNKxT6cf2ChN5kNLDoyql45HSXr2z1f8OtlFQ60AY_KiHUqDB5lIs86Mh7RZsFuHSCJ-Db4/s377/Blowup_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgef9EoefqqRVPUoLt4Q0OTkYhxxXFfggAATyk9yLaWHUIxE4DLbcA-CAUQzwj7iZG0t96tBD4Zz7s2guJBmTkseVp7tkbvnh0RhCe-xQMYXmxtfMNKxT6cf2ChN5kNLDoyql45HSXr2z1f8OtlFQ60AY_KiHUqDB5lIs86Mh7RZsFuHSCJ-Db4/s320/Blowup_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Michelangelo Antonioni, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowup"><i>Blow-Up</i></a> (1966)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwpAQrVHqpNVoTY_l-NnTbwv73-A514ok7GcRxFMTLmvrfBoPFosGnJFmrxmZMBaoZCATiSI1D1eoljyXQsOenKx7HS43CGM_Jek2ESpMx_7_e6UqZn4PmonngPpzbRSprWDGQqi-zim_WVE0IvFe-IZP_b7tBV4nxqRWzxUYtHsoLCMN2ZPru/s330/Once_upon_a_Time_in_the_West.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwpAQrVHqpNVoTY_l-NnTbwv73-A514ok7GcRxFMTLmvrfBoPFosGnJFmrxmZMBaoZCATiSI1D1eoljyXQsOenKx7HS43CGM_Jek2ESpMx_7_e6UqZn4PmonngPpzbRSprWDGQqi-zim_WVE0IvFe-IZP_b7tBV4nxqRWzxUYtHsoLCMN2ZPru/s320/Once_upon_a_Time_in_the_West.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Sergio Leone, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_in_the_West"><i>Once Upon a Time in the West</i></a> (1968)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0dS3FWgWCEFSS2L3uUmK6NUcLQtI5TEpzx5cAKW6jno52bTdTlHwaUzRRg6PVKvqX7DjAcf0ur5l3B_ia9EwJcMQsDaa_YmNCFlbiSS5oU13VD2sgKuLNT3gl1c7Ve-lrhboYe3pL4ubFcIvpuaTaqoflJRXQpB-1EkXqoWCRlzI9yW9rs8u/s391/Truegritposter.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0dS3FWgWCEFSS2L3uUmK6NUcLQtI5TEpzx5cAKW6jno52bTdTlHwaUzRRg6PVKvqX7DjAcf0ur5l3B_ia9EwJcMQsDaa_YmNCFlbiSS5oU13VD2sgKuLNT3gl1c7Ve-lrhboYe3pL4ubFcIvpuaTaqoflJRXQpB-1EkXqoWCRlzI9yW9rs8u/s320/Truegritposter.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Henry Hathaway, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Grit_(1969_film)"><i>True Grit</i></a> (1969)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn7">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>1970s:</b></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiinP4YmoM_PbK1MKdoOuBJnrbGRyAI74Cz6yuqxh7q-OkNxbMWFsWpx7k6E7LtKZIgAu2aYPTUvC-CQctGSph5go8yw6l7RWo036ANCbx0v8vLRKL4qxaeDjpJftwPz5B4nRSzf4BbwPkYNaz_pRqE8wJfaAwB2B2Ft4ieN3af1IZSDwL3FGmF/s386/Walkaboutposter.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiinP4YmoM_PbK1MKdoOuBJnrbGRyAI74Cz6yuqxh7q-OkNxbMWFsWpx7k6E7LtKZIgAu2aYPTUvC-CQctGSph5go8yw6l7RWo036ANCbx0v8vLRKL4qxaeDjpJftwPz5B4nRSzf4BbwPkYNaz_pRqE8wJfaAwB2B2Ft4ieN3af1IZSDwL3FGmF/s320/Walkaboutposter.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Nicolas Roeg, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkabout_(film)"><i>Walkabout</i></a> (1971)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtKtt_7TKl__0sGgSFXDDGS0jH6hPE1xSaG1CSA3bW7oZ_BsQ5E297Hr5RAIf_L_b8BougcNlXbh_BsDfaArx_nAIRH4eNmpc-reDsIAb56E648VAyX7qRXb-_e8QUXE-ZiEkC2uxHZfretzfHHpY1LePtPKiGEsP7DTN-l-GPbLKerWMOh-w/s391/Original_movie_poster_for_Cabaret.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtKtt_7TKl__0sGgSFXDDGS0jH6hPE1xSaG1CSA3bW7oZ_BsQ5E297Hr5RAIf_L_b8BougcNlXbh_BsDfaArx_nAIRH4eNmpc-reDsIAb56E648VAyX7qRXb-_e8QUXE-ZiEkC2uxHZfretzfHHpY1LePtPKiGEsP7DTN-l-GPbLKerWMOh-w/s320/Original_movie_poster_for_Cabaret.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Bob Fosse, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_(1972_film)"><i>Cabaret</i></a> (1972)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wbe4ArVrahirLcdTj74YrVcKulStaakxthjiU7IvaZ1FLf76IOJJVvOfiJHw23DVSKtnozeU3hYOEDfJwXzO12LAneebzBgfqXzBwOzPASMi9xBI7mT1quGAfjZKbzdJCcrCVBUvTrShgEcW3PJAnUFRKjgDASmjY-uGDnPdxITSeHghia9D/s371/AguirreGermanPoster_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wbe4ArVrahirLcdTj74YrVcKulStaakxthjiU7IvaZ1FLf76IOJJVvOfiJHw23DVSKtnozeU3hYOEDfJwXzO12LAneebzBgfqXzBwOzPASMi9xBI7mT1quGAfjZKbzdJCcrCVBUvTrShgEcW3PJAnUFRKjgDASmjY-uGDnPdxITSeHghia9D/s320/AguirreGermanPoster_.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Werner Herzog, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguirre,_the_Wrath_of_God"><i>Aguirre, the Wrath of God</i></a> (1972)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIm-c__VT49lVmYdUBiqUSVuYLS_Jvq9aCB8Ef6IW0GkkjaiATHiy3T0zqDuquEiLlzjqnfJjB_UrV3v3jCjXJCDULTVxbUU8CCaYi8QbrQ8lsCN1K8EFrUuPLFjq-_9mdboM2KFRNGGRP2A5_KBXYnl1h5CampJ_Q_pMCCmRPIBK4wNQS8ETE/s319/Spiritofthebeehiveposter.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIm-c__VT49lVmYdUBiqUSVuYLS_Jvq9aCB8Ef6IW0GkkjaiATHiy3T0zqDuquEiLlzjqnfJjB_UrV3v3jCjXJCDULTVxbUU8CCaYi8QbrQ8lsCN1K8EFrUuPLFjq-_9mdboM2KFRNGGRP2A5_KBXYnl1h5CampJ_Q_pMCCmRPIBK4wNQS8ETE/s320/Spiritofthebeehiveposter.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Víctor Erice, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_the_Beehive"><i>The Spirit of the Beehive</i></a> (1973)</li>
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<li>Pier Paolo Pasolini, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_Nights_(1974_film)"><i>Arabian Nights</i></a> (1974)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSf2lH9W5uKz_rAk7oddfL-kkiFO2-ciyeRw6toPZ0GOvdONTgp5mqyxTFvy10LxQMZMQIdyu-Rwz1ozVdkZW3tjGXEQsbW41oQ15KrQJPso18VBRznGlZb-EIT2Ji3RosZH-Y9wTDYhyphenhyphenSDZ5lrNbrJTlakrMattoc-H7B8m2B2yY0cqp2g__/s357/Sleeping_Dogs_%281977_film_poster%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSf2lH9W5uKz_rAk7oddfL-kkiFO2-ciyeRw6toPZ0GOvdONTgp5mqyxTFvy10LxQMZMQIdyu-Rwz1ozVdkZW3tjGXEQsbW41oQ15KrQJPso18VBRznGlZb-EIT2Ji3RosZH-Y9wTDYhyphenhyphenSDZ5lrNbrJTlakrMattoc-H7B8m2B2yY0cqp2g__/s320/Sleeping_Dogs_%281977_film_poster%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Roger Donaldson, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Dogs_(1977_film)"><i>Sleeping Dogs</i></a> (1977)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFItVnMxUpQ5-ptn-dCGOZ0Bha1L81M9G2JQEl0KoRgtA44xc7LOwNdvDbJMxcUXfY3FU0OsJ6mBT52QyyH2sV3duYMScRvkq7sET0xG85QsNI-Gw6moqpcPyD7Cy0pSWvtwC220U4yYejdcraLIIwwxubwBGbC-yvI2UbAUeikWuYM2lMchkq/s392/Original_movie_poster_for_Being_There.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFItVnMxUpQ5-ptn-dCGOZ0Bha1L81M9G2JQEl0KoRgtA44xc7LOwNdvDbJMxcUXfY3FU0OsJ6mBT52QyyH2sV3duYMScRvkq7sET0xG85QsNI-Gw6moqpcPyD7Cy0pSWvtwC220U4yYejdcraLIIwwxubwBGbC-yvI2UbAUeikWuYM2lMchkq/s320/Original_movie_poster_for_Being_There.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Hal Ashby, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_There"><i>Being There</i></a> (1979)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmIdPli5c6jTR_pvKJ5RpcQVryUZuINgeAvppu4MKa_kU8OUP0fVqjOhZ1fWsEpcuK70WGurWnN8jvbQxkrgswvKMkC5PSArx2T6gudhBRlmW5Du226wwR5AOvi2OEh0zHRywwoqojGAvpRhm6I7y0ia9Wi93dkRFg_pp0tTe26AppfpQmZGrd/s403/Stalker_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmIdPli5c6jTR_pvKJ5RpcQVryUZuINgeAvppu4MKa_kU8OUP0fVqjOhZ1fWsEpcuK70WGurWnN8jvbQxkrgswvKMkC5PSArx2T6gudhBRlmW5Du226wwR5AOvi2OEh0zHRywwoqojGAvpRhm6I7y0ia9Wi93dkRFg_pp0tTe26AppfpQmZGrd/s320/Stalker_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Andrei Tarkovsky, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(1979_film)"><i>Stalker</i></a> (1979)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn8">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>1980s:</b></span></a></div>
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<li>Stanley Kubrick, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shining_(film)"><i>The Shining</i></a> (1980)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_cSG1IClqJr5f6XPwvr_Veludfek7cxnqZweIQc1hmBgRg3gVX_ySHaPkPHqlJuJ64dqmq6OABo2SqBfSXfU-ybQoXZ5yDCl5u3vyP-rr0RF4qV9B0BNXz4gjAE7vwAMpcKfQ34iU67SSHsAYF27XSsxaLHy8-pgyVkkXJLIkwFCfZsR30ybC/s380/Blade_Runner_%281982_poster%29.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_cSG1IClqJr5f6XPwvr_Veludfek7cxnqZweIQc1hmBgRg3gVX_ySHaPkPHqlJuJ64dqmq6OABo2SqBfSXfU-ybQoXZ5yDCl5u3vyP-rr0RF4qV9B0BNXz4gjAE7vwAMpcKfQ34iU67SSHsAYF27XSsxaLHy8-pgyVkkXJLIkwFCfZsR30ybC/s320/Blade_Runner_%281982_poster%29.png"/></a></div>
<li>Ridley Scott, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner"><i>Blade Runner</i></a> (1981)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VfQeRlr28QauWUN2oY3tNgD03SzzG_oyOnNPNJTmZpZ1kA_G63XbCYwLSRmiMqvQsvqTg5EmwhSVhTQvn_IFwW6FDJLWDcVaT28L-HUhUF7uNTumfj8sVOmZ8YYOvctXCll394Sry7VZpsiR6Ym11Ts5zLAC75HFOCc9CV38W3wevJOIrMMa/s344/Cat_People_1982_movie.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VfQeRlr28QauWUN2oY3tNgD03SzzG_oyOnNPNJTmZpZ1kA_G63XbCYwLSRmiMqvQsvqTg5EmwhSVhTQvn_IFwW6FDJLWDcVaT28L-HUhUF7uNTumfj8sVOmZ8YYOvctXCll394Sry7VZpsiR6Ym11Ts5zLAC75HFOCc9CV38W3wevJOIrMMa/s320/Cat_People_1982_movie.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Paul Schrader, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_People_(1982_film)"><i>Cat People</i></a> (1982)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvPqH5Bmy15GXxiTIeSFV5cxbzqE9oz5zteFxIcCA6ekJdQgcpxGt0LbGNyhyphenhyphenyCHCR6e58y-YZUE2Adrbf5JLBErnSk91N0PTE0xzNEZYM0pRHxZZVAfWyET6UVeyhHhfggxhOFq0CjO38Icm9YoDPoOVZRT4KUI_quIb3xowfctgcTKgdcqMZ/s392/Right_stuff_ver1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvPqH5Bmy15GXxiTIeSFV5cxbzqE9oz5zteFxIcCA6ekJdQgcpxGt0LbGNyhyphenhyphenyCHCR6e58y-YZUE2Adrbf5JLBErnSk91N0PTE0xzNEZYM0pRHxZZVAfWyET6UVeyhHhfggxhOFq0CjO38Icm9YoDPoOVZRT4KUI_quIb3xowfctgcTKgdcqMZ/s320/Right_stuff_ver1.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Philip Kaufman, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_Stuff_(film)"><i>The Right Stuff</i></a> (1983)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht07TlmQ5vGItpiwu5LhYXWYxTwVUxhE9lVRWFDZbgVUBRTrEVlNrn7HFXxvbwytgMWnPqdrpSjlQIa3afuqOiYWinYrRmctzDSnthXjz2JM14eI4b5U9h5boATNCFxngpJqVmvb6pS-OfCjWSRmza3ToYST9jWBsUPq4B_xhH17W0ejH_UxyS/s350/Amadeusmov.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht07TlmQ5vGItpiwu5LhYXWYxTwVUxhE9lVRWFDZbgVUBRTrEVlNrn7HFXxvbwytgMWnPqdrpSjlQIa3afuqOiYWinYrRmctzDSnthXjz2JM14eI4b5U9h5boATNCFxngpJqVmvb6pS-OfCjWSRmza3ToYST9jWBsUPq4B_xhH17W0ejH_UxyS/s320/Amadeusmov.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Miloš Forman, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeus_(film)"><i>Amadeus</i></a> (1984)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXeI8keo1hJS1JK4wNBCtmc2g2i_vJVw4bJuXI4WmTExZFvxrTaLh78v-8vKw7ECfHhFZoxlhFu6SeFjEtYdXREGUEGSBekzi12Kh_VBlvJ-ewpWBy3f7fz8wevZssh22W62dl6n3XvSl4Ua_gJMzp_FspD_l6wfCanK5ofuCu8YCbia44Quef/s394/Dune_1984_Poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXeI8keo1hJS1JK4wNBCtmc2g2i_vJVw4bJuXI4WmTExZFvxrTaLh78v-8vKw7ECfHhFZoxlhFu6SeFjEtYdXREGUEGSBekzi12Kh_VBlvJ-ewpWBy3f7fz8wevZssh22W62dl6n3XvSl4Ua_gJMzp_FspD_l6wfCanK5ofuCu8YCbia44Quef/s320/Dune_1984_Poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>David Lynch, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(1984_film)"><i>Dune</i></a> (1984)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdEz7Jl6YhlUwC4mxVgTfeSJZMvvyWF1d1O37UClWBgW_tw_enMG3Bj3jjMgpIKXbkZK0AUw1x-KMu4MyMlGeWJ-rjkzenFUGhpxJwQOsdKGlwER11kq8JloqmFvwCq9wjnLaepJj0w5nh62_ZCx6bo0xed6eMg85YP23wmx8uPU6tgqpUmx8/s389/Mask85poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdEz7Jl6YhlUwC4mxVgTfeSJZMvvyWF1d1O37UClWBgW_tw_enMG3Bj3jjMgpIKXbkZK0AUw1x-KMu4MyMlGeWJ-rjkzenFUGhpxJwQOsdKGlwER11kq8JloqmFvwCq9wjnLaepJj0w5nh62_ZCx6bo0xed6eMg85YP23wmx8uPU6tgqpUmx8/s320/Mask85poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Peter Bogdanovich, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask_(1985_film)"><i>Mask</i></a> (1985)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9qgteD0lecJQAZTYVP5ToBCN7aDZOW-e8t0eELs6_YA1fC5XuL9WhImxGQYjkBts4wgb8rbp3HMQdKcv8JXBo74XW4pRUOrRVjL899CeBacevhnsoN5bqW5A4RajttV9LniqVblj_8Im2Sk4p4sVnb9DKtLLe7iOM3S2PvYY4ZUBGUfBpM9iP/s344/The_Breakfast_Club_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9qgteD0lecJQAZTYVP5ToBCN7aDZOW-e8t0eELs6_YA1fC5XuL9WhImxGQYjkBts4wgb8rbp3HMQdKcv8JXBo74XW4pRUOrRVjL899CeBacevhnsoN5bqW5A4RajttV9LniqVblj_8Im2Sk4p4sVnb9DKtLLe7iOM3S2PvYY4ZUBGUfBpM9iP/s320/The_Breakfast_Club_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>John Hughes, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Breakfast_Club"><i>The Breakfast Club</i></a> (1985)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtnKI1-oK3C-BkHdN1xKr_xcrNcy77wrZUP8FqocegVksCiIYFTzbQMxgdpjPailTsYp-XijOkqZECOxxyDOnRF6dUMoPZX0h23kYU11qjzFcYyvNMMDrKoOBU-JyOIpkAVE0RnYe4jmxvgxG6DOLJ_7qGAm1T2itl7AofancpFKGZh4kk9c-q/s391/Trip_to_bountiful.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtnKI1-oK3C-BkHdN1xKr_xcrNcy77wrZUP8FqocegVksCiIYFTzbQMxgdpjPailTsYp-XijOkqZECOxxyDOnRF6dUMoPZX0h23kYU11qjzFcYyvNMMDrKoOBU-JyOIpkAVE0RnYe4jmxvgxG6DOLJ_7qGAm1T2itl7AofancpFKGZh4kk9c-q/s320/Trip_to_bountiful.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Peter Masterson, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trip_to_Bountiful"><i>The Trip to Bountiful</i></a> (1985)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY8Dbzhe5SCm1xraoJlmY2hDmDvRxicYCA1M_WJS7lPLSFMMC3PjzGadL4964rQW9WzWtkPPnk7ahvNyzDW-3lW9q1o2HKMaq-vHQVuClDuaCvkYzScX8z-PPIGtfG3IHDOSaywnAPDIMsrPeag3OGElNCVs2PxFqLOim0M_0vJbjhJRP5Swo7/s393/Thequietearth.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY8Dbzhe5SCm1xraoJlmY2hDmDvRxicYCA1M_WJS7lPLSFMMC3PjzGadL4964rQW9WzWtkPPnk7ahvNyzDW-3lW9q1o2HKMaq-vHQVuClDuaCvkYzScX8z-PPIGtfG3IHDOSaywnAPDIMsrPeag3OGElNCVs2PxFqLOim0M_0vJbjhJRP5Swo7/s320/Thequietearth.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Geoff Murphy, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quiet_Earth_(film)"><i>The Quiet Earth</i></a> (1985)</li>
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<li>Rob Reiner, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_by_Me_(film)"><i>Stand by Me</i></a> (1986)</li>
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<li>Bruce Robinson, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withnail_and_I"><i>Withnail and I</i></a> (1987)</li>
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<li>Terry Gilliam, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Baron_Munchausen"><i>The Adventures of Baron Munchausen</i></a> (1988)</li>
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<li>Jan Švankmajer, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_(1988_film)"><i>Alice</i></a> (1988)</li>
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<li>Denys Arcand, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_of_Montreal"><i>Jesus of Montreal</i></a> (1989)</li>
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<li>Peter Brook, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mahabharata_(1989_film)"><i>The Mahabharata</i></a> (1989)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXt163hl9_0048XZZ3cnA5TCotjCVpAhTZa0nSQUObEAQnh8oq-D4jXITW5b2fn2MV3-28fnevhMupBaH-4_zHVtperf6ai2z_EZccR3Z26lFphV0dpqksqeFnCMHIbYnA_km5TXrBM6YQqn5Aix9FTjwNrIj2BhO2wRuuBptJB-HwUO1wYlHZ/s382/Burbsposter.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXt163hl9_0048XZZ3cnA5TCotjCVpAhTZa0nSQUObEAQnh8oq-D4jXITW5b2fn2MV3-28fnevhMupBaH-4_zHVtperf6ai2z_EZccR3Z26lFphV0dpqksqeFnCMHIbYnA_km5TXrBM6YQqn5Aix9FTjwNrIj2BhO2wRuuBptJB-HwUO1wYlHZ/s320/Burbsposter.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Joe Dante, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_%27Burbs"><i>The 'Burbs</i></a> (1989)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn9">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>1990s:</b></span></a></div>
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<li>Bernardo Bertolucci, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sheltering_Sky_(film)"><i>The Sheltering Sky</i></a> (1990)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5LuTHo3csuqFhOxQgmBD2VdCnymdgl2N1OK5LPc3FmagmCBbO0ZbLZbcOKRMzfdPk3ktuOu4EBUG-0diruDRdS6Hb8SrEkol5UwgUJaencA1_6HWs0lBXzydqnVWgJ6cBbh6Y3NUZeQAqdXoyo29CyAuv0sV8KJ4tQLA4lf4bkCDFSIPbAbyo/s375/TrulyMadlyDeeplyMoviePoster.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5LuTHo3csuqFhOxQgmBD2VdCnymdgl2N1OK5LPc3FmagmCBbO0ZbLZbcOKRMzfdPk3ktuOu4EBUG-0diruDRdS6Hb8SrEkol5UwgUJaencA1_6HWs0lBXzydqnVWgJ6cBbh6Y3NUZeQAqdXoyo29CyAuv0sV8KJ4tQLA4lf4bkCDFSIPbAbyo/s320/TrulyMadlyDeeplyMoviePoster.png"/></a></div>
<li>Anthony Minghella, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truly,_Madly,_Deeply"><i>Truly, Madly, Deeply</i></a> (1990)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccMXjfyw8wstYwr0JHe6mv-ebN2B2cVj4XQaLk1IKk4i9c0fmyp3mxLoqhgSAVwQy86FMOPrEsErRE-d0sVj5HQpiyFzM__SMPofzjwH6Yc8xjhurY5NW9NIJzv8YqE6yRZ-m2WAYNCB0DoqRZXqx-bNGgHRCK1HSecZNdSi_Js5jRQT4Oggb/s302/Black_robe_ver2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccMXjfyw8wstYwr0JHe6mv-ebN2B2cVj4XQaLk1IKk4i9c0fmyp3mxLoqhgSAVwQy86FMOPrEsErRE-d0sVj5HQpiyFzM__SMPofzjwH6Yc8xjhurY5NW9NIJzv8YqE6yRZ-m2WAYNCB0DoqRZXqx-bNGgHRCK1HSecZNdSi_Js5jRQT4Oggb/s320/Black_robe_ver2.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Bruce Beresford, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Robe_(film)"><i>Black Robe</i></a> (1991)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR2IeXBh5XdahTTHYgviib-sFO18XSfxBMePTLRpGXNLHGMO2ScsLcLH5wAK2fa3a1lSJRIIwIOiQBcbtqxBUpSzZVSb8xNvBajmCrDf0mHdf7D_O4PzcVzhLnBjeIJFJOCwGbSvblsdUr0pjs9aFZZcjniwo-U3LFxZ4idFeihcEMdUHwoGKZ/s367/BartonFink.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR2IeXBh5XdahTTHYgviib-sFO18XSfxBMePTLRpGXNLHGMO2ScsLcLH5wAK2fa3a1lSJRIIwIOiQBcbtqxBUpSzZVSb8xNvBajmCrDf0mHdf7D_O4PzcVzhLnBjeIJFJOCwGbSvblsdUr0pjs9aFZZcjniwo-U3LFxZ4idFeihcEMdUHwoGKZ/s320/BartonFink.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Joel & Ethan Coen, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barton_Fink"><i>Barton Fink</i></a> (1991)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieisSPdlCUFftMzbxuDqV2bQd87HFiy03KZmruoJwDiIQP7t4fT5T6heD2vOhSzsb7ovUUIGSmIebYqPvPwomF-zUqNO_Ho_qaOSl7_ZclmvFF-84VUBYUmPRAxcjyC2iGeS1jX0NMdJ20h_C7N8MQXPbdswiZ2bx1sW-LL1xLnm2wYPwsLjJ0/s392/Naked_Lunch_film_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieisSPdlCUFftMzbxuDqV2bQd87HFiy03KZmruoJwDiIQP7t4fT5T6heD2vOhSzsb7ovUUIGSmIebYqPvPwomF-zUqNO_Ho_qaOSl7_ZclmvFF-84VUBYUmPRAxcjyC2iGeS1jX0NMdJ20h_C7N8MQXPbdswiZ2bx1sW-LL1xLnm2wYPwsLjJ0/s320/Naked_Lunch_film_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>David Cronenberg, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Lunch_(film)"><i>Naked Lunch</i></a> (1991)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITBVsRUG88_UZ-lHPCVwcqwRX3Jv4f5Ja1IQOCzPysQVUdp_UqyRte2FMIBA8GlrpxZvkTcU41Q7MSNueiI387HmRC669uTslQyNhnJRNEDAFqRgtGBX_AeUlK1W0xCEH-c00aMAtzQQ1qbfepXFFUQli5q9xeA9Y6zjwjnW2N3E8K64nvh6J/s380/Europa-german-movie-poster-md.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITBVsRUG88_UZ-lHPCVwcqwRX3Jv4f5Ja1IQOCzPysQVUdp_UqyRte2FMIBA8GlrpxZvkTcU41Q7MSNueiI387HmRC669uTslQyNhnJRNEDAFqRgtGBX_AeUlK1W0xCEH-c00aMAtzQQ1qbfepXFFUQli5q9xeA9Y6zjwjnW2N3E8K64nvh6J/s320/Europa-german-movie-poster-md.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Lars von Trier, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(1991_film)"><i>Zentropa</i></a> (1991)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTCcfJAd9Jm0PmG1ip-uGBDfojd3pQzWz0KDkemFKpRty_EpC9EibAaIAbu9BkqL-Z7bRvUCQ0RYngjKE4H7STJjteVMAPn3qpjz1A31v01AEW_eqM_GfeMoZXp7Fx5BhaXAG8CWYBXWGsp01u2L7eTCs44k4NDKPhLRgyPrF58rdI96PtwW2Q/s368/Bram_Stoker%27s_Draula_%281992_film%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTCcfJAd9Jm0PmG1ip-uGBDfojd3pQzWz0KDkemFKpRty_EpC9EibAaIAbu9BkqL-Z7bRvUCQ0RYngjKE4H7STJjteVMAPn3qpjz1A31v01AEW_eqM_GfeMoZXp7Fx5BhaXAG8CWYBXWGsp01u2L7eTCs44k4NDKPhLRgyPrF58rdI96PtwW2Q/s320/Bram_Stoker%27s_Draula_%281992_film%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Francis Ford Coppola,, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker%27s_Dracula_(1992_film)"><i>Bram Stoker’s Dracula</i></a> (1992)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMuGya9yVMdOmp4D6j9Dtq2DrooXtjih05VmLzIIgSvh_5aUVuXAPAmEcu9MvYswkV1kT6Rd0ql6j6pBB3675gtk_JzGhe9sJqVF1dBji2gUaq-trqx2e10bW6hfrM1GmvV4-nUUciuC6ciwmVAaY9ZzegcRq3tJogHtZHBqzj1Y16-hses2XT/s372/Unforgiven_2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMuGya9yVMdOmp4D6j9Dtq2DrooXtjih05VmLzIIgSvh_5aUVuXAPAmEcu9MvYswkV1kT6Rd0ql6j6pBB3675gtk_JzGhe9sJqVF1dBji2gUaq-trqx2e10bW6hfrM1GmvV4-nUUciuC6ciwmVAaY9ZzegcRq3tJogHtZHBqzj1Y16-hses2XT/s320/Unforgiven_2.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Clint Eastwood, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unforgiven"><i>Unforgiven</i></a> (1992)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_3HCCibJ7Qqn4wvhzRIQXQLih-vOGgT1BHByXUm4PBSV4MrFxnnrsXLvquIkLIJm0ryK6pOquBHHe3ch2j_vsz5UHfh7wQGAUnJZsVRfjS2u5l-FJAEipbK7if_zXWU0xwaU16i06EvVu5CvhmVi6UpEWbwUK-AygUYFolnlwAnG8ALr4qMbx/s327/Groundhog_Day_%28movie_poster%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_3HCCibJ7Qqn4wvhzRIQXQLih-vOGgT1BHByXUm4PBSV4MrFxnnrsXLvquIkLIJm0ryK6pOquBHHe3ch2j_vsz5UHfh7wQGAUnJZsVRfjS2u5l-FJAEipbK7if_zXWU0xwaU16i06EvVu5CvhmVi6UpEWbwUK-AygUYFolnlwAnG8ALr4qMbx/s320/Groundhog_Day_%28movie_poster%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Harold Ramis, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film)"><i>Groundhog Day</i></a> (1993)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PbmCeubnpeWeEFylGNFlii73q68vids2Rkv0OVwLmf5VF2ZlHhfaI0oUVCuuLgSClrxKEUuSIj_SarpB1U3Ej2caZDCk4-XCxaVA6ZLJ5daKOF10AGGNPy6ByKMP3uR5AoAMNUkjdwwTJ4SXjQWWTX4gh0pglyxDEiYlxa0N8SahIH74VwMm/s383/Ed_Wood_film_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PbmCeubnpeWeEFylGNFlii73q68vids2Rkv0OVwLmf5VF2ZlHhfaI0oUVCuuLgSClrxKEUuSIj_SarpB1U3Ej2caZDCk4-XCxaVA6ZLJ5daKOF10AGGNPy6ByKMP3uR5AoAMNUkjdwwTJ4SXjQWWTX4gh0pglyxDEiYlxa0N8SahIH74VwMm/s320/Ed_Wood_film_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Tim Burton, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Wood_(film)"><i>Ed Wood</i></a> (1994)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXB8fgf8mNAgJt7JBeG2BJRIAnyJBzmqarBKzFxMDFE4j1sUmPoVaOT12YV2k2btI0alQFuyqDIZZpphEFPqTlqxQekAIPV_sSqPeMxM9BSe4ETsyIrvRSV6JF77Ewj7AAnIy4LhXIyn3ut_bZFuPtrPH507bBqs31GLapN50gAGHAUis4Wntk/s384/Braveheart_imp.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXB8fgf8mNAgJt7JBeG2BJRIAnyJBzmqarBKzFxMDFE4j1sUmPoVaOT12YV2k2btI0alQFuyqDIZZpphEFPqTlqxQekAIPV_sSqPeMxM9BSe4ETsyIrvRSV6JF77Ewj7AAnIy4LhXIyn3ut_bZFuPtrPH507bBqs31GLapN50gAGHAUis4Wntk/s320/Braveheart_imp.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Mel Gibson, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braveheart"><i>Braveheart</i></a> (1995)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZu7MMn5z8xKdjkRTJuJ7hTgRfp5oUoipw4QTurdqYvtlTkUVUBe2trSImE-FFPVKFhHsqlj0vJi256WF642hUVFkkSI6MSxR4PfhAedLZma_MOGw_jKmuH0sEDnbiPD16MIVM_Lq8R2GLRYOh9Vaw4yGXTvpE0n0MTF4Zi6fNZ4B246QxjMO/s379/Carrington_ver1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZu7MMn5z8xKdjkRTJuJ7hTgRfp5oUoipw4QTurdqYvtlTkUVUBe2trSImE-FFPVKFhHsqlj0vJi256WF642hUVFkkSI6MSxR4PfhAedLZma_MOGw_jKmuH0sEDnbiPD16MIVM_Lq8R2GLRYOh9Vaw4yGXTvpE0n0MTF4Zi6fNZ4B246QxjMO/s320/Carrington_ver1.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Christopher Hampton, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_(film)"><i>Carrington</i></a> (1995)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiitiRr6vGOJ0aIwWY0uxEcm26De8HvlZ1oM0ZXjjIb_93QyHGsu5cjv-i8PR_qbGQaKBctNNVJNoi4qRgbQ4WS3ahNtx0MOfWZq99phLDvVNcXbJyvO1IL0srGTu6jYRtpQv7BLMbola_L5jr3GK1hrTxmD0lkdFvvFzJ853AZDVFg8Us5bJOy/s384/Apollo_thirteen_movie.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiitiRr6vGOJ0aIwWY0uxEcm26De8HvlZ1oM0ZXjjIb_93QyHGsu5cjv-i8PR_qbGQaKBctNNVJNoi4qRgbQ4WS3ahNtx0MOfWZq99phLDvVNcXbJyvO1IL0srGTu6jYRtpQv7BLMbola_L5jr3GK1hrTxmD0lkdFvvFzJ853AZDVFg8Us5bJOy/s320/Apollo_thirteen_movie.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Ron Howard, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13_(film)"><i>Apollo 13</i></a> (1995)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_J5lMrFD2EP0jKlzU6-IHx53fbHJZpBS0jl2Ev5z605KfUSlL9AlmUjaK5nmZLIiCz_KpNhAHNedXA9CLji8muqvauRWwFEMriRfDtUhdHGzWjJkU5tTm7KcZWDzewqMbQ44ltjjAeOdKHLqWDiOEX0BQnA2W3GRw62P9aZBkFkQV7JUD5uI/s383/As_good_as_it_gets.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_J5lMrFD2EP0jKlzU6-IHx53fbHJZpBS0jl2Ev5z605KfUSlL9AlmUjaK5nmZLIiCz_KpNhAHNedXA9CLji8muqvauRWwFEMriRfDtUhdHGzWjJkU5tTm7KcZWDzewqMbQ44ltjjAeOdKHLqWDiOEX0BQnA2W3GRw62P9aZBkFkQV7JUD5uI/s320/As_good_as_it_gets.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>James L. Brooks, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Good_as_It_Gets"><i>As Good as It Gets</i></a> (1995)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1y5mUajMNamSAPxGm0Z96yqpFwx0fCMU2dkZRVafyh2eQqJGHrT07G3zlkdQ7XwhA-v8_jmhOz4N1W1vt2gBIzBS8VTsgzZPF_pC_1ZKyAIL3JUy4ycjPDOvh9Nn16P53zmkDFo0QNNog9SIYWZbc7acuAipTHRMZRw7JWoVigYl0Do3s_x6L/s327/The_Sweet_Hereafter_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1y5mUajMNamSAPxGm0Z96yqpFwx0fCMU2dkZRVafyh2eQqJGHrT07G3zlkdQ7XwhA-v8_jmhOz4N1W1vt2gBIzBS8VTsgzZPF_pC_1ZKyAIL3JUy4ycjPDOvh9Nn16P53zmkDFo0QNNog9SIYWZbc7acuAipTHRMZRw7JWoVigYl0Do3s_x6L/s320/The_Sweet_Hereafter_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Atom Egoyan, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sweet_Hereafter_(film)"><i>The Sweet Hereafter</i></a> (1997)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiefYVyPtzvJIXMZZ84Rgna6EJ4O3Eh345IArbaCqgiuuD78xZzgDGWyzL2fIA2dYuNpZu3HDgHvzY6rImDPRSmSNJzgMFZCAoD95Q8LrFMDltU99Ptc0J5i_gM5rxZ1VK6epDG5-fIHf2ScWbJx-F_Wld5W_Hw120TEkcajD7s69Kx7GpQPHIh/s382/Fairytale_a_true_story.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiefYVyPtzvJIXMZZ84Rgna6EJ4O3Eh345IArbaCqgiuuD78xZzgDGWyzL2fIA2dYuNpZu3HDgHvzY6rImDPRSmSNJzgMFZCAoD95Q8LrFMDltU99Ptc0J5i_gM5rxZ1VK6epDG5-fIHf2ScWbJx-F_Wld5W_Hw120TEkcajD7s69Kx7GpQPHIh/s320/Fairytale_a_true_story.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Charles Sturridge, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairyTale:_A_True_Story"><i>FairyTale: A True Story</i></a> (1997)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5-BgDRmJmpFFvuP-nmOKRVITPWgAeJ8bFkrby3XRQACfN4dKj7fwy-_ifejQ4Li4fnq05YNFCmzszNDf3DRYZ2-Bg0OeNG_4KL7a304kZQnBSBO5WT5qZT0JET7yarlCdQnaRAGlyfHqwfQKnE5ofqw2PuAcZ3xYY9cMVCInty4S6UmsnZ_K/s365/The_Thin_Red_Line_Poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5-BgDRmJmpFFvuP-nmOKRVITPWgAeJ8bFkrby3XRQACfN4dKj7fwy-_ifejQ4Li4fnq05YNFCmzszNDf3DRYZ2-Bg0OeNG_4KL7a304kZQnBSBO5WT5qZT0JET7yarlCdQnaRAGlyfHqwfQKnE5ofqw2PuAcZ3xYY9cMVCInty4S6UmsnZ_K/s320/The_Thin_Red_Line_Poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Terrence Malick, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Red_Line_(1998_film)"><i>The Thin Red Line</i></a> (1998)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn10">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>2000s:</b></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx_9h5Tv433gL87-1LxAU0Jnu1HJewTpHgGEY-rpSvQJy1Ppg-egF2goMq-hXdZAQMwh58ZNDQTkCn860UjGiy1WnJKuGeXGDzyBjPyw1Lx4EfYwFxJEvSDCQ8t5BHGaxSOE8NHLtGwmR3BIvHtwD0_G3Q4L0cSS1SlD_rII6YmecVmVd0gDDB/s350/OriginalWBposter.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx_9h5Tv433gL87-1LxAU0Jnu1HJewTpHgGEY-rpSvQJy1Ppg-egF2goMq-hXdZAQMwh58ZNDQTkCn860UjGiy1WnJKuGeXGDzyBjPyw1Lx4EfYwFxJEvSDCQ8t5BHGaxSOE8NHLtGwmR3BIvHtwD0_G3Q4L0cSS1SlD_rII6YmecVmVd0gDDB/s320/OriginalWBposter.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Curtis Hanson, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Boys_(film)"><i>Wonder Boys</i></a> (2000)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8i192Ymu2-hEZvbXaS34UwTPEdMokejsIc5vXbOeTR9Yc0tszroiCpM24I8sZ3i31VMrrNmO2z01OliGUQ2NOz-O1O681qIrsEILjvP_YVVH0EraimybO6FdzBq5joHS7B4NPOGhViAwGrhdlRFMcCsCXMUmpW48JgeVRLHyyui67MU0KL9Gi/s387/Perfect_storm_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8i192Ymu2-hEZvbXaS34UwTPEdMokejsIc5vXbOeTR9Yc0tszroiCpM24I8sZ3i31VMrrNmO2z01OliGUQ2NOz-O1O681qIrsEILjvP_YVVH0EraimybO6FdzBq5joHS7B4NPOGhViAwGrhdlRFMcCsCXMUmpW48JgeVRLHyyui67MU0KL9Gi/s320/Perfect_storm_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Wolfgang Petersen, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perfect_Storm_(film)"><i>The Perfect Storm</i></a> (2000)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXInBugyXFREiTlDILARUkE2dt_CJNOd2rTf2xrForPmH2HNe9eahgHBT-EyN3wzpOtzWKnmjIOjUcQ0FNeHYlSXqhBdS6pcu4WvFuyapEHY5V7140H5B00Zc5YbhOMbYAs4qF3cgNxaXxKiI50oyVCWG-XgzytGsCaZqBMr8t310jfEKbjcQN/s326/TheOthers.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXInBugyXFREiTlDILARUkE2dt_CJNOd2rTf2xrForPmH2HNe9eahgHBT-EyN3wzpOtzWKnmjIOjUcQ0FNeHYlSXqhBdS6pcu4WvFuyapEHY5V7140H5B00Zc5YbhOMbYAs4qF3cgNxaXxKiI50oyVCWG-XgzytGsCaZqBMr8t310jfEKbjcQN/s320/TheOthers.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Alejandro Amenábar, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Others_(2001_film)"><i>The Others</i></a> (2001)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEfWo6EsXmnPorJ541kNNSvxlkgLwTWU_EzEPaTqNlW-FDTeLIhdSuVuaFL8CRUTxBBpdsM_X0gL3xK5mZ20RT-gzsKKTxU8fZRHcuk2nmPbD7xXzxVgq0zyi4ErfCd4wjPRc6ilDcsTkZMCE_fAaWkgEW_sa3-ZO2TBHEagGamOd8VD0GL4jb/s376/Spirited_Away_Japanese_poster.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEfWo6EsXmnPorJ541kNNSvxlkgLwTWU_EzEPaTqNlW-FDTeLIhdSuVuaFL8CRUTxBBpdsM_X0gL3xK5mZ20RT-gzsKKTxU8fZRHcuk2nmPbD7xXzxVgq0zyi4ErfCd4wjPRc6ilDcsTkZMCE_fAaWkgEW_sa3-ZO2TBHEagGamOd8VD0GL4jb/s320/Spirited_Away_Japanese_poster.png"/></a></div>
<li>Hayao Miyazaki, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirited_Away"><i>Spirited Away</i></a> (2001)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoO-WmmJUBfZs67VMXuQtCEQsZ8C5iz-p-RBEdGUvr52Vn7_0LD9HErSTcZP368iRwQqiBOV2UYXe72rTVpwMyhScTAbQ2W-YR-yLxr_tCC7PRnaWzYCiJuWl2QU9f0SdqYvcB5j7v9bmlviyobYqbTZU0L7e39xEF1H-zM7N5YbhklvBsHqir/s383/Life-as-a-house.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoO-WmmJUBfZs67VMXuQtCEQsZ8C5iz-p-RBEdGUvr52Vn7_0LD9HErSTcZP368iRwQqiBOV2UYXe72rTVpwMyhScTAbQ2W-YR-yLxr_tCC7PRnaWzYCiJuWl2QU9f0SdqYvcB5j7v9bmlviyobYqbTZU0L7e39xEF1H-zM7N5YbhklvBsHqir/s320/Life-as-a-house.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Irwin Winkler, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_as_a_House"><i>Life as a House </i></a> (2001)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7tFqrG9I8dh1X9O8AukWHfwFM9ihsTQyRQBomSeQJCFVv1xmwpblGbO549iX9I3FwvCxrVnUlIs_erQk1RgQ-MF06LGXDTaKJzmgXdB-LaO_tVla5EnNquSkjaR8uG6KAjEgAjqY9kkzLX2k67lmL9QB7KJT3mpUxaZXNFpcOCA5KeQhRPZZA/s326/Adaptation._film.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7tFqrG9I8dh1X9O8AukWHfwFM9ihsTQyRQBomSeQJCFVv1xmwpblGbO549iX9I3FwvCxrVnUlIs_erQk1RgQ-MF06LGXDTaKJzmgXdB-LaO_tVla5EnNquSkjaR8uG6KAjEgAjqY9kkzLX2k67lmL9QB7KJT3mpUxaZXNFpcOCA5KeQhRPZZA/s320/Adaptation._film.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Spike Jonze, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation_(film)"><i>Adaptation</i></a> (2002)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXZzHPpGBSWv-cyTy2xQBB8OjsVbSt9U4lYHVPmL6U42mNevpbBmB-Nq_4KILsNUMPxgzn0YaQp7AZaDJwqSZkabx6XmCWUGQDKTgxjAL-TdxAoBsK3h7pq8BbPowntn40v6ejAsw7EcucZnYIyAO4taMQzGiwJvifK6fdHa2N3PB9G9yuz_Y/s368/Rabbit-Proof_Fence_movie_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXZzHPpGBSWv-cyTy2xQBB8OjsVbSt9U4lYHVPmL6U42mNevpbBmB-Nq_4KILsNUMPxgzn0YaQp7AZaDJwqSZkabx6XmCWUGQDKTgxjAL-TdxAoBsK3h7pq8BbPowntn40v6ejAsw7EcucZnYIyAO4taMQzGiwJvifK6fdHa2N3PB9G9yuz_Y/s320/Rabbit-Proof_Fence_movie_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Phillip Noyce, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit-Proof_Fence"><i>Rabbit-Proof Fence</i></a> (2002)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNSZj-8OiAxrc-eGoqA1EWfcGmlRJV0o1-QHVclL6C8pFPdxo6LpEzxsgd1d1SRXQtvc3_u8f-tCvhQKmL0mAugojDZiNV4m03HTJ28cGI49YKdk2Rf9Jh9FeSMMtH2Upo_ivtSDOivZO3gB7Ri33LRZIV5XJcgOakdbjFZqclUj9sc7rKy0i/s386/Mothman_prophecies_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNSZj-8OiAxrc-eGoqA1EWfcGmlRJV0o1-QHVclL6C8pFPdxo6LpEzxsgd1d1SRXQtvc3_u8f-tCvhQKmL0mAugojDZiNV4m03HTJ28cGI49YKdk2Rf9Jh9FeSMMtH2Upo_ivtSDOivZO3gB7Ri33LRZIV5XJcgOakdbjFZqclUj9sc7rKy0i/s320/Mothman_prophecies_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Mark Pellington, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mothman_Prophecies_(film)"><i>The Mothman Prophecies</i></a> (2002)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpb-2cVB4HEmtbToESzZEhJCJullhlChD7EtFb3CfD2BFbSZ3cE9JaU66iqnPuChw7fAvvF_e5zZ0sPgSLHwBoO9o60ehl2zHUoS75iv5M-Jc_-2-b52TxorKcLRv1jslWnr_YMX-33BXJqn6Ar6BMWfTBrX_QtCPSvCWM1VOir47SPMVYGOGA/s332/Gangs_of_New_York_Poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpb-2cVB4HEmtbToESzZEhJCJullhlChD7EtFb3CfD2BFbSZ3cE9JaU66iqnPuChw7fAvvF_e5zZ0sPgSLHwBoO9o60ehl2zHUoS75iv5M-Jc_-2-b52TxorKcLRv1jslWnr_YMX-33BXJqn6Ar6BMWfTBrX_QtCPSvCWM1VOir47SPMVYGOGA/s320/Gangs_of_New_York_Poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Martin Scorsese, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs_of_New_York"><i>Gangs of New York</i></a> (2002)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhSyBfbHCwtg2vJPHTmDzkCqWo6uBHOM8ZRg8kNSQpqunvDsHkgebrgxFB1lPBMbwGh7l7nmq11v5_A1fBc5uC-jM8Jvat7Wt4DdQHF6Q8gSRo1V2AK1nmQz6rZeXio3f043U-ivaVpTFRh-yIlnABBrUra6PvYG3d2xYmISyAavmz7HDUdmX4/s377/The_Locals_film_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhSyBfbHCwtg2vJPHTmDzkCqWo6uBHOM8ZRg8kNSQpqunvDsHkgebrgxFB1lPBMbwGh7l7nmq11v5_A1fBc5uC-jM8Jvat7Wt4DdQHF6Q8gSRo1V2AK1nmQz6rZeXio3f043U-ivaVpTFRh-yIlnABBrUra6PvYG3d2xYmISyAavmz7HDUdmX4/s320/The_Locals_film_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Greg Page, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Locals"><i>The Locals</i></a> (2003)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaQ7l8x7X0ZTKWArIFLt4GXAiV94WOxdK3kgMCUS7vj4KxceA3Zh15EqWdkgRtuVK91sE1ISI6rVEUusvBRBkYzVc7jvEYNuHCJFmUpV4LQupnbeRml7KPDxhdaF2aF6amapYBB3ijIQfj4-GWaY1h7zPDuN2KKX_59nTtdUwZnxgDxcto4Vez/s350/The_Day_After_Tomorrow_movie.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaQ7l8x7X0ZTKWArIFLt4GXAiV94WOxdK3kgMCUS7vj4KxceA3Zh15EqWdkgRtuVK91sE1ISI6rVEUusvBRBkYzVc7jvEYNuHCJFmUpV4LQupnbeRml7KPDxhdaF2aF6amapYBB3ijIQfj4-GWaY1h7zPDuN2KKX_59nTtdUwZnxgDxcto4Vez/s320/The_Day_After_Tomorrow_movie.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Roland Emmerich, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After_Tomorrow"><i>The Day After Tomorrow</i></a> (2004)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPq8yWUHeOF4Rm1w0yQzG_wakFa3SZi555AljiGnABH5OcjJmDGl89hHcqk9Ut32KoI7FuP2Ali7JG7WD8mW6kkeX6wqGjuTnNOSpOnbTJuXH32lBOL5Hjf5nR6nd-3FRqMcfYtLenK0llzzr20TWvFJjwiaruAaq4nj4yks4oW1NO6FHR5pYe/s326/Eternal_Sunshine_of_the_Spotless_Mind.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPq8yWUHeOF4Rm1w0yQzG_wakFa3SZi555AljiGnABH5OcjJmDGl89hHcqk9Ut32KoI7FuP2Ali7JG7WD8mW6kkeX6wqGjuTnNOSpOnbTJuXH32lBOL5Hjf5nR6nd-3FRqMcfYtLenK0llzzr20TWvFJjwiaruAaq4nj4yks4oW1NO6FHR5pYe/s320/Eternal_Sunshine_of_the_Spotless_Mind.png"/></a></div>
<li>Michel Gondry, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Sunshine_of_the_Spotless_Mind"><i>Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind</i></a> (2004)</li>
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<li>Ken Burns, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unforgivable_Blackness:_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Jack_Johnson"><i>Unforgivable Blackness</i></a> (2005)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsF43o5y2Lw2h4vA_g_3YTnq0mVnaq8KqHN55v4PmCKCqIm-hXhN_cl1K8Loto9bqHGYMQR5LDZPmuSzSIXI4gBxOfoQ9DGNhpW37cxhjaMM0m_5XO1O0sfsLCPu6z71J2A8U4AvDdPPTIIrNe5arVd1D3eHH6O4VGgvupYYmI3sCOg-29l3NL/s350/Serenity_One_Sheet.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsF43o5y2Lw2h4vA_g_3YTnq0mVnaq8KqHN55v4PmCKCqIm-hXhN_cl1K8Loto9bqHGYMQR5LDZPmuSzSIXI4gBxOfoQ9DGNhpW37cxhjaMM0m_5XO1O0sfsLCPu6z71J2A8U4AvDdPPTIIrNe5arVd1D3eHH6O4VGgvupYYmI3sCOg-29l3NL/s320/Serenity_One_Sheet.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Joss Whedon, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_(2005_film)"><i>Serenity</i></a> (2005)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlNry-6REStwin2H_KawPimpOYsBilfTm9hdRe-aF91qm8GLU2LmaiBuOH75Wc77OUaWRJtv5D4KmkiTKbdWvPy-otO2yz7lnfNb6z7G0JldQ3XBbf4AdsUulpGsFgouHYOKDgzMhywtp1GQ7Q6UdjS-kS_om5G1v_hIibhtb5WXfp7wqw4uhs/s326/Silent_Hill_film_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlNry-6REStwin2H_KawPimpOYsBilfTm9hdRe-aF91qm8GLU2LmaiBuOH75Wc77OUaWRJtv5D4KmkiTKbdWvPy-otO2yz7lnfNb6z7G0JldQ3XBbf4AdsUulpGsFgouHYOKDgzMhywtp1GQ7Q6UdjS-kS_om5G1v_hIibhtb5WXfp7wqw4uhs/s320/Silent_Hill_film_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Christophe Gans, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill_(film)"><i>Silent Hill</i></a> (2006)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0WzpGWwXf0ly675XdC_zXjC2Th_CrKQOXj-OASXEdbqZyN50lBCGIOEtXZzsMkzcXwBEgcBmqi41qV17Tr3wkm7VS71tAI7-SRpsuJJD31wNITNmZuiziDV5hkq4uZtaBhsgGeAvCR0Up6cW7ORZ4pv8Fe3YCgnaBz1r7hOLAj_IS7uk8R8wE/s300/Kenny_the_Movie_Poster.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="232" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0WzpGWwXf0ly675XdC_zXjC2Th_CrKQOXj-OASXEdbqZyN50lBCGIOEtXZzsMkzcXwBEgcBmqi41qV17Tr3wkm7VS71tAI7-SRpsuJJD31wNITNmZuiziDV5hkq4uZtaBhsgGeAvCR0Up6cW7ORZ4pv8Fe3YCgnaBz1r7hOLAj_IS7uk8R8wE/s320/Kenny_the_Movie_Poster.png"/></a></div>
<li>Clayton Jacobson, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_(2006_film)"><i>Kenny</i></a> (2006)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8iEMJFl2cys37trUKDxXPrGccE1x-3f5eGieWSgxmNcOG0UII9RNpcOKkp7-PLIPUp5H9T9OXu1k_ql0g1TXi7Ae23rsPMip7nRnd2eDxwHEOjfbAt2X9Q6YAQrUZsJES4b-jaPDIIc-f0z0816ijJbLbHONMBhY8Jl2FnR7nfTsKvHiB9AZm/s378/Lake_Mungo_Official_Poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8iEMJFl2cys37trUKDxXPrGccE1x-3f5eGieWSgxmNcOG0UII9RNpcOKkp7-PLIPUp5H9T9OXu1k_ql0g1TXi7Ae23rsPMip7nRnd2eDxwHEOjfbAt2X9Q6YAQrUZsJES4b-jaPDIIc-f0z0816ijJbLbHONMBhY8Jl2FnR7nfTsKvHiB9AZm/s320/Lake_Mungo_Official_Poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Joel Anderson, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mungo_(film)"><i>Lake Mungo</i></a> (2008)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPShUAqaK0FMMxcG2bn14rbvbiBlWd9_i3FiZfT2zvtbVGiTlVJES8I19cC8G9Lg5JBd-nwnN4zrX8D36tQYWeS8FSySjjStBmPvQBvvBwF6Zz6OFNqudxsHyF7HicaDOk_aVd17aGHgi0snjUprHuBwBzq95MJC8AgEjeJgvnhkoZ-FaY2WY/s383/Bright_star.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPShUAqaK0FMMxcG2bn14rbvbiBlWd9_i3FiZfT2zvtbVGiTlVJES8I19cC8G9Lg5JBd-nwnN4zrX8D36tQYWeS8FSySjjStBmPvQBvvBwF6Zz6OFNqudxsHyF7HicaDOk_aVd17aGHgi0snjUprHuBwBzq95MJC8AgEjeJgvnhkoZ-FaY2WY/s320/Bright_star.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Jane Campion, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_Star_(film)"><i>Bright Star</i></a> (2009)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb0C269X13dvZ7Q1O69yfofKtALJXQWoawD82LcCJFaayLHizmlOW69pEx1Tjex2FKQouN6f3tGzpPdQFlHopiZNtVdSHiO7q30zHT46Dzfyf3Mw6a9YXzuTWvq6PoHQWBLu5Rtd5zRQ9fv8MSwiSbifSvQ9WX-6jun5TCu7SO7VkeDBIwbW76/s384/Watchmen_film_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb0C269X13dvZ7Q1O69yfofKtALJXQWoawD82LcCJFaayLHizmlOW69pEx1Tjex2FKQouN6f3tGzpPdQFlHopiZNtVdSHiO7q30zHT46Dzfyf3Mw6a9YXzuTWvq6PoHQWBLu5Rtd5zRQ9fv8MSwiSbifSvQ9WX-6jun5TCu7SO7VkeDBIwbW76/s320/Watchmen_film_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Zack Snyder, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(film)"><i>Watchmen</i></a> (2009)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn11">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>2010s:</b></span></a></div>
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<li>Emilio Estevez, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_(2010_film)"><i>The Way</i></a> (2010)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbEPLp82Ol6tIz9kH1TWplS9UX06Ej1GPWXfZ22wWBQvXkPVnK3CBPqpL56bgs902S1dwbXedf2TGWwM5WYJa7HwWOrA1WXBCF-2feA5bIdYLHOwKsdm2r5FhZVcgwU7bbF3bQZj55L7WtHWWrshJpjIN6dhfVG3R1Po3raJ6Pv7WeTTcVDo1F/s370/Winters_bone_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbEPLp82Ol6tIz9kH1TWplS9UX06Ej1GPWXfZ22wWBQvXkPVnK3CBPqpL56bgs902S1dwbXedf2TGWwM5WYJa7HwWOrA1WXBCF-2feA5bIdYLHOwKsdm2r5FhZVcgwU7bbF3bQZj55L7WtHWWrshJpjIN6dhfVG3R1Po3raJ6Pv7WeTTcVDo1F/s320/Winters_bone_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Debra Granik, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter%27s_Bone"><i>Winter’s Bone</i></a> (2010)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZeIGc0zU3lJYO6MkB7OEVz-vMF2h68-lIDGhpzpPm3_JOEd8dFQLqK81RvOk3ghzq99heyuhynCQ02VsGquuBOALlAsdYOYka7UzW5FCrZ2HZV_SjeuPvQRx0zgzCmZYZ176OFYYPuogG0hHp_GV7aZjbn62T9gOcA5uNYy6MQzTOHHvTYgnK/s383/Lincoln_2012_Teaser_Poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZeIGc0zU3lJYO6MkB7OEVz-vMF2h68-lIDGhpzpPm3_JOEd8dFQLqK81RvOk3ghzq99heyuhynCQ02VsGquuBOALlAsdYOYka7UzW5FCrZ2HZV_SjeuPvQRx0zgzCmZYZ176OFYYPuogG0hHp_GV7aZjbn62T9gOcA5uNYy6MQzTOHHvTYgnK/s320/Lincoln_2012_Teaser_Poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Steven Spielberg, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_(film)"><i>Lincoln</i></a> (2012)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvAGErdulXvkHTKUr2sxusOZB623VR5qC0khteXlzQByRFjIqcHAyo4cZUIssMhRis435YsfW0_O5tq89vqrE-WYqFvB0C23BGITjqzStj4nDsNNHNQGqznhshMkOpSjdcaaiZMCfOPspa_Tiip1arifX1iDStFHBh2-64s7Flxu4fmZjZ2vxs/s326/The_Secret_Life_of_Walter_Mitty_2013_poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvAGErdulXvkHTKUr2sxusOZB623VR5qC0khteXlzQByRFjIqcHAyo4cZUIssMhRis435YsfW0_O5tq89vqrE-WYqFvB0C23BGITjqzStj4nDsNNHNQGqznhshMkOpSjdcaaiZMCfOPspa_Tiip1arifX1iDStFHBh2-64s7Flxu4fmZjZ2vxs/s320/The_Secret_Life_of_Walter_Mitty_2013_poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Ben Stiller, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Walter_Mitty_(2013_film)"><i>The Secret Life of Walter Mitty</i></a> (2013)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5RP71JOx1iP2WW7d-lk6Uq_1X6IRQ3qyW2PrYYfzM0oIV5-sdhG_H3GLf6DJ5Eb2Wvqyi4VY92TM0kyuwEj10spAnz8kzJBvTcmjLN23MPDpuNC67hqadnuriUH_cJimcs8kL2NelbU-_whuw79GZD-RenwfO85pe9_iLkgcWpKHWq6schunW/s326/Edge_of_Tomorrow_Poster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5RP71JOx1iP2WW7d-lk6Uq_1X6IRQ3qyW2PrYYfzM0oIV5-sdhG_H3GLf6DJ5Eb2Wvqyi4VY92TM0kyuwEj10spAnz8kzJBvTcmjLN23MPDpuNC67hqadnuriUH_cJimcs8kL2NelbU-_whuw79GZD-RenwfO85pe9_iLkgcWpKHWq6schunW/s320/Edge_of_Tomorrow_Poster.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Doug Lyman, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_of_Tomorrow"><i>Edge of Tomorrow</i></a> (2014)</li><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn12">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/100-years-of-darkness.html#_ftn12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>2020s:</b></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxyVYqGPsIPPD00K_HPVeT-svxey_scnF4eLR3iMQikSxecpIBThFV-wOJJqNXzbsiILiliXiBK88kj2nZMD6tFoucO8SnW52W9ly38mvI8uYMI9UzKfp0-5mEzx_wvjMCRWOsoAtRqgVZgqAW4ZE3n4O3dOle49BpTFQQ38CvLQj_U-jalQe/s376/Drive_My_Car_movie_poster.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxyVYqGPsIPPD00K_HPVeT-svxey_scnF4eLR3iMQikSxecpIBThFV-wOJJqNXzbsiILiliXiBK88kj2nZMD6tFoucO8SnW52W9ly38mvI8uYMI9UzKfp0-5mEzx_wvjMCRWOsoAtRqgVZgqAW4ZE3n4O3dOle49BpTFQQ38CvLQj_U-jalQe/s320/Drive_My_Car_movie_poster.jpeg"/></a></div>
<li>Ryusuke Hamaguchi, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_My_Car_(film)"><i>Drive My Car</i></a> (2021)</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhB8JWGuEXN7hi_6ClA_I2_82qIEwx_54iFJZA-NExAkKUeTG77UkwX3lrVSdbmza4A5YwRRBvAyIk7lRPeibii_Zya-WU8OxJLcyArLKmhvFj7znXYbO-WUHrOGYhHISwcqUDboq1oB456bDV_2Mfnfvp_qO46IXtTT3ra1VVKOp_n8gMpEM/s384/Oppenheimer_%28film%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhB8JWGuEXN7hi_6ClA_I2_82qIEwx_54iFJZA-NExAkKUeTG77UkwX3lrVSdbmza4A5YwRRBvAyIk7lRPeibii_Zya-WU8OxJLcyArLKmhvFj7znXYbO-WUHrOGYhHISwcqUDboq1oB456bDV_2Mfnfvp_qO46IXtTT3ra1VVKOp_n8gMpEM/s320/Oppenheimer_%28film%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<li>Christopher Nolan, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_(film)"><i>Oppenheimer</i></a> (2023)</li>
</ol></blockquote>
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<br />
I note a strange preponderance of <i>rabbits</i> in the above: Harvey, the invisible six-foot rabbit, who befriends Elwood P. Dowd in the 1950 Jimmy Stewart film of the same name; that creepy white rabbit, with his stuffing leaking out, in Jan Švankmajer's 1988 version of <i>Alice</i>; above all, those heroic little girls setting off to make their way back home in <i>Rabbit-Proof Fence</i> ...<br />
<br />
More to the point, there were quite a few films that didn't make the final cut. I would have loved to include one of the Marvel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers:_Endgame">Avengers</a> movies: <i>Infinity War</i> (2018) or <i>Endgame</i> (2019), perhaps. But much though I enjoyed them, it was hard to persuade myself that they were actually very good movies, despite a few intensely stirring setpieces: "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=jLt18JpdnnI">Avengers - assemble!</a>"<br />
<br />
Gregory Jacobs's brilliant thriller <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Chill_(film)"><i>Wind Chill</i></a> (2007) should have been in there. So should Jean Vigo's classic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Atalante"><i>L'Atalante</i></a> (1934). So should Cy Enfield's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulu_(1964_film)"><i>Zulu</i></a> (1964). I'd have also liked to have included a Sergei Bondarchuk film: perhaps <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_(1970_film)"><i>Waterloo</i></a> (1970) rather than the more self-consciously epic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace_(film_series)"><i>War and Peace</i></a>.<br />
<br />
And then there was the wonderful James Baldwin documentary below. Perhaps that could be my no 101, in fact. It certainly deserves it.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3W-Qioh2Y2V6EZ6jZTtSUGxLmxQTDYuJcha5-ZeJ_QT3pEssu7hklsUJg7ST8Yo4Nx0wWYGKkLuLF1nfBlz8XQ7aJnLSXm6seHcc44_orVjHYkis4Z5xbOBAdYMD5U_iIl_-Vsp6AWD555gEInraefhElTFmqjr0SYv65VeLzokRKxMbjZXY6/s326/I_Am_Not_Your_Negro.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3W-Qioh2Y2V6EZ6jZTtSUGxLmxQTDYuJcha5-ZeJ_QT3pEssu7hklsUJg7ST8Yo4Nx0wWYGKkLuLF1nfBlz8XQ7aJnLSXm6seHcc44_orVjHYkis4Z5xbOBAdYMD5U_iIl_-Vsp6AWD555gEInraefhElTFmqjr0SYv65VeLzokRKxMbjZXY6/s320/I_Am_Not_Your_Negro.png"/></a></div>
<blockquote>Raoul Peck, dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Not_Your_Negro"><i>I Am Not Your Negro</i></a> (2016)</blockquote>
<br />
So thanks again for the wonderful idea, Bill. I can't claim to have interpreted it in quite the same way that you did, but I doubt if I would have taken the trouble if it hadn't been for your fascinating collection of poems.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh41qcB0tQbzL0pJufte3wunPbj0CipItmK0GEk5vgQBVjPf6gi7R13EerYwSYl3pxfaX7jiEEHIC0_qPufq_ilCDycvlDRIqKqQaXRV9zv73kHB1B78celUlg8-qy9Vjv-0_2_7jRJu1bi6GqJTyuT5WbI0aNs7ak5tUOjrxoRFaPDIw64J-cD/s1200/ALBUM-COVER-Bill-Direen-Memory-of-Others.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh41qcB0tQbzL0pJufte3wunPbj0CipItmK0GEk5vgQBVjPf6gi7R13EerYwSYl3pxfaX7jiEEHIC0_qPufq_ilCDycvlDRIqKqQaXRV9zv73kHB1B78celUlg8-qy9Vjv-0_2_7jRJu1bi6GqJTyuT5WbI0aNs7ak5tUOjrxoRFaPDIw64J-cD/s400/ALBUM-COVER-Bill-Direen-Memory-of-Others.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Bill Direen: <a href="https://phantombillstickers.com/the-bloke-with-the-blue-guitar-an-interview-with-bill-direen/">The Bloke with the Blue Guitar</a> (2019)</span></div><br />
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<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-65332607151576792252023-10-15T09:00:00.001+13:002023-10-15T09:12:01.734+13:00Slightly Foxed (b.o.f.)<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWh3eFl3DjFovejX2mbjDB63nuFgN8f8tbxayajN1rX7ilSE9PMcR4ACDRlk2GhNZJE1KEv-JnL5hNNhX4T6u5lHjBo5p-euKfRbh4OOlKDzxX4y9ywGkL072O4m-VC85ytnZxQJHC_69TQp0X23TLOlmUGCijowujsi21ukQJ44FBW41Ib3awylZpw/s2016/Slightly%20Foxed.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWh3eFl3DjFovejX2mbjDB63nuFgN8f8tbxayajN1rX7ilSE9PMcR4ACDRlk2GhNZJE1KEv-JnL5hNNhX4T6u5lHjBo5p-euKfRbh4OOlKDzxX4y9ywGkL072O4m-VC85ytnZxQJHC_69TQp0X23TLOlmUGCijowujsi21ukQJ44FBW41Ib3awylZpw/s600/Slightly%20Foxed.jpg"/></a></div>
<blockquote>John Fenton. <i>Slightly Foxed b.o.f.</i> [= but otherwise fine]. Auckland: John Denny, 1997.</blockquote>
<br />
I once belonged to a secret society.<br />
<br />
It wasn’t <i>especially</i> secret – just a group of book enthusiasts who met once every month at the Kinder House in Auckland to jaw about their latest finds. It was called “Slightly Foxed.”<br />
<br />
I first found out about it during a last-minute Christmas shopping spree. I’d just located a facsimile edition of Shackleton’s <i>Terra Australis</i> journal to give to my father, when I got to chatting to the salesman behind the desk.<br />
<br />
He was quite a young guy, but very eager to talk – some relief from the surging crowds in Whitcoull’s basement, I suppose. When I admitted I was a bit sorry to give away such a prize rather than keeping it for myself, he urged to buy another copy. “Go on, you know you want to.”<br />
<br />
Then we started skiting about how many books we respectively owned. Then onto this strange little club he apparently belonged to, and the respective tastes of its various members. One, I recall, was an enthusiast for the works of John Cowper Powys, but (as my new friend remarked) his own attitude to that author was “why use one word when ten will do?”<br />
<br />
Having been a card-carrying Powysian since my teens, I vigorously demurred, and so it went on. It took me quite some time to extricate myself from there, but I have to say that the whole exchange remains quite vivid in my mind.<br />
<br />
I never saw him again.<br />
<br />
When I mentioned this “Slightly Foxed” group to a friend of mine, Murray Beasley, back at Auckland University, where we were both teaching at the time, he said that he had once attended a meeting of theirs, had a good time, but never been invited back. “It wasn’t really clear what the set-up was. Did one have to be shoulder-tapped? Were they judging the cut of my jib? Or should I simply have … turned up?”<br />
<br />
A few years later, back in Auckland from a sojourn abroad, another friend, Kate Stone, asked me along to a meeting. She, it seemed, was a regular attendee, and knew all the regulars.<br />
<br />
It was odd. From my long-ago conversation with the chap in the bookshop, I’d imagined something terribly high-powered: erudite discussions of colophons and signatures; all that bibliographical panoply I’d so eagerly tried to master in my years away at the University of Edinburgh.<br />
<br />
Not so. The first time I attended the talk was (I think) entitled “Books on Waiheke,” and featured an old cloth bag containing various random finds obtained from the stalls and bookshops on the island, with desultory discussion of how much (or little) they’d cost. Hobbyist rather than serious collector talk.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJvoNNKXmdjmk_wRdggl_ZCMtrByhYrgdgzdv_jF5Ai5aFXZwq5840NfEUQhtkYqFWhNv1BEFraCBAcUQMxKgGMHTEMV7Vyt0nd6I4JoiRRz6KBmzbI2kTHl2385zMGD3ikdEh8Qu_jkiFDdFWRhUrNUxF0b8gElYHIY77V2UZXRt1lSwEnTnh/s480/KinderHouse_Parnell_Logo.jpeg.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJvoNNKXmdjmk_wRdggl_ZCMtrByhYrgdgzdv_jF5Ai5aFXZwq5840NfEUQhtkYqFWhNv1BEFraCBAcUQMxKgGMHTEMV7Vyt0nd6I4JoiRRz6KBmzbI2kTHl2385zMGD3ikdEh8Qu_jkiFDdFWRhUrNUxF0b8gElYHIY77V2UZXRt1lSwEnTnh/s600/KinderHouse_Parnell_Logo.jpeg.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.parnell.net.nz/directory-listing/kinder-house/">The Kinder House</a> (Parnell, Auckland)</span></div><br />
<br />
But I was lonely, and it was a chance to get out and about, and the Kinder House was quite an atmospheric place to sit on a dark winter evening, with books on the table and mulled wine in one’s glass. So even when Kate stopped attending regularly, I kept on going along. I’d got on the mailing list somehow, so I suppose I <i>had</i> been shoulder-tapped, if such rituals ever actually took place. The whole thing was so informal, really, that it seemed impossible to imagine that there could have been that many obstacles to another person filling a chair.<br />
<br />
The members were certainly both various and interesting. The oldest and most eminent was undoubtedly <a href="https://www.hollowaypress.auckland.ac.nz/obituary.htm">Ron Holloway</a>, famous for printing so many New Zealand classics at his Griffin Press in the 1930s and 40s. He was pretty deaf, and seldom (if ever) took part in the discussions.<br />
<br />
Then there was <a href="https://natlib.govt.nz/records/20642232?search%5Bil%5D%5Bcreator%5D=Denny%2C+John+%28John+Adrian%29&search%5Bpath%5D=items">John Denny</a>, a far younger, far more onto-it artisanal printer. He remains a friend. But the heart and soul of the group, so far as I was concerned, was <a href="https://jazzlocal32.com/about-2/">John Fenton</a>. A generous and clubbable man, interested in all aspects of the bookish game, especially Beat poetry and Jazz. It was he who wrote the society's history, pictured above - and, yes, that club logo on the cover was contributed by the great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Searle">Ronald Searle</a>!<br />
<br />
Who else? Let's see - there was <a href="https://auctions.webbs.co.nz/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/432">David Greeney</a>, who'd had a career working in the publishing trade, and who knew it inside out as a result; there were Jan & Peter Riddick, a canny pair of local environmentalists; then there was the printer Ken Wood, who had a passion for collecting the <i>same number</i> from each numbered, limited edition he encountered. He must have had a magnificent collection even then!<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>1997 - (24 September) “The Thousand and One Nights.”</li>
<li>1998 - (18 March) “Kendrick Smithyman.”</li>
<li>1998 - (10 June) “Maxim Gorky” [with Bruce Grenville]</li>
<li>1999 - (1 September) “Mikhail Lermontov” [with Bruce Grenville]</li>
<li>2000 - (19 July) “Henry James.”</li>
<li>2001 - (21 March) “Antarctica.”</li>
<li>2001 - (19 September) “Edgar Allan Poe.”</li>
<li>2002 - (24 April) “Shakespeare.”</li>
</ul><br />
Probably the most successful of these - from the point of view of the other members, at any rate - were the ones where fellow-member <a href="https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22597301">Bruce Grenville</a>, the (self-styled) Sultan of Occussi-Ambeno, showed a film from his massive collection of old celluloid – much of it inherited from the defunct stores of the Soviet embassy – while I talked about the life and works of the author concerned.<br />
<br />
It was Bruce who contributed indirectly to my exit from the society, in fact. At one of the last of these talks – I think probably the one on Edgar Allan Poe – he got into an argument with the club’s president, and the two of them almost came to blows.<br />
<br />
“If this continues, I’m out of here.” I proclaimed. There was no pleasure to be found in sitting at a table with these two gentlemen sniping at each other, and I think I came back just once after that, to give one last talk on Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
I still run into old “Slightly Foxed” alumni, though, some twenty years on. I met up with John Fenton again recently, and he tells me that the society has, in fact, folded - but then he would say that, wouldn't he? Perhaps it still continues in some clandestine form.<br />
<br />
To be honest, more of my energies were directed into writing groups by then: first the (so-called) “Bookshop Poets,” who met at <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-triptych-for-lee-dowrick.html">Lee Dowrick</a>’s house in Devonport; and subsequently the “<a href="http://hesiodic.blogspot.com/2007/10/contributions-to-anthologies.html#_ftn21">Eye Street Poets</a>,” who gathered at Raewyn Alexander’s place in Western Springs. I rather miss <i>those</i> convivial gatherings, too.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-6aa6ECLLonsD9kKXyRHGlvW8DO3JJZY0FyH-iht8Ek_IYS6yznT5F-ctElEWnvYR637Y6_J_qe117gpgAmGQ2Nf6BPIt-A8QBG3bRgFV_rqkqFzytDp88lE2Ak-tahn3nn62vwmPENH3Vn6lexx5680MqqZNgXhPT7YmB70jscJeJ2DjEJk2oQpcA/s1046/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-19%20at%2010.20.21.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1046" data-original-width="684" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-6aa6ECLLonsD9kKXyRHGlvW8DO3JJZY0FyH-iht8Ek_IYS6yznT5F-ctElEWnvYR637Y6_J_qe117gpgAmGQ2Nf6BPIt-A8QBG3bRgFV_rqkqFzytDp88lE2Ak-tahn3nn62vwmPENH3Vn6lexx5680MqqZNgXhPT7YmB70jscJeJ2DjEJk2oQpcA/s600/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-19%20at%2010.20.21.png"/></a><br />
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<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-22960376633874221752023-10-11T08:14:00.029+13:002023-10-11T08:56:38.958+13:00Memories of Don Smith<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbq7nTTMFJpTLZMxWBqZ4O4CSzhYROXzD1CfkQvIrKBwkEouNc49E32-CR-hON0H-7eMhWkR1rSTVVFMSFQCSH788L59-G80RyCd4S0oU-aCqKOjipJJDWVydMAefyzdAUoKq60RD_UvvpxrLa3V8YoAn_s1yXuVm7qxXTVuewX4w7ht6RLzu6/s2048/386070261_10162048620420955_2086034968044497441_n.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbq7nTTMFJpTLZMxWBqZ4O4CSzhYROXzD1CfkQvIrKBwkEouNc49E32-CR-hON0H-7eMhWkR1rSTVVFMSFQCSH788L59-G80RyCd4S0oU-aCqKOjipJJDWVydMAefyzdAUoKq60RD_UvvpxrLa3V8YoAn_s1yXuVm7qxXTVuewX4w7ht6RLzu6/s600/386070261_10162048620420955_2086034968044497441_n.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10162048617090955&set=pcb.10162048617210955">D. I. B. Smith</a> (1934-2023)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 78%;">[photograph courtesy of Caitlin Smith]</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">i. m. Emeritus Professor Donal Ian Brice Smith</span></b><br />
(4/2/1934 - 27/9/2023)</div><br />
<br />
I don't think I ever had a conversation with Don Smith which didn't end in some interesting book recommendation - or else a new insight into a long-beloved classic. He was the first Academic I ever met who seemed to be driven solely by a love for books and reading in general. "Great stuff!" he would intone, as he leafed through another shabby-looking prize from the second-hand bookshops downtown.<br />
<br />
I was somewhat in awe of him to start with - and for quite a long time after that. I had, for some unaccountable reason, decided in the early 1980s that it was up to me to reclaim from oblivion the long-neglected novels of British Poet Laureate <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-john-masefield.html">John Masefield</a> by composing a <a href="http://masefieldnovels.blogspot.com/">Master's thesis</a> about them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjjPBdxqFmQ7T1ar4NnETttXW4d1K6WbkS2YNKCe_k1lIncNudPOg45ISjqqbxDo67gKGdbVsB9Vuk_3kOIzJJxUJEG1ksjZnMotreygvi5hGjy4edo1ZKmO0TIqIuYIdfl91Ci8qUmo2EE1_1JNTwkWbg_Wba_6ZDCSv0AJqIkVnCW452xSl/s1000/41+A4eB8iGL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="666" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjjPBdxqFmQ7T1ar4NnETttXW4d1K6WbkS2YNKCe_k1lIncNudPOg45ISjqqbxDo67gKGdbVsB9Vuk_3kOIzJJxUJEG1ksjZnMotreygvi5hGjy4edo1ZKmO0TIqIuYIdfl91Ci8qUmo2EE1_1JNTwkWbg_Wba_6ZDCSv0AJqIkVnCW452xSl/s600/41+A4eB8iGL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Constance Babington Smith: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Masefield-Constance-Babington-Smith/dp/0750937025">John Masefield: A Life</a> (1978)</span></div><br />
<br />
"How many novels did he actually write?" asked one of the prospective supervisors I approached. "Twenty-three," I replied. "And how many of them have you read?" "Twenty-three." <a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/memories-of-don-smith-d-27923.html#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title="">[1]</a> Strangely enough, that particular prospect discovered he had urgent duties elsewhere and could not accept a new research student at that time ...<br />
<br />
Don - or 'Professor Smith', as I continued to address him till long after I had ceased to be his student - actually <i>was</i> far too busy to take me on. He was, after all, Head of Department at the time. But when I went to see him about it, he said that he would do it - but only if nobody else was able to.<br />
<br />
Which left me with the somewhat invidious task of visiting each and every one of the Academics in the of the University of Auckland English Department who might conceivably be interested in such a project. It was certainly very educational to sample the variety of excuses they came up with - from the straight 'no' to the 'maybe some other time' to the 'perhaps if you changed it to ... [<i>something quite unrelated</i>].'<br />
<br />
But no, I was - no doubt foolishly - quite determined, so I eventually made my way back to Don's door, and to his somewhat reluctant oversight ...<br />
<br />
How did he approach it? He sat there and talked, while I took notes. His talk ranged over many subjects, some relevant and others perhaps not quite so relevant. At the time I recall he was reading the work of Anglo-Irish writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Leslie">Shane Leslie</a> - who was pretty obscure even by <i>my</i> standards - as well as working on some of the lesser known novels of Ezra Pound's early mentor (and Joseph Conrad's collaborator) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Madox_Ford">Ford Madox Ford</a>.<br />
<br />
Was any of this relevant to Masefield? Well, in a curious way, as it turned out, yes. The interface between the 'commercial' and the 'literary' faces of Edwardian literature fitted rather nicely into studying the work of a poet, Masefield, who was publishing at the same time as Eliot and Pound, but inhabited a world almost literally invisible to their admirers. Ford was a good example of the same phenomenon, though in a rather different way.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjallHIBnrqyzc2zCfxoQaoapfzpMSawLktcynC9r_iIIgmz6JSOTrjFBv-ylYZqyzEQMz7hil5DkABryDr6YUMQxA5pqUeee4cSQB6xkgLbAWXU5S-AwO6h8dY2rpB4k8foLebwIiRXfUmRptbiFg_JK14_ZyqNfiqw4cFhDve9L0upyAn2D5b/s1200/30942207914.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjallHIBnrqyzc2zCfxoQaoapfzpMSawLktcynC9r_iIIgmz6JSOTrjFBv-ylYZqyzEQMz7hil5DkABryDr6YUMQxA5pqUeee4cSQB6xkgLbAWXU5S-AwO6h8dY2rpB4k8foLebwIiRXfUmRptbiFg_JK14_ZyqNfiqw4cFhDve9L0upyAn2D5b/s600/30942207914.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Andrew Marvell: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10162048617090955&set=pcb.10162048617210955">The Rehearsal Transpros'd</a>, ed. D. I. B. Smith (1971)</span></div><br />
<br />
Don's original field of specialisation had been seventeenth century literature. He'd published an edition of <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/03/acquisitions-52-andrew-marvell.html">Andrew Marvell's satirical prose work <i>The Rehearsal Transpros'd</i></a> in the Oxford English Texts series. When I asked him about this, he said, "Well, it got me this job." What he seemed to like most, though, was exploring the more offbeat byways of Anglo-Irish literature - not to mention New Zealand writers such as Robin Hyde: far less well-known then than she is now.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwc9L3gMyUcvfSUXjBR38ajM_KeIc856vm_Z6AB0ahSIjlATahQGbNrPHmZT6KAWWxlJH0_7tuy28Ug0LQ-pRGU2slCoxor5OqmfflVD5RxF56coFkdgvB0lgsfiM2kVhE30FdsjFFWmu7iaoJbjQLMFriAfT9U6SDSJpMbVNlepF6jvD_FIW/s1200/9781869408398__41600.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwc9L3gMyUcvfSUXjBR38ajM_KeIc856vm_Z6AB0ahSIjlATahQGbNrPHmZT6KAWWxlJH0_7tuy28Ug0LQ-pRGU2slCoxor5OqmfflVD5RxF56coFkdgvB0lgsfiM2kVhE30FdsjFFWmu7iaoJbjQLMFriAfT9U6SDSJpMbVNlepF6jvD_FIW/s600/9781869408398__41600.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Robin Hyde: <a href="https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/passport-to-hell/">Passport to Hell</a>, ed. D. I. B. Smith (1986)</span></div><br />
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The more I heard from him, the more I liked it. I'd been trained in my undergraduate career to admire such extreme Modernists as Eliot and Joyce, and this (still) makes perfect sense to me. On the other hand, there was a rich penumbra of weirdos such as <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-fiction-of-g-k-chesterton.html">Chesterton</a> and <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2012/06/green-room.html">de la Mare</a>, whom I liked just as much, but whom I'd been encouraged to dismiss as dead ends in the grand obstacle race of literary innovation.<br />
<br />
Don wasn't interested in any of that survival-of-the-fittest nonsense. Is it enjoyable? was his central criterion for a book. Yes, he was certainly interested in the finesse and skill behind particular pieces of writing, but he still seemed to steer instinctively towards the anecdotal and - above all - towards <i>enthusiasm</i> in his approach to what he read.<br />
<br />
I resolved to do likewise, and so, much later, when I in my turn became an English Academic with my own graduate students, I tried to give them as much as possible of the same formula: Read the <i>book</i>, not - till much later - the secondary literature about it. If you don't like it, acknowledge the fact - but then try and work out why.<br />
<br />
It is, I suppose, an approach designed to produce <i>readers</i>, not students or teachers of literature. But then, if you don't actually get a kick out of the stuff you read, you probably shouldn't be teaching the subject in the first place.<br />
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That was the first - and probably the most important - of my many, many debts to Don.<br />
<br />
Most prominent among the others would have to be the innumerable letters of recommendation he wrote for me while I was undertaking my long and arduous quest for an actual job in the fields of Academia. Once again, I've tried to follow his good example when asked to do the same thing for <i>my</i> ex-students.<br />
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But then I could never have got that far in the first place if I hadn't got a scholarship to study overseas, and I doubt very much that <i>that</i> would have happened without his powerful advocacy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTdmVj3OX6x-IQ1Sz5xJxT5wc0J-WVWz7C3xJZHygjjHJzmpISzmPnBsocRKvIEDW3OTtAzPZFdt__Ng-tMTLiSjX35ethKk167EdMAS2NPpEAzIHyTBxvP_E_0DoYdW7de_ieUzTC-8HNHbxFfN4KVfz7BfjfuOEQqTtCqNrMdnWqEVjao120/s333/The_Many_Worlds_of_Andre_Norton.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTdmVj3OX6x-IQ1Sz5xJxT5wc0J-WVWz7C3xJZHygjjHJzmpISzmPnBsocRKvIEDW3OTtAzPZFdt__Ng-tMTLiSjX35ethKk167EdMAS2NPpEAzIHyTBxvP_E_0DoYdW7de_ieUzTC-8HNHbxFfN4KVfz7BfjfuOEQqTtCqNrMdnWqEVjao120/s600/The_Many_Worlds_of_Andre_Norton.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Roger Elwood, ed.: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Many_Worlds_of_Andre_Norton">The Many Worlds of Andre Norton</a> (1974)</span></div><br />
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What else? Well, after he retired, I visited him a few times at his wonderful house in Mission Bay, and admired the cupboard where he kept his <i>very</i> extensive collection of Sci-fi and Fantasy literature. That was another subject on which we saw eye to eye (for the most part). He had what seemed to me an inexplicable enthusiasm for Andre Norton, whereas I was more attuned to Philip K. Dick and Samuel R. Delany, but there was generally some new fantasy epic he'd been reading which I ended up making a mental note to get hold of as soon as I could.<br />
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He made all them sound like so much <i>fun</i> - though he did stray into heresy on one occasion, I recall, by claiming to prefer Tad Williams to J. R. R. Tolkien as a writer of epic fantasy. This was, as I solemnly informed him, a little like preferring some latter-day SF luminary to Arthur C. Clarke - if they're able to see further, it's because they're standing on giant shoulders ...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5727gvCudFAaUt-iPNVmOpXCCyk3O-s40lxQEeEJDgvcP9p-t3AOKEz8zwnh2EJiAVRrryOHlQ8LVqdz8wdhKPuL04wslP3g-_etxCF6v6IgEf3XdFRwm-kkLvS8_dXcZYlIpYbEkUA5msvTzKOIY8jvyu7cExpc1PpUVNNG3k6kuswwV0rR/s816/Campana%20to%20Montale%20%282004%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="597" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5727gvCudFAaUt-iPNVmOpXCCyk3O-s40lxQEeEJDgvcP9p-t3AOKEz8zwnh2EJiAVRrryOHlQ8LVqdz8wdhKPuL04wslP3g-_etxCF6v6IgEf3XdFRwm-kkLvS8_dXcZYlIpYbEkUA5msvTzKOIY8jvyu7cExpc1PpUVNNG3k6kuswwV0rR/s600/Campana%20to%20Montale%20%282004%29.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Kendrick Smithyman: <a href="http://hesiodic.blogspot.com/2007/10/campana-to-montale-2004.html">Campana to Montale</a>, ed. Jack Ross (2004)</span></div><br />
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He knew I was passionate about the poetry of our Auckland University colleague <a href="">Kendrick Smithyman</a>, and since Don and I could both read Italian, he lent me the typescript of some versions the monolingual Smithyman had concocted of certain modern Italian poets through the medium of other people's translations.<br />
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That, too, was a precious gift. I ended up editing and publishing the entire collection, which still seems to me - like Pound's <i>Cathay</i> - to prove that the end result of a process of translation counts for far more than the way that a writer actually gets there. Kendrick's versions from Italian have a supple ease and charm which far better linguists than he have tried in vain to achieve - and, in the process, he found in the poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Quasimodo">Salvatore Quasimodo</a> a virtual alter ego.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTZcFwFMcvHscKLt040OacOVovN9VktGnsFa_B745syhKu42p_m6Ajj7Zr3dHzsiRvdeqyCfw6TDrELw-rytQj5WjfBBHdiCHNKYDtT9frL-inICdycdhewiIBlDeLZ0tjGRh1ctwLAwuiCLCfH3pD9HBtK85zRFqJ9Whv2iGUGAbx7eqPEEB/s1414/Campana%20front.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1414" data-original-width="885" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTZcFwFMcvHscKLt040OacOVovN9VktGnsFa_B745syhKu42p_m6Ajj7Zr3dHzsiRvdeqyCfw6TDrELw-rytQj5WjfBBHdiCHNKYDtT9frL-inICdycdhewiIBlDeLZ0tjGRh1ctwLAwuiCLCfH3pD9HBtK85zRFqJ9Whv2iGUGAbx7eqPEEB/s600/Campana%20front.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Kendrick Smithyman: <a href="http://hesiodic.blogspot.com/2010/11/campana-to-montale-2010.html">Campana to Montale</a>, ed. Jack Ross & Marco Sonzogni (2010)</span></div><br />
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I was also presumptuous enough to ask Don to launch my first novel, <a href="http://hesiodic.blogspot.com/2007/10/nights-with-giordano-bruno-2000.html"><i>Nights with Giordano Bruno</i></a>, which he did with great style and panache. I remember he compared it to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Praz">Mario Praz</a>'s famous critical book <i>The Romantic Agony</i>, which is, I'm sure, far more credit than it deserved. It was characteristic of his ready wit as well as his charity, though.<br />
<br />
Another of my favourite memories of him is the time he hunted me down at my student lodgings in Edinburgh and took me out to dinner at a local tratteria called Pinocchio's. It was wonderful to see him <i>en famille</i>, with his wife Jill and daughter Caitlin, and - as I recall - a great deal of red wine was drunk and pasta eaten in the course of the evening!<br />
<br />
As Stephen King's writer hero says of his friend in the movie <i>Stand by Me</i>: "I'll miss him forever." That's certainly true. I'd love to have another of those wonderful, unexpected conversations where Don Smith turned all my prejudices and presuppositions on their heads. But in another, realer sense he's not dead - he'll never be dead.<br />
<br />
I can hear him now saying "Great stuff" and reading out another passage from his latest essay, where he juxtaposes a quote from Ford Madox Ford about his latest drivelly historical romance <i>The Young Lovell</i> with another precisely contemporary set of Fordian instructions on how to be absolutely modern to his errant young protégé Ezra Pound ... <a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/10/memories-of-don-smith-d-27923.html#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title="">[2]</a><br />
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<b>Notes:</b><br />
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<a href="http://jackrossopinions.blogspot.co.nz/2013/08/the-twenty-year-masterclass-2012.html#_ftn1" name="_ftn1" title="">1.</a> You can find them all listed <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/04/acquisitions-86-john-masefield.html">here</a>, at <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/04/acquisitions-86-john-masefield.html">https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/04/acquisitions-86-john-masefield.html</a> - if you're curious.</div>
<br /><div id="ftn2">
<a href="http://jackrossopinions.blogspot.co.nz/2013/08/the-twenty-year-masterclass-2012.html#_ftn2" name="_ftn2" title="">2.</a> Arthur Rimbaud, "<i>Il faut être absolument moderne</i>." <a href="https://www.mag4.net/Rimbaud/poesies/Adieu.html"><i>Une Saison en enfer</i></a> (1873). Pound said of Ford Madox Ford in his 1939 <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44871596">obituary</a>:
<blockquote>[H]e felt the errors of contemporary style to the point of rolling (physically, and if you look at it as mere snob, ridiculously) on the floor of his temporary quarters in Giessen when my third volume displayed me trapped, fly-papered, gummed and strapped down in a jejune provincial effort to learn ... the stilted language that then passed for 'good English' ...<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">And that roll saved me two years, perhaps more. It sent me back to my own proper effort, namely, toward using the living tongue ... though none of us has found a more natural language than Ford did.</span></blockquote></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPsYrUzOw-2kxznlZw4eNTdYnQlDzK0QUj27pNCKPYo3ShY-PWfnnVMTbAdh4mYd3hvBzbz_1Frnnubc1U0G1xdk4UA9KQ5FnXita0egsYAmQIlT6YTT0obOiiU2KJS_VC1gciJ3AWHZF0u5J6z4xH7r1k5rdcBk8KFySGUSiIvCQX3pFk5ZP/s2048/386373477_10162048618560955_8896681050757787006_n.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPsYrUzOw-2kxznlZw4eNTdYnQlDzK0QUj27pNCKPYo3ShY-PWfnnVMTbAdh4mYd3hvBzbz_1Frnnubc1U0G1xdk4UA9KQ5FnXita0egsYAmQIlT6YTT0obOiiU2KJS_VC1gciJ3AWHZF0u5J6z4xH7r1k5rdcBk8KFySGUSiIvCQX3pFk5ZP/s600/386373477_10162048618560955_8896681050757787006_n.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10162048615960955&set=pcb.10162048617210955">Don, Caitlin, & Jill Smith</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 78%;">[photograph courtesy of Caitlin Smith]</span></div><br />
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Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-54190802653019477992023-09-30T09:14:00.004+13:002023-09-30T09:24:37.781+13:00Mike Johnson Triple Booklaunch (5/10/23)<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxtDQFMqtyRdSSXgRMH3-UC3Ho2hKLPAwzasdNRHGiYSs23ZeEhSkUtNZIaI6v-n-UU_8qaXbXL9Lidrkx9GGtglNNDry7pffwx_uxzfVmJNYZvYOSdSsQWIQn0riSKKJ2b61L9l8oRX3D6ixBy7WnEkqNk2gF2lUzkA8-gWN8xHvdM1hNt_3x/s568/380794023_10160892902807491_5438944288928473059_n.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxtDQFMqtyRdSSXgRMH3-UC3Ho2hKLPAwzasdNRHGiYSs23ZeEhSkUtNZIaI6v-n-UU_8qaXbXL9Lidrkx9GGtglNNDry7pffwx_uxzfVmJNYZvYOSdSsQWIQn0riSKKJ2b61L9l8oRX3D6ixBy7WnEkqNk2gF2lUzkA8-gWN8xHvdM1hNt_3x/s600/380794023_10160892902807491_5438944288928473059_n.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Mike Johnson: <a href="https://lasaviapublishing.com/selected-poems/">Selected Poems</a>, ed. Jack Ross (2023)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyJKuTrtF3BmU9iVsWJS8SINNFkM2Qn4ZBBSYeilUzXk01z4xESjmrDMmmAhlubFIEOQmLbYB71uGLHchWhjyO0axTyAqieox59ecgNrkaTU8qfdnVOKYIctLi4TfUQOBDdWYypUrbCAIdmz-JLqUUqlC3JYrKKnuzXallFYL4i1Jw2SW7Zmso/s1080/sketches.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="739" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyJKuTrtF3BmU9iVsWJS8SINNFkM2Qn4ZBBSYeilUzXk01z4xESjmrDMmmAhlubFIEOQmLbYB71uGLHchWhjyO0axTyAqieox59ecgNrkaTU8qfdnVOKYIctLi4TfUQOBDdWYypUrbCAIdmz-JLqUUqlC3JYrKKnuzXallFYL4i1Jw2SW7Zmso/s600/sketches.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Mike Johnson & Leila Lees: <a href="https://lasaviapublishing.com/sketches/">Sketches</a> (2023)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLBFOu6wBlb-oiwckMUZPbGTI4v3nlmilZdciuMDSox1Q37g3pV-_ulfakhOFr3w2uN729INyW_FMHFEMiBldix_Uk6iHkcSw42LIfqGPpyti5G0DuAG9EwuMzvsE0I8cdA-JdPTBOcRHFeuw17oN8QnAk77ehKIo-TLxkyJqi9vEslTES2TyR/s581/380798610_10160892915487491_4238092391982278232_n.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="413" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLBFOu6wBlb-oiwckMUZPbGTI4v3nlmilZdciuMDSox1Q37g3pV-_ulfakhOFr3w2uN729INyW_FMHFEMiBldix_Uk6iHkcSw42LIfqGPpyti5G0DuAG9EwuMzvsE0I8cdA-JdPTBOcRHFeuw17oN8QnAk77ehKIo-TLxkyJqi9vEslTES2TyR/s600/380798610_10160892915487491_4238092391982278232_n.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Mike Johnson: <a href="https://lasaviapublishing.com/afterworld/">Afterworld</a> (2023)</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10160892915492491&set=a.419589857490">Mike Johnson</a>:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 180%;">Afterworld / Sketches / Selected Poems</span></b></div><br />
<br />
Celebrated New Zealand novelist and poet Mike Johnson is having a triple booklaunch on Waiheke Island, where he lives, on Thursday next week. This biblioblitz of material includes a new novella, a new book of poems, and a substantial <a href="https://hesiodic.blogspot.com/2017/10/mike-johnson-selected-poems-2023.html"><i>Selected Poems</i></a> (edited by yours truly), sampling from his work in that medium over the last four decades.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately I'm unable to be there, but I'm sure it will be a riproaring event - Murray Edmond will be launching the novella, and there will be discussion and readings from Mike and his collaborator Leila Lees, as well.<br />
<br />
The details are as follows:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Afterworld</i>, a novella, will be launched on Oct 5th, 6.30 – 7.30 pm, Waiheke Library, 133/131 Ocean View Road, Oneroa, part of our triple book launch which also includes <i>Sketches</i>, with Leila Lees, and <i>Selected Poems</i> edited by Jack Ross.<br />
<br />
<i>Afterworld</i> is a novella length work of magical realism with a whodunit element. The plot follows a ghost who ends up in a hut on a New Zealand mountain. As the ghost seeks to understand their life and death, fragments of their past are remembered. Contending identities, times and events emerge.<br />
<br />
<i>Sketches</i> contains lines caught on the fly. Poems which capture and celebrate the momentary, provisional nature of existence. Here we find the natural world, and matters of the heart, caught as they happen in language both natural and precise. They are beautifully complemented by the drawing and sketches of Leila Lees.<br />
<br />
‘The immense complexity of human relationships, social, sexual and everyday are at the heart of much of Mike’s best poetry. However, there’s an almost equal pull towards the empyrean: the cosmic mysteries of nature and the visible world.' - Jack Ross, editor of Mike Johnson's <i>Selected Poems</i> (1983-2023).
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<b>Where:</b> Waiheke Library, 133/131 Ocean View Road, Oneroa<br />
<br />
<b>When:</b> Thursday 5 October, 6.30 to 7:30 pm</div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fKnJTTZJ_MjJM_jvVD3uzPjEst7Jmby6Kx-Bijr6XYzkzDOnSoOVeSLrKE6mIfS0b0GQKSC3tfA98x0OrGGUlKTiGK0xZNc2WX8Zgf8pJrrUHU5ovAhbJ1ICziUaOsH8WJCAMWYPI6uQLANqyqWDAnwKhRB9czZw88rsp1hQDeMbE8K-Z2vK/s2048/368931335_10160827890697491_9030072153501744846_n.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fKnJTTZJ_MjJM_jvVD3uzPjEst7Jmby6Kx-Bijr6XYzkzDOnSoOVeSLrKE6mIfS0b0GQKSC3tfA98x0OrGGUlKTiGK0xZNc2WX8Zgf8pJrrUHU5ovAhbJ1ICziUaOsH8WJCAMWYPI6uQLANqyqWDAnwKhRB9czZw88rsp1hQDeMbE8K-Z2vK/s400/368931335_10160827890697491_9030072153501744846_n.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Mike Johnson: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10160827890752491&set=a.419589857490">Three Books</a> (21/8/23)</span></div><br />
<br />
Mike himself comments:
<blockquote>
I'm excited to have three new books to launch. These projects came together at the same time.<br />
<br />
<i>Sketches</i> – Facebook readers might remember the Wednesday Poems that ran from June 2019 to June 2021, accompanied by Leila Lees' illustrations.<br />
<br />
<i>Afterworld</i> – A novella which was also posted on Facebook, over 21 posts and finishing on Oct 19th 2022. Here it is thoroughly revised.<br />
<br />
<i>Selected Poems</i> – Edited by Jack Ross, a selection of my poems since 1983, including <i>Sketches</i>.</blockquote><br />
<b>NB:</b> For further information, please go <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/341406538244433/">here</a>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;">Katy Soljak: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10161361219266468&set=a.88036696467">Mike Johnson</a> (27/9/23)</span>
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Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-53183386893064034762023-09-12T07:43:00.001+12:002023-09-12T07:43:21.704+12:00PhD Days<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgImWuGGDlDsto_PrBcp9njTxm9Mgg5TWcsOBmpIxw7DkuEqtnzN5sK1NSk8CPN2dwZVvZE3n3VC9YS4D6osF0BjYzMlOmX5YUekoz0Mi2TEQeADlugx6jEzyCP3uEMrcEqApDJe7b7_6p65sS8LWU4ChE-FeFV7cplt_jtbEhX9W96YScXvA/s720/30990171545.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgImWuGGDlDsto_PrBcp9njTxm9Mgg5TWcsOBmpIxw7DkuEqtnzN5sK1NSk8CPN2dwZVvZE3n3VC9YS4D6osF0BjYzMlOmX5YUekoz0Mi2TEQeADlugx6jEzyCP3uEMrcEqApDJe7b7_6p65sS8LWU4ChE-FeFV7cplt_jtbEhX9W96YScXvA/s400/30990171545.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Ashbery: <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Houseboat-Days-Ashbery-John-Penguin-New/30990171545/bd">Houseboat Days</a> (1977)</span></div><br />
<br />
Despite all he did and wrote subsequently, I'm still probably most fond of John Ashbery's rather dreamy poetry collection <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1976/02/19/houseboat-days/"><i>Houseboat Days</i></a>, published shortly after his Pulitzer-prize winning <i>Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror</i>:
<blockquote>
<i><span style="padding-left: 10em;">The mind</span><br />
Is so hospitable, taking in everything<br />
Like boarders, and you don’t see until<br />
It’s all over how little there was to learn<br />
Once the stench of knowledge has dissipated</i>
</blockquote>
In this case, as my last PhD student completes her oral examination, it's interesting (for me, at least) to look back over more than thirty years of involvement with the institution - or the qualification - or whatever exactly it is ...<br />
<br />
At times it feels more like a lifestyle choice than anything else.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqXaycTPQEBr-khxR4qU0z0OJ0Qil1iekMo45OUjiItiR8ix2r7w6dPmVk8iHyWxwhEZOB78BjHzlgiISikvLUnCzUql75KCYr6duiL9nHYmaSho0VzrISwC__IsAwzh-Pg8zZ/s1600/pwpjb4nm69oz.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqXaycTPQEBr-khxR4qU0z0OJ0Qil1iekMo45OUjiItiR8ix2r7w6dPmVk8iHyWxwhEZOB78BjHzlgiISikvLUnCzUql75KCYr6duiL9nHYmaSho0VzrISwC__IsAwzh-Pg8zZ/s640/pwpjb4nm69oz.jpg" width="588" height="640" data-original-width="550" data-original-height="599" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Matt Groening: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/GradSchool/comments/72lh60/my_thesis_supervisor_printed_this_off_for_me_when/">Life in Hell</a> (1987)</span></div><br />
<br />
The cartoon above - by <i>Simpsons</i>-creator Matt Groening - may strike you as a little cynical, but it does seem like a good place to start when discussing my own engagement with the degree we call the "Doctorate in Philosophy": both the one I did myself (University of Edinburgh - 4 years: 1986-1990), and my subsequent experiences as supervisor / co-supervisor of dozen-odd more (Massey University - 15 years: 2008-2023).<br />
<br />
Not only that, but I also acted as the examiner of another ten or so (Australia & NZ - 13 years: 2008-2021), which entailed reading and annotating each thesis, writing a comprehensive report on it, and - in most cases - attending an oral exam (what used to be called a "<i>viva voce</i>" [with the living voice], but is now usually shortened to a <i>viva</i>).<br />
<br />
Rather than Groening's "life in hell", though, I'd prefer to see it as something more akin to Ashbery's poetry collection: a strange, kaleidoscopic drift through the bazaar of world culture, albeit with an at times disproportionate emphasis on gamesmanship and the arbitrariness of academic conventions - rather like the rules of metre and rhyme, I suppose: there to be broken.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<pre><b><span style="font-size: 130%;">Houseboat Days</span></b>
In my dream I was talking
to a group of students
about the genesis
of <i>Poetry NZ</i>
back in the day
in Palmerston North
I asked them to write me
a haiku
– making sure they knew
what <i>that</i> was –
then collected all their emails
for next time
so loud was the din
of the next class
invading
I could hardly hear myself think
let alone make out
the crabbed scrawl
on the notes they gave me
I suppose it’s a reaction
to hearing of Bronwyn’s workmate
who
when told we were going to see <i>Emily</i>
asked
<i>who’s Emily Brontë?</i>
have I started teaching again
in my dreams?
a relief then to be woken
by clattering dishes
this morning
the old life done
</pre></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtv0DpoDwQroxbl-BJ10Hmp9ruZlI_Z9dppQrKWDsf-D3pkmkPU0_uihgnNtq2Adleq0uaLzDqJDsM7SpLyIITP8TKuz7msHXIHfchyphenhyphenooxqexZvMmE5LAgxaz6JYWG0quw-8h5/s1600/36ce7569aa2bef52325f27e39c0c99db.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtv0DpoDwQroxbl-BJ10Hmp9ruZlI_Z9dppQrKWDsf-D3pkmkPU0_uihgnNtq2Adleq0uaLzDqJDsM7SpLyIITP8TKuz7msHXIHfchyphenhyphenooxqexZvMmE5LAgxaz6JYWG0quw-8h5/s400/36ce7569aa2bef52325f27e39c0c99db.jpg" width="400" height="305" data-original-width="564" data-original-height="430" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/AYdPNcVCOSksuFhnRfAnkvDuVAjav8B5OGMTeEQmayAuFOkmaTCH4dw/">Illusion and Reality</a></span></div>
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<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">Doctoral Catechism:</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>What exactly <i>is</i> a PhD?</b><br />
<br />
Well, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Philosophy">Wikipedia</a>, as ever, provides a wealth of information on the subject:
<blockquote>A <b>Doctor of Philosophy</b> (<b>PhD</b>, <b>Ph.D.</b>, or <b>DPhil</b>; Latin: <i>philosophiae doctor</i> or <i>doctor philosophiae</i>) is the most common degree at the highest academic level, awarded following a course of study and research. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields.</blockquote></li>
<li><b>How do you get one?</b><br />
<blockquote>Because it is an earned research degree, those studying for a PhD are required to produce original research that expands the boundaries of knowledge, normally in the form of a dissertation, and defend their work before a panel of other experts in the field.</blockquote>
That point about an "original contribution to knowledge" is the crucial factor here. A Masters degree in any subject also - often - requires a thesis, but this can be a summary of other people's work in the field: it doesn't have to (though it certainly <i>can</i>) make an original contribution to the field.</li><br />
<li><b>Why do people do them?</b><br />
<blockquote>The completion of a PhD is typically required for employment as a university professor, researcher, or scientist in many fields. Individuals who have earned the Doctor of Philosophy degree use the title Doctor (often abbreviated "Dr" or "Dr."), although the etiquette associated with this usage may be subject to the professional ethics of the particular scholarly field, culture, or society.</blockquote>
In my experience, insisting on the title "Doctor" in casual conversation generally causes more trouble than it's worth. Most people - quite rightly - associate the term solely with a medical qualification, so explaining that your expertise in (say) literary criticism doesn't really extend to offering them health advice is a bit of a waste of everyone's time.</li><br />
<li><b>How long does it take?</b><br />
<br />
In the New Zealand Academic system, still mostly based on the British model, it will probably - depending on your field and the topic you've chosen - take you at least three or four years. It's extremely rare to finish <i>under</i> three years. It's pretty common to go over four years, in fact, though these days institutions are trying very hard to discourage indefinitely protracted Doctoral research projects.<br />
<br />
In the American system, which harks back more to the Germanic paradigm, I gather it can take from five to seven years to achieve much the same end (I myself did mine in the UK, so that's not something I can testify to personally). In the USA a substantial amount of course work needs to be completed, over a period of years, before you can even <i>start</i> on your dissertation. In the UK, NZ and other Commonwealth countries, by contrast, the initial preparation and the composition of the thesis are all one journey.</li><br />
<li><b>Is it expensive?</b><br />
<br />
Doctoral scholarships are increasingly difficult to get. There's a good deal of competition in virtually every field, and very few of them will fund you completely for the entire length of your degree. Even getting admitted to a Doctoral programme can be hard sometimes. Unless you got Honours in your Masters degree, or have a very strong professional background in your area of study which can be regarded as equivalent, you may not be allowed to enrol at some institutions. It simply isn't true that tertiary institutions are only interested in the fees students pay them. They're far more interested in results: which in this case means successful completions.<br />
<br />
I've successfully supervised (or co-supervised) six PhDs now. But I've started on at least six other supervisions which were unsuccessful for one reason or another. For the most part people drop out of their Doctoral programmes for personal reasons. It can take a heavy toll on your personal life, as well as your finances. Sometimes, too, there are clashes of personality or expectations, which can entail the student switching to another supervisor or even another institution. But all that really matters is that holy grail of <b>successful completion</b>.</li><br />
<li><b>Should I do one myself?</b><br />
<br />
Not until you've thought through all the pros and cons associated. Do you have a research project in mind which can only really be accomplished with institutional support and advice? If so, then yes indeed, it could be a good fit for you.<br />
<br />
Or, if you have a strong desire to work as a university teacher, Academic institutions increasingly require a PhD as a minimum qualification for appointment. So in that case, again, yes - it's your best way forward, and you can probably pick up some tutoring along the way which will increase your professional experience and thus your eventual job prospects.<br />
<br />
If, however, there's a subject which really interests you, and which you are already researching already on your own time, with your own resources (online sources, the public library, etc.), it's worth asking yourself whether it might not be better simply to write an article - or even a book - on the subject and eliminate the middleman?<br />
<br />
The university will certainly charge you for any professional advice they offer. And if you don't really need that for this particular project, why not just try approaching some publishers yourself? It's where you'll probably end up at the culmination of your degree, so you have to be very sure that that end result is a lot better than it would have been if you'd simply followed your own star.</li><br />
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://fforfun.com/phd-time-served/">PhD = Time Served</a></span></div><br />
<br />
My God, these cartoonists! It may seem at times as if everyone's trying to talk the qualification down, but I don't think that's really the case. As with any obsession, you have to try to see the dark <i>and</i> light of it when you're trying to convey what it's actually like.<br />
<br />
The theses I read as an examiner included topics as various as Jorge Luis Borges' relationship to the Pragmatism of William James, Children’s Fantasy Fiction, Indonesian Postcolonial Politics, Contemporary Scottish Writing, the Semiotics of Modern Poetry, Australian Settler Fiction, the Poetics of Joan Retallack, Pasifikafuturism, New Zealand Local History, and the Poetics of Photographic Ekphrasis.<br />
<br />
Do I know much about <i>any</i> of those subjects? Well, some of them, yes. I wrote <a href="http://versionsofsouthamerica.blogspot.com/">my own thesis</a>, back in the 1980s, on South American literature, so Borges was pretty familiar to me - as (by extension) was the question of Postcolonial representation in general. Some of the others I learnt about just by reading the dissertations. My job was to judge how effectively they communicated the specialised information each of them contained - and the cogency of the writer's overall argument.<br />
<br />
It's a bit different from just reading a book on some subject you'd like to more about - different even from writing a book review. Examining a thesis involves grappling with a topic to which someone has devoted years and years of careful and painstaking labour. You have to treat that with respect, but not to the extent of refusing to identify flaws in the work as it stands.<br />
<br />
What about the ones I supervised myself? Again, not all of them were on subjects I knew well going in - though of course they did have to be in the general field of creative writing and literary criticism which were my professional area of teaching and study. I won't go through them all, but suffice it to say that each one of them was an education in some very precise field of research.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEb7K6i4s3cBRote0Ij_r1xMdaZvhrtctoaH6lKZWGgqvxbsUEPbrae1dboewYFjc2cNbmqWWJgOGniRRTOj3PGn6jK2-e4SLiJZn8zlzdnAOmztjtHfywKBiyNVtKsXjbD_3l8_4JHZnJleDykmmMjd3ZEMlcNEJ2UCP3N6BkF-XldqAmpoFB/s380/ELT200801081700355134372.gif" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEb7K6i4s3cBRote0Ij_r1xMdaZvhrtctoaH6lKZWGgqvxbsUEPbrae1dboewYFjc2cNbmqWWJgOGniRRTOj3PGn6jK2-e4SLiJZn8zlzdnAOmztjtHfywKBiyNVtKsXjbD_3l8_4JHZnJleDykmmMjd3ZEMlcNEJ2UCP3N6BkF-XldqAmpoFB/s400/ELT200801081700355134372.gif"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Matt Groening: <a href="https://galileo908.blogspot.com/2011/09/sept-15th-life-in-hell.html">The Grad School Dropout</a> (1987)</span></div>
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<br />
<blockquote>
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/isaac_newton_387031">- Isaac Newton</a></div></blockquote>
Perhaps this quote from Newton is a better way to think about it than the mordant sarcasms of Matt Groening et al. I know it's absurd to compare myself to the founder of Modern Physics, but no matter <i>where</i> you're starting from, you can always improve on your own state of ignorance. My own blindness before what he calls "the great ocean of truth" may be far greater than his, but that doesn't mean that I'm not just as keen to learn.<br />
<br />
So, no, true though it undoubtedly is in some cases, the above is definitely not the whole picture. It's a useful warning to keep in mind - but, as the saying has it, <i>verbum sapienti sat est</i> [a word to the wise is sufficient].<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVKMht_xxEoBQQzmEMjC0zNoRIo1ZibWJHnL1t5vSZzGcttNo3cH6Gjkiej9eAIdxegfhYklor07CQu2SK4FOkT1-I5xDuaBg37rDcSR4wjiAeBH1XB1IJo4uU_0Xg3fodGxQ7Exy_7eqn3HSc1s-4LN183W_-jw6XJQDQafVP27qWQfv2eLvG/s476/7.22-gradutation-WC.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVKMht_xxEoBQQzmEMjC0zNoRIo1ZibWJHnL1t5vSZzGcttNo3cH6Gjkiej9eAIdxegfhYklor07CQu2SK4FOkT1-I5xDuaBg37rDcSR4wjiAeBH1XB1IJo4uU_0Xg3fodGxQ7Exy_7eqn3HSc1s-4LN183W_-jw6XJQDQafVP27qWQfv2eLvG/s400/7.22-gradutation-WC.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">University of Edinburgh: <a href="https://www.cswc.div.ed.ac.uk/2022/07/centre-students-receive-doctoral-awards/">PhD Graduands</a> (2022)</span></div><br />
<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-77212357788152643062023-08-05T11:25:00.005+12:002023-08-09T09:33:32.198+12:00Takapuna Library Poetry Reading - Tuesday 22/8/23<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga5ZDA3rVyxO7ub8TfUwDXtX-7Chs9B4xLlg80OEhuFpUUG1793eOcZzaZshw6RrpBEhGHMvJSQQyQh_7fBptMycp_o9R6JNx-2ERisLpuu9rgkOvm4nD2IBeYioqJXwo6G3DAPsb0YwRrc1DO5-wbK4qTomk9GZaL5I4qPFyuGE2FHJXAml3r/s1294/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-09%20at%2008.24.08.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1294" data-original-width="914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga5ZDA3rVyxO7ub8TfUwDXtX-7Chs9B4xLlg80OEhuFpUUG1793eOcZzaZshw6RrpBEhGHMvJSQQyQh_7fBptMycp_o9R6JNx-2ERisLpuu9rgkOvm4nD2IBeYioqJXwo6G3DAPsb0YwRrc1DO5-wbK4qTomk9GZaL5I4qPFyuGE2FHJXAml3r/s600/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-09%20at%2008.24.08.png"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/poetry-day-prelude-shore-words-tickets-680547735597">Poetry Day Prelude: Shore Words</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="https://allevents.in/auckland/poetry-day-prelude-shore-words/10000680547735597">Poetry Day Prelude</a>:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 180%;">Shore Words</span></b></div><br />
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Get ready for the Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day in the best possible way. Join MC <b><a href="https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/authors-and-editors/stu-bagby/">Stu Bagby</a></b>, plus long-time poet <b><a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/davies-piers-anthony-david">Piers Davies</a></b> and co-facilitator of the Titirangi Poets Group, <b><a href="https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/authors-and-editors/janet-charman/">Janet Charman</a></b>, author of many poetry books, <b><a href="https://turbinekapohau.org.nz/2022-contents-poetry-amy-marguerite/">Amy Marguerite</a></b> who's working on her debut poetry collection, and <a href="https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/authors-and-editors/jack-ross/"><b>Jack Ross</b></a>, author of numerous novels, short fiction and poetry collections. Plus, songs from poet musician <b><a href="http://www.caitlinsmith.com/">Caitlin Smith</a></b>.<br />
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There will be a cash-only book table at the event.<br />
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<b>Where:</b> Takapuna Library, Level 1<br />
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<b>When:</b> Tuesday 22 August, 6 pm to 7:30 pm<br />
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Light refreshments served on arrival<br />
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<b>RSVP:</b> <a href="TakapunaEvents@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz">TakapunaEvents@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz</a> or via <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/poetry-day-prelude-shore-words-tickets-680547735597">Eventbrite</a><br />
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Gold coin donation appreciated.</div><br />
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<b>NB:</b> For further information about each of the performers, please go to:
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<ul>
<li><b>Stu Bagby</b> [<a href="https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/authors-and-editors/stu-bagby/">https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/authors-and-editors/stu-bagby/</a>]</li>
<li><b>Janet Charman</b> [<a href="https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/authors-and-editors/janet-charman/">https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/authors-and-editors/janet-charman/</a>]</li>
<li><b>Piers Davies</b> [<a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/davies-piers-anthony-david">https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/davies-piers-anthony-david</a>]</li>
<li><b>Amy Marguerite</b> [<a href="https://turbinekapohau.org.nz/2022-contents-poetry-amy-marguerite/">https://turbinekapohau.org.nz/2022-contents-poetry-amy-marguerite/</a>]</li>
<li><b>Jack Ross</b> [<a href="https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/authors-and-editors/jack-ross/">https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/authors-and-editors/jack-ross/</a>]</li>
<li><b>Caitlin Smith</b> [<a href="http://www.caitlinsmith.com/">http://www.caitlinsmith.com/</a>]</li>
</ul><br />
</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvzVofqvzVP1hPGbT2mIZE3spa5fqZhX8iJ5m0k4K87rXyROHBKN3rZes3EjNVcAXPZFYAWEzhPD5Bw5KuomZr6KMh8IkKFkQaaN8FCSrXQC9cZHpt5t_aQd5I_G17uYNTVUKGbcMirRTLWF4INUvrJPBJSmSqYEVy6vnr5LC64Z0oHxRPn7LQ/s1470/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-24%20at%2013.35.53.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1216" data-original-width="1470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvzVofqvzVP1hPGbT2mIZE3spa5fqZhX8iJ5m0k4K87rXyROHBKN3rZes3EjNVcAXPZFYAWEzhPD5Bw5KuomZr6KMh8IkKFkQaaN8FCSrXQC9cZHpt5t_aQd5I_G17uYNTVUKGbcMirRTLWF4INUvrJPBJSmSqYEVy6vnr5LC64Z0oHxRPn7LQ/s400/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-24%20at%2013.35.53.png"/></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyzfZZaJiKpOxCulnfGEmCGPP9bSaK33AyKA7mcyYkKFNsjHVTY1HXu2OFMhqlEhvbUP1ovAndVOjo-HIe78wbwyP0PGXTNyq-7mFk2JcZXwJCyPUGsjwNc5pAcY5yM9Q1zWBU7Kgx-MqCbAfMB1l4xHgnohVT8eVNA3HyLe_XhJyTnJNySVKT/s1432/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-24%20at%2013.35.28.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="970" data-original-width="1432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyzfZZaJiKpOxCulnfGEmCGPP9bSaK33AyKA7mcyYkKFNsjHVTY1HXu2OFMhqlEhvbUP1ovAndVOjo-HIe78wbwyP0PGXTNyq-7mFk2JcZXwJCyPUGsjwNc5pAcY5yM9Q1zWBU7Kgx-MqCbAfMB1l4xHgnohVT8eVNA3HyLe_XhJyTnJNySVKT/s400/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-24%20at%2013.35.28.png"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/poetry-day-prelude-shore-words-tickets-680547735597">Poetry Day Prelude: Shore Words / Takapuna Library</a> (22/8/23)</span></div><br />
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<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-65879708683504839792023-07-16T08:51:00.017+12:002023-07-16T09:48:45.067+12:00Red Mole & the Romance of Alan Brunton<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ELE1McueN_l5tgH83sL0IfbrKhqA7ViiYk4xPsfquKfu6LqHeBvCjfUMxSL8N8XXOTDk4STsxxf4AgWNM9sg77QOUToj5djJhmnNcz_a488UR_taiPT-HM1M4jGoSlkwMp0LtcE6VWvH0OebzDKwmQKsORxTMtBZAXH3v2ktLRwEaFdpGCTm/s636/hero_thumb_red-mole-book-cover115.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ELE1McueN_l5tgH83sL0IfbrKhqA7ViiYk4xPsfquKfu6LqHeBvCjfUMxSL8N8XXOTDk4STsxxf4AgWNM9sg77QOUToj5djJhmnNcz_a488UR_taiPT-HM1M4jGoSlkwMp0LtcE6VWvH0OebzDKwmQKsORxTMtBZAXH3v2ktLRwEaFdpGCTm/s600/hero_thumb_red-mole-book-cover115.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Martin Edmond: <a href="https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/red-mole-at-carmen-s-balcony">Bus Stops on the Moon</a> (2020)</span></div><br />
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This morning (16/7/23), the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/"><i>Stuff</i></a> news site posted an article listing three "<a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/stuff-to-watch/300925644/three-unmissable-kiwi-docos-at-this-years-whnau-mrama-new-zealand-international-film-festival">unmissable Kiwi docos</a>" at this year's New Zealand International Film Festival. One of the three is award-winning documentarist Annie Goldson's latest film <a href="https://www.nziff.co.nz/2023/tamaki-makaurau-auckland/red-mole-a-romance/"><i>Red Mole: A Romance</i></a>, which will be premiered there:
<blockquote>
<i>Red Mole: A Romance</i> explores the origins, performances, personalities and fate of Red Mole, an experimental theatre troupe that took young NZ by storm in the 1970s. Red Mole was founded by poet Alan Brunton, ex-University of Auckland English Department, along with Sally Rodwell his partner in art and life. The two assembled a talented group of performers and musicians around them. An indefinable genre of poetry, dance, mask, fire-eating and rock music, Red Mole appeared everywhere from camping grounds to the Opera House. The troupe reached heights with its satirical cabaret at Carmen’s Balcony and the apocalyptic performances based on Brunton’s poetic scripts. Red Mole left Aotearoa for New York City at their peak where they received some acclaim until the demands of the city led to its core fragmenting. <i>Red Mole: A Romance</i> is both a social history and a poignant personal story told in part by Ruby Brunton, Alan and Sally’s daughter, herself a talented poet and performer. It draws on an extraordinary archive of scripts, videos, music, photographs, posters and more.</blockquote>
You can find a full list of Festival venues <a href="https://www.nziff.co.nz/2023/">here</a>, and - for those of us based in <a href="https://www.nziff.co.nz/2023/tamaki-makaurau-auckland/films/title/#r">Tāmaki Makaurau</a> - a full list of the films which will be on offer locally.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kruurkTnjzbxDZszL0bBGcGsgxfvxMJ3rfBVGbPpvewrz9O9eMvlZ8IF6PWDESxa4ygmXuDUJr0A4-gAv7kpWlVZXFza5mAXucTM6EhrtRiqaRSr4a-3NgwSG5NPOcqZa9mfZQ5nkjg6kNmQVHhoz5BeNg_N080amDfgeXxDqy-erSWjiAaL/s5599/Red%20Mole%20coney%20island%20photo%20Joe%20Bleakley%202.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="3399" data-original-width="5599" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kruurkTnjzbxDZszL0bBGcGsgxfvxMJ3rfBVGbPpvewrz9O9eMvlZ8IF6PWDESxa4ygmXuDUJr0A4-gAv7kpWlVZXFza5mAXucTM6EhrtRiqaRSr4a-3NgwSG5NPOcqZa9mfZQ5nkjg6kNmQVHhoz5BeNg_N080amDfgeXxDqy-erSWjiAaL/s400/Red%20Mole%20coney%20island%20photo%20Joe%20Bleakley%202.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Joe Bleakley: <a href="https://op.co.nz/film/red-mole-a-romance/">Red Mole at Coney Island</a></span></div><br />
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Red Mole was, I must confess, rather before my time. My own acquaintance with the mercurial Alan Brunton came later on, when he'd returned to Wellington and was busy with his publishing imprint Bumper Books. I've written more about that <a href="http://jackrossopinions.blogspot.com/2013/04/alan-brunton-my-publisher-2002.html">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit3VO2VBNJG2FrJPR2nJDlSajKZRW9WX8i9NNl_kmmHwOOykn4zf0p9IeSAnr_T2yhLvnMd8kLvhX7uCZHaaDN-cgUEjwm-g8hYXKBkPJ1TpHN3EfdxRPAnHsALdL_g7iQ4DQHwcA9TLw5rDdh6NVImNj0EylewU9XTSSdOLr-d_wdtQDBgo_x/s3032/Alan%20Brunton%20poet%20performer.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1927" data-original-width="3032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit3VO2VBNJG2FrJPR2nJDlSajKZRW9WX8i9NNl_kmmHwOOykn4zf0p9IeSAnr_T2yhLvnMd8kLvhX7uCZHaaDN-cgUEjwm-g8hYXKBkPJ1TpHN3EfdxRPAnHsALdL_g7iQ4DQHwcA9TLw5rDdh6NVImNj0EylewU9XTSSdOLr-d_wdtQDBgo_x/s400/Alan%20Brunton%20poet%20performer.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://op.co.nz/film/red-mole-a-romance/">Alan Brunton</a> (1946-2002)</span></div><br />
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This new film seems very apposite, then, coming as it does hard on the heels of Martin Edmond's fascinating Red Mole memoir <i>Bus Stops on the Moon</i> (2020), pictured above.<br />
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I <i>have</i> watched the film of Red Mole's production of <i>City of Night</i>, Brunton's wildly eccentric adaptation of Aeschylus's <i>Oresteia</i>, though, so I do have some idea of what they were capable of!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPiZB2PmgyP0JVTKIs93KSUsOdTM1252COuCoDV4x0mgc51FJilmAAcoXECpl8AfohXTLBvYk50aojb4WKAuU9MF2gjP_q1wCeJmI7isFYo1A-MFAOHIZ4kFn0LC2x_562qAyk6VkoV48uBDVDy4W542g_f_ufiwbaZAs8rwsPKWFzy-bFvUTn/s10102/Lord%20Galaxy%27s%20Travelling%20Players%20Maidment%20late%201970s.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="7723" data-original-width="10102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPiZB2PmgyP0JVTKIs93KSUsOdTM1252COuCoDV4x0mgc51FJilmAAcoXECpl8AfohXTLBvYk50aojb4WKAuU9MF2gjP_q1wCeJmI7isFYo1A-MFAOHIZ4kFn0LC2x_562qAyk6VkoV48uBDVDy4W542g_f_ufiwbaZAs8rwsPKWFzy-bFvUTn/s400/Lord%20Galaxy%27s%20Travelling%20Players%20Maidment%20late%201970s.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://op.co.nz/film/red-mole-a-romance/">Lord Galaxy's Travelling Players</a> (1970s)</span></div><br />
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For anyone interested in NZ poetry or theatre, it would clearly be crazy to miss this film.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-Bq8H3Ohy3FtChB0rt9aPUaunIRmFk9-8OWO0RLeCt5FpDxfgRTU_rL3J_k48jqjmn3OFkUW-DwLRMO65aBYABKxdhKS8sIXKYRWkTSazrmGw8lurj_2-dA5Ku8aFKbsWgCCnh0-Tg3lWU-AS1qhSVE89IaaTSxa_tzWka2ZLNSsXPwLAk_H/s640/brief%2028%20%282003%29%20James%20Fryer.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-Bq8H3Ohy3FtChB0rt9aPUaunIRmFk9-8OWO0RLeCt5FpDxfgRTU_rL3J_k48jqjmn3OFkUW-DwLRMO65aBYABKxdhKS8sIXKYRWkTSazrmGw8lurj_2-dA5Ku8aFKbsWgCCnh0-Tg3lWU-AS1qhSVE89IaaTSxa_tzWka2ZLNSsXPwLAk_H/s600/brief%2028%20%282003%29%20James%20Fryer.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://sydreef.blogspot.com/2007/12/issue-28-october-2003-alan-brunton.html"><i>brief</i> #28: <i>Alan Brunton</i></a> (October 2003)</span></div><br />
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Scrolling back through my own archives, I find that I've reviewed three of Alan Brunton's books over the years: <a href="http://jackrossopinions.blogspot.com/2013/04/fk-you-faerie-queene-2003.html"><i>Fq</i></a> (2003); <a href="http://jackrossopinions.blogspot.com/2013/05/alan-brunton-grooves-of-glory-2005.html"><i>Grooves of Glory</i></a> (2005); and his selected poems <a href="http://jackrossopinions.blogspot.com/2013/09/beyond-ohlala-mountains-2014.html"><i>Beyond the Ohlala Mountains</i></a> (2013), as well as editing a special Brunton issue of the alt lit journal <a href="http://jackrossopinions.blogspot.com/2013/04/brief-28-editorial-2003.html"><i>brief</i></a> (#28, 2003).<br />
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<i>Ave atque vale</i>, Alan & Sally - you're both still sorely missed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvPNPztltvShvLcTKJ4NZkD3ND9k6DArX1uZFJ1OUSg_wUG-SGa3YhZgbhURkev4aC-1PxJkuZz4WR1yVsA0u5ceddSw-hFeSXQB_vU2ySOFalgEFVXQHgEl-qyXGaofvkutuJliY0L1Z_sqUKUP6I0y75AQ-kwDg7rkPC1YMxDIeyQe9Ndol/s400/Ohlala.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvPNPztltvShvLcTKJ4NZkD3ND9k6DArX1uZFJ1OUSg_wUG-SGa3YhZgbhURkev4aC-1PxJkuZz4WR1yVsA0u5ceddSw-hFeSXQB_vU2ySOFalgEFVXQHgEl-qyXGaofvkutuJliY0L1Z_sqUKUP6I0y75AQ-kwDg7rkPC1YMxDIeyQe9Ndol/s600/Ohlala.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Michele Leggott & Martin Edmond, ed.: <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/wordpress/ray-bradbury-birthday-bundle-sale/">Beyond the Ohlala Mountains</a> (2013)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIB7WJpQn6jJse7Wkij-FnXC5cf16A01B1V5Z7nHhG5b4BiZvYXRyr2I952IR6BdsXoIm4iDHZ8XJMRm6WYHo7JXE5963KowHFyk7D2XMOKv7ZZDi5xbavqs6qPBP9L4yuPIHUFIvMWSMwvW4VYoqC-d6k1B5ODg_tM5sRaOX1pdl_KvV1wpL9/s688/alan.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIB7WJpQn6jJse7Wkij-FnXC5cf16A01B1V5Z7nHhG5b4BiZvYXRyr2I952IR6BdsXoIm4iDHZ8XJMRm6WYHo7JXE5963KowHFyk7D2XMOKv7ZZDi5xbavqs6qPBP9L4yuPIHUFIvMWSMwvW4VYoqC-d6k1B5ODg_tM5sRaOX1pdl_KvV1wpL9/s600/alan.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/alan.htm">Alan Brunton</a> (26/10/2002)</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 180%;">Alan Brunton</span></b><br />
(1946-2002)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Select Bibliography</b></span><br />
[from my collection]</div><br />
<br />
<ol>
<b>Poetry:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Black and White Anthology</i>. Taylors Mistake: Hawk Press, 1976.</li>
<li>[with Sally Rodwell] <i>Day for a Daughter</i>. Wellington: Untold Books, 1989.</li>
<li><i>Slow Passes: 1978-88</i>. Introduction by Peter Simpson. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1991.</li>
<li><i>Romaunt of Glossa: A Saga</i>. Wellington: Bumper Books, 1998.</li>
<li><i>Moonshine</i>. Wellington: Bumper Books, 1998.</li>
<li><i>Ecstasy</i>. Wellington: Bumper Books, 2001.</li>
<li><i>Fq</i>. Wellington: Bumper Books, 2002.</li>
<li><i>Beyond the Ohlala Mountains: Poems 1968-2002</i>. Ed. Michele Leggott & Martin Edmond. Pokeno: Titus Books, 2013.</li>
<br />
<b>Performance:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>A Red Mole Sketch Book</i>. Wellington: Victoria University Press, 1989.</li>
<li><i>Grooves of Glory: Three Performance Texts</i>. Wellington: Bumper Books, 2004.</li>
<br />
<b>Prose:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Years Ago Today: Language & Performance, 1969</i>. New Zealand Cultural Studies. Wellington: Bumper Books, 1997.</li>
<br />
<b>Edited:</b><br />
<br />
<li>[with Murray Edmond & Michele Leggott] <i>Big Smoke: New Zealand Poems 1960-1975</i>. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2000.</li>
<li><i>The Brian Bell Reader</i>. Wellington: Bumper Books, 2001.</li>
<br />
<b>Video:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Heaven’s Cloudy Smile: Two Poets Go for a Walk</i>, dir. Sally Rodwell – with Alan Brunton & Michele Leggott. Wellington: GG Films / Red Mole, 1998. Video Cassette.</li>
<li><i>Red Mole’s City of Night</i>, dir. Alan Brunton & Sally Rodwell. Wellington: Red Mole, 2000. Video cassette.</li>
<br />
<b>Secondary:</b><br />
<br />
<li><a href="https://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/brunton/"><i>Alan Brunton</i></a>: Author Page. Auckland: nzepc, 2004.</li>
<li><i>brief</i> #28 (Oct 2003): <a href="https://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/brunton/brief/index.asp"><i>Alan Brunton</i></a>. Ed. Jack Ross. Auckland: The Writers Group, 2003.</li>
<li><i><a href="https://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/brunton/memorial.pdf">Celebrating Alan Brunton</a>: A Concert and Book Launch for Fq</i>. Auckland: Friday 6 December, 2002.</li>
<li>Edmond, Martin. <i>Bus Stops on the Moon: Red Mole Days 1974-1980</i>. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2020.</li>
<li>Howard, David, & Michele Leggott, ed. "'<a href="https://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/brunton/recollections.asp">When You Give So Much</a>’: Some Recollections of Alan Brunton." Auckland: nzepc, 2002.</li>
</ol><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFazXnO8hJE5rHct2cuF4Ygw7GuGy_g0xS0uYVAiDTTcghjnLX9RydFrJ-RLTVuenOLDcqHpeUu9i9cA_CB0uyG-0KvgtNfuCMr_xnifMrrB6ljQOrfrbFVHSXmKCdiohfN95VewOTOwh3-V1jNRzqH7tcO2nCIyFT_uJ8uHI1AF097hw9a4C4/s247/ab1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="247" data-original-width="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFazXnO8hJE5rHct2cuF4Ygw7GuGy_g0xS0uYVAiDTTcghjnLX9RydFrJ-RLTVuenOLDcqHpeUu9i9cA_CB0uyG-0KvgtNfuCMr_xnifMrrB6ljQOrfrbFVHSXmKCdiohfN95VewOTOwh3-V1jNRzqH7tcO2nCIyFT_uJ8uHI1AF097hw9a4C4/s600/ab1.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">David Howard & Michele Leggott, ed.: '<a href="https://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/brunton/recollections.asp">When You Give So Much</a>' (2002)</span></div><br />
<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-2373017223637462142023-06-23T09:37:00.000+12:002023-06-23T09:37:01.554+12:00Gore Vidal: Narratives of Empire<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWPr4SZqR90ZXNKffq8rr1-Z8nJK9IU87XVStSuAx7p5qbSC2bOYHheZhcL5-OOePboP9u1drMvGXBddAUe7TuwNNRhWdgOhbtYhs6CCNyUe8t6DKTa87FekG5IYAL_Jb3sRZ9qG-STeVcRZdoPnx7oMSXPBs27MaZsvosPljjND4KOuVxAQ/s1067/800px-Gore_Vidal_3_Shankbone_2009_NYC_cropped.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWPr4SZqR90ZXNKffq8rr1-Z8nJK9IU87XVStSuAx7p5qbSC2bOYHheZhcL5-OOePboP9u1drMvGXBddAUe7TuwNNRhWdgOhbtYhs6CCNyUe8t6DKTa87FekG5IYAL_Jb3sRZ9qG-STeVcRZdoPnx7oMSXPBs27MaZsvosPljjND4KOuVxAQ/s600/800px-Gore_Vidal_3_Shankbone_2009_NYC_cropped.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">David Shankbone: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Gore_Vidal#/media/File:Gore_Vidal_3_Shankbone_2009_NYC_cropped.jpg">Gore Vidal</a> (2009)</span></div><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Ralph came over to Stu and knelt down. 'Can we get you anything, Stu?'<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">Stu smiled. 'Yeah. Everything Gore Vidal ever wrote - those books about Lincoln and Aaron Burr and those guys. I always meant to read the suckers. Now it looks like I got the chance.'</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- Stephen King, <i>The Stand</i> (1990): 923.</div></blockquote><br />
Towards the end of <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2022/10/stephen-king-fairy-tale-2022.html">Stephen King</a>'s apocalyptic masterpiece <i>The Stand</i>, one of his main characters, Stu Redman, is left behind by his companions in a washed-out gully because he's sprained his ankle and they're unable to lift him out.<br />
<br />
Stu's last, rather plaintive request is for a set of Gore Vidal's American history novels. We already know that he's a big reader. Earlier in the story he was enthralled by the adventures of Fiver and the other rabbits in <i>Watership Down</i>, but the Vidal novels seem like quite a departure from the quest narratives Stu loves - and which he and the others are far-from-coincidentally reenacting at this very moment in the story.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55omPDPOSbvpcVX8-eqbiK3B130vb_OL7HwtWpW0eOF56CR0i6-AO2KP3-RdcVg8JRAJQPN-0_Fk2WfI4qBi8IyOuTzzVLYsOIPCqmkwkdtRFKILhZUpFuIfg1tUldyY6BYskRugC14JfBqS2KXdxYKJZXPJ8Pa0reZmAnfHxgd2MZrUAtg/s540/27067461._SX540_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55omPDPOSbvpcVX8-eqbiK3B130vb_OL7HwtWpW0eOF56CR0i6-AO2KP3-RdcVg8JRAJQPN-0_Fk2WfI4qBi8IyOuTzzVLYsOIPCqmkwkdtRFKILhZUpFuIfg1tUldyY6BYskRugC14JfBqS2KXdxYKJZXPJ8Pa0reZmAnfHxgd2MZrUAtg/s400/27067461._SX540_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Stephen King: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/87591651-the-stand">The Stand</a> (1978 / 1990)</span></div><br />
<br />
Curiously enough, if we go back in time to 1978, when <i>The Stand</i> originally appeared - in a form severely truncated by the demands of his publisher's accounting department, much to King's chagrin - we find a rather different version of this scene:
<blockquote>
Ralph came over to Stu and knelt down. 'Can we get you anything, Stu?'<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">Stu smiled. 'Yeah. All those books about that Kent family. I always meant to read em. Now it looks like I got the chance.'</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">Ralph grinned crookedly. 'Sorry, Stu. Looks like I'm tapped.'</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- Stephen King, <i>The Stand</i> (1978): 661.</div></blockquote>
Ralph's crooked grin is the same on both occasions, but the books Stu longs to read have changed somewhat in the twelve years between the two texts of King's novel.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUrez1gppoLANLtdCmC89SZFz9RQB5n1_8Mtpapch5M1Ke6uQ8nVWDYo_PmlvhgWSKNA-cFojABjKo5QV8OWkNFNEHjlKXPzplHvVysLmeC8OtiCMWOQ9eSVOLYUT2ekyHkmUcSgyr2VwH0UReyZzHQ8ByI-5S-UEmomn0p599VnNEQ3UgOw/s1000/51hSIXnnPOL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUrez1gppoLANLtdCmC89SZFz9RQB5n1_8Mtpapch5M1Ke6uQ8nVWDYo_PmlvhgWSKNA-cFojABjKo5QV8OWkNFNEHjlKXPzplHvVysLmeC8OtiCMWOQ9eSVOLYUT2ekyHkmUcSgyr2VwH0UReyZzHQ8ByI-5S-UEmomn0p599VnNEQ3UgOw/s400/51hSIXnnPOL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Jakes: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kent-Family-Chronicles-Set/dp/B001NEVG6Y">The Kent Family Chronicles</a> (1974-79)</span></div>
<br />
<br />
For those of you who (like me) didn't happen to know, the "Kent Family Chronicles" are, according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kent_Family_Chronicles">Wikipedia</a>:
<blockquote>a series of eight novels by John Jakes written for Lyle Engel of Book Creations, Inc. to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.</blockquote>
They were published between 1974 and 1979, which positions them nicely to be read by the 1978 version of Stu. All of the books were "best sellers, with no novel in the series selling fewer than 3.5 million copies."<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJgvjVtJyqVyLAWJh8UniYGkhRwEEygc2u0TDeHT8Q0km0LdJGjX-bMXRg_HEBTbq2OBmdOBwQ3TcMeictDCVBrHboJ_Lwvy-T7DVlvMNeTOKYg3rfn0G92PnLhNjfQrPUNrLJJdx1sc504zrJHFJLWu0YB331Oy3oXcnf21EUa50yrpVQhw/s2405/img_0049.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="2405" data-original-width="2336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJgvjVtJyqVyLAWJh8UniYGkhRwEEygc2u0TDeHT8Q0km0LdJGjX-bMXRg_HEBTbq2OBmdOBwQ3TcMeictDCVBrHboJ_Lwvy-T7DVlvMNeTOKYg3rfn0G92PnLhNjfQrPUNrLJJdx1sc504zrJHFJLWu0YB331Oy3oXcnf21EUa50yrpVQhw/s400/img_0049.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://thefloridasqueeze.com/2020/10/20/election-year-and-2020-madness-reading-gore-vidals-narratives-of-empire-series/">Narratives of Empire</a> (1967-2000)</span></div><br />
<br />
Could the same be said of Gore Vidal's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narratives_of_Empire">Narratives of Empire</a>" series? That was the author's final choice for an overall title, though his publisher apparently preferred "the politically neutral series-title 'American Chronicles'."<br />
<br />
Although written at various times, over a period of thirty-odd years, out of historical sequence, these seven novels <i>do</i> have interlocking stories and characters - some, admittedly, rather crudely soldered onto the earlier books in order to fit them into Vidal's later vision for the series.<br />
<br />
Here they are in order of appearance:
<blockquote><ol>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><i>Washington, D.C.</i></a> (1967)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><i>Burr</i></a> (1973)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><i>1876</i></a> (1976)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><i>Lincoln</i></a> (1984)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><i>Empire</i></a> (1987)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><i>Hollywood</i></a> (1990)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><i>The Golden Age</i></a> (2000)</li>
</ol></blockquote>
And here they are in chronological sequence:
<blockquote><ol>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><i>Burr</i></a> (1775-1840)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><i>Lincoln</i></a> (1861-1865)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><i>1876</i></a> (1875-1877)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><i>Empire</i></a> (1898-1906)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><i>Hollywood</i></a> (1917-1923)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><i>Washington, D.C.</i></a> (1937-1952)</li>
<li><a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><i>The Golden Age</i></a> (1939-2000)</li>
</ol></blockquote>
They were, at various times, referred to as "American Chronicles", "Narratives of a Golden Age" and "Narratives of Empire". Does this apparent indecision on their author's part explain some of the difficulties we find when trying to discuss them as a whole? What are they actually <i>about</i>? Certainly they don't aim to emulate the bicentennial boosterism of John Jakes's <i>Kent Family Chronicles</i>, but do they present a clear alternative to that?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEspuc3oEUBWqaswGc-_8vwJUywOSTnZr_o9FeHKD8XHSCjc8PUuGXMch5Xow_8DRTuqHdckrqGkLX9xxWBVhUwAK1Wdyb-6ddiW-fdC_My7X2jk53IRLexvo9GVjpZ2cfD_DaRvLrJ0vUY8o1SV2LTlF-PoUcAZPtS6MdfJg4800PkKCSYA/s900/51Br0cKx8DL._AC_UL900_SR615,900_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="615" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEspuc3oEUBWqaswGc-_8vwJUywOSTnZr_o9FeHKD8XHSCjc8PUuGXMch5Xow_8DRTuqHdckrqGkLX9xxWBVhUwAK1Wdyb-6ddiW-fdC_My7X2jk53IRLexvo9GVjpZ2cfD_DaRvLrJ0vUY8o1SV2LTlF-PoUcAZPtS6MdfJg4800PkKCSYA/s600/51Br0cKx8DL._AC_UL900_SR615,900_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Burr-Vintage-International-Gore-Vidal-ebook/dp/B005GFBQ6Q">Burr</a> (1973)</span><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn1">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Burr</b></span></a></div></div>
<br />
The series began very promisingly with <i>Burr</i>, a multi-faceted romp through the Revolutionary War and the early years of the Republic, seen through the quizzical eyes of that pantomime villain Aaron Burr (or, rather, a young journalist's attempts to turn Burr's fragments of memoir into a coherent account of a long-lost age).<br />
<br />
Of course, all this was long before the musical <i>Hamilton</i> made that particular founding father a household name. I have to confess to not having <i>heard</i> of Aaron Burr before reading Vidal's novel, let alone about his notorious duel with Alexander Hamilton. It was all news to me, in other words.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKWsdLTY3xwy11egmxwq_OrJrq5cCipLM_CzxrAUmTT3qF85pGAz4jJ-rvhlT9dM2OBht1-dj0Geem1IOtNTAfEC8EyMQN6II5zjzH2lIFOhZxmkGhUPX-Gh6y-ZWNTezzkoYZ1Z2z6DqEMVBNzrfx-7Jra0WHr2Bs6uqI91KxTDSx2d4Ng/s1667/Hamilton_1200x450.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="1667" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKWsdLTY3xwy11egmxwq_OrJrq5cCipLM_CzxrAUmTT3qF85pGAz4jJ-rvhlT9dM2OBht1-dj0Geem1IOtNTAfEC8EyMQN6II5zjzH2lIFOhZxmkGhUPX-Gh6y-ZWNTezzkoYZ1Z2z6DqEMVBNzrfx-7Jra0WHr2Bs6uqI91KxTDSx2d4Ng/s400/Hamilton_1200x450.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Lin-Manuel Miranda: <a href="https://www.experiencegroup.co.nz/concerts/productdisplay.php?ed=0&ln=Hamilton-the-Musical-comes-to-Auckland&LID=197313">Hamilton</a> (2015)</span></div><br />
<br />
Burr is clearly a kind of alter-ego for Gore Vidal: a kind of internal émigré, despised by his contemporaries for largely spurious reasons, but brighter and better-informed than any of them. Vidal makes no secret of Burr's flaws - just as he is open about his own in <i>Palimpsest</i>, his 1995 memoir - but the unspoken offence constituted by Vidal's unashamed homosexuality in repressed late-twentieth century America makes a good parallel with Burr's alleged "treason" - another name for the same political opportunism practised more successfully by the Empire-building Thomas Jefferson.<br />
<br />
Stylistically, the book had much in common with other post-modern novels of the era such as John Barth's <i>Sot-Weed Factor</i> (1960) or John Berger's <i>Little Big Man</i> (1964). There was, however, a sophistication and depth to Vidal's knowledge of American history which gave it an extra edge. And I suspect that that's why it's still so readable today, when so many of the other dazzling fictions of the era have faded into obscurity.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHD1HV9XXiiwWj75qkx3vvtx2nmS06nHp3Qd5TTkUW9TueulrITobG2J0iW0oowkHS0ZclO7zxUHnvAjbEaGHInwIXWAlot64NMrJoJlz02n9QSJDDCiBYTz3RByhM407XFG6HkgDwtUQy2nWIG3if3nA7yXVhlfEhE27Wm1DS1FI0YNzMyw/s1600/Alexander-Hamilton-Aaron-Burr-duel-1804.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHD1HV9XXiiwWj75qkx3vvtx2nmS06nHp3Qd5TTkUW9TueulrITobG2J0iW0oowkHS0ZclO7zxUHnvAjbEaGHInwIXWAlot64NMrJoJlz02n9QSJDDCiBYTz3RByhM407XFG6HkgDwtUQy2nWIG3if3nA7yXVhlfEhE27Wm1DS1FI0YNzMyw/s400/Alexander-Hamilton-Aaron-Burr-duel-1804.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Burr-Hamilton-duel">The Burr-Hamilton Duel</a> (1804)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0w39OSOhuZp9_8L2cUEUILSmcbrWlMX6TKKMShsB03srDPPwyDR4Ia-pEr5cxCCcO2iTUKacOU5OigCc6KSO4o9coSK_2ZhC3JV3CaC3dSXqqYtQ3ATK7JaU6Si6aNeicd-7cj0bLstqH1qXxInLnYfN7HkZUmzORoTm2kr7ozQhU3zudLg/s1200/71pflc5-PfL.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="774" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0w39OSOhuZp9_8L2cUEUILSmcbrWlMX6TKKMShsB03srDPPwyDR4Ia-pEr5cxCCcO2iTUKacOU5OigCc6KSO4o9coSK_2ZhC3JV3CaC3dSXqqYtQ3ATK7JaU6Si6aNeicd-7cj0bLstqH1qXxInLnYfN7HkZUmzORoTm2kr7ozQhU3zudLg/s600/71pflc5-PfL.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Lincoln-Novel-Gore-Vidal/dp/0375708766">Lincoln</a> (1984)</span><br />
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<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Lincoln</b></span></a></div></div>
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With the next volume in the series - in chronological, though not in publication order - Vidal went into another gear. <i>Lincoln</i> is a brilliantly empathetic and subtle portrait of America's most famous president. Even Vidal's detractors were forced to admit that he'd managed to transform some of the most hackneyed material imaginable into a kind of secret history of the Civil War.<br />
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This was, admittedly, a few years before Ken Burn's classic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(miniseries)">PBS Documentary series</a> woke up even non-history buffs to the sheer horror and momentousness of this "nineteenth-century catastrophe". <i>Lincoln</i> stands up very well to the comparison, though.<br />
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I've read many books about the era - Bruce Catton's and <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/05/acquisitions-93-winston-churchill.html#_ftn11">Shelby Foote</a>'s Civil War trilogies, Carl Sandburg's six-volume life of Lincoln, Freeman's seven-volume series about Robert E. Lee and his lieutenants, even Allan Nevin's 8-volume <i>Ordeal of the Union</i> - but I haven't spotted any obvious solecisms in Gore Vidal's knowledge, let alone his sophisticated treatment of the characters involved.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja8SRAadOMefhy8sLiKkWNkG-6X0ipQzGmjZLYaSb9nhiwEC4TFw2OcOBaPt-veIOD7nD3bONt9OsSawuLf6NteTu6PeUP8-tdSELpxDSGFHVYE-QApPEWyTnAfM5yXFkbK4zhtQunGBZD1PRNdqPUZ1CZzS2hKHES82cBYM4ZpLledSPTgw/s475/20802101.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja8SRAadOMefhy8sLiKkWNkG-6X0ipQzGmjZLYaSb9nhiwEC4TFw2OcOBaPt-veIOD7nD3bONt9OsSawuLf6NteTu6PeUP8-tdSELpxDSGFHVYE-QApPEWyTnAfM5yXFkbK4zhtQunGBZD1PRNdqPUZ1CZzS2hKHES82cBYM4ZpLledSPTgw/s600/20802101.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Honoré Morrow: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20802101-great-captain">Great Captain</a> (1930)</span></div><br />
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The same could certainly <i>not</i> be said for the above trilogy of Lincoln novels, by Theodore Dreiser-protégée Honoré Morrow, which I also happen to have on my shelves. It dates roughly from the era of movies such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Mr._Lincoln"><i>Young Mister Lincoln</i></a> (1939) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_Lincoln_in_Illinois_(film)"><i>Abe Lincoln in Illinois</i></a> (1940), and is rather like them in spirit.<br />
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Morrow has concocted a spirited yarn, with heavily fictionalised elements such as the Confederate spy Miss Ford who dominates the Lincoln household in the first novel, <i>Forever Free</i> (1927). Despite the fact that she's been detected separately by each member of the household (with the possible exception of the obnoxious Tad) she's allowed to run loose, concocting abduction and assassination plots with monotonous regularity, until she's finally stabbed by a kitchen hand - whilst disguised as a black slave - in a last desperate attempt to prevent the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation!<br />
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The second novel, <i>With Malice Toward None</i> (1928), centres upon a particularly saccharine love affair conducted by Senator Sumner with a Washington socialite, under the watchful eyes of his intimate friends, the Lincolns. Given the unrelenting, abundantly-documented hostility between the real Lincoln and Sumner, this is perhaps the weakest of the three books. (Or, as I'm tempted to add: "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Generation_Game#Catchphrases">What's on the board, Miss Ford</a>?")<br />
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Morrow's third and culminating volume, <i>The Last Full Measure</i> (1930), is largely concerned with the ins and outs of John Wilkes Booth's assassination plot. Like Vidal, Morrow doubles the President's wise and wholesome activities with the nefarious treachery of Booth and his low-life accomplices. Like Vidal - and yet so <i>un</i>like. Once again, she fictionalises freely, and shifts speeches and events as it suits her. It is, nevertheless, probably the best written and constructed of her three novels.<br />
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Honoré Morrow's Lincoln is a devoted admirer of the poetry of Walt Whitman; his wife Mary Todd Lincoln is a constant help to him, despite occasional passing fits of temper; Seward, in her version, is a laughing buffoon and Chase a non-entity - it is Sumner who dominates the politics of the time. Above all, her Lincoln is sentimental and teary-eyed to an appalling degree. His obsession with deporting American negroes to Africa, and his refusal to see them as equal with whites are glossed over with facile phrases.<br />
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Given the way in which Vidal deconstructs all the convenient myths about Lincoln, it's hard to explain why 'the ancient' (as Nicolay and Hay, his two private secretaries, call him) remains so compelling and - let's face it - loveable as the central figure of his novel. Perhaps it's because he's constantly seen through the eyes of others: particularly John Hay (shown in a far more frivolous light in Morrow's version).<br />
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Reading the two novels in such swift succession doesn't really do justice to Morrow, who did a pretty good job under the constraints of her era - and who lacked the splendid Civil War histories now so readily available. The fact that one can still read Gore Vidal's book with admiration forty years after it was published, however, is a tribute not only to his consummate skill as a writer, but also to the profundity of his grasp of American history. He makes up almost nothing, and his book is the stronger for it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AEWX2dFlEZ8YX1_4cFRITCwH3G9ATBTGN0xG20MY127AnxBoShkq8aKr6PuOWFwxJ3TsT9XOmbdtim9U0HPgrJkLLMtdeabRBnZAQI-sNnLCZ2gE7J_VL3KVr3oxtJuhgyH0LtZYJ5nQcktSKMo5uoEXnOwGPML11hYnvqnVT4rV44J3sA/s546/Honore_Willsie_%28Wisconsin_Authors,_1918%29.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AEWX2dFlEZ8YX1_4cFRITCwH3G9ATBTGN0xG20MY127AnxBoShkq8aKr6PuOWFwxJ3TsT9XOmbdtim9U0HPgrJkLLMtdeabRBnZAQI-sNnLCZ2gE7J_VL3KVr3oxtJuhgyH0LtZYJ5nQcktSKMo5uoEXnOwGPML11hYnvqnVT4rV44J3sA/s600/Honore_Willsie_%28Wisconsin_Authors,_1918%29.png"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor%C3%A9_Willsie_Morrow">Honoré Willsie Morrow</a> (1880-1940)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZOuEVGBIrZ-Vj21tl1qSTCNCSVVw696OtpgBID5XvH7SsqVk1qy8QQFAkRJn9tMdt2TztbXhiG15d_nPx9lFPNOl5iS6s58IQR4tEG16aulG4hvUZ4JZFDmdElYPmtSFaEBHTi-9y8IB97auOMToxG6Kn7wAfYpErhdefgUNAJvwjTVZKA/s450/88890.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZOuEVGBIrZ-Vj21tl1qSTCNCSVVw696OtpgBID5XvH7SsqVk1qy8QQFAkRJn9tMdt2TztbXhiG15d_nPx9lFPNOl5iS6s58IQR4tEG16aulG4hvUZ4JZFDmdElYPmtSFaEBHTi-9y8IB97auOMToxG6Kn7wAfYpErhdefgUNAJvwjTVZKA/s600/88890.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88890.1876">1876</a> (1976)</span><br />
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<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>1876</b></span></a></div></div>
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If <i>Lincoln</i> is the high point of Gore Vidal's whole series of fictional histories, perhaps it's because his fascination with a figure of the past whom he is unable, finally, to fathom, let alone patronise, drives him to new heights as a writer. <i>1876</i>, by contrast, albeit another fascinating historical tapestry, was written more in the cynical spirit of <i>Burr</i>.<br />
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This is hardly surprising, as it has the same narrator: Charles Schermerhorn Schuyler, Aaron Burr's illegitimate son, a reasonably well-known (though unfortunately almost penniless) writer who's been living in Europe since 1839. His return to the bustling republic of the gilded age is the subject of the book, which consists of 'notes' for the series of articles he hopes to write on the experience.<br />
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If all this sounds like a foreshadowing of Henry James's year-long return to America in 1904, which inspired his late masterpiece <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Scene"><i>The American Scene</i></a> (1907) - with its memorable pictures of the devastation of "the great lonely land", and the triumph of greed over the simpler country of his youth - that's presumably quite intentional. The young James only appears in passing in this novel, but will play a far more important part in the next one in line.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit8vwB8IzX-hwZF9QZUcni9_Qu8hFIFhCGv4oJO9USinZSD5r1FozsVUXd8-C7JNmB2uRcktMeEsosTCiLbIKS3V5lWcfDDvdiMle3JcQEDI-YdQIpEWvUJNLUTlilEalUwWmko_6QXt4MWQuRhBeJoQ-19aLTzS5PJg5dKIC2_zJVjrOnJg/s1802/centennial-1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1802" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit8vwB8IzX-hwZF9QZUcni9_Qu8hFIFhCGv4oJO9USinZSD5r1FozsVUXd8-C7JNmB2uRcktMeEsosTCiLbIKS3V5lWcfDDvdiMle3JcQEDI-YdQIpEWvUJNLUTlilEalUwWmko_6QXt4MWQuRhBeJoQ-19aLTzS5PJg5dKIC2_zJVjrOnJg/s600/centennial-1.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">James A. Michener: <a href="https://www.kobo.com/nz/en/ebook/centennial-1">Centennial</a> (1974)</span></div><br />
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1976, the bicentennial year, was, of course, a time when any number of backward looks over the United States' two centuries of history were to be expected. Besides the Kent Chronicles, one of the best known and most successful was James A. Michener's huge, episodic, chronicle novel <i>Centennial</i>.<br />
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<i>Centennial</i> is by no means a casual or optimistic celebration of the journey from there to here. It is, in fact, a long saga of deceit and bloodshed, culminating in the acquittal of a local entrepreneur who has devised a way for rich men to shoot (protected) bald eagles out of helicopters - they almost always miss, so he's devised a way of exploding a small plastic bag of offal outside the cockpit as he surreptitiously shoots the bird himself!<br />
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Beyond its rather sombre tone, it has little in common with Vidal's chronicle of political chicanery and intrigue, culminating in the first unequivocally stolen presidential election in American history - until the Bush / Gore débâcle of 2000, that is. Michener, by contrast, tries to take solace in the rich pageant of life on the plains.<br />
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The fact that both authors end up in so downbeat a mood may have something to do with the nadir of trust in the American system caused by the Watergate scandal of 1972-74 - Michener's narrator actually watches the hearings in his hotel room whilst charting the fortunes of his representative Colorado middletown of Centennial.<br />
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Whatever inspired this gloom in each case, though, it's as well for us as readers to be reminded from time to time that bad as things undoubtedly are now with the 'the land of the free and the home of the brave', they weren't all that great in 1976 - or 1876 - or virtually any other date in history one can name, for that matter - either.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3y4MY9h7Wut2MfgHaGSSbG6ZKLG028D2oD-0Kal85ZoHh3irpQRa94mIx8tY6nqbZmYDn_f5wGgMDeHoRmYPx4gWLSxZuMZwXZ-4TxhzdSrAXdXXFTfUWYs2PXNMaV91Q_nWjI6r_gpMHHVrMJeakM0saiDX98QqHHQAtOVGt0V_0KP06Vw/s800/4100_01_LG.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="624" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3y4MY9h7Wut2MfgHaGSSbG6ZKLG028D2oD-0Kal85ZoHh3irpQRa94mIx8tY6nqbZmYDn_f5wGgMDeHoRmYPx4gWLSxZuMZwXZ-4TxhzdSrAXdXXFTfUWYs2PXNMaV91Q_nWjI6r_gpMHHVrMJeakM0saiDX98QqHHQAtOVGt0V_0KP06Vw/s600/4100_01_LG.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Francis Scott Key: <a href="https://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/the-lyrics.aspx">The Star-Spangled Banner</a> (1814)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsPsqWtg_M1XDGvWwc1CuG7-G3FP4k1MeiT0q_uKJE5Rxb5CiobE3_BmjuUFUh9JPZ0gU8sy_pbgkysaoC1PUM5-ZQyNZPUh9uRvDomrydfM1HyB-LY_KzZsH_9wjHGs8G79SkFFED3MD7ErEUH4aDC1z7nHFMLS3MyMrDx2A_27DKE1fEQ/s1000/71BK+uD6v8L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="646" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsPsqWtg_M1XDGvWwc1CuG7-G3FP4k1MeiT0q_uKJE5Rxb5CiobE3_BmjuUFUh9JPZ0gU8sy_pbgkysaoC1PUM5-ZQyNZPUh9uRvDomrydfM1HyB-LY_KzZsH_9wjHGs8G79SkFFED3MD7ErEUH4aDC1z7nHFMLS3MyMrDx2A_27DKE1fEQ/s600/71BK+uD6v8L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Novel-Gore-Vidal/dp/037570874X">Empire</a> (1987)</span><br />
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<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Empire</b></span></a></div></div>
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<i>Empire</i> tries to do a great deal in a short space of time. This could be seen as admirable or unfortunate, depending on your prior expectations of a novel of this type - or in this series.<br />
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On the one hand, it provides us with a kind of updated version of Henry James's <i>Portrait of a Lady</i> in its account of the fascinating rise of Caroline Sanford from cheated heiress to self-assured newspaper publisher (there's something there, too, of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Graham">Katharine Graham</a>'s successful tenure at the <i>Washington Post</i>, I suspect).<br />
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However, it's mostly a political history of the McKinley / Roosevelt era of imperial expansion on the part of America: it was, afer all, during this period that Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, and a number of other Caribbean and Pacific dependencies were added to the "protection" of the United States.<br />
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The rise of yellow journalism and the growing dominance of William Randolph Hearst is also explored in some depth, largely through the former's relations with Caroline's scheming brother Blaise Sanford.<br />
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What else? There's a brief history of "the hearts": a group of wealthy Washingtonians including Henry Adams, his dead wife Clover, Secretary of State John Hay, and various others, who seem - in context - to embody some alternate philosophy of life superior to the merciless materialism of the <i>fin de siècle</i>.<br />
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All these ingredients would seem to promise a major novel. And it's certainly this which Vidal has laboured to compose. They fail, somehow, to cohere - perhaps because they lack a single central focus, unlike the earlier novels in the sequence.<br />
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If it ends up being a fascinating might-have-been in purely fictional terms, so much talent and skill has gone into it that it can still serve as a storehouse of contemporary attitudes and events. Where else, for instance, could I have found out about John Hay's early dialect poems "<a href="https://www.daypoems.net/poems/1522.html">Little Breeches</a>" and "<a href="https://www.daypoems.net/poems/1521.html">Jim Bludso</a>", which Henry James persists in quoting at him, embarrassingly, every time they meet?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQt0HAEs4D9mjwZOPlqmwORdp_V2x7f1E6yZDoSb-m6WPqHQmRN1NoNMsYMjdZeJ_RzMVH0ITUpC270NXsrYxlVFNxVz0_3c3USCiuF_V_SImuFwPccVPB9ljmdsZo1uSrADiNiDqwWL0IgOiB1VICBViFszOjyH5bgjYza8v2pRegwyzVA/s400/s-l400.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQt0HAEs4D9mjwZOPlqmwORdp_V2x7f1E6yZDoSb-m6WPqHQmRN1NoNMsYMjdZeJ_RzMVH0ITUpC270NXsrYxlVFNxVz0_3c3USCiuF_V_SImuFwPccVPB9ljmdsZo1uSrADiNiDqwWL0IgOiB1VICBViFszOjyH5bgjYza8v2pRegwyzVA/s600/s-l400.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Hay: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/587621872/1912-the-pike-county-ballads-by-john-hay">Pike County Ballads</a> (1912)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvOgpWW5EqbYVl0Ke5b-MJtA43do7USPxA-Ze0Bh8ndHuUt0pYzIVuRswXx3f8aERjrE_vwFWawupxbrQ_T3-9S_oaBsGY2bD1cIKD0ZAkB8OI4B9vnBcnPlkutAFVadkZr6oxAsYU1vXthV7A2aD7LUMEQdVw_JkC8pjHVSTqPXnXYAEkMQ/s450/88869.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvOgpWW5EqbYVl0Ke5b-MJtA43do7USPxA-Ze0Bh8ndHuUt0pYzIVuRswXx3f8aERjrE_vwFWawupxbrQ_T3-9S_oaBsGY2bD1cIKD0ZAkB8OI4B9vnBcnPlkutAFVadkZr6oxAsYU1vXthV7A2aD7LUMEQdVw_JkC8pjHVSTqPXnXYAEkMQ/s600/88869.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88869.Hollywood">Hollywood</a> (1990)</span><br />
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<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Hollywood</b></span></a></div></div>
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The problem with <i>Hollywood</i>, which picks up pretty much where <i>Empire</i> left off - albeit with a decade or so in between - is that there's a bit too much scheming and politicking, and not nearly enough Hollywood.<br />
<br />
The sordid saga of Warren Gamaliel Harding's rise to power and influence despite (or because of) his legion of crooked, small-town friends is expounded in great - though at times confusing - detail. Interesting though this undoubtedly is, it's hard to see precisely how it meshes with the continuing saga of Caroline Sanford, her brother Blaise, and their various lovers and friends.<br />
<br />
Once again, this is an immensely informative novel for those of us who are bit shaky in our knowledge of early twentieth century American politics. For every reader who feels this to be a deficiency, however, I'll bet there are a dozen others who would rather hear more about the silent movies Caroline finds herself first starring in, then producing!<br />
<br />
One glimpses, at times, in the livelier chapters of Vidal's book, the possibility of some modern rival to such classic Hollywood novels as Budd Schulberg's <i>What Makes Sammy Run?</i> (1941) or even Nathanael West's <i>Day of the Locust</i> (1939).<br />
<br />
Alas, for the first time one begins to feel that the constraints of Vidal's series are beginning to outweigh the benefits. The book as a whole remains a fascinatingly panoramic view of many aspects of contemporary American life. It just lacks focus. But then, that no longer seems to be a vital part of Vidal's overall scheme.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-F-YI-JPCCvyHCfhxPh0qaCGsBcxwJM9QHywxDsOUs9cOC2-s8kR3iV9viIavTA1kjw1fSP4uLAFCS3tNrRwRiGqDFaYF5gnma6vWCB250CaWgFkekLcLc0aA6p0Cz0X5FPT3CoL6XcZh6Mv7UbXHRHF3tV_bqUEVzRLPQ4KVmbzPji2umQ/s1500/11470377899.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-F-YI-JPCCvyHCfhxPh0qaCGsBcxwJM9QHywxDsOUs9cOC2-s8kR3iV9viIavTA1kjw1fSP4uLAFCS3tNrRwRiGqDFaYF5gnma6vWCB250CaWgFkekLcLc0aA6p0Cz0X5FPT3CoL6XcZh6Mv7UbXHRHF3tV_bqUEVzRLPQ4KVmbzPji2umQ/s600/11470377899.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Nathanael West: <a href="https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Day-Locust-West-Nathanael-Random-House/11470377899/bd">The Day of the Locust</a> (1939)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNP1-En0d8WreYUQpHAfyBIdo44jvFQMMmENy80EfCg6LkBycXtOmOlG1d7OcIR8b-LRpo5nndFrLOsntKBYOQu2znFwgJRBRdrSJ9WyCKmgXex0JnuLW6Fx8l-UuK459wrvYA0tr65krrVnEIVZwtnnXo-EEMqg0_z-hO6EVjMpEe6RgPgA/s1185/71htJhn5l2L.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1185" data-original-width="763" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNP1-En0d8WreYUQpHAfyBIdo44jvFQMMmENy80EfCg6LkBycXtOmOlG1d7OcIR8b-LRpo5nndFrLOsntKBYOQu2znFwgJRBRdrSJ9WyCKmgXex0JnuLW6Fx8l-UuK459wrvYA0tr65krrVnEIVZwtnnXo-EEMqg0_z-hO6EVjMpEe6RgPgA/s600/71htJhn5l2L.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Washington-D-C-Novel-Gore-Vidal/dp/0375708774">Washington, D. C.</a> (1967 / 1994)</span><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn6">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Washington, D. C.</b></span></a></div></div>
<br />
The same could not be said of the next in the series - which was also, confusingly, the first to be written. The reason for this, of course, is that even if Vidal dreamed of such a <i>roman fleuve</i> in 1967, when he first published this book, he can have had little idea what precise form it would take.<br />
<br />
<i>Washington, D.C.</i> is a very focussed novel indeed. Unfortunately, the main burden of the plot is the evil and underhanded way in which Enid Sanford, daughter of the nefarious Blaise (already familiar to readers of the previous two books), and sister to the protagonist, Peter Sanford, is sacrificed to the political ambitions of her husband, a JFK-clone called Clay Overbury.<br />
<br />
The absence of Caroline Sanford from the narrative is due to the fact that she had not yet been invented when Vidal wrote it. In his introduction to the 1994 reissue of <i>1876</i>, however, he reassures us that:
<blockquote>Now I have rewritten <i>Washington, D.C.</i>, the summing-up novel, in order to bring together all the strands of the story.<div style="text-align: center;">
- Gore Vidal, "Narratives of a Golden Age." <i>1876: A Novel</i>. 1977. London: Abacus, 1994. vii-xii.</div></blockquote>
I was interested to check just how substantive this "rewriting" of the earlier novel was. Comparing my 1976 paperback to one published in 2000, I could find only two substantive new passages. The first, in chapter one, involved a more detailed account of Peter's genealogy, based on the events of the earlier books. The second, in chapter seven, involves a two-page exposition of just <i>how</i> their family is related to Aaron Burr, another subject intensively canvassed in <i>Burr</i> and <i>1876</i>.<br />
<br />
Beyond this, it's hard to see any really significant difference between the two texts. <i>Washington, D.C.</i> is largely a morality tale: a denunciation of the inevitable compromises involved in political advancement. Enid, however, is so poisonously mendacious and self-destructive a drunk, and Peter so pompous a prig, that it's hard to see them as constituting much of a moral centre to the narrative. As a whole, it lacks the more nuanced and complex picture of human relationships familiar to us from the earlier (or should I say later?) books in the series.<br />
<br />
Perhaps it's just a question of what one expects from it, though. In his own online essay "<a href="https://sites.pitt.edu/~kloman/chronicles.html">Gore Vidal's American Chronicles: 1967-2000</a>" (2005), Harry Kloman explains that:
<blockquote>With the appearance of <i>The Golden Age</i> in 2000, <i>Washington, D.C.</i> no longer stands as the closing volume in the Chronicles. Nonetheless, it remains unique among the seven books, arguably the best, and surely - with its introspective look at Washington politics, revealed through the experiences of Vidal's provocative fictional creations - the most intimate and original.</blockquote>
I can't really agree, but it's certainly interesting to read an alternate view on the subject. The trouble is, the more vindictive and self-righteous Peter and his band of buddies became, the more I found myself sympathising with the undeniably dynamic, if a little too morally pliable, Clay Overbury.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkVVWJdLBQafno-vDt8_XBMATDF0GvCqDnwCn0QN4q4KgAuXVhlcxFWRvzPVB6Xg8o8j2P_QnqfXW9qLHwCTC3sFNcuzrEvC7STqIDBtuULD67Xf4GrZUwcz5jjIdi9MpqWGs7smg1HRCQ3WTuyp5wxMp2uB3Xnh_xlupb0hfTuyDBLzP2gA/s1000/washington-d-c-gore-vidal-first-edition-signed-1967-rare.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkVVWJdLBQafno-vDt8_XBMATDF0GvCqDnwCn0QN4q4KgAuXVhlcxFWRvzPVB6Xg8o8j2P_QnqfXW9qLHwCTC3sFNcuzrEvC7STqIDBtuULD67Xf4GrZUwcz5jjIdi9MpqWGs7smg1HRCQ3WTuyp5wxMp2uB3Xnh_xlupb0hfTuyDBLzP2gA/s400/washington-d-c-gore-vidal-first-edition-signed-1967-rare.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/washington-d-c-gore-vidal-first-edition-signed-1967-rare/">Washington, D. C.</a> (1967)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8iOmIQAQqH7VcRCGuv9synGRIZ7rhjl5y2OqwHs5qik5gMsOnR5d3-9i8KzCdIbenEG-hfkiCa5CmRVWoBVtN7yMUTOAWmoD2qPkia8XSw0phglmTJ1ODOpWxSWlemwItjJFdYcSLHBK9lV4CG62ytarRQHk0i2QyUIY7WncTiXRpsguyw/s400/9780375724817.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8iOmIQAQqH7VcRCGuv9synGRIZ7rhjl5y2OqwHs5qik5gMsOnR5d3-9i8KzCdIbenEG-hfkiCa5CmRVWoBVtN7yMUTOAWmoD2qPkia8XSw0phglmTJ1ODOpWxSWlemwItjJFdYcSLHBK9lV4CG62ytarRQHk0i2QyUIY7WncTiXRpsguyw/s600/9780375724817.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://www.paperplus.co.nz/shop/books/the-golden-age-712429">The Golden Age</a> (2000)</span><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn7">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/06/gore-vidal-narratives-of-empire.html#_ftn7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>The Golden Age</b></span></a></div></div>
<br />
Which brings us to <i>The Golden Age</i>. I wish I could see this as the triumphant culmination of Vidal's immense fictional design it was clearly meant to be.<br />
<br />
And, yes, it begins well, with Caroline Sanford's return to America after twenty-odd years in France, and her gradual reintroduction to the new realities of the Franklin - rather than Theodore - Roosevelt era.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately she dies halfway through, which leaves us with her self-satisfied nephew Peter as cicerone to the distinct lack of action which distinguishes the rest of the book.<br />
<br />
There's a great deal of noise about the old canard that Roosevelt deliberately provoked the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbour. There are a lot of cheap shots at his successor, Truman. There are even some perfunctory attempts at metafiction when Vidal introduces himself (both young <i>and</i> old) as a character in the narrative.<br />
<br />
But there's none of the old zest, the sense of being in the hands of an immensely knowing and well-informed fictional prestidigitator. Tiresome factual glitches and even downright errors disfigure the pages: Churchill is described as a major player at the post-war Potsdam conference whereas he was actually replaced by his successor Clement Attlee early in the discussions; Clay Overbury has to share the stage with his presumed original, the <i>real</i> JFK (Vidal gets out of this one by having Clay die in a plane crash, which it's hinted may have been arranged by Peter!) ...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCE279BAN4sgJIWCa2Fr581wjxb5q5rqPUWOrDwVQ9reTUAN6G0JquRmJzET5kAuKmTZT9SpKC2HhqtwJ9uwV0TgtH-8wVU3vHl7ganSjUWmHW8LwTzKPOOqaomFxgOzc7r6hw1cv067NuUr06eTHJVMk21UNZaTXevclHcl9h3s-jYw62ZA/s300/The_Last_Post_%28Ford_Madox_Ford_novel%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCE279BAN4sgJIWCa2Fr581wjxb5q5rqPUWOrDwVQ9reTUAN6G0JquRmJzET5kAuKmTZT9SpKC2HhqtwJ9uwV0TgtH-8wVU3vHl7ganSjUWmHW8LwTzKPOOqaomFxgOzc7r6hw1cv067NuUr06eTHJVMk21UNZaTXevclHcl9h3s-jYw62ZA/s600/The_Last_Post_%28Ford_Madox_Ford_novel%29.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ford Madox Ford: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Post_%28novel%29">Last Post</a> (1928)</span></div><br />
<br />
Vidal ends up sounding more and more like a tiresome old conspiracy theorist, and so tendentious are some of his readings of the Second World War and its aftermath that it has the effect of casting doubt on many of his earlier interpretations of "received" history. Was he just a blustering fantasist all the time? It would be a shame to have to think so.<br />
<br />
No, like <i>Last Post</i>, that thoroughly dispensable final part of Ford Madox Ford's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parade%27s_End"><i>Parade's End</i></a> sequence, one would probably be better off not reading this one at all. Or certainly not <i>re</i>reading it. For all its chronological and thematic difficulties, it's best to continue to regard <i>Washington D.C.</i> as the last link in his fictional tapestry.<br />
<br />
At least, that's what I would have advised Stu Redman, as he lay in his bivouac under the ruined interstate highway. Of course, given it was his version of 1990 at the time, he had little choice in the matter - but he was certainly fortunate that <i>Hollywood</i> would have just appeared to distract him from his seemingly desperate plight!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTzgvCc_H8QHUV6z-1baKonqyuKzV9kDL1opn_bVzsw5OfQfdMWPyo5HF_AUvewgxViWe3LPCTk7uMq4nDdDrVZ7z1WJvmAb7aChJT_DT7W6znrklF6vh-G_KmOjU2Rey91REQvpUXV6vwCUIOqmMN0qd_zesNTyTy1Ts6-fZpyGwQk-Tpg/s1000/61cpWOfBJWL.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="633" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTzgvCc_H8QHUV6z-1baKonqyuKzV9kDL1opn_bVzsw5OfQfdMWPyo5HF_AUvewgxViWe3LPCTk7uMq4nDdDrVZ7z1WJvmAb7aChJT_DT7W6znrklF6vh-G_KmOjU2Rey91REQvpUXV6vwCUIOqmMN0qd_zesNTyTy1Ts6-fZpyGwQk-Tpg/s600/61cpWOfBJWL.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Palimpsest-Memoir-Gore-Vidal/dp/0349108005">Palimpsest: A Memoir</a> (1995)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFqyzrDJ5jQmmekprD9Lm14EEZ7gmIMtW3S67pIMFeJQ6ZYXCYs4TUfE6Oc9Yc7iRsi_v3YwRu4ZY993Dv9TEtgKCwESNGZn4fQ1IeombmZ_sxxzpFqfZliOdVZYfbkC5CfVvi_hS-lsImrF2X1Ua8dwGrl5iPBUtqfGnOONfy_TLJS2Xcw/s594/440px-GoreVidalVanVechten1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFqyzrDJ5jQmmekprD9Lm14EEZ7gmIMtW3S67pIMFeJQ6ZYXCYs4TUfE6Oc9Yc7iRsi_v3YwRu4ZY993Dv9TEtgKCwESNGZn4fQ1IeombmZ_sxxzpFqfZliOdVZYfbkC5CfVvi_hS-lsImrF2X1Ua8dwGrl5iPBUtqfGnOONfy_TLJS2Xcw/s600/440px-GoreVidalVanVechten1.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal">Gore Vidal</a> (1948)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Eugene Luther Gore Vidal</b></span><br />
(1925-2012)</div><br />
<br />
<ol>
<b>Novels:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Williwaw</i> (1946)</li>
<li><i>In a Yellow Wood </i>(1947)</li>
<li><i>The City and the Pillar</i> (1948)</li>
<li><i>The Season of Comfort</i> (1949)</li>
<li><i>A Search for the King</i> (1950)</li>
<li><i>Dark Green, Bright Red</i> (1950)</li>
<li>[as Katherine Everard] <i>A Star's Progress</i> [aka <i>Cry Shame!</i>] (1950)</li>
<li><i>The Judgment of Paris</i> (1952)</li>
<li>[as Edgar Box] <i>Death in the Fifth Position</i> (1952)</li>
<li>[as Cameron Kay] <i>Thieves Fall Out</i> (1953)</li>
<li>[as Edgar Box] <i>Death Before Bedtime</i> (1953)</li>
<li>[as Edgar Box] <i>Death Likes It Hot</i> (1954)</li>
<li><i>Messiah</i> (1954)</li>
<li><i>Julian</i> (1964)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Julian</span>. 1962. Panther Books Ltd. Frogmore, St Albans, Herts: Granada Publishing Limited, 1972.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Washington, D.C.</i> [Narratives of Empire, 6] (1967)<ul>
<li><b><i>Washington, D.C.</i> 1967. Panther Books Ltd. Frogmore, St Albans, Herts: Granada Publishing Limited, 1976.</b></li>
<li><b><i>Washington, D.C.</i> 1967. Narratives of Empire. Vintage. New York: Random House, Inc., 2000.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Myra Breckinridge</i> (1968)</li>
<li><i>Two Sisters</i> (1970)</li>
<li><i>Burr</i> [Narratives of Empire, 1] (1973)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Burr</span>. 1973. Panther Books Ltd. Frogmore, St Albans, Herts: Granada Publishing Limited, 1974.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Myron</i> (1974)</li>
<li><i>1876</i> [Narratives of Empire, 3] (1976)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">1876</span>. 1976. Narratives of a Golden Age. An Abacus Book. London: Little, Brown and Company (UK) Limited, 1994.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Kalki</i> (1978)</li>
<li><i>Three by Box: The Complete Mysteries of Edgar Box</i> (1978)</li>
<li><i>Creation</i> (1981)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Creation: A Novel</span>. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1981.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Duluth</i> (1983)</li>
<li><i>Lincoln</i> [Narratives of Empire, 2] (1984)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Lincoln</span>. 1984. Panther Books. London: Granada Publishing Ltd., 1985.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Empire</i> [Narratives of Empire, 4] (1987)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Empire</span>. 1987. Grafton Books. London: Collins Publishing Group, 1989.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Hollywood</i> [Narratives of Empire, 5] (1990)<ul>
<li><b><i>Hollywood: A Novel of America in the 1920s</i>. 1990. Narratives of Empire. Vintage. New York: Random House, Inc., 2000.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Live From Golgotha</i> (1992)</li>
<li><i>The Smithsonian Institution</i> (1998)</li>
<li><i>The Golden Age</i> [Narratives of Empire, 7] (2000)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Golden Age</span>. 2000. Narratives of Empire. An Abacus Book. London: Little, Brown and Company (UK), 2001.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<br />
<b>Stories:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>A Thirsty Evil</i> (1956)</li>
<li><i>Clouds and Eclipses: The Collected Short Stories</i> (2006)</li>
<br />
<b>Plays:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Visit to a Small Planet</i> (1957)</li>
<li><i>The Best Man</i> (1960)</li>
<li><i>On the March to the Sea</i> (1960–61 / 2004)</li>
<li><i>Romulus</i> [adapted from Friedrich Dürrenmatt's <i>Romulus der Große</i> (1950)] (1962)</li>
<li><i>Weekend</i> (1968)</li>
<li><i>Drawing Room Comedy</i> (1970)</li>
<li><i>An Evening with Richard Nixon</i> (1970)</li>
<br />
<b>Screenplays:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Climax!: A Farewell to Arms</i> [TV adaptation] (1955)</li>
<li><i>Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde</i> [TV adaptation] (1955)</li>
<li><i>The Best of Broadway</i> [TV adaptation of <i>Stage Door</i>] (1955)</li>
<li><i>The Catered Affair</i> (1956)</li>
<li><i>I Accuse!</i> (1958)</li>
<li><i>The Left Handed Gun</i> (1958)</li>
<li><i>The Scapegoat</i> (1959)</li>
<li><i>Ben Hur</i> (1959)</li>
<li><i>Suddenly Last Summer</i> (1959)</li>
<li><i>The Best Man</i> (1964)</li>
<li><i>Is Paris Burning?</i> (1966)</li>
<li><i>Last of the Mobile Hot Shots</i> (1970)</li>
<li><i>Caligula</i> (1979)</li>
<li><i>Dress Gray</i> (1986)</li>
<li><i>The Sicilian</i> (1987)</li>
<li><i>Billy the Kid</i> (1989)</li>
<li><i>Dimenticare Palermo</i> (1989)</li>
<br />
<b>Non-fiction:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Rocking the Boat</i> (1963)</li>
<li><i>Reflections Upon a Sinking Ship</i> (1969)</li>
<li><i>Sex, Death and Money</i> (1969)</li>
<li><i>Homage to Daniel Shays: Collected Essays, 1952–1972</i> (1972)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">On Our Own Now: Collected Essays 1952-1972</span>. 1974. Panther Books Ltd. Frogmore, St Albans, Herts: Granada Publishing Limited, 1976.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Matters of Fact and of Fiction</i> (1977)</li>
<li><i>Sex is Politics and Vice Versa</i> [Limited edition] (1979)</li>
<li>[Ed.] <i>Views from a Window</i> (1981)</li>
<li><i>The Second American Revolution</i> (1983)</li>
<li><i>Vidal In Venice</i> (1985)</li>
<li><i>Armageddon?</i> [UK only] (1987)</li>
<li><i>At Home</i> (1988)</li>
<li><i>A View From The Diner's Club</i> [UK only] (1991)</li>
<li><i>Screening History</i> (1992)</li>
<li><i>Decline and Fall of the American Empire</i> (1992)</li>
<li><i>United States: Essays 1952–1992</i> (1993)</li>
<li><i>Palimpsest: A Memoir</i> (1995)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Palimpsest: A Memoir</span>. 1995. An Abacus Book. London: Little, Brown and Company (UK), 1996.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Virgin Islands</i> [UK only] (1997)</li>
<li><i>The American Presidency</i> (1998)</li>
<li><i>Sexually Speaking: Collected Sex Writings</i> (1999)</li>
<li><i>The Essential Gore Vidal</i>. Ed. Fred Kaplan (1999)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Essential Gore Vidal</span>. Ed. Fred Kaplan. 1999. An Abacus Book. London: Little, Brown and Company (UK), 2000.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Last Empire: Essays 1992–2000</i> (2001)</li>
<li><i>Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace or How We Came To Be So Hated</i> (2002)</li>
<li><i>Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta</i> (2002)</li>
<li><i>Inventing a Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson</i> (2003)</li>
<li><i>Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia</i> (2004) </li>
<li><i>Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir</i> (2006)</li>
<li><i>The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal</i> (2008)</li>
<li><i>Gore Vidal: Snapshots in History's Glare</i> (2009)</li>
<li><i>I Told You So: Gore Vidal Talks Politics: Interviews with Jon Wiener</i> (2013)</li>
<li><i>History of the National Security State</i>. Introduction by Paul Jay (2014)</li>
<li><i>Buckley vs. Vidal: The Historic 1968 ABC News Debates</i> (2015)</li>
<br />
<b>Secondary:</b><br />
<br />
<li>Parini, Jay. <i>Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal</i> (2015)</li>
</ol>
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">•</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrrS2zsNHNpmnHTX6hcZeiLKdZ8XL4X-MzwXLFTHZXIzhbhqsfbVm9M_BlbZDT_8B0mSR2SL-dlC01ATjzAvVCEEwm9pdY0463kcKOEpphAKR3qG_dIA2cwpz_SvjAI0TyaOsVwMXBbDZPisG_npiaJuDyeNir0ZpMveWEYskNVYgB4AFkGw/s1000/512xY7X-kCL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="672" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrrS2zsNHNpmnHTX6hcZeiLKdZ8XL4X-MzwXLFTHZXIzhbhqsfbVm9M_BlbZDT_8B0mSR2SL-dlC01ATjzAvVCEEwm9pdY0463kcKOEpphAKR3qG_dIA2cwpz_SvjAI0TyaOsVwMXBbDZPisG_npiaJuDyeNir0ZpMveWEYskNVYgB4AFkGw/s600/512xY7X-kCL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Gore Vidal: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/United-States-1952-1992-Gore-Vidal/dp/0679414894">United States</a> (1993)</span></div><br />
<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-36040422453465214652023-06-19T08:15:00.001+12:002023-06-19T08:15:55.451+12:00James Baldwin: The Fire Next Time<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsaMxz1qTR01eHiriDdauQUz-aFbfvJqPNMCO2OXNWPPp9XSIH-ZHOB9CC3DFufwlog1H4dr-H22Jf2lk7J7pWpu6zqLJqUuIfl9DBt9Jjm7TXFH4S-jswwTi70DmVeMnmNIMdLjR0BcASiK9ikAr0cy5rlzP9X-DI0iI8zgQrmHL6zrQPag/s3015/James_Baldwin_37_Allan_Warren_%28cropped%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="3015" data-original-width="2255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsaMxz1qTR01eHiriDdauQUz-aFbfvJqPNMCO2OXNWPPp9XSIH-ZHOB9CC3DFufwlog1H4dr-H22Jf2lk7J7pWpu6zqLJqUuIfl9DBt9Jjm7TXFH4S-jswwTi70DmVeMnmNIMdLjR0BcASiK9ikAr0cy5rlzP9X-DI0iI8zgQrmHL6zrQPag/s600/James_Baldwin_37_Allan_Warren_%28cropped%29.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Allen Warren: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin">James Baldwin</a> (1969)</span></div><br />
<blockquote><blockquote>God gave Noah the rainbow sign,<br />
No more water, the fire next time!<div style="text-align: center;">
- "<a href="https://genius.com/Traditional-oh-mary-dont-you-weep-lyrics">Mary Don't You Weep</a>" (traditional)</div></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
<br />
There's an interesting passage in Charlton Heston's autobiography where he discusses working with James Baldwin on the wording of a statement on civil rights to be read out before Martin Luther King's famous March on Washington in August, 1963.
<blockquote>
Some of us in the film community decided to organize a group from the arts ... Burt Lancaster, Jim Garner, Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, and several others. Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte signed on, but we had no other prominent black performers. You can figure out for yourself who should have been there and wasn't ...<br />
<br />
Our job was to get as much ink and TV time as possible. Each of the better known actors had a different media statement. ... They asked me if it was OK for James Baldwin to write my statement; he was a famous black writer, he'd flown over from Paris to join us, and he wanted to make a contribution.<br />
<br />
I wasn't crazy about the idea, as a matter of fact. Anything that goes out with my name on it, I write. I always have. Besides, Jimmy Baldwin was on the left fringe of the civil rights movement. <i>The Fire Next Time</i> was the title of his best-known book. I don't know how Dr. King felt about him being there. But the point is, he <i>was</i> there. When an awful lot of good parlor liberals didn't show in case things turned nasty, Jimmy did.<br />
<br />
What's more, as a good writer, the speech he wrote for me wasn't what he would've written, but instead very close to what I wanted to say. My only encounter with Jimmy Baldwin was that one meeting, which lasted those few hours. We'd both travelled some little distance to come together, though, as so many hundreds of thousands of people did that day. He died years later in self-imposed exile in Paris. God rest him.
<div style="text-align: center;">- Charlton Heston, <i>In the Arena: The Autobiography</i> (1995): 315-16.</div></blockquote>
I guess, on the fact of it, it's hard to imagine an odder pairing. On the <i>right</i> we have the five-term president of the NRA and unrepentant apologist for second amendment rights, whose gun - as he often specified - could only be taken from "his cold, dead hand"; on the <i>left</i>, the "fringe" civil rights activist (with a Jamesian prose style) pictured above, James Baldwin.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnCCzkZ2sYbdiuRVS6Qp1Wu9u5UVOZUN54S-QylYcUIA8enKSyvaEnVsS20xLtkCtyjEn-YwS_xzF2eqHTV4tnguFnghyzj3dVzfAPjIrimVP8XxzvsLUpUrunPSXbKKq_lp-cS-gInSzGa--avEhUXrurlR7aEGrf17J2P1RXCQDZT1n_8Q/s1000/51ahXhcXdWL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="653" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnCCzkZ2sYbdiuRVS6Qp1Wu9u5UVOZUN54S-QylYcUIA8enKSyvaEnVsS20xLtkCtyjEn-YwS_xzF2eqHTV4tnguFnghyzj3dVzfAPjIrimVP8XxzvsLUpUrunPSXbKKq_lp-cS-gInSzGa--avEhUXrurlR7aEGrf17J2P1RXCQDZT1n_8Q/s600/51ahXhcXdWL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Charlton Heston: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arena-Autobiography-Charlton-Heston/dp/0006387772">In the Arena</a> (1995)</span></div>
<br />
<br />
Truth be told, it's probably too odd a juxtaposition to make much sense. One doubts that Heston had actually read <i>The Fire Next Time</i>, as he clearly interprets its actually rather equivocal title as some kind of incitement along the lines of "Burn, Baby, Burn". He seems to have been left with kindly feelings for Baldwin, though, despite their obvious differences. Heston's shift to the extreme right was, in any case, mostly in the future at this stage.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBsi_A2EL1crb7AGNr5GRKwWgDFkQz4XGG6jsgtcqrbJ7Lv8En4mxDQviFnBKZ279v-hnR2cUMz5mCu-T4hz2NBDmEneQ17gw6TTEMt78SycwrZ34Ee2jB4XReBr1eukjbiSBObukXv8IzcM9UeVBR7gPuiAJvgWyXORJH9zddlrKtjM6bw/s426/philtruthreshing.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBsi_A2EL1crb7AGNr5GRKwWgDFkQz4XGG6jsgtcqrbJ7Lv8En4mxDQviFnBKZ279v-hnR2cUMz5mCu-T4hz2NBDmEneQ17gw6TTEMt78SycwrZ34Ee2jB4XReBr1eukjbiSBObukXv8IzcM9UeVBR7gPuiAJvgWyXORJH9zddlrKtjM6bw/s600/philtruthreshing.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Jay Presson Allen / James William Ijames: <a href="https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/philly/phil117.html">Capote / Baldwin</a> (2010)</span></div>
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<br />
A more fruitful comparison could perhaps be made with <a href="http://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2022/12/capote-in-kansas.html">Truman Capote</a>, whom I wrote about in a previous post.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM25YBDufK50iyf6ajAz4klSYCSvPb5t8ScypwvjOskjWn8DHpPk7B8YaA58qwIAeP3d4tHW02AsxphmUym9Bl8JTzFqW_biu6S1B0e-bCnKwGZyinb5F0NETNBedRNft9XLKFD2GDS3hrbXRmOcsfseEgTdwSYTc8mTsOl4In1fGSvHGrig/s2048/DVo7N1CWsAA56RI.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM25YBDufK50iyf6ajAz4klSYCSvPb5t8ScypwvjOskjWn8DHpPk7B8YaA58qwIAeP3d4tHW02AsxphmUym9Bl8JTzFqW_biu6S1B0e-bCnKwGZyinb5F0NETNBedRNft9XLKFD2GDS3hrbXRmOcsfseEgTdwSYTc8mTsOl4In1fGSvHGrig/s400/DVo7N1CWsAA56RI.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Toni Morrison, ed.: <a href="https://twitter.com/thetedallen/status/962146581377159168">James Baldwin</a> (1998)</span></div><br />
<br />
Capote and Baldwin were born in the same year, 1924. They were both gay. One was a white Southerner, the other a black Northerner. Both were probably more celebrated for their non-fictional prose than for their fiction: Capote for <i>In Cold Blood</i> (1965), Baldwin for <i>The Fire Next Time</i> (1963) and other hard-hitting essays about race in America. Both died in their sixties, comparatively young: Capote in 1984, Baldwin in 1987.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvpJWMVPVYgwltBMilTqMA9fw4UDM3UWkaELnYtdc1DfR9PlYPICEd0WcBUlJn3yl0hitaSFyMEhVQh6O_Txo6_iJHo5R8mcg-oReD_uqL7023b1Thg1xI-x2MJ7_LuHkd07CQBZAk36GQs60fc-oAIVLbVfRbDVPmOsvHCvnuJifOB7YkQ/s260/150814_baldwin_filmlinc_TN_NEW.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvpJWMVPVYgwltBMilTqMA9fw4UDM3UWkaELnYtdc1DfR9PlYPICEd0WcBUlJn3yl0hitaSFyMEhVQh6O_Txo6_iJHo5R8mcg-oReD_uqL7023b1Thg1xI-x2MJ7_LuHkd07CQBZAk36GQs60fc-oAIVLbVfRbDVPmOsvHCvnuJifOB7YkQ/s400/150814_baldwin_filmlinc_TN_NEW.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/E42/library-of-america-james-baldwin-edition">James Baldwin Postage Stamp</a> (2004)</span></div><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.randomhousebooks.com/books/7745/">Michael Ondaatje</a> once claimed: “If Van Gogh was our nineteenth century artist-saint, James Baldwin is our twentieth century one.” Such statements can be more intimidating than they are enlightening. They seem to put Baldwin beyond any purely literary judgement, as if his status as a prophet or "artist-saint" were more important than his innate talent and gift for language.<br />
<br />
I'm sure that Ondaatje had no such intention, but just as the otherworldly mantle which has descended upon Holocaust poet <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2011/09/collecting-paul-celan.html">Paul Celan</a> makes it increasingly difficult to judge him purely <i>as</i> a poet, so Baldwin has somehow escaped the realm of criticism - which would be fine if it didn't also entail an escape from being considered <i>readable</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQWIscJGYvm02ZpwnCuTeuBOYvTSqL_FPpzYUyJTi1XyYr9Pz8tIq2_-4G3l3bnBE119iVNsFS3mS5Wq9DnWG5wljut7W6r6qgK7Cp3l0eFODuInC4IptsOHKLWDs97_9PLkFWmmHleTyb2bTxfqCmjXPeyYSNs_hT-UkZRQnd5yIM6dSdQ/s2000/down-at-the-cross-12208_a_1_2237_front_cover.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQWIscJGYvm02ZpwnCuTeuBOYvTSqL_FPpzYUyJTi1XyYr9Pz8tIq2_-4G3l3bnBE119iVNsFS3mS5Wq9DnWG5wljut7W6r6qgK7Cp3l0eFODuInC4IptsOHKLWDs97_9PLkFWmmHleTyb2bTxfqCmjXPeyYSNs_hT-UkZRQnd5yIM6dSdQ/s600/down-at-the-cross-12208_a_1_2237_front_cover.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">James Baldwin: <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-fire-next-time-by-james-baldwin">The Fire Next Time</a> (1963)</span></div><br />
<br />
Like Chuck Heston, I too must confess to having been put off when I was younger by the title and packaging of Baldwin's most famous book-length essay, <i>The Fire Next Time</i>. Now it looks to me like a striking piece of sixties book-design, with a charming cover photograph and a bold choice of font. When I looked at it as a teenager, though, it looked dauntingly political. I had no idea, back then, of the wonderful interweaving of the personal and the philosophical which distinguishes almost all of Baldwin's non-fictional writings.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYs6gKGhznry5PP2NKa-zGRBawUlX8QsQeaPNj0lImB11eT0m0ogHgngcilWZ9iBwmev7YxBelpIkFCx96haJtVd79MLernyHLWZIKCbax7rtbqUk99qRnfcMkKC9Zb6Pj-zjQr0bYPuhJyaRIU8Dcvisfc8zBQsTby3jrGxyg14PWxEYDlA/s2342/9780141185439.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2342" data-original-width="1521" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYs6gKGhznry5PP2NKa-zGRBawUlX8QsQeaPNj0lImB11eT0m0ogHgngcilWZ9iBwmev7YxBelpIkFCx96haJtVd79MLernyHLWZIKCbax7rtbqUk99qRnfcMkKC9Zb6Pj-zjQr0bYPuhJyaRIU8Dcvisfc8zBQsTby3jrGxyg14PWxEYDlA/s600/9780141185439.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Alex Haley: <a href="https://www.penguin.co.nz/books/the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x-9780141185439">The Autobiography of Malcolm X</a> (1965)</span></div><br />
<br />
It wasn't, in fact, until some years later, when an angry (and - let's face it - somewhat stoned) friend informed me that anyone who hadn't read <i>The Autobiography of Malcolm X</i> could not consider themselves educated that I tried to redress this bias. And it <i>is</i> a wonderfully gripping read. Whether this can be attributed primarily to Alex Haley or to Malcolm himself is an interesting question, but the answer is largely immaterial. The vividness and narrative drive of the book itself never flags.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnbUI9uURYE90Fjq72rWxUdofO2hTzan1_hb_ILBIksSPgIk37S3a6M-HSGKNlqQyfcbx__vrXCgSMf-XBH21ce5kMkGSzstsztd5LDVTkl0nq6y1ndN5pk84IHw6YFREbAgln9878NZyl_bBuj775Qs7OHt1hxsCA328HOL5edYgSZ4fGCA/s2400/91+cAg0E0xL.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1558" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnbUI9uURYE90Fjq72rWxUdofO2hTzan1_hb_ILBIksSPgIk37S3a6M-HSGKNlqQyfcbx__vrXCgSMf-XBH21ce5kMkGSzstsztd5LDVTkl0nq6y1ndN5pk84IHw6YFREbAgln9878NZyl_bBuj775Qs7OHt1hxsCA328HOL5edYgSZ4fGCA/s600/91+cAg0E0xL.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">James Baldwin: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-When-Lost-Autobiography-International/dp/0307275949">One Day, When I Was Lost: A Scenario based on <i>The Autobiography of Malcolm X</i></a> (1972)</span></div><br />
<br />
Given the prejudices of the time, it's perhaps no surprise that the 'Malcolm X' feature film script James Baldwin was commissioned to write in the late 1960s never actually reached the screen. It would not be till 1992, when Spike Lee undertook the task, that a Malcolm X bio-pic would actually seem possible.<br />
<br />
Baldwin's script is a fine piece of writing in itself, but by the time I finally got round to reading it I'd already begun to get acquainted with Toni Morrison's edition of his <i>Collected Essays</i>, published in the canonical Library of America series in the late 1990s. The Auckland public library had a copy, which I took out repeatedly before ordering one of my own so I could read it from cover to cover, chronologically, rather than coninuing to dip into it piecemeal.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIY--6QxwHbTqN2Pczlr27KMtKbneArWuhNiql1rcK9ZHN1UXvBNUpSqFpKy-tUyRoSkJmcKM1Hqn8GSHAxaJQWFVeP_JxWIO2akdWYTYOHHBs2tWqMoeiHu27WefdqWeiqIyx06bZgUeo0LyE8h2d68lRZrM2okquYQsbO3a5VUp_6qxUaw/s505/series-E42-triad.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="505" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIY--6QxwHbTqN2Pczlr27KMtKbneArWuhNiql1rcK9ZHN1UXvBNUpSqFpKy-tUyRoSkJmcKM1Hqn8GSHAxaJQWFVeP_JxWIO2akdWYTYOHHBs2tWqMoeiHu27WefdqWeiqIyx06bZgUeo0LyE8h2d68lRZrM2okquYQsbO3a5VUp_6qxUaw/s400/series-E42-triad.png"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Library of America: <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/E42/library-of-america-james-baldwin-edition">James Baldwin Edition</a> (1998 & 2015)</span></div><br />
<br />
There's never been much doubt cast on the merits of his work as an essayist (except possibly by the victims of some of his earlier critical pieces). <i>The Devil Finds Work</i>, his intensely autobiographical meditation on Hollywood movies, is perhaps the most accessible and revealing of the separate book-length essays, but really you could start with any one of them. Even Truman Capote was forced to acknowledge the power and drive of his non-fiction.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOq3gCNDuQxirVaJUnkSQiqdNOgXXRPzTyiEPznz5ZPIVDYddVXpHd3TlQxv1sdiyKbgnQwz_kYXVMWBUdyZLH2B7nNeTWj4rMk7I2q_5oJQOhp2UftnoHuDmSGBbZhmwQeEvZSs0NaGQNmsd4_MuOBpfyhqrFbfU3xxdrPy-Tst-6AgAFw/s1000/81EV8DVo0qL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="707" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOq3gCNDuQxirVaJUnkSQiqdNOgXXRPzTyiEPznz5ZPIVDYddVXpHd3TlQxv1sdiyKbgnQwz_kYXVMWBUdyZLH2B7nNeTWj4rMk7I2q_5oJQOhp2UftnoHuDmSGBbZhmwQeEvZSs0NaGQNmsd4_MuOBpfyhqrFbfU3xxdrPy-Tst-6AgAFw/s600/81EV8DVo0qL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Bennett Miller, dir.: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Capote-Jr-Clifton-Collins/dp/B00979KQL8">Capote</a> (2005)</span></div><br />
<br />
When it comes to his <i>fiction</i>, however, the response is more mixed. Here's a quote from the movie <a href="https://www.quotes.net/mquote/983864"><i>Capote</i></a>, inspired by Gerald Clarke's 1988 biography:
<blockquote>
<b>Truman Capote:</b><br />
I had lunch with Jimmy Baldwin the other day.<br />
<br />
<b>Party date:</b><br />
How is he?<br />
<br />
<b>Truman Capote:</b><br />
He's lovely, he's a lovely man. And he told me the plot of his new book. And he said, "I just wanted to make sure it's not one of those problem novels," you know. And I said, "Jimmy. Your book is about a Negro homosexual who's in love with a Jew. Wouldn't you call that a problem?"</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJjmIONC7CtDa3YRFnN6jjAH-2ShiF4-gerBzvoabylR0Iw_ewW4tulyqPs4l9q28cJHkjvbgBCXksTOJkc9s74sZYAYk_EcYFlH9lGIcrCMMCC9FwsTU_v_Lq8uEJEjvdYBDE42HHbic_RY7oo5hWDOeYcbfsV8Pk4Gk7_kwvQzbto84JUw/s3000/MV5BZWVkMzY5NzgtMTdlNS00NjY5LThjOTktZWFkNDU3NmQzMDIwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODk2NDQ3MTA@._V1_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2025" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJjmIONC7CtDa3YRFnN6jjAH-2ShiF4-gerBzvoabylR0Iw_ewW4tulyqPs4l9q28cJHkjvbgBCXksTOJkc9s74sZYAYk_EcYFlH9lGIcrCMMCC9FwsTU_v_Lq8uEJEjvdYBDE42HHbic_RY7oo5hWDOeYcbfsV8Pk4Gk7_kwvQzbto84JUw/s600/MV5BZWVkMzY5NzgtMTdlNS00NjY5LThjOTktZWFkNDU3NmQzMDIwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODk2NDQ3MTA@._V1_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Barry Jenkins, dir.: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7125860/">If Beale Street Could Talk</a> (2018)</span></div><br />
<br />
On the other hand, the 2018 movie <i>If Beale Street Could Talk</i>, based on his penultimate novel, got rave reviews. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/10/if-beale-street-could-talk-review-barry-jenkins-james-baldwin">One critic</a> described it as "a terrific film, as sinewy as it is sensuous, interweaving stark social-realist themes of prejudice, oppression and imprisonment with a poetic evocation of love, loss and, ultimately, transcendence."
<blockquote>
“Every black person born in America was born on Beale Street,” states the opening quotation from Baldwin, citing “the impossibility and the possibility, the absolute necessity, to give expression to this legacy”.</blockquote>
The point is, perhaps, that there will always be another Baldwin to discover alongside the activist. The enduring value of his work will depend on the subtlety and emotional truth of his fiction just as much as it does on the continuing cogency of his political message.<br />
<br />
There's no denying his status as one of the finest prose stylists in American literature. The point is that this doubling of the self means that his work remains alive and relevant in a way that cannot honestly be claimed for Capote, Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal or indeed most of his more media-friendly contemporaries.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbAJ_qqqwnNLwWUnjCA-ht_FuDuPfHLBLPsVnfwM06Es4sgE0fj-H-bEgPQOmL_NSs3OEbtqnZaNsAVT1vvpSbQ9E3LVHZa_RffAMVqbLD69sRQ3BiYy3ZShqZy-mYD13DuvPfwLwjRdusoTMt4B60RW2yK7JLEyVuFw5awPJoCKlYn-_PSg/s1772/MV5BZDYwYzgyM2QtNGFhNC00ODgxLWFjYmItMTZmMWQzNDJlNWQxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA4NjE0NjEy._V1_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1772" data-original-width="1251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbAJ_qqqwnNLwWUnjCA-ht_FuDuPfHLBLPsVnfwM06Es4sgE0fj-H-bEgPQOmL_NSs3OEbtqnZaNsAVT1vvpSbQ9E3LVHZa_RffAMVqbLD69sRQ3BiYy3ZShqZy-mYD13DuvPfwLwjRdusoTMt4B60RW2yK7JLEyVuFw5awPJoCKlYn-_PSg/s600/MV5BZDYwYzgyM2QtNGFhNC00ODgxLWFjYmItMTZmMWQzNDJlNWQxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA4NjE0NjEy._V1_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Raoul Peck, dir.: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5804038/">I Am Not Your Negro</a> (2016)</span></div><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">•</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm8h2lC89QRvACy0LZ-FL20UO30N5aBQ166St9zqhVrEjrB4DxfScWs3VZi-vNFwp7TjzoeHi1oHMGMaWIHMSprAdr91V1TP83xW1wAegFl7Kzznydu0ipoM60_x5swrWu3GbGncaxNFHkARRWT8a-Ib2UIo09BxcfISsad6Uk-LY_A2K3Eg/s1440/James-Baldwin-Giovannis-Room-Lede.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="964" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm8h2lC89QRvACy0LZ-FL20UO30N5aBQ166St9zqhVrEjrB4DxfScWs3VZi-vNFwp7TjzoeHi1oHMGMaWIHMSprAdr91V1TP83xW1wAegFl7Kzznydu0ipoM60_x5swrWu3GbGncaxNFHkARRWT8a-Ib2UIo09BxcfISsad6Uk-LY_A2K3Eg/s600/James-Baldwin-Giovannis-Room-Lede.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ulf Andersen: <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2016/04/why-james-baldwin-still-matters">James Baldwin</a> (2016)</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">James Arthur Baldwin</span></b><br />
(1924-1987)</div>
<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Fiction:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Go Tell It on the Mountain</i> (1953)</li>
<li><i>Giovanni's Room</i> (1956)</li>
<li><i>Another Country</i> (1962)</li>
<li><i>Going to Meet the Man</i> (1965)</li>
<li><i>Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone</i> (1968)</li>
<li><i>If Beale Street Could Talk</i> (1974)</li>
<li><i>Just Above My Head</i> (1979)</li>
<li><i>Early Novels & Stories</i>. Ed. Toni Morrison (1998)<ul>
<li><b><i>Early Novels & Stories</i>. Ed. Toni Morrison. The Library of America, 97. [‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’, 1953; ‘Giovanni's Room’, 1956; ‘Another Country’, 1962; ‘Going to Meet the Man’, 1965]. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1998.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Later Novels</i>. Ed. Darryl Pinckney (2015)<ul>
<li><b><i>Later Novels</i>. Ed. Darrell Pinckney. The Library of America, 98. [‘Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone’, 1968; ‘If Beale Street Could Talk', 1974; ‘Just Above My Head’, 1979]. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2015.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<br />
<b>Non-fiction:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Notes of a Native Son</i> (1955)</li>
<li><i>Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son</i> (1961)</li>
<li><i>The Fire Next Time</i> (1963)</li>
<li><i>No Name in the Street</i> (1972)</li>
<li><i>The Devil Finds Work</i> (1976)</li>
<li><i>The Evidence of Things Not Seen</i> (1985)</li>
<li><i>The Price of the Ticket</i> (1985)</li>
<li><i>Collected Essays</i>. Ed. Toni Morrison (1998)<ul>
<li><b><i>Collected Essays</i>. Ed. Toni Morrison. The Library of America, 98. [‘Notes of a Native Son’, 1955; ‘Nobody Knows My Name,’ 1961; ‘The Fire Next Time’, 1963; ‘No Name in the Street’, 1972; ‘The Devil Finds Work’, 1976]. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1998.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings</i> (2010)</li>
<li><i>Baldwin for Our Times: Writings from James Baldwin for an Age of Sorrow and Struggle</i>. Ed. Rich Blint (2016)</li>
<br />
<b>Plays / Screenplays / Audio:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Amen Corner</i> (1954)</li>
<li><i>Blues for Mister Charlie</i> (1964)</li>
<li>[with Alex Haley] <i>One Day, When I Was Lost</i> (1972)<ul>
<li><b><i>One Day, When I Was Lost: A Scenario based on The Autobiography of Malcolm X</i>. 1972. Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>A Lover's Question</i>. Les Disques Du Crépuscule, TWI 928–2 (1990)</li>
<br />
<b>Poetry:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Jimmy's Blues</i> (1983)</li>
<li><i>Jimmy's Blues and Other Poems</i> (2014)</li>
<br />
<b>For Children:</b><br>
<br />
<li><i>Little Man Little Man: A Story of Childhood</i>. Illustrations by Yoran Cazac (1976)</li>
<br />
<b>Collaborations:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Nothing Personal</i>. Photographs by Richard Avedon (1964)</li>
<li>[with Margaret Mead] <i>A Rap on Race</i> (1971)</li>
<li>[with Nabile Farès] <i>A Passenger from the West</i> (1971)</li>
<li>[with Nikki Giovanni] <i>A Dialogue</i> (1973)</li>
<li>[with Sol Stein] <i>Native Sons</i> (2004)</li>
<br />
<b>Secondary:</b><br />
<br />
<li>David Adams Leeming. <i>James Baldwin: A Biography</i> (1994)</li>
<li>James Campbell. <i>Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin</i> (2021)</li>
</ol>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6XD4WB47V3uCSgUfuAAUtA28e8Ow2KJOszI6jpdPItSEG_HY-X0bsua8dqD_wM81ssb4eoet3nLAMYUXMSjjpee6auO3PzylKHQVkfjjfgLK6KOeStSlaeZhrJWjHygKFvaWIbVUptLt4T4Yj_o0zaohF-TGyNor20HQO-Wz9mwckRCJKLw/s375/GoTellItOnTheMountain.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6XD4WB47V3uCSgUfuAAUtA28e8Ow2KJOszI6jpdPItSEG_HY-X0bsua8dqD_wM81ssb4eoet3nLAMYUXMSjjpee6auO3PzylKHQVkfjjfgLK6KOeStSlaeZhrJWjHygKFvaWIbVUptLt4T4Yj_o0zaohF-TGyNor20HQO-Wz9mwckRCJKLw/s600/GoTellItOnTheMountain.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">James Baldwin: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Tell_It_on_the_Mountain_%28novel%29">Go Tell It on the Mountain</a> (1953)</span></div><br />
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<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-74978473067999645642023-06-05T09:48:00.004+12:002023-06-26T08:09:15.900+12:00SF Luminaries: Ray Bradbury<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoxUDibF5xJnnY-jR_x_BeSivJP3PGBa9Ps4p-zSgjHYZOsTMKX4uXdO4mU4VQ72E2ZybHC6CNZbVUxC8azAgUdDZ4K4LcJKGvf8pX8iWDIq1mLTQorkQ3OlfRkj8uDEtVsTrHUSF4A_JOkzbfsyPpwEf7B18NdekSNHt1lpH2b55IU7bqtQ/s933/1630.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="933" data-original-width="698" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoxUDibF5xJnnY-jR_x_BeSivJP3PGBa9Ps4p-zSgjHYZOsTMKX4uXdO4mU4VQ72E2ZybHC6CNZbVUxC8azAgUdDZ4K4LcJKGvf8pX8iWDIq1mLTQorkQ3OlfRkj8uDEtVsTrHUSF4A_JOkzbfsyPpwEf7B18NdekSNHt1lpH2b55IU7bqtQ/s600/1630.jpg" /></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1630.Ray_Bradbury">Ray Bradbury</a> (1920-2012)</span></div><br />
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As various fans have already pointed out, Stephen King's latest novel <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2022/10/stephen-king-fairy-tale-2022.html"><i>Fairy Tale</i></a> (2022) - despite being overtly dedicated to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, and H. P. Lovecraft, also contains a number of <i>covert</i> references to another distinguished predecessor in the horror/fantasy genre: Ray Bradbury.<br />
<br />
For one thing, it takes place in a small town called Sentry's Rest, Illinois - which seems like a nod to the mythical Green Town, Illinois, setting for Bradbury's classic novel <i>Something Wicked This Way Comes</i> (1962). The alternate universe of Empis which King's protagonist, Charlie Reade [get it? "<i>Read</i>"] explores also contains a magic carousel, one of the central features of the travelling carnival in Bradbury's own book.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0pa5gjp_-Ri4QShneur6y4Erh_ym1N4uO3sTn2I7VdZ2vw15hNF-EYOFw8u0lwoIgY0eVMVU4clrLZLQgwcF-4bipzekpi4drE2CZzI8hllo1JpwJCGD7x3Gggqhdv1qPY0pESbhpEKwY7mAlZETcVUrr9hVM5ECAq9V2fTl7NgAKHILnQ/s2337/9781473230583.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2337" data-original-width="1522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0pa5gjp_-Ri4QShneur6y4Erh_ym1N4uO3sTn2I7VdZ2vw15hNF-EYOFw8u0lwoIgY0eVMVU4clrLZLQgwcF-4bipzekpi4drE2CZzI8hllo1JpwJCGD7x3Gggqhdv1qPY0pESbhpEKwY7mAlZETcVUrr9hVM5ECAq9V2fTl7NgAKHILnQ/s600/9781473230583.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ray Bradbury: <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/ray-bradbury/something-wicked-this-way-comes">Something Wicked This Way Comes</a> (1962)</span></div><br />
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Mind you, once you start looking for parallels with other fantasy writers, King's story threatens to fall apart under the sheer weight of allusion. Readers have postulated links with William Goldman's <i>The Princess Bride</i>; Lord Dunsany's realm of Elfland, "beyond the fields we know"; not to mention numerous echoes of King's own <i>Dark Tower</i> saga.<br />
<br />
Bradbury is special for him, though. As he himself once <a href="https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-dark-and-starry-eyes-of-ray-bradbury">put it</a>: "without Ray Bradbury, there <i>is</i> no Stephen King." Or, as he wrote on hearing <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/2553171-stephen-comments-on-the-death-of-ray-bradbury">the news of Bradbury's death</a> in 2012, at the age of 91:
<blockquote>Ray Bradbury wrote three great novels and three hundred great stories. One of the latter was called 'A Sound of Thunder.' The sound I hear today is the thunder of a giant's footsteps fading away. But the novels and stories remain, in all their resonance and strange beauty.</blockquote>
So who exactly <i>was</i> this starry-eyed visonary - this laureate of space and small-town life - and why has he left such a strangely equivocal and contradictory reputation behind him?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCu_DHeTA-QgN_rIz1DvJQV82rBfZU3rC5TQfQCaaMFW81I3xmbuww1Ls6zBe-xdboo0pI7LgLR7IGiA5VEpRtnel73z0DXper_kWcnSKRvm7-H7vks5isYzp-FcrbqLeVRzaAEfNMb2rUCPfheZWi9nRv8_0ERk2b-epRpCbCPbhK0HDpKw/s2078/81cvbk5iJ5L.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2078" data-original-width="1585" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCu_DHeTA-QgN_rIz1DvJQV82rBfZU3rC5TQfQCaaMFW81I3xmbuww1Ls6zBe-xdboo0pI7LgLR7IGiA5VEpRtnel73z0DXper_kWcnSKRvm7-H7vks5isYzp-FcrbqLeVRzaAEfNMb2rUCPfheZWi9nRv8_0ERk2b-epRpCbCPbhK0HDpKw/s600/81cvbk5iJ5L.jpg" /></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Library of America: <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Ray-Bradbury-Collection-Library-America/dp/1598537407">The Ray Bradbury Collection</a> (2022)</span></div>
<blockquote><i>Novels & Story Cycles</i>. Ed. Jonathan R. Eller. The
Library of America, 347. [‘The Martian Chronicles’, 1950; ‘Fahrenheit
451’, 1953; ‘Dandelion Wine’, 1957; ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’,
1962]. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2021.<br />
<br />
<i>The Illustrated Man, The October Country & Other Stories</i>. Ed. Jonathan R. Eller. The Library of America, 360. 1951, 1955. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2022.</blockquote>
You know that you've really arrived when they not only reprint your collected works in the canonical Library of America series, but even provide a specially designed slipcase to put them in!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5x--TWKJZvdAmMM9oWqTpbKk2NBRBeC_lDUHsefmyHX9gGQpGKED8VKeKHOaRFF_M4AnvZZURyOXyc3EFIlxE-sEf6ZzxgI7feEsD2GN5KgWQOwDIQU0iTok34TbzIe85HWpM0bOU6LBighg0lIeS5azhCDD_WJG0UGc_Em6IF5v8D5Qnw/s1953/1309400_1.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1953" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5x--TWKJZvdAmMM9oWqTpbKk2NBRBeC_lDUHsefmyHX9gGQpGKED8VKeKHOaRFF_M4AnvZZURyOXyc3EFIlxE-sEf6ZzxgI7feEsD2GN5KgWQOwDIQU0iTok34TbzIe85HWpM0bOU6LBighg0lIeS5azhCDD_WJG0UGc_Em6IF5v8D5Qnw/s400/1309400_1.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ray Bradbury: <a href="https://www.rareantiquarianbooks.com/pages/books/1309400/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles">The Martian Chronicles</a> (1950)</span></div><br />
<br />
You'll notice, though, that most of the work included in this set is comparatively early - dating roughly from the 1940s to the early 1960s. And even Stephen King claims only <i>three</i> great Bradbury novels among the dozen or so he actually published.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ArAtYiTPjlsgKhCqlWPPmd6LJ1mVWmDbBf43fu6ZT9mH282q_7alSH2VOHpUuz4C4Txhn50grmsVAEDcIjek6uPuEpzqvBz4A5TrEqac4kgP5fC6ErkCMuOmDOZfc_WL5iR80o7blnaFu4GlztfILPDRNN5X7wwGhfxKMP9h-4YPR5-Qyw/s665/fahrenheit_451_cover.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="547" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ArAtYiTPjlsgKhCqlWPPmd6LJ1mVWmDbBf43fu6ZT9mH282q_7alSH2VOHpUuz4C4Txhn50grmsVAEDcIjek6uPuEpzqvBz4A5TrEqac4kgP5fC6ErkCMuOmDOZfc_WL5iR80o7blnaFu4GlztfILPDRNN5X7wwGhfxKMP9h-4YPR5-Qyw/s600/fahrenheit_451_cover.jpg" /></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ray Bradbury: <a href="https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2012/06/15/ray-bradbury/">Fahrenheit 451</a> (1953)</span></div><br />
<br />
<br />
There's little doubt that two of the three must be <i>Fahrenheit 451</i> (1953) and <i>Something Wicked This Way Comes</i> (1962). The third is more debatable: <i>The Martian Chronicles</i> (1950) would be most people's first choice for the honour, but it is technically a 'story-cycle' rather than a novel. That would leave us with <i>Dandelion Wine</i> (1957) - to me almost unbearably saccharine in its evocation of untroubled boyhood, but certainly a book which has its admirers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicJgZ6L4dyrUKerNu9t0iEqvwsi207x6aj6NMXh18I6KJ2qbAnH9Iv0V_VLoHXrH2EVr__0udmzyxCqWmYOHHP45dWlyKtVvG22rosOEPlCPs0Y5nnjcPS-QjQI6wY11VQ3e0wg0u_vmWSuz5YFGMocS_vAkEQ4ER-RyMuRjWG7ECA4BiTgw/s1000/rrb-95167.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicJgZ6L4dyrUKerNu9t0iEqvwsi207x6aj6NMXh18I6KJ2qbAnH9Iv0V_VLoHXrH2EVr__0udmzyxCqWmYOHHP45dWlyKtVvG22rosOEPlCPs0Y5nnjcPS-QjQI6wY11VQ3e0wg0u_vmWSuz5YFGMocS_vAkEQ4ER-RyMuRjWG7ECA4BiTgw/s400/rrb-95167.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ray Bradbury: <a href="https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/dandelion-wine-ray-bradbury-first-edition-signed/">Dandelion Wine</a> (1957)</span></div><br />
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Are there any other serious candidates? Not really. Ray Bradbury was a writer who peaked comparatively early, with a dazzling series of science fiction and horror short stories published throughout the 1940s and 50s, some of the strongest of which were reprinted in the early collection <i>Dark Carnival</i>, by H. P. Lovecraft's disciple and friend, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Derleth">August Derleth</a>, at his legendary imprint <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkham_House">Arkham House</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJmea61Q0ayRkwvhaqjgLOjO6G8tZ5jfgfoJ5oEt2KYj2UOMKfhAiNlBe61L05SZsaMBQSX8ta5N0btcDnxM6PKjW4NgmyPul8x5w25PCIPg_ZMe0Tep3pHCuJYysbC6kNLNxFA1uZjfI1gXWNUJ_uahK6pu3yZBx-UDAEA27jOckF7298g/s1065/Dark-Carnival.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="700" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJmea61Q0ayRkwvhaqjgLOjO6G8tZ5jfgfoJ5oEt2KYj2UOMKfhAiNlBe61L05SZsaMBQSX8ta5N0btcDnxM6PKjW4NgmyPul8x5w25PCIPg_ZMe0Tep3pHCuJYysbC6kNLNxFA1uZjfI1gXWNUJ_uahK6pu3yZBx-UDAEA27jOckF7298g/s600/Dark-Carnival.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ray Bradbury: <a href="https://sciencefictionbookart.com/dark-carnival-ray-bradbury-1948/">Dark Carnival</a> (1947)</span></div><br />
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Only 15 of the 27 stories in this unrelentingly dark and pitiless collection were reprinted, several in revised versions, in <i>The October Country</i> (1955). As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Carnival_(short_story_collection)">Wikipedia</a> tells it:<blockquote>
For many years, Bradbury did not permit <i>Dark Carnival</i> to be reprinted ... However, a limited edition ... with five extra stories and a new introduction by Bradbury, was printed by Gauntlet Press in 2001.</blockquote>
A new <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/0008554315">paperback edition</a> of this seminal collection is promised for early 2024.<br />
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The fact is that it was horror stories such as "The Veldt" (in <i>The Illustrated Man</i>), "The Next in Line" (in <i>Dark Carnival</i> & <i>The October Country</i>), and "Mars is Heaven!" (in <i>The Martian Chronicles</i>) which were responsible for much of Bradbury's early vogue. Cannibalism, live burial, and homicidal children are just a few of his early themes.<br />
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So before you go writing him off as an old sentimentalist dreaming of some kind of <i>Tom Sawyer</i>-like childhood paradise in rural Illinois, never forget the dark, Lovecraftian roots behind much of his best work.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79AU8du9nuyAHYR9Hu9_x9xL-Zk5uWoGgM99Bj46BR65rIMZl6Rn2md-oD6aD1OZ2srTZjIn9a5S_35OKVELW_AA-WnLq_MXWw9gmp27Q_b9M4wGkacFBNaod-QdJvgpSTmJ9Rw_L9Os2af1ICMcY010DcxPWLebXtz0xKn3bvcawo7vmOA/s545/bradbury3%20copy.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="545" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79AU8du9nuyAHYR9Hu9_x9xL-Zk5uWoGgM99Bj46BR65rIMZl6Rn2md-oD6aD1OZ2srTZjIn9a5S_35OKVELW_AA-WnLq_MXWw9gmp27Q_b9M4wGkacFBNaod-QdJvgpSTmJ9Rw_L9Os2af1ICMcY010DcxPWLebXtz0xKn3bvcawo7vmOA/s400/bradbury3%20copy.jpg" width="400" /></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://literarystamps.blogspot.com/2011/12/bradbury-ray-b-1920.html">The Illustrated Man</a> (2012)</span></div><br />
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A couple of his early Martian stories interested me particularly as I reread all the early collections reprinted in the Library of America boxset.<br />
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They're entitled (respectively) "<a href="https://classicsbookclub.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/bradbury-way-in-the-middle-of-the-air-the-martian-chronicles.pdf">Way in the Middle of the Air</a>" [included in early editons of <i>The Martian Chronicles</i>, 1950] - which concerns a mass exodus of African American people to Mars; and "<a href="https://lecturia.org/en/short-stories/ray-bradbury-the-other-foot/8069/">The Other Foot</a>" [included in <i>The Illustrated Man</i>, 1951] - which tells us what happens when the news of the return to Mars of the last few white people left after their latest suicidal war reaches the now exclusively black population of the red planet.<br />
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By today's standards both stories sound rather naive and patronising. There's a lot of <i>Huck Finn</i>-style dialect, use of the "n"-word, and other now unacceptable linguistic usages. Both stories are also intensely well-meaning - it's worth noticing that they long predate such civil rights landmarks as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, let alone the compulsory integration of US schools.<br />
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And yet, both now read like museum exhibits: <b><i>Liberal Northern White Attitudes</i></b> (c.1950). By contrast, his more complex and haunting stories of the time: "<a href="https://profrush.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/u4_dark_theywere_se1.pdf">Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed</a>" (1949), for instance - about the gradual possession of an all-American family by the haunting (and haunted?) landscapes and <i>mores</i> of Mars - have a mysterious resonance as powerful now as it was then.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRu9Hc8gK9EQn3tDvCwovofymliTRYr5UPLIyZuBdrexBxJ5RvMdiIWuK7DQGhSfrj55zn5xEvIWhZtuHqxPoWHISx8arQ5NbRctpxaNWCg1eo1vi9hx-nIsujshWdXZy6mfKCQVxWYnJ9DXBpJEoBnlaSnvnvZMmb5qRtX_3rz0GX4keBg/s1103/moby-dick.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1103" data-original-width="780" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRu9Hc8gK9EQn3tDvCwovofymliTRYr5UPLIyZuBdrexBxJ5RvMdiIWuK7DQGhSfrj55zn5xEvIWhZtuHqxPoWHISx8arQ5NbRctpxaNWCg1eo1vi9hx-nIsujshWdXZy6mfKCQVxWYnJ9DXBpJEoBnlaSnvnvZMmb5qRtX_3rz0GX4keBg/s600/moby-dick.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Huston, dir. <a href="https://raybradbury.com/watch-moby-dick-now-available-on-youtube-movies/">Moby Dick</a> (1956)</span></div><br />
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Perhaps the true turning point for Bradbury was the year he spent working on John Huston's adaptation of <i>Moby Dick</i>. It's not a <i>terrible</i> screenplay - there's a bit too much poetic language in the voice-overs, maybe, but the two of them did a competent enough job at transferring an almost unfilmable novel to the screen.<br />
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But Huston's habit of belitting and insulting his collaborators - allegedly (he claimed) to get the best out of them, but actually (it would appear) to indulge his own petty sadism - had a particularly bad effect on the ebullient Bradbury. He wrote a fictionalised version of their encounter in the novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Shadows,_White_Whale"><i>Green Shadows, White Whale</i></a>, which made it clear that he'd been brooding on the matter for quite some time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjK_aMPn8dnaDuwq_mCvYsDY_sGFNY5iU7P9T2S2WK2zQck2CDkIm2pD8Q9pHF3SqglxKCCVcSCkmOagp2iSNyQPPHJK2HYOUsSi5ePHhMOqqrW85s1H02vVuUlT6vcfMd4G3lLx5Ft6Y-5aqaStoUmLKMKP2oZoNFCYzXZKppnma_jcS6OQ/s1245/lf.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1245" data-original-width="870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjK_aMPn8dnaDuwq_mCvYsDY_sGFNY5iU7P9T2S2WK2zQck2CDkIm2pD8Q9pHF3SqglxKCCVcSCkmOagp2iSNyQPPHJK2HYOUsSi5ePHhMOqqrW85s1H02vVuUlT6vcfMd4G3lLx5Ft6Y-5aqaStoUmLKMKP2oZoNFCYzXZKppnma_jcS6OQ/s600/lf.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Huston, dir. <a href="https://historical.ha.com/itm/books/fiction/ray-bradbury-signed-green-shadows-white-whale-new-york-knopf-1992-first-edition-signed-on-the/a/201237-94041.s">Green Shadows, White Whale</a> (1992)</span></div><br />
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It's not that there aren't gems among the later stories - "The Parrot Who Met Papa" (1972), about the search for a legendary parrot alleged to have memorised Hemingway's last novel as a result of his endless rambling monologues in its presence, for instance - but they're pretty few and far between.<br />
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Some terrible lapse in self-confidence - or, perhaps, reluctance to indulge the dark side of his nature any further than he'd already done (one of the most prominent themes in <i>Something Wicked This Way Comes</i>) - seems to have kept him largely on the sunny side of the street thereafter. There's a relentless verbosity in his work from the 1970s onwards - occasionally, mercifully, spiked by humour, but mostly a turbid stream of two-bit words and phrases.<br />
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He leaves behind, then, a divided legacy: the dark mysteries of his early stories and novels, and the wordy bathos of his later work. As the Library of America has already signalled, there's little doubt which will prevail in the eyes of posterity.<br />
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It does leave you wondering, though, just what <i>did</i> Huston (and, for that matter, Herman Melville) do to him in that windy old castle in Ireland? The novel he wrote about it - after, he claimed, having read Katharine Hepburn's account of her own mistreatment at Huston's hands during the making of "The African Queen" (1951): <i>How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind</i> (1987) - is just that: a novel. What <i>really</i> happened to him there we'll never know.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7z2I1b43b9yL7XZv2pOcoFGUXt1hegqHJg9ZqNteQiVR8MwriPmzUBZwxRqXJqUrD77kTO5lbled5sDNyLCX_JxUa1_jnqoI0pSU0SG3K8FXTGfMF8_2bWLRKsoP6FPUQcQ8UQuqxTgozcMaPDPLlu2YY_O2h1UrpC0XU4lXMwy3r1eX65A/s554/Bradbury1.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7z2I1b43b9yL7XZv2pOcoFGUXt1hegqHJg9ZqNteQiVR8MwriPmzUBZwxRqXJqUrD77kTO5lbled5sDNyLCX_JxUa1_jnqoI0pSU0SG3K8FXTGfMF8_2bWLRKsoP6FPUQcQ8UQuqxTgozcMaPDPLlu2YY_O2h1UrpC0XU4lXMwy3r1eX65A/s400/Bradbury1.JPG" width="400" /></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://literarystamps.blogspot.com/2011/12/bradbury-ray-b-1920.html">Ray Bradbury Postage Stamp</a> (2012)</span></div><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">•</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsN6g0NZ7agALctNAuq7NMqg9t4cIIFi3WmqOfm3tFwFONyD69BNNccwGZgE0mx3wg_Z705H4QCoQBHIZgDxozm9-Fpu5yN8yhtkPZYsgSgOoYKPH2ky1dmyG4ihymzFS1-LRQZeSg8PUvkPGU2JvKZimXFqaZkHSjq4Tc4RM9lHCs_mBKoA/s1784/appraisal-superJumbo.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1784" data-original-width="1625" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsN6g0NZ7agALctNAuq7NMqg9t4cIIFi3WmqOfm3tFwFONyD69BNNccwGZgE0mx3wg_Z705H4QCoQBHIZgDxozm9-Fpu5yN8yhtkPZYsgSgOoYKPH2ky1dmyG4ihymzFS1-LRQZeSg8PUvkPGU2JvKZimXFqaZkHSjq4Tc4RM9lHCs_mBKoA/s400/appraisal-superJumbo.jpg" /></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Charley Gallay: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/ray-bradbury-who-made-science-fiction-respectable.html">Ray Bradbury</a> (2007)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/03/books-id-like-to-own-sf.html">Ray Douglas Bradbury</a></span></b><br />
(1920-2012)</div>
<br />
<blockquote>Books I own are marked in <b>bold</b>:</blockquote><br />
<ol>
<b>Novels:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Martian Chronicles</i> [aka <i>The Silver Locusts</i>] (1950)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Silver Locusts</span>. 1950. London: Corgi Books, 1969.</b></li></ul>
</li><li><i>Fahrenheit 451</i> (1953)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Fahrenheit 451</span>. 1953. London: Corgi Books, 1963.</b></li></ul></li>
<li><i>Dandelion Wine</i> (1957)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Dandelion Wine</span>. 1957. London: Corgi Books, 1972.</b></li></ul></li>
<li><i>Something Wicked This Way Comes</i> (1962)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Something Wicked This Way Comes</span>. 1962. London: Corgi Books, 1969.</b></li></ul></li>
<li><i>The Halloween Tree</i> (1972)<ul>
<li><b><i>The Halloween Tree</i>. 1972. Illustrated by Joseph Mugnaini. London: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon, 1973.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Novels of Ray Bradbury</i> (1984)<ul>
<li><b><i>The Novels of Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes</i>. 1953, 1957, 1962. London: Book Club Associates, by arrangement with Granada Publishing Limited, 1984.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Death is a Lonely Business</i> (1985)</li>
<li><i>A Graveyard for Lunatics</i> (1990)<ul>
<li><b><i>A Graveyard for Lunatics: Another Tale of Two Cities</i>. Grafton Books. London: Collins Publishing Group, 1990.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Green Shadows, White Whale</i> (1992)</li>
<li><i>From the Dust Returned</i> (2001)</li>
<li><i>Let's All Kill Constance</i> (2002)</li>
<li><i>Farewell Summer</i> (2006)</li>
<li><i>Novels & Story Cycles</i>. Library of America (2021)<ul><li><b><i>Novels & Story Cycles</i>. Ed. Jonathan R. Eller. The
Library of America, 347. [‘The Martian Chronicles’, 1950; ‘Fahrenheit
451’, 1953; ‘Dandelion Wine’, 1957; ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’,
1962]. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2021.</b></li></ul></li>
<br />
<b>Collections:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Dark Carnival</i> (1947)<ol>
<li>The Homecoming</li>
<li>Skeleton</li>
<li>The Jar</li>
<li>The Lake</li>
<li>The Maiden</li>
<li>The Tombstone</li>
<li>The Smiling People</li>
<li>The Emissary</li>
<li>The Traveler</li>
<li>The Small Assassin</li>
<li>The Crowd</li>
<li>Reunion</li>
<li>The Handler</li>
<li>The Coffin</li>
<li>Interim</li>
<li>Jack-in-the-Box</li>
<li>The Scythe</li>
<li>Let's Play 'Poison'</li>
<li>Uncle Einar</li>
<li>The Wind</li>
<li>The Night</li>
<li>There Was An Old Woman</li>
<li>The Dead Man</li>
<li>The Man Upstairs</li>
<li>The Night Sets</li>
<li>Cistern</li>
<li>The Next In Line</li>
</ol></li>
<li><i>The Illustrated Man</i> (1951)<ol>
<li>The Veldt</li>
<li>Kaleidoscope</li>
<li>The Other Foot</li>
<li>The Highway</li>
<li>The Man</li>
<li>The Long Rain</li>
<li>The Rocket Man</li>
<li>The Fire Balloons</li>
<li>The Last Night of the World</li>
<li>The Exiles</li>
<li>No Particular Night or Morning</li>
<li>The Fox and the Forest</li>
<li>The Visitor</li>
<li>The Concrete Mixer</li>
<li>Marionettes, Inc.</li>
<li>The City</li>
<li>Zero Hour</li>
<li>The Rocket</li>
</ol><ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Illustrated Man</span>. 1951. Corgi SF Collector’s Library. London: Corgi Books, 1972.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>The Golden Apples of the Sun</i> (1953)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Golden Apples of the Sun</span>. 1953. Corgi SF Collector’s Library. London: Corgi Books, 1973.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>The October Country</i> (1955)<ol>
<li>The Dwarf</li>
<li>The Next in Line</li>
<li>The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse</li>
<li>Skeleton</li>
<li>The Jar</li>
<li>The Lake</li>
<li>The Emissary</li>
<li>Touched With Fire</li>
<li>The Small Assassin</li>
<li>The Crowd</li>
<li>Jack-in-the-Box</li>
<li>The Scythe</li>
<li>Uncle Einar</li>
<li>The Wind</li>
<li>The Man Upstairs</li>
<li>There Was an Old Woman</li>
<li>The Cistern</li>
<li>Homecoming</li>
<li>The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone</li>
</ol><ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The October Country</span>. 1955. London: New English Library, 1973.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>A Medicine for Melancholy</i> (1959)</li><li><i>The Day It Rained Forever</i> (1959)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Day It Rained Forever</span>. 1959. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>The Small Assassin</i> (1962)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Small Assassin</span>. 1962. London: New English Library, 1970.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>R is for Rocket</i> (1962)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">R is for Rocket</span>. 1962. London: Pan Books, 1972.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>The Machineries of Joy</i> (1964)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Machineries of Joy</span>. 1964. London: Panther Books, 1977.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>The Autumn People</i> (1965)</li><li><i>The Vintage Bradbury</i> (1965)</li><li><i>Tomorrow Midnight</i> (1966)</li><li><i>S is for Space</i> (1966)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">S is for Space</span>. 1966. New York: Bantam Books, 1978.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>Twice 22</i> (1966)</li><li><i>I Sing The Body Electric</i> (1969)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">I Sing The Body Electric!</span> 1969. London: Corgi Books, 1972.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>Ray Bradbury</i> (1975)</li><li><i>Long After Midnight</i> (1976)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Long After Midnight</span>. 1976. London: Panther Books, 1978.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>The Mummies of Guanajuato</i> (1978)</li><li><i>The Fog Horn & Other Stories</i> (1979)</li><li><i>One Timeless Spring</i> (1980)</li><li><i>The Last Circus and the Electrocution</i> (1980)</li>
<li><i>The Stories of Ray Bradbury</i> (1980)<ol>
<li>The Night (1946)</li>
<li>Homecoming (1946)</li>
<li>Uncle Einar (1947)</li>
<li>The Traveler (1946)</li>
<li>The Lake (1944)</li>
<li>The Coffin (1947)</li>
<li>The Crowd (1943)</li>
<li>The Scythe (1943)</li>
<li>There Was an Old Woman (1944)</li>
<li>There Will Come Soft Rains (1950)</li>
<li>Mars Is Heaven! (1948)</li>
<li>The Silent Towns (1949)</li>
<li>The Earth Men (1948)</li>
<li>The Off Season (1948)</li>
<li>The Million-Year Picnic (1946)</li>
<li>The Fox and the Forest (1950)</li>
<li>Kaleidoscope (1949)</li>
<li>The Rocket Man (1951)</li>
<li>Marionettes, Inc. (1949)</li>
<li>No Particular Night or Morning (1951)</li>
<li>The City (1950)</li>
<li>The Fire Balloons (1951)</li>
<li>The Last Night of the World (1951)</li>
<li>The Veldt (1950)</li>
<li>The Long Rain (1950)</li>
<li>The Great Fire (1949)</li>
<li>The Wilderness (1952)</li>
<li>A Sound of Thunder (1952)</li>
<li>The Murderer (1953)</li>
<li>The April Witch (1952)</li>
<li>Invisible Boy (1945)</li>
<li>The Golden Kite, The Silver Wind (1953)</li>
<li>The Fog Horn (1951)</li>
<li>The Big Black and White Game (1945)</li>
<li>Embroidery (1951)</li>
<li>The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953)</li>
<li>Powerhouse (1948)</li>
<li>Hail and Farewell (1948)</li>
<li>The Great Wide World over There (1952)</li>
<li>The Playground (1953)</li>
<li>Skeleton (1943)</li>
<li>The Man Upstairs (1947)</li>
<li>Touched by Fire (1954)</li>
<li>The Emissary (1947)</li>
<li>The Jar (1944)</li>
<li>The Small Assassin (1946)</li>
<li>The Next in Line (1947)</li>
<li>Jack-in-the-Box (1947)</li>
<li>The Leave-Taking (1957)</li>
<li>Exorcism (1957)</li>
<li>The Happiness Machine (1957)</li>
<li>Calling Mexico (1950)</li>
<li>The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1958)</li>
<li>Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed (1949)</li>
<li>The Strawberry Window (1954)</li>
<li>A Scent of Sarsaparilla (1953)</li>
<li>The Picasso Summer (1957)</li>
<li>The Day It Rained Forever (1957)</li>
<li>A Medicine for Melancholy (1959)</li>
<li>The Shoreline at Sunset (1959)</li>
<li>Fever Dream (1959)</li>
<li>The Town Where No One Got Off (1958)</li>
<li>All Summer in a Day (1954)</li>
<li>Frost and Fire (1946)</li>
<li>The Anthem Sprinters (1963)</li>
<li>And So Died Riabouchinska (1953)</li>
<li>Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! (1962)</li>
<li>The Vacation (1963)</li>
<li>The Illustrated Woman (1961)</li>
<li>Some Live Like Lazarus (1960)</li>
<li>The Best of All Possible Worlds (1960)</li>
<li>The One Who Waits (1949)</li>
<li>Tyrannosaurus Rex (1962)</li>
<li>The Screaming Woman (1951)</li>
<li>The Terrible Conflagration Up at the Place (1969)</li>
<li>Night Call, Collect (1949)</li>
<li>The Tombling Day (1952)</li>
<li>The Haunting of the New (1969)</li>
<li>Tomorrow's Child (1948)</li>
<li>I Sing the Body Electric! (1969)</li>
<li>The Women (1948)</li>
<li>The Inspired Chicken Motel (1969)</li>
<li>Yes, We'll Gather at the River (1969)</li>
<li>Have I Got a Chocolate Bar for You! (1976)</li>
<li>A Story of Love (1951)</li>
<li>The Parrot Who Met Papa (1972)</li>
<li>The October Game (1948)</li>
<li>Punishment Without Crime (1950)</li>
<li>A Piece of Wood (1952)</li>
<li>The Blue Bottle (1950)</li>
<li>Long After Midnight (1962)</li>
<li>The Utterly Perfect Murder (1971)</li>
<li>The Better Part of Wisdom (1976)</li>
<li>Interval in Sunlight (1954)</li>
<li>The Black Ferris (1948)</li>
<li>Farewell Summer (1980)</li>
<li>McGillahee's Brat (1970)</li>
<li>The Aqueduct (1979)</li>
<li>Gotcha! (1978)</li>
<li>The End of the Beginning (1956)</li>
</ol><ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Stories of Ray Bradbury</span>. London: Granada, 1981.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Fog Horn and Other Stories</i> (1981)</li><li><i>Dinosaur Tales</i> (1983)</li><li><i>A Memory of Murder</i> (1984)</li><li><i>The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone</i> (1985)</li><li><i>The Toynbee Convector</i> (1988)</li><li><i>Classic Stories 1</i> (1990)</li><li><i>Classic Stories 2</i> (1990)</li><li><i>The Parrot Who Met Papa</i> (1991)</li><li><i>Selected from Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed</i> (1991)</li><li><i>Quicker Than The Eye</i> (1996)</li><li><i>Driving Blind</i> (1997)</li><li><i>Ray Bradbury Collected Short Stories</i> (2001)</li><li><i>The Playground</i> (2001)</li><li><i>Dark Carnival: Limited Edition with Supplemental Materials</i> (2001)</li><li><i>One More for the Road</i> (2002)</li>
<li><i>Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales</i> (2003)<ol>
<li>The Whole Town's Sleeping</li>
<li>The Rocket</li>
<li>Season of Disbelief</li>
<li>And the Rock Cried Out</li>
<li>The Drummer Boy of Shiloh</li>
<li>The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge</li>
<li>The Flying Machine</li>
<li>Heavy-Set</li>
<li>The First Night of Lent</li>
<li>Lafayette, Farewell</li>
<li>Remember Sascha?</li>
<li>Junior</li>
<li>That Woman on the Lawn</li>
<li>February 1999: Ylla</li>
<li>Banshee</li>
<li>One for His Lordship, and One for the Road!</li>
<li>The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair</li>
<li>Unterderseaboat Doktor</li>
<li>Another Fine Mess</li>
<li>The Dwarf</li>
<li>A Wild Night in Galway</li>
<li>The Wind</li>
<li>No News, or What Killed the Dog?</li>
<li>A Little Journey</li>
<li>Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby's Is a Friend of Mine</li>
<li>The Garbage Collector</li>
<li>The Visitor</li>
<li>The Man</li>
<li>Henry the Ninth</li>
<li>The Messiah</li>
<li>Bang! You're Dead!</li>
<li>Darling Adolf</li>
<li>The Beautiful Shave</li>
<li>Colonel Stonesteel's Genuine Home-made Truly Egyptian Mummy</li>
<li>I See You Never</li>
<li>The Exiles</li>
<li>At Midnight, in the Month of June</li>
<li>The Witch Door</li>
<li>The Watchers</li>
<li>2004-05: The Naming of Names</li>
<li>Hopscotch</li>
<li>The Illustrated Man</li>
<li>The Dead Man</li>
<li>June 2001: And the Moon Be Still as Bright</li>
<li>The Burning Man</li>
<li>G.B.S.-Mark V</li>
<li>A Blade of Grass</li>
<li>The Sound of Summer Running</li>
<li>And the Sailor, Home from the Sea</li>
<li>The Lonely Ones</li>
<li>The Finnegan</li>
<li>On the Orient, North</li>
<li>The Smiling People</li>
<li>The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl</li>
<li>Bug</li>
<li>Downwind from Gettysburg</li>
<li>Time in Thy Flight</li>
<li>Changeling</li>
<li>The Dragon</li>
<li>Let's Play 'Poison'</li>
<li>The Cold Wind and the Warm</li>
<li>The Meadow</li>
<li>The Kilimanjaro Device</li>
<li>The Man in the Rorschach Shirt</li>
<li>Bless Me, Father, for I Have Sinned</li>
<li>The Pedestrian</li>
<li>Trapdoor</li>
<li>The Swan</li>
<li>The Sea Shell</li>
<li>Once More, Legato</li>
<li>June 2003: Way in the Middle of the Air</li>
<li>The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone</li>
<li>By the Numbers!</li>
<li>April 2005: Usher II</li>
<li>The Square Pegs</li>
<li>The Trolley</li>
<li>The Smile</li>
<li>The Miracles of Jamie</li>
<li>A Far-away Guitar</li>
<li>The Cistern</li>
<li>The Machineries of Joy</li>
<li>Bright Phoenix</li>
<li>The Wish</li>
<li>The Lifework of Juan Díaz</li>
<li>Time Intervening/Interim</li>
<li>Almost the End of the World</li>
<li>The Great Collision of Monday Last</li>
<li>The Poems</li>
<li>April 2026: The Long Years</li>
<li>Icarus Montgolfier Wright</li>
<li>Death and the Maiden</li>
<li>Zero Hour</li>
<li>The Toynbee Convector</li>
<li>Forever and the Earth</li>
<li>The Handler</li>
<li>Getting Through Sunday Somehow</li>
<li>The Pumpernickel</li>
<li>Last Rites</li>
<li>The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse</li>
<li>All on a Summer's day</li>
</ol></li>
<li><i>Is That You, Herb?</i> (2003)</li><li><i>The Cat's Pajamas: Stories</i> (2004)</li><li><i>A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories</i> (2005)</li><li><i>The Dragon Who Ate His Tail</i> (2007)</li><li><i>Now and Forever: Somewhere a Band Is Playing & Leviathan '99</i> (2007)</li><li><i>Somewhere a Band is Playing: Early Drafts and Final Novella</i> (2007)</li><li><i>Summer Morning, Summer Night</i> (2007)</li><li><i>Ray Bradbury Stories Volume 2</i> (2009)</li><li><i>We'll Always Have Paris: Stories</i> (2009)</li><li><i>A Pleasure To Burn</i> (2010)</li><li><i>The Lost Bradbury: Forgotten Tales of Ray Bradbury</i> (2010)</li><li><i>The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury: A Critical Edition – Volume 1, 1938–1943</i> (2011)</li><li><i>The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury: A Critical Edition – Volume 2, 1943–1944</i> (2014)</li><li><i>Killer, Come Back to Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury</i> (2020)</li><li><i>The Illustrated Man, The October Country & Other Stories</i>. Library of America (2022)<ul><li><b><i>The Illustrated Man, The October Country & Other Stories</i>. Ed. Jonathan R. Eller. The Library of America, 360. 1951, 1955. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2022.</b></li></ul></li>
<br />
<b>Edited:</b><br />
<br /><li><i>Timeless Stories for Today and Tomorrow</i> (1952)</li><li><i>The Circus of Dr. Lao and Other Improbable Stories</i> (1956)</li>
<br />
<b>Children's Books:</b><br />
<br /><li><i>Switch on the Night</i> (1955)</li><li><i>The Other Foot</i> (1982)</li><li><i>The Veldt</i> (1982)</li><li><i>The April Witch</i> (1987)</li><li><i>The Fog Horn</i> (1987)</li><li><i>Fever Dream</i> (1987)</li><li><i>The Smile</i> (1991)</li><li><i>The Toynbee Convector</i> (1992)</li><li><i>With Cat for Comforter</i> (1997)</li><li><i>Dogs Think That Every Day Is Christmas</i> (1997)</li><li><i>Ahmed and the Oblivion Machines: A Fable</i> (1998)</li><li><i>The Homecoming</i> (2006)</li>
<br />
<b>Non-fiction:</b><br />
<br /><li><i>No Man Is an Island</i> (1952)</li><li><i>The Essence of Creative Writing: Letters to a Young Aspiring Author</i> (1962)</li><li><i>Creative Man Among His Servant Machines</i> (1967)</li><li><i>Mars and the Mind of Man</i> (1971)</li><li><i>Zen in the Art of Writing</i> (1973)<ul><li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Zen in the Art of Writing</span>. 1973. In <span style="font-style: italic;">The Capra Chapbook Anthology</span>. Ed. Noel Young. Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press, 1979.</b></li></ul></li><li><i>The God in Science Fiction</i> (1978)</li><li><i>About Norman Corwin</i> (1979)</li><li><i>There is Life on Mars</i> (1981)</li><li><i>The Art of Playboy</i> (1985)</li><li><i>Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity</i> (1990)</li><li><i>Yestermorrow: Obvious Answers to Impossible Futures</i> (1991)</li><li><i>Conversations with Ray Bradbury</i>. Ed. Steven L. Aggelis) (2004)</li><li><i>Bradbury Speaks: Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far from the Stars</i> (2005)</li><li><i>Match to Flame: The Fictional Paths to Fahrenheit 451</i> (2007)</li>
<br />
<b>Poetry:</b><br />
<br /><li><i>Where Robot Mice & Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns</i> (1977)</li><li><i>To Sing Strange Songs</i> (1979)</li><li><i>Beyond 1984: Remembrance of Things Future</i> (1979)</li><li><i>The Ghosts of Forever</i> (1980)</li><li><i>The Complete Poems of Ray Bradbury</i> (1982)</li><li><i>The Love Affair</i> (1982)</li><li><i>I Live By the Invisible: New & Selected Poems</i> (2002)</li>
<br />
<b>Screenplays:</b><br />
<br /><li><i>The Best of The Ray Bradbury Chronicles</i> (2003)</li><li><i>It Came from Outer Space: Screenplay</i> (2003)</li><li><i>The Halloween Tree: Screenplay</i> (2005)</li>
<br />
<b>Miscellaneous:</b><br />
<br /><li><i>Long After Ecclesiastes: New Biblical Texts</i> (1985)</li><li><i>Christus Apollo: Cantata Celebrating the Eighth Day of Creation and the Promise of the Ninth</i> (1998)</li><li><i>Witness and Celebrate</i> (2000)</li><li><i>A Chapbook for Burnt-Out Priests, Rabbis and Ministers</i> (2001)</li><li><i>The Best of Ray Bradbury: The Graphic Novel</i> (2003)</li><li><i>Futuria Fantasia: SF Fanzine</i> (2007)</li>
<br />
<b>Secondary:</b><br />
<br /><li><b>Weller, Sam. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Bradbury Chronicles</span>. Harper Perennial. 2005. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006.</b></li><li>Eller, Jonathan R. <span style="font-style: italic;">Becoming Ray Bradbury</span>. Vol. 1 of 3. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2011.</li><li>Eller, Jonathan R. <span style="font-style: italic;">Ray Bradbury Unbound</span>. Vol. 2 of 3. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2014.</li><li>Eller, Jonathan R. <span style="font-style: italic;">Bradbury Beyond Apollo</span>. Vol. 3 of 3. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2020.</li></ol><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">•</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsm8HUw972_l7Kgt7pRT7PlsZEeZe1G3m-CIkVkahxG2MSdipyP6pUGEzZSArGzeZZ7t8EAwwLgeBxGPaTn76HtlvBiFrRFeA8G8MskYJXJAziiZSGoE93OinoHItLaDLn6ZHxNMBgwj4u09ZfKXNcl5m_z9-SxWyCWy5UCq1rWNP5MEqE6w/s1200/Birthay_Trilogy_FacebookTwitter_Image.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsm8HUw972_l7Kgt7pRT7PlsZEeZe1G3m-CIkVkahxG2MSdipyP6pUGEzZSArGzeZZ7t8EAwwLgeBxGPaTn76HtlvBiFrRFeA8G8MskYJXJAziiZSGoE93OinoHItLaDLn6ZHxNMBgwj4u09ZfKXNcl5m_z9-SxWyCWy5UCq1rWNP5MEqE6w/s400/Birthay_Trilogy_FacebookTwitter_Image.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Jonathan Eller: <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/wordpress/ray-bradbury-birthday-bundle-sale/">The Bradbury Trilogy</a> (2011-2020)</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC56SKJnp-fWqmUe0GKS5mdojmBjhmulfV1ghJQSBVe9SgCNxjQI1BpbfZccZqWO_jWR2tdxd0DdDBQfGE3-XHeRsALZ8vJKrKyApv4bN91IXxBdsXBWNhG2YL-pcVNHu75a7LFzmnE2Hru1tWnWJJ-lfA_x-d5ZD6vR2yLtS30Y1Zsk22Ww/s1280/9780060545819-M__98030.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="850" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC56SKJnp-fWqmUe0GKS5mdojmBjhmulfV1ghJQSBVe9SgCNxjQI1BpbfZccZqWO_jWR2tdxd0DdDBQfGE3-XHeRsALZ8vJKrKyApv4bN91IXxBdsXBWNhG2YL-pcVNHu75a7LFzmnE2Hru1tWnWJJ-lfA_x-d5ZD6vR2yLtS30Y1Zsk22Ww/s400/9780060545819-M__98030.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Sam Weller: <a href="https://www.fireflybookstore.com/the-bradbury-chronicles-the-life-of-ray-bradbury/">The Bradbury Chronicles</a> (2005)</span></div><br />
<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-50761171016099411012023-05-25T08:38:00.023+12:002023-05-28T10:25:46.094+12:00The Life of the Mind<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibEejhHJXRsUgVSRe4amcmVVzLESm6SaBdcTjIdiG69jf34xk3QKZ3_nUNPEJo-DvpuT_PGCXCFKEdrxnGlmiV79OUR8i-N-RaEfwmah-J1_5BXiEASMIzqcQGUXvpkgPc0QFIqSm8kWHQvovYqIiw9Jvu6wf1mbMsmMoj_t7VcJKx70BoFA/s710/1b19b3d30e7a2a0e6ddf6b66b885bac9--direction-random-stuff.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="710" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibEejhHJXRsUgVSRe4amcmVVzLESm6SaBdcTjIdiG69jf34xk3QKZ3_nUNPEJo-DvpuT_PGCXCFKEdrxnGlmiV79OUR8i-N-RaEfwmah-J1_5BXiEASMIzqcQGUXvpkgPc0QFIqSm8kWHQvovYqIiw9Jvu6wf1mbMsmMoj_t7VcJKx70BoFA/s400/1b19b3d30e7a2a0e6ddf6b66b885bac9--direction-random-stuff.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">The Coen Brothers: <a href="https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/681591724833161254/">Barton Fink</a> (1991)</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">All Balled Up at Head Office</span></b></div><br />
<br />
Certainly the <a href="">Coen brothers</a>, Joel and Ethan, do not present a particularly attractive picture of the writing life in their satirical masterpiece <a href=""><i>Barton Fink</i></a>. "You never listen!" John Goodman (aka Karl "Mad Dog" Mundt) thunders at the hapless Barton as he charges down the burning corridor.<br />
<br />
I published a post called "<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2009/05/two-views-of-writer.html">Two Views of the Writer</a>" some years ago, but now I'd like to update the examples I gave there with my own favourite description of what <i>Barton Fink</i> refers to as "the life of the mind". It comes from H. G. Wells' 1896 short story "<a href="http://www.telelib.com/authors/W/WellsHerbertGeorge/prose/plattnerstory/lostinheritance.html">The Lost Inheritance</a>":
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjKKOFKcH2fOkiT-sFApN7tmERAwVoDsHKZCSSCi5mPml0px9oioeKHRTQHuBLbrFXRBiTQ4o3IzDQsZhMLamDG0MVNJvLILYKzsb2xC_rPTKrM00R5jOd5gDVarP9lg_pLDYq7mBJ7RIqGB-zrNFqn8-UbWni1gLvL2qd6JrjS8YrMfxi0w/s2160/H._G._Wells_Daily_Mirror.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="1367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjKKOFKcH2fOkiT-sFApN7tmERAwVoDsHKZCSSCi5mPml0px9oioeKHRTQHuBLbrFXRBiTQ4o3IzDQsZhMLamDG0MVNJvLILYKzsb2xC_rPTKrM00R5jOd5gDVarP9lg_pLDYq7mBJ7RIqGB-zrNFqn8-UbWni1gLvL2qd6JrjS8YrMfxi0w/s600/H._G._Wells_Daily_Mirror.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">The Daily Mirror: <a href="https://engole.info/the-lost-inheritance/">H. G. Wells</a> (1866-1946)</span></div><br />
<blockquote>
“My uncle — my maternal uncle ... had — what shall I call it — ? A weakness for writing edifying literature. Weakness is hardly the word — downright mania is nearer the mark. He’d been librarian in a Polytechnic, and as soon as the money came to him he began to indulge his ambition. It’s a simply extraordinary and incomprehensible thing to me. Here was a man of thirty-seven suddenly dropped into a perfect pile of gold, and he didn’t go — not a day’s bust on it. One would think a chap would go and get himself dressed a bit decent — say a couple of dozen pair of trousers at a West End tailor’s; but he never did. You’d hardly believe it, but when he died he hadn’t even a gold watch. It seems wrong for people like that to have money. All he did was just to take a house, and order in pretty nearly five tons of books and ink and paper, and set to writing edifying literature as hard as ever he could write. ...<br />
<br />
“He was a curious little chap, was my uncle, as I remember him. ... Hair just like these Japanese dolls they sell, black and straight and stiff all round the brim and none in the middle, and below, a whitish kind of face and rather large dark grey eyes moving about behind his spectacles. ... He looked a rummy little beggar, I can tell you. Indoors it was, as a rule, a dirty red flannel dressing-gown and a black skull-cap he had. That black skull-cap made him look like the portraits of all kinds of celebrated people. He was always moving about from house to house, was my uncle, with his chair which had belonged to Savage Landor, and his two writing-tables, one of Carlyle’s and the other of Shelley’s, so the dealer told him, and the completest portable reference library in England, he said he had — and he lugged the whole caravan, now to a house at Down, near Darwin’s old place, then to Reigate, near Meredith, then off to Haslemere, then back to Chelsea for a bit, and then up to Hampstead. He knew there was something wrong with his stuff, but he never knew there was anything wrong with his brains. It was always the air, or the water, or the altitude, or some tommy-rot like that. ‘So much depends on environment,’ he used to say, and stare at you hard, as if he half suspected you were hiding a grin at him somewhere under your face. ‘So much depends on environment to a sensitive mind like mine.’”<br />
<br />
“What was his name? You wouldn’t know it if I told you. He wrote nothing that anyone has ever read — nothing. No one could read it. He wanted to be a great teacher, he said, and he didn’t know what he wanted to teach any more than a child. So he just blethered at large about Truth and Righteousness, and the Spirit of History, and all that. Book after book he wrote and published at his own expense. He wasn’t quite right in his head, you know really; and to hear him go on at the critics — not because they slated him, mind you — he liked that — but because they didn’t take any notice of him at all. ‘What do the nations want?’ he would ask, holding out his brown old claw. ‘Why, teaching — guidance! They are scattered upon the hills like sheep without a shepherd. There is War and Rumours of War, the unlaid Spirit of Discord abroad in the land, Nihilism, Vivisection, Vaccination, Drunkenness, Penury, Want, Socialistic Error, Selfish Capital! Do you see the clouds, Ted —?’ My name, you know — ‘Do you see the clouds lowering over the land? and behind it all — the Mongol waits!’ He was always very great on Mongols, and the Spectre of Socialism, and suchlike things.”<br />
<br />
“Then out would come his finger at me, and with his eyes all afire and his skull-cap askew, he would whisper: ‘And here am I. What did I want? Nations to teach. Nations! I say it with all modesty, Ted, I could. I would guide them; nay! But I will guide them to a safe haven, to the land of Righteousness, flowing with milk and honey.’”<br />
<br />
“That’s how he used to go on. Ramble, rave about the nations, and righteousness, and that kind of thing. Kind of mincemeat of Bible and blethers. From fourteen up to three-and-twenty, when I might have been improving my mind, my mother used to wash me and brush my hair (at least in the earlier years of it), with a nice parting down the middle, and take me, once or twice a week, to hear this old lunatic jabber about things he had read of in the morning papers, trying to do it as much like Carlyle as he could, and I used to sit according to instructions, and look intelligent and nice, and pretend to be taking it all in. ...<br />
<br />
“’A moment!’ he would say. ‘A moment!’ over his shoulder. ‘The <i>mot juste</i>, you know, Ted, <i>le mot juste</i>. Righteous thought righteously expressed — Aah —! Concatenation. And now, Ted,’ he’d say, spinning round in his study chair, ‘how’s Young England?’ That was his silly name for me.”<br />
<br />
“Well, that was my uncle, and that was how he talked — to me, at any rate. With others about he seemed a bit shy. And he not only talked to me, but he gave me his books, books of six hundred pages or so, with cock-eyed headings, ‘The Shrieking Sisterhood,’ ‘The Behemoth of Bigotry,’ ‘Crucibles and Cullenders,’ and so on. All very strong, and none of them original. The very last time, but one, that I saw him, he gave me a book. He was feeling ill even then, and his hand shook and he was despondent. I noticed it because I was naturally on the look-out for those little symptoms. ‘My last book, Ted,’ he said. ‘My last book, my boy; my last word to the deaf and hardened nations;’ and I’m hanged if a tear didn’t go rolling down his yellow old cheek. He was regular crying because it was so nearly over, and he hadn’t only written about fifty-three books of rubbish. ‘I’ve sometimes thought, Ted —’ he said, and stopped.”<br />
<br />
“’Perhaps I’ve been a bit hasty and angry with this stiff-necked generation. A little more sweetness, perhaps, and a little less blinding light. I’ve sometimes thought — I might have swayed them. But I’ve done my best, Ted.’”<br />
<br />
“And then, with a burst, for the first and last time in his life he owned himself a failure. It showed he was really ill. He seemed to think for a minute, and then he spoke quietly and low, as sane and sober as I am now. ‘I’ve been a fool, Ted,’ he said. ‘I’ve been flapping nonsense all my life. Only He who readeth the heart knows whether this is anything more than vanity. Ted, I don’t. But He knows, He knows, and if I have done foolishly and vainly, in my heart — in my heart —’”<br />
<br />
“Just like that he spoke, repeating himself, and he stopped quite short and handed the book to me, trembling. Then the old shine came back into his eye. I remember it all fairly well, because I repeated it and acted it to my old mother when I got home, to cheer her up a bit. ‘Take this book and read it,’ he said. ‘It’s my last word, my very last word. I’ve left all my property to you, Ted, and may you use it better than I have done.’ And then he fell a-coughing.”<br />
<br />
“I remember that quite well even now, and how I went home cock-a-hoop, and how he was in bed the next time I called. ... He was sinking fast. But even then his vanity clung to him.<br />
<br />
“’Have you read it?’ he whispered.”<br />
<br />
“’Sat up all night reading it,’ I said in his ear to cheer him. ‘It’s the last,’ said I, and then, with a memory of some poetry or other in my head, ‘but it’s the bravest and best.’”<br />
<br />
“He smiled a little and tried to squeeze my hand as a woman might do, and left off squeezing in the middle, and lay still. ‘The bravest and the best,’ said I again, seeing it pleased him. But he didn’t answer. ... I looked at his face, and his eyes were closed, and it was just as if somebody had punched in his nose on either side. But he was still smiling. It’s queer to think of — he lay dead, lay dead there, an utter failure, with the smile of success on his face.</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJi-pWPj9CDtxikz4OpAyeklJHvcuPrlbefv-YHgFtQIMe6q6zqVlSrqX5HzR_CvNa7wLIBbgK8f3ulklftxFgAYhi7VLSoP3QM2Yy4LqJlK1HMSRzCOAIAsdaHxMBCv_SplVc1_0jctKYHM1ItYfk5YnRd4HCjbLOYFkxm1kp2cJ_qklZTQ/s600/120497.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJi-pWPj9CDtxikz4OpAyeklJHvcuPrlbefv-YHgFtQIMe6q6zqVlSrqX5HzR_CvNa7wLIBbgK8f3ulklftxFgAYhi7VLSoP3QM2Yy4LqJlK1HMSRzCOAIAsdaHxMBCv_SplVc1_0jctKYHM1ItYfk5YnRd4HCjbLOYFkxm1kp2cJ_qklZTQ/s400/120497.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Helen Allingham: <a href="https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/2029">Thomas Carlyle</a> (1795-1881)</span></div><br />
<br />
The will, alas, is nowhere to be found, so the whole estate goes to another, far less attentive nephew instead. The narrator falls "on hard times, because as you see, the only trade I knew was legacy-cadging."
<blockquote>
"I was hunting round my room to find something to raise a bit on for immediate necessities, and the sight of all those presentation volumes — no one will buy them, not to wrap butter in, even — well, they annoyed me. I promised him not to part with them, and I never kept a promise easier. I let out at them with my boot, and sent them shooting across the room. One lifted at the kick, and spun through the air. And out of it flapped — You guess?<br />
<br />
“It was the will. He’d given it to me himself in that very last volume of all.”<br />
<br />
... “It just shows you the vanity of authors,” he said, looking up at me. “It wasn’t no trick of his. He’d meant perfectly fair. He’d really thought I was really going home to read that blessed book of his through. But it shows you, don’t it —?” his eye went down to the tankard again —, “It shows you too, how we poor human beings fail to understand one another.”</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGNbmMeDzL2HgIz168MQuyP5nMzQSzzRErd4XniQ_PLl-Lnk4iQPoL_5p2gY-TAP4-2lecDPPgdQW6wJbedrI1QW4CjJAUfL_ge3f0GFzm5cq_n1LXdTmJXsQfOubGN0Q_IkbFsh3SEHoWTxSovfJ0CJQ2DS8rMzVd01Qs5RQL1A-gEuEXw/s471/1388963456.0.l.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGNbmMeDzL2HgIz168MQuyP5nMzQSzzRErd4XniQ_PLl-Lnk4iQPoL_5p2gY-TAP4-2lecDPPgdQW6wJbedrI1QW4CjJAUfL_ge3f0GFzm5cq_n1LXdTmJXsQfOubGN0Q_IkbFsh3SEHoWTxSovfJ0CJQ2DS8rMzVd01Qs5RQL1A-gEuEXw/s400/1388963456.0.l.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">H. G. Wells: <a href="https://www.biblio.com/book/plattner-story-others-wells-hg/d/1388963456?aid=frg&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyLGjBhDKARIsAFRNgW_c4ffBk_3syeOGJNKCRVV1gbPsQN6wyflOzPoi4QJ9dvQ-e8Pb36oaAnrkEALw_wcB">The Plattner Story and Others</a> (1897)</span></div><br />
<br />
It's a cruel story, in many ways. The absurdity of the uncle's ambitions, all his attempts to sound like Carlyle or some other great sage, are skewered with immaculate precision by the ruthless young Wells, whose books, in 1896, were already starting to sell - in increasingly large numbers.<br />
<br />
But the last laugh is, of course, on the nephew, whose cadging flattery inspires the old man to slip him what he wants most, the will, in this furtive way. And yet, one can hear a certain reluctant affection breaking through all the cynical chatter - despite himself, it's hard to believe that he didn't feel <i>something</i> for his uncle. After all, he didn't have to go quite to <i>those</i> lengths to placate him: "It’s the last, but it’s the bravest and best."<br />
<br />
I've wondered sometime if this early story came into Wells's mind at all as he was composing his own last book - not so much of Bible, but of <i>Science</i> and blethers - <i>Mind at the End of Its Tether</i>, in 1945. He'd long since lost his audience, and was largely talking to himself by this stage. But there's a horrible woolly vagueness about his work at the end which is sadly reminiscent of the author of <i>The Shrieking Sisterhood</i>, <i>The Behemoth of Bigotry</i>, or <i>Crucibles and Cullenders</i> ... Beware of what you mock, because that may turn out to be you in the end.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikDVr2vWIlKZENigsa0LHgyD1-_JS2oUtMO2hxO19Ce2S5KcqI8UpJYKESxeN_Zg6o6tM5YiWO51aq2s_FhQqKKL8FweZh2dhSaNDPJ21Ve2RlvV1tVNF8Q3FEAZT7ZIQ5Q9_uMB5uluqMqC7SnPxDJagpzJouYmTLf3MVlFHEgssEH10HPQ/s385/wells_Bk.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikDVr2vWIlKZENigsa0LHgyD1-_JS2oUtMO2hxO19Ce2S5KcqI8UpJYKESxeN_Zg6o6tM5YiWO51aq2s_FhQqKKL8FweZh2dhSaNDPJ21Ve2RlvV1tVNF8Q3FEAZT7ZIQ5Q9_uMB5uluqMqC7SnPxDJagpzJouYmTLf3MVlFHEgssEH10HPQ/s600/wells_Bk.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">H. G. Wells: <a href="https://www.monkfishpublishing.com/products-page-2/fiction/the-last-books-of-h-g-wells-the-happy-turning-a-dream-of-life-mind-at-the-end-of-its-tether-hg-wells/">The Last Books of H.G. Wells: The Happy Turning & Mind at the End of its Tether</a> (1945 / 2006)</span></div><br />
<br />
I was reminded irresistibly of this story when I came across an article on "<a href="
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/300793636/the-dream-job-most-new-zealanders-long-for-and-how-to-get-it">The dream job most New Zealanders long for, and how to get it</a>", by Annemarie Quill, on the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/">Stuff</a> website in January this year:
<blockquote>
One career tops the list in Aotearoa as the most desirable job in the country, according to new Google search data, yet it is not always the easiest or best paying.<br />
<br />
The dream job that most New Zealanders long to do for a living has been revealed by global analysis of 12-months of Google search data around job types, including the question “How to be a...”<br />
<br />
The answer for Kiwis was, apparently ... a writer.</blockquote>
But what <i>kind</i> of a writer?<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZHtdhjeymcXsDRhjiV504hkZki4VQqlQRX7L00dzQtNvJQSVZlYjPbd63Cdv1jus4FHVhyK3CXkJBye_Mo_3YOYea5d2GFHIjvUv0qAzKEOOJf_pl9FhtICTTgNSoNw3UUIDIPfodwlyqZpbixSYVPKoGgllLx5WzY6MdKQE_v_ZRsRnxnQ/s1440/4R7IZG7F44QCA2TKBQXCTRO7EU.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZHtdhjeymcXsDRhjiV504hkZki4VQqlQRX7L00dzQtNvJQSVZlYjPbd63Cdv1jus4FHVhyK3CXkJBye_Mo_3YOYea5d2GFHIjvUv0qAzKEOOJf_pl9FhtICTTgNSoNw3UUIDIPfodwlyqZpbixSYVPKoGgllLx5WzY6MdKQE_v_ZRsRnxnQ/s400/4R7IZG7F44QCA2TKBQXCTRO7EU.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">NZ Herald: <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/booker-prize-winner-keri-hulme-defends-successor-eleanor-catton/PHBLNRQLDP6YO5SSXJ3MIEUYH4/">Keri Hulme & Eleanor Catton</a> (28/1/15)</span></div>
<blockquote>
Kiwis aspiring to win the Booker prize like Eleanor Catton or Keri Hulme, or think they can soar to the top of bestseller lists by knocking out the next Harry Potter or <i>Fifty Shades</i>, could find that the reality of being a writer might not live up to the dream.<br />
<br />
“There are big rewards if you reach the very top and yet, it also promises to be a gruelling career for many filled with rejection, self-doubt and financial concerns,” said a spokesperson for Remitly, the financial services group which collated the data.</blockquote>
Bay of Plenty book editor Chad Dick agrees that "It’s a career that people should follow for love, not money ... If the thought of having your book in your hand is enough, then you are half way there.”
<blockquote>
New Zealand sports journalist turned novelist Peter White said he wasn’t too surprised that so many New Zealanders dreamed of writing.<br />
<br />
“I would have thought it would be All Black, but it makes sense. Everyone has a story inside them, and writing is the perfect way to express it.”</blockquote>
It's not that there isn't a lot of very sensible advice in this article: there is. Those of us in the trade of teaching Creative Writing certainly have to get used to introducing - as diplomatically as possible - a touch of realism into the unrealistically lofty hopes and dreams of aspiring novelists and poets.<br />
<br />
But the question still needs a good deal of unpacking. Is it the idea of <i>being</i> a writer that attracts people, or the actual brute work of writing? The rewards, when they come, are seldom commensurate to the superhuman effort of creating something genuinely worth reading - and the prodigies who seemingly effortlessly spin stories out of thin air are rarer than one might think.<br />
<br />
In the end "the thought of having his book in his hand" was apparently <i>not</i> enough for Wells's uncle - even that tottering stack of 53-odd self-published tomes - as he despaired on his deathbed. What he craved was some whisper of recognition. Did he believe those last lying words of his nephew? Perhaps - perhaps not.
<blockquote>
But he was still smiling. It’s queer to think of — he lay dead, lay dead there, an utter failure, with the smile of success on his face.</blockquote>
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<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieq193LgqEZ_5d4w9wlnyOqzIsZfNtUjxUXW-EFnPmG1UCHOcKyYGdCGK_N6LVMj3BG37cOXnPA1EAuvkY7eKBVBzBoKtYfHlQmUbJEvxc8gTOcsQBCX6spWraFfb7jbJrkjDMoPNliz4NbruMFD4heEWIlgzxmGxfZkBLSk5FXwYV1IEVdA/s350/ross-jack.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieq193LgqEZ_5d4w9wlnyOqzIsZfNtUjxUXW-EFnPmG1UCHOcKyYGdCGK_N6LVMj3BG37cOXnPA1EAuvkY7eKBVBzBoKtYfHlQmUbJEvxc8gTOcsQBCX6spWraFfb7jbJrkjDMoPNliz4NbruMFD4heEWIlgzxmGxfZkBLSk5FXwYV1IEVdA/s400/ross-jack.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Jack Ross: <a href="http://jacksshowcase.blogspot.com/">Biblioblitz</a> (2006)</span></div><br />
<br />
Perhaps that's the final irony of Wells's story. It's presumably meant to be a satire on the vanity of authors, but no writer can read it without feeling a reluctant affinity with that poor absurd old man with his vanload of paper and Walter Savage Landor's chair.<br />
<br />
"Fake it till you make it." I remember hearing <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2006/10/taxidermy.html">Martha Stewart</a> angrily denouncing this doctrine on her own abortive version of <i>The Apprentice</i> Reality TV show: "I never faked anything. I went to <i>jail</i>, for God's sake!"<br />
<br />
I'm not quite sure how being convicted of insider trading [Sorry: I've been prompted to make a <a href="https://harbert.auburn.edu/binaries/documents/center-for-ethical-organizational-cultures/cases/martha-stewart.pdf">correction</a> here - "the charges of securities fraud were thrown out, Ms. Stewart was found guilty of four counts of obstruction of justice and lying to investigators"] equates with not being a fake, but then "that's just facts", as another popular adage has it. <i>All</i> writers are fakes. Even the ones who win huge prizes and the adulation of millions have, somewhere inside them, some last remaining vestiges of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome">impostor syndrome</a>.<br />
<br />
Which is not to say that there's no <i>difference</i> between H. G. Wells, or Thomas Carlyle, and the poor deluded uncle in the story - but it's more one of degree and scale than of species. If I had to pick a patron saint of writers, it would definitely be the uncle.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnGrPfYBvTKC0KWaspBgMZuD2491vjYqJBLbmVTXgjGSCCAL0OeiCIvrgMa_TRgs0mU3H9anFCDimnFRTvZDyG8fkY0gAIoo2L_8QnhmEn65P76JZnD86FTa7cF9vv3PmybO253IE2hFg7WxxrQE3Mkg6Cqakiu99_UP91fkEf11Okf752xw/s2048/2020_06_0216_40OfficeLens_15_1024x1024@2x.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnGrPfYBvTKC0KWaspBgMZuD2491vjYqJBLbmVTXgjGSCCAL0OeiCIvrgMa_TRgs0mU3H9anFCDimnFRTvZDyG8fkY0gAIoo2L_8QnhmEn65P76JZnD86FTa7cF9vv3PmybO253IE2hFg7WxxrQE3Mkg6Cqakiu99_UP91fkEf11Okf752xw/s600/2020_06_0216_40OfficeLens_15_1024x1024@2x.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">H. G. Wells: <a href="https://richarddalbyslibrary.com/products/the-short-stories-of-h-g-wells-ernest-benn-limited-1927-first-collected-edition">The Short Stories</a> (1927)</span></div><br />
<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-89367560881139414992023-05-14T10:55:00.016+12:002023-09-20T16:23:22.663+12:00Amis & Son<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgjFDPpUCNxa1SCrlAU73QoIpPyxmuVmJL-EDuQ5suYE5kL_7ScucRBDW36xUc0Y72PsNYx2F8JFNDlveSIfxUSFbVBZoeu7MeWDBNxvqKeRSwwaq3q5K0ZLPgErPeSj1LkukB_TxVWIrOdMI5OEYJ3k-_iCPBwSNES0DW55ZANqDm3okCQA/s2328/81YPUc45oIL.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2328" data-original-width="1516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgjFDPpUCNxa1SCrlAU73QoIpPyxmuVmJL-EDuQ5suYE5kL_7ScucRBDW36xUc0Y72PsNYx2F8JFNDlveSIfxUSFbVBZoeu7MeWDBNxvqKeRSwwaq3q5K0ZLPgErPeSj1LkukB_TxVWIrOdMI5OEYJ3k-_iCPBwSNES0DW55ZANqDm3okCQA/s600/81YPUc45oIL.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Neil Powell: <a href="">Amis & Son: Two Literary Generations</a> (2008)</span></div><br />
<blockquote><b>Sunday, 21st May, 2023</b> - I'm updating this post to record the news of the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65660768">death from cancer</a> of Martin Amis on Friday the 19th of May, at his Florida home. It seems strange to have been writing about his work just a week before that - strange, too, that it should have coincided with the Cannes debut of Jonathan Glazer's <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230520-the-zone-of-interest-review-from-cannes-five-stars-for-jonathan-glazers-holocaust-masterpiece"><i>The Zone of Interest</i></a>, based on Amis's 2014 novel. It was received with a six-minute standing ovation. <i>Requiescat in Pace</i>.</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">Amis fils & Amis père</span></b></div><br />
<br />
The other day I was in a bookshop where they were having a "five for five dollars" sale. Even at that price, I found few items to tempt me. An old copy of <i>Spycatcher</i> - yes, I missed reading that at the time, back in the paranoid '80s, but my friend John Fenton assures me it's a valuable piece of social history - that went in the bag. What else? An anthology of writings about the Battle of Britain, edited by some flying ace or other; a companion volume about pioneer aviators; Andrew Motion's <i>Selected Poems</i>; and - <i>Amis & Son: Two Literary Generations</i> ...<br />
<br />
You'd think the latter would have been a shoo-in, given my longstanding obsession with the life and works of Kingsley Amis and (to a somewhat lesser extent) his son and literary rival Martin. Not so. I already own no fewer than <i>three</i> full-length biographies of "Kingers", as his friends used to call him, and - to be honest - I felt a bit reluctant to add to their number.<br />
<br />
Still: five for five dollars - not to mention the fact that there isn't, so far as I'm aware, much biographical writing as yet about Martin - or 'Amis fils', as he's sometimes called. So I duly bought it and stowed it away on the shelf devoted to just such Amisiana. Until, the other day, feeling in dire need of a bit of a laugh - and I do find both Amises irresistibly amusing at times - I picked it up and started to read it.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvTM7dJdZFw1Rr_j1Z4HrwulMyMP2whgugO4bxbZ7JkhD2MvBkBYr5Ql8F8i6gqNmnt4EbU0i6i6HnzfR9wSDXIDJQUh4LBX9lXnQSxOTsqeIp8R_1Sb6_vFEeAiaEnB0x6yZs8xOjCulXfz_vkXI2u5KwvYaZXhWHoz-ZxvUadAQVAWPB1Q/s400/80481.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvTM7dJdZFw1Rr_j1Z4HrwulMyMP2whgugO4bxbZ7JkhD2MvBkBYr5Ql8F8i6gqNmnt4EbU0i6i6HnzfR9wSDXIDJQUh4LBX9lXnQSxOTsqeIp8R_1Sb6_vFEeAiaEnB0x6yZs8xOjCulXfz_vkXI2u5KwvYaZXhWHoz-ZxvUadAQVAWPB1Q/s400/80481.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">London Remembers: <a href="https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/sir-kingsley-amis">Sir Kingsley Amis</a></span></div><br />
<br />
It begins, sensibly enough, with a visit to "Kingsley Amis's earliest childhood home - 16 Buckingham Gardens, Norbury, SW16." The author is quick to refute "the green plaque stating that Sir Kingsley Amis was born here" placed there by the local council. Apparently he wasn't. As for the house itself, and its immediate ambience:
<blockquote>
Even if Buckingham Gardens hasn't gone down in the world much since the Amises lived here, it hasn't come up; only one of the houses shows the slightest hint of ownerly gentrification, and it looks out of place.</blockquote>
So far so good. Class insecurity <i>is</i> a major theme of Neil Powell's book as a whole, so this seems a good place to start. But then:
<blockquote>
The air carries a stong and unmistakable whiff of curry, which Kingsley mightn't in one sense have minded (it was among the few foods he actually enjoyed), though in another he'd have minded quite a bit: he was no racist, but he strongly disliked the quality of English life being mucked about. [p.1]</blockquote>
I had to read this sentence a couple of times before its implications really began to sink in. I mean, I have lived in the UK. I do know the terrain - to some extent, at least. What Powell <i>appeared</i> to me to be saying was that the area has been taken over by foreigners - the kind who eat a good deal of curry. Not only that, there is - is there not? - an implication that their very presence here constitutes some kind of affront to the "quality of English life."<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga7MZzIZDWcZrAVlBeFK2MlVpQpZs_Y3MerWYos43ZtsHjiqA_yoQmI8iiBu7NH8NTMT6XoJnvo0cnWC_LksRdZiktm_i1qjHGGKILraTLzj2LOo1_S3vka2gW4UrxNxN7blnBg3v1Vudc466h5dKYm04n1_67Bi_iD9bBzQcGL3fiWLolmw/s600/ip044img02.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga7MZzIZDWcZrAVlBeFK2MlVpQpZs_Y3MerWYos43ZtsHjiqA_yoQmI8iiBu7NH8NTMT6XoJnvo0cnWC_LksRdZiktm_i1qjHGGKILraTLzj2LOo1_S3vka2gW4UrxNxN7blnBg3v1Vudc466h5dKYm04n1_67Bi_iD9bBzQcGL3fiWLolmw/s600/ip044img02.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Carcanet Press: <a href="https://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/scribe?showinfo=ip044">Neil Powell</a></span></div><br />
<br />
Perhaps I'm overreading it, I thought, resisting my first impulse to throw the book across the room. Surely he <i>can't</i> mean that. In any case, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and persevere.<br />
<br />
Certainly Neil Powell knows a good story when he hears one. I'm not sure that I came across many in his pages which I hadn't already encountered in Amis's <i>Memoirs</i> or one of the other biographies, but they were certainly just as amusing when retold here. He also quotes lengthy passages from Amis's <i>Letters</i>, which reminded me of just how rib-ticklingly funny that book can be - one of the few such volumes that it actually <i>is</i> dangerous to be caught reading in a public place. People are liable to think that you're throwing a fit.<br />
<br />
But is this enough? Is this really a <i>necessary</i> book? As D. J. Taylor puts it in his own notice of <i>Amis and Son</i> in the <i><a href="https://literaryreview.co.uk/double-trouble">Literary Review</a></i>:
<blockquote>On the shelf beside me as I write this are, in chronological order, Kingsley’s <i>Memoirs</i> (1991), Eric Jacobs’s <i>Kingsley Amis: A Biography</i> (1995), Martin’s <i>Experience</i> (2000), Zachary Leader’s edition of <i>The Letters of Kingsley Amis</i> (2000), Richard Bradford’s <i>Lucky Him</i> (2001), advertised as a ‘biography’ but in fact an exceptionally astute critical survey, and Leader’s jumbo-sized <i>The Life of Kingsley Amis</i> (2006). They are all interesting books, up to a point, but there are an awful lot of them and the message emerging from their three or four thousand collective pages is generally the same.</blockquote>
I too own all of these books, and am forced - somewhat reluctantly - to concur with Taylor's opinion that "one can think of novelists twice as good who have attracted half the volume of scholarly, or not so scholarly, exegesis."<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpEKDmFmvqw-KDmyIoDixhH8H1le0JQZPXgHuZnSZfIEqk6WAFN44K2KpkOTvqyIO-ccGDCcudcUiZDYJQ9KRBBu396wymLKb4SPHnRipT0xgQjqAO-typgSSooWdt7jJwk8BZK_J0EQ3pdzUu2vsRwPtA0iwdBeI1v-yvm1HBJr0mxkXJg/s2560/51199459.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1628" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpEKDmFmvqw-KDmyIoDixhH8H1le0JQZPXgHuZnSZfIEqk6WAFN44K2KpkOTvqyIO-ccGDCcudcUiZDYJQ9KRBBu396wymLKb4SPHnRipT0xgQjqAO-typgSSooWdt7jJwk8BZK_J0EQ3pdzUu2vsRwPtA0iwdBeI1v-yvm1HBJr0mxkXJg/s600/51199459.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Martin Amis: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51199459-inside-story">Inside Story</a> (2020)</span></div><br />
<br />
Where there's already so much competition, justifying the appearance of yet another tome on much the same subject surely requires a bit of special pleading. So, unless Powell has an exceptionally compelling new reading of Amis <i>père</i> to offer (and I'm not sure that he does), his book really stands or falls on the value of any new material he can provide on Amis <i>fils</i>.<br />
<br />
It's true that Powell evinces a number of opinions which are (to put it mildly) not in line with my own. He seems to take it for granted that any time spent reading Science Fiction is time wasted, and that Kingsley Amis's pioneering efforts as a critic and anthologist of the field ought therefore to be written off as simple self-indulgence. Powell even claims that Kingsley (he refers to him by his first name throughout, so I don't see why I shouldn't) would have been much better off expanding his (failed) BLitt thesis on the popular audience for Victorian poetry into a monograph than dignifying such disposable 'genre fiction' with his attention. And yet, to me, that's one of the strongest arguments in favour of Kingsley's critical acumen.<br />
<br />
But just because I happen to disagree with many of Powell's views is no reason to dismiss them out of hand. At this point I thought it might be a good idea to see what some other readers thought of his book. There are a couple of puffs on the cover: "A delight: witty, clever and astute" - <i>Observer</i>, plus a blurb description of it as a "witty, opinionated and thoroughly readable critical biography"; D. J. Taylor, too, refers to it "a thoughtfully written study," in the passage from his review quoted above.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJrtUBZugplJqNNt3IliawNtiUvi463vscvCNz9f0b_wMRalD9EPJ4x5MD3RyHNaW4jE1M4qaTntLmoy_ImUE9Md_wwMGckE2oB0oOT9mz148Bpia65KqnK8SN1eiBUdEexZjXJP4TSmW27cdQGtPej_rct4Q9_K59eh0obPz3ErfKPTMFw/s1024/Craven__Peter_-_colour.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJrtUBZugplJqNNt3IliawNtiUvi463vscvCNz9f0b_wMRalD9EPJ4x5MD3RyHNaW4jE1M4qaTntLmoy_ImUE9Md_wwMGckE2oB0oOT9mz148Bpia65KqnK8SN1eiBUdEexZjXJP4TSmW27cdQGtPej_rct4Q9_K59eh0obPz3ErfKPTMFw/s400/Craven__Peter_-_colour.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">The Wheeler Centre: <a href="https://www.wheelercentre.com/people/peter-craven/">Peter Craven</a></span></div><br />
<br />
There was at least one writer who felt much as I did about it, however. You can, if you wish, read it for yourself on the website of the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/amis-and-son-two-literary-generations-20080722-ge78sy.html"><i>Melbourne Age</i></a> for July 22, 2008, but here are a couple of quotes from Australian critic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Craven_(literary_critic)">Peter Craven</a>'s review:
<blockquote>
<i>Amis and Son</i>, Neil Powell's would-be critical biography of Kingsley Amis, author of <i>Lucky Jim</i> and <i>Take a Girl Like You</i>, and Martin Amis, his son, author of <i>The Rachel Papers</i> and <i>London Fields</i>, is ... a silly and sickening book that is liable to be taken more seriously than it deserves.</blockquote>
That's going straight for the jugular! But why exactly does he think so?
<blockquote>
It is essentially a critical book, buttressed by biographical summary that tends to be used as an increasingly impertinent crutch for the evaluative judgements that keep jumping about between the lives and the works of Amis father and son.<br />
<br />
It is less obviously debilitating in the case of Kingsley because the burden of Powell's book is that Smarty isn't half the writer that his Dad was. Smarty Anus, you'll recall, is <i>Private Eye</i>'s empathic nickname for Martin Amis, a homage of an epithet if ever there was one.
</blockquote>
Certainly this is a problem if, as I've argued above, the book's <i>raison d'être</i> really has to be providing a substantive reading of <i>Martin</i>'s work, rather than rehashing the far more readily available material on <i>Kingsley</i>. But Powell, according to Peter Craven, is:
<blockquote>the kind of narrow and overweeningly snooty critic who is constantly confusing the limitations of human beings with the faults of their work. It is not a vice confined to the British, but one they exhibit with a peculiar intensity and obnoxiousness.<br />
<br />
At its worst this kind of writing is constantly sliding into what sounds like social condescension. It is especially dominant where criticism and biography meet, as in the truly appalling studies of Anthony Burgess and Laurence Olivier by Roger Lewis.</blockquote>
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<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpnKvyGoPkTIfxJ9Ndo3i6H8EldBbUwRUZrFBhUN5j6Za741g8vziWKgqczC-htL5yy5mN6diUqmy6xHy_4tI2MBDH2_KovTW0co_1n30eaHbKWRo20qjy07bCn9z3LkUqFjfKltoi2LPpgk_NFvmduXN6gYI-ISkFOV3PrQg-1HTO7kcBA/s460/frontcomment0_1653544c.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpnKvyGoPkTIfxJ9Ndo3i6H8EldBbUwRUZrFBhUN5j6Za741g8vziWKgqczC-htL5yy5mN6diUqmy6xHy_4tI2MBDH2_KovTW0co_1n30eaHbKWRo20qjy07bCn9z3LkUqFjfKltoi2LPpgk_NFvmduXN6gYI-ISkFOV3PrQg-1HTO7kcBA/s400/frontcomment0_1653544c.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7812718/Roger-Lewis-Now-heres-what-I-call-poetry.html">Roger Lewis</a></span></div><br />
<br />
I, too, have read Roger Lewis's rambling and vituperative 'critical biography' of Anthony Burgess, so I do see the point Craven is making here. I haven't read Lewis on the subject of Olivier, but I have a copy of his apparently equally venomous <i>Life and Death of Peter Sellers</i> lying around somewhere. Is Powell's book really as bad as that?<br />
<br />
Certainly he says some odd things at times. While describing a seduction scene in Martin's <i>The Rachel Papers</i> (1973), which takes place to the accompaniment of the Beatles' <i>Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band</i>, regarded by the hero as "a safe choice, since to be against the Beatles (late-middle period) is to be against life", Powell calls 'When I'm Sixty-Four' and 'Lovely Rita':
<blockquote>
the two songs which despite their jaunty surfaces most clearly reveal the Beatles' underlying callousness and contempt for other people. [pp.297-98]</blockquote>
Really? Do they? Maybe I've been getting them wrong all these years ... It does seem a rather extreme view, though it certainly matches up with an earlier diatribe by Powell about "a truly shocking moment in <i>Experience</i>", where Martin mentions:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj256AO76DnaRb0D2d-uMfSdZE7mBUD2ztjb8S8zklVOUzUz2c_AHfELzvfi800SikP518Z9LxfAusix1sAOj2d6lMUFOwwqqHN40UCQ65Uh-NUgijjXagbSdkW_SvOcqXbwWkYPuQKeVUKWVQD4CMCgM1unltSQPa5T-XQDrOnP2O4A_GvlA/s1409/2afe3b-20200514-daily-download-01.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1409" data-original-width="1409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj256AO76DnaRb0D2d-uMfSdZE7mBUD2ztjb8S8zklVOUzUz2c_AHfELzvfi800SikP518Z9LxfAusix1sAOj2d6lMUFOwwqqHN40UCQ65Uh-NUgijjXagbSdkW_SvOcqXbwWkYPuQKeVUKWVQD4CMCgM1unltSQPa5T-XQDrOnP2O4A_GvlA/s400/2afe3b-20200514-daily-download-01.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">J. S. Bach: <a href="https://www.yourclassical.org/episode/2020/05/18/daily-download-johann-sebastian-bach--cello-suite-no-1-i-prelude">Complete Cello Suites</a> (1-6)</span></div>
<blockquote>
Bach's 'Concerto for Cello', in four words conveying ignorance of musical history, the composer's oeuvre and the difference between a concerto and a sonata ... His father had been able to take a scurrilously disrespectful view of received culture precisely because he knew a good bit about it from quite early on. Martin didn't have that luxury; hence, despite his plumage, he had to become a successfully diligent gnome. [pp.288-89]
</blockquote>
Yes, Martin (or his editor) should have picked up on that one. But then, Powell's own book is not exactly error-free. In any case, isn't all this a bit of an overreaction? Does it really justify describing him a "successfully diligent gnome"? Perhaps it's an English thing. As my Birmingham-born friend Martin Frost once remarked to me, "It's not that you're <i>outside</i> the class system, Jack, it's that you're <i>beneath</i> it."<br />
<br />
The nuances of class are clearly something that fascinates Powell, though one can't help feeling that he's not talking solely about the two Amises when he mounts his own "unfashionable defence" of these curious caste divides:
<blockquote>
at least since the mid-eighteenth century, class in England has been extraordinarily fluid, enabling immense social leaps to be made within individual lifetimes ... [and] this fluidity coincides with the rise of the English novel, which has made class - in its nuances, misunderstandings and unexpected transitions - one of its major themes. [p.315]
</blockquote>
"For the novelist it remains an indispensable resource". Powell's defence of class seems to boil down to two not easily reconcilable statements: 1/ that it doesn't really work; 2/ that it's great to write about. Sometimes it's nice to be a New Zealander and not feel that you have to worry about that kind of thing.<br />
<br />
I'm not myself a great fan of Martin Amis, whose works I stopped collecting some years back, but I have read a number of them, including <i>Money</i> and <i>London Fields</i>, and would certainly agree with Peter Craven's praise of his attempts to reclaim:
<blockquote>the vast underworld of London street talk and the way contemporary Britain actually talked in his mature fiction. Powell's culpable stupidity about this goes most of the way towards disqualifying him from saying anything of critical interest about Martin.</blockquote>
In short, then:
<blockquote>
<i>Amis and Son</i> is a book by a critic of some intelligence who nonetheless constantly dissipates his insights because his swaggering irritation at one of his two subjects makes him blindingly daft.</blockquote>
Craven concedes that "it's easy enough to be irritated by Martin Amis."
<blockquote>
You can even go halfway with Tibor Fischer's assessment, quoted by Powell, of Martin Amis as "an atrocity-chaser ... constantly on the prowl for gravitas enlargement offers (the Holocaust, serial killers, 9/11, the Gulag, the Beslan siege) as if writing about really bad things will make him a really great novelist", and still acknowledge that, on a good day, he is one of the most significant writers in Britain to have produced fiction in the past 30 years.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc6KPheuDsl5cHiOFDXNutGvQeF35f5lJU3BFZP01fWyZ8hu4UTLOIffQuEHzzfvGu6m4dUVbExW9-h8ClJ-9ME75LiYuUWntt3Tyzn_YS7sYkz4veXBnp8fM6-DJjbTpxTLkwASS2DyKiHBDubv_pEdMA_AkwldLw7nHx1tn4RxjuM_Ju9Q/s500/51snRPO-77L.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc6KPheuDsl5cHiOFDXNutGvQeF35f5lJU3BFZP01fWyZ8hu4UTLOIffQuEHzzfvGu6m4dUVbExW9-h8ClJ-9ME75LiYuUWntt3Tyzn_YS7sYkz4veXBnp8fM6-DJjbTpxTLkwASS2DyKiHBDubv_pEdMA_AkwldLw7nHx1tn4RxjuM_Ju9Q/s600/51snRPO-77L.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Martin Amis: <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Koba-Dread-Laughter-Twenty-Million-ebook/dp/B00CP5UBWA">Koba the Dread</a></span> (2002)</div><br />
<br />
That seems like a pretty judicious distinction to me. One of the books I <i>have</i> read by Martin Amis is his account of Stalin, <i>Koba the Dread</i>. It inspired me to verse, in fact:
<blockquote>
<b><i>Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million</i></b><br />
<br />
Stalin’s a bad man I know<br />
Martin Amis told me so<br />
It's not exactly a revelation<br />
but thank you for the Information<br />
<br />
[26/9/2002]</blockquote>
There was definitely a smug, <i>de haut en bas</i> tone about Amis's book which I found irksome. But then, I almost died laughing at the antics of the two warring novelists in his 1995 novel <i>The Information</i> - you'll have noticed the clever way I've inserted a reference to it in the clerihew above - not to mention the appalling works they're respectively responsible for:
<blockquote>'What's your novel called?'<br />
<span style="padding-left: 1em;">'<i>Untitled</i>'</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 1em;">'Don't you have a title for it yet?'</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 1em;">'No, it's <i>called</i> "Untitled" ...'</span></blockquote>
That's the book by thwarted novelist Richard Tull which causes anyone who tries to read it to start bleeding from the eyes, a condition rapidly escalating into a brain hemorrhage if they're foolish enough to persist. His rival Gwyn Barry's successful utopia <i>Amelior</i> sounds equally emetic, though fortunately far less lethal.<br />
<br />
I'm still not sure what <i>The Information</i> is actually about, but it's hard to care when the incidental details are as good as that. Martin Amis is certainly not a jolly or a likeable writer, but the sheer power and variety of his prose makes up for an awful lot.<br />
<br />
One of the oddest passages in Powell's book is the one where he unpacks "one of the riddling paradoxes of fiction":
<blockquote>
an unambitious form is one crucial respect more ambitious than an ambitious one: it is, in this sense, easier to write <i>Ulysses</i> than a novel by, say, Barbara Pym or C. P. Snow. <i>Ulysses</i> competes only with itself, with its own ambition; a novel by Pym or Snow competes with thousand others about middle-class women, strange clergymen and mendacious academics. [pp.311-12]</blockquote>
Carried to an extreme, wouldn't this doctrine militate against Powell's earlier dismissal of Ian Fleming, one of Kingsley's favourite writers, as "a bad and pernicious author" [p.148]? I mean, isn't it harder to compete with a thousand other thrillers replete with "pornographic sadism" than to write, say, <i>Tom Jones</i> or <i>Tristram Shandy</i>? Fielding and Sterne were only competing with <i>themselves</i>, after all, whereas Fleming has Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane all barking at his heels ...<br />
<br />
As one progresses through his book and encounters more and more opinions of this nature, it becomes increasingly difficult to take Powell seriously as a critic. There's an <i>ad hominem</i> tone to his judgements which seems driven by personal animus rather than disinterested analysis. Peter Craven, too, has difficulties with this aspect of his writing:
<blockquote>
You're free to think that none of Martin Amis has as sure a place in the canon as <i>Lucky Jim</i>, but that's not the point. Powell is an interesting guide to the ins and outs of Kingsley's fiction, and some of his tips about particular books may be worth following. On the other hand he is an admirer of Martin's <i>Time's Arrow</i> - the Holocaust novel that runs backward - so you have to wonder.</blockquote>
Yes, I'm with him there. For me, <i>Time's Arrow</i> is a one-page idea dragged out to the length of an entire novel. On the other hand, I was intrigued to see that (unlike Richard Bradford in <i>Lucky Him</i>), Powell likes Kingsley's late novel <i>The Folks Who Live on the Hill</i> as much as I do. And, while I remain unconvinced by his defence of the quasi-psychotic excesses of <i>Stanley and the Women</i>, it is interesting to hear his views on the matter.<br />
<br />
Craven concludes his review as follows:
<blockquote>
The word about this book is that it's the bollocking Martin Amis always had coming to him. It isn't, it's a spiteful and thoughtless book by a vain and shallow critic who is defeated by everything in his hugely talented contemporary that shows up his own narrowness and pettiness and lack of feeling for the rough and ready words and grand ambitions that might encompass a world or transform it in fiction.</blockquote>
In short: "What defeats him is human beings and the way the details of a life might illuminate a writer's work." Strong words here from Craven; it's hard to dissent, though, if you've actually made your way to the end of Powell's book. It's a pity, above all, that he makes such great play with the (alleged) carelessness and ignorance of the two Amises when you consider his own vulnerability on this score.<br />
<br />
To take one example. He concludes, on p.371, a long denunciation of Martin's use of Americanisms in his prose by saying that a writer's job is "To purify the dialect of the tribe" - a dictum he attributes to T. S. Eliot. While it's true that this phrase does indeed appear in Part II of "Little Gidding" (1942), the last of Eliot's <i>Four Quartets</i>, it is actually (of course), an Englishing of Mallarmé's famous line "<i>Donner un sens plus pur aux mots de la tribu</i>" from the sonnet "<i>Le tombeau d'Edgar Poe</i>".<br />
<br />
There's a double irony in this. Powell's view of Amis's prose style as "veering away as far as possible from an English conversational voice towards a demotic statelessness" would surely apply far better to the work of the deracinated American T. S. Eliot than to unrepentant Londoner Martin Amis? And, given that Mallarmé attributed this purification of the "tribal" dialect to another American, Edgar Allan Poe, its use as a guarantor of "Englishness" here seems particularly off the mark.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2mRWV05bUxuuClleLSzCAFuqBD_PJ7ViOH-eyBwoBgdTa75b_-aHMdXPq5fIrfQRS49YAmBESgYM0hHPnDmV7d1W-ypkrOPAo5A-kUF4Ey6_cOs8Ii3MOlmAnWoB7Xc--CIhsBFEEPv9QdXsHnZxN5Q6XFLcjZGOK5G42uJDU-Udl-Z4pg/s864/z24-482_edgar_allan_poe.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="567" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2mRWV05bUxuuClleLSzCAFuqBD_PJ7ViOH-eyBwoBgdTa75b_-aHMdXPq5fIrfQRS49YAmBESgYM0hHPnDmV7d1W-ypkrOPAo5A-kUF4Ey6_cOs8Ii3MOlmAnWoB7Xc--CIhsBFEEPv9QdXsHnZxN5Q6XFLcjZGOK5G42uJDU-Udl-Z4pg/s600/z24-482_edgar_allan_poe.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.mdhistory.org/poe-and-alone/">Edgar Allan Poe</a> (1809-1849)</span></div>
<br />
<br />
But if Powell's book is so bad, why waste so much time and energy on it? It's a fair question. I suppose that the answer might be because I wanted it to be better than it is. For my all my reading and rereading of their works, I still find even the elder Amis - let alone the younger - something of a mystery.<br />
<br />
Since I know so much less about Martin than Kingsley, it was really this aspect of Powell's book that I hoped to learn most from. I've read almost all of the novels he analyses - the early to mid-career ones - and was surprised to find how little validity I found in his assessments of them. The two - to me - most doctrinaire and mechanical, <i>Success</i> and <i>Time's Arrow</i>, he rates most highly, whereas the verbal pyrotechnics of <i>Money</i>, <i>London Fields</i>, and <i>The Information</i> seem to leave him cold.<br />
<br />
Mind you, there's no accounting for tastes, and there's no moral obligation on him to like these books. I'm not sure that I exactly <i>like</i> them myself. But I do agree with Peter Craven about the immense <i>gravitas</i> of the task Martin Amis set himself in attempting to reclaim "the vast underworld of London street talk and the way contemporary Britain actually talked in his mature fiction."<br />
<br />
Like Dickens, Martin Amis has trouble with plots: there's always either too much or too little of it in all of his novels. But that's not really why I read them. Not purely for pleasure, but for "<a href="https://npg.si.edu/blog/poetic-likeness-news-staying-news">news that stays news</a>" (to employ another Americanism) - in this case, news about the language.<br />
<br />
In any case, Powell's book is clearly not the one I need. Maybe, in fact, I don't need any more critical books or biographical accounts of either author, but simply to reimmerse myself in their works. If so, I should probably tender some thanks to Neil Powell for reminding me of that.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih0XwuU_hpGdvsO5YAuIFr-3dxlkOyhDecdoqim4tCigMTOAjr2fw63kqMS6-_N64mUBOVjn6c6x50sm1P2qquruIWYN6w7Tym-ngDPxo1J12IwldmeDOALi_eAGRekoMLF8ovcBz4eJhPZnYNr1SJ5M7waZICWKntZV_4aBu8rXt9xgpbDA/s400/article00.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih0XwuU_hpGdvsO5YAuIFr-3dxlkOyhDecdoqim4tCigMTOAjr2fw63kqMS6-_N64mUBOVjn6c6x50sm1P2qquruIWYN6w7Tym-ngDPxo1J12IwldmeDOALi_eAGRekoMLF8ovcBz4eJhPZnYNr1SJ5M7waZICWKntZV_4aBu8rXt9xgpbDA/s400/article00.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.bookforum.com/print/1405/kingsley-amis-s-advice-on-all-matters-alcoholic-may-not-be-helpful-but-it-is-always-lively-2055">Kingsley & Martin </a> (1970s)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2NJiImN9c_h1BT3tfWTGuJDCHQazv5P6TY5GmuTH05wZgnJio7rNFGJunVN26Mekh8jMMKMbjzL_5I2iPILWk434-7AN1P0ZSkcKV9fHCwb6266TQoadezsUO6p7tQ4dX52uA1TI0cOgvivKlmBlij_d_RXkU_x-302zaTV1fp00Ouwmqeg/s1600/Kingsley-Amis-1989.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2NJiImN9c_h1BT3tfWTGuJDCHQazv5P6TY5GmuTH05wZgnJio7rNFGJunVN26Mekh8jMMKMbjzL_5I2iPILWk434-7AN1P0ZSkcKV9fHCwb6266TQoadezsUO6p7tQ4dX52uA1TI0cOgvivKlmBlij_d_RXkU_x-302zaTV1fp00Ouwmqeg/s600/Kingsley-Amis-1989.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kingsley-Amis">Kingsley Amis</a> (1989)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Sir Kingsley William Amis</b></span><br />
(1922-1995)</div>
<br />
<blockquote>Books I own are marked in <b>bold</b>:</blockquote><br />
<ol>
<b>Poetry:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Bright November</i> (1947)<ul>
<li><b>[<span style="font-style: italic;">Bright November: Poems</span>. London: the Fortune Press, n.d. (1947?)]</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>A Frame of Mind</i> (1953)</li>
<li><i>Poems</i>. Fantasy Portraits (1954)</li>
<li><i>A Case of Samples: Poems 1946–1956</i> (1956)</li>
<li><i>The Evans County</i> (1962)</li>
<li><i>A Look Round the Estate: Poems, 1957–1967</i> (1968)</li>
<li><i>Collected Poems 1944–78</i> (1979)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Collected Poems 1944-1979</span>. London: Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1979.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<br />
<b>Novels:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Legacy</i> (1948) [unpublished]</li>
<li><i>Lucky Jim</i> (1954)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Lucky Jim: A Novel</span>. 1953. London: Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1954.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>That Uncertain Feeling</i> (1955)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">That Uncertain Feeling</span>. 1955. Four Square Books Ltd. London: New English Library Ltd. / Sydney. Horwitz Publications Inc. Pty. Ltd., 1962.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>I Like It Here</i> (1958)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">I Like it Here</span>. 1958. Penguin Book 2884. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Take a Girl Like You</i> (1960)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Take A Girl Like You</span>. 1960. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>One Fat Englishman</i> (1963)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">One Fat Englishman</span>. 1963. Penguin Book 2417. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li>[with Robert Conquest] <i>The Egyptologists</i> (1965)<ul>
<li>[with Robert Conquest. <b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Egyptologists</span>. 1965. Panther Books Ltd. Frogmore, St Albans, Herts: Granada Publishing Limited, 1975.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Anti-Death League</i> (1966)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Anti-Death League</span>. 1966. Penguin Book 2803. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li>[as Robert Markham] <i>Colonel Sun: A James Bond Adventure</i> (1968)<ul>
<li>[as ‘Robert Markham’]. <b><span style="font-style: italic;">Colonel Sun: A James Bond Adventure</span>. 1968. London: Pan Books Ltd., n.d.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>I Want It Now</i> (1968)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">I Want It Now</span>. 1968. London: Panther Books, 1969.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Green Man</i> (1969)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Green Man</span>. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1969.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Girl, 20</i> (1971)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Girl, 20</span>. 1971. London: The Book Club, by arrangement with Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1972.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Riverside Villas Murder</i> (1973)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Riverside Villas Murder</span>. 1973. London: Book Club Associates / Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1974.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Ending Up</i> (1974)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Ending Up</span>. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1974.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Crime of the Century</i> (1975)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Crime Of The Century</span>. 1975. Introduction by the Author. Everyman Paperbacks: Mastercrime. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1987.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Alteration</i> (1976)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Alteration</span>. 1976. Triad / Panther Books. Frogmore, St Albans, Herts: Triad Paperbacks Ltd, 1978.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Jake's Thing</i> (1978)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Jake's Thing</span>. 1978. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Russian Hide-and-Seek</i> (1980)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Russian Hide-and-Seek: A Melodrama</span>. 1980. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Stanley and the Women</i> (1984)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Stanley and the Women</span>. London: Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1984.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Old Devils</i> (1986)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Old Devils</span>. 1986. Hutchinson. London: Century Hutchinson Ltd., 1986.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Difficulties with Girls</i> (1988)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Difficulties With Girls</span>. 1988. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1989.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Folks That Live on the Hill</i> (1990)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Folks That Live on the Hill</span>. Hutchinson. London: Century Hutchinson Ltd, 1990.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>We Are All Guilty</i> (1991)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">We Are All Guilty</span>. London: Reinhardt Books / Viking, 1991.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Russian Girl</i> (1992)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Russian Girl</span>. 1992. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>You Can't Do Both</i> (1994)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">You Can't Do Both</span>. Hutchinson. London: Random House (UK) Ltd., 1994.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Biographer's Moustache</i> (1995)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Biographer's Moustache</span>. 1995. Flamingo. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Black and White</i> (c.1995) [unfinished]</li>
<br />
<b>Short Stories:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>My Enemy's Enemy</i> (1962)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">My Enemy's Enemy</span>. 1962. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Collected Short Stories</i> (1980)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Collected Short Stories</span>. 1980. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Mr Barrett's Secret and Other Stories</i> (1991)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Mr Barrett's Secret and Other Stories</span>. 1993. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1994.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Complete Stories</i> (1980)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Complete Stories</span>. Foreword by Rachel Cusk. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin, 2011.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<br />
<b>Non-fiction:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Socialism and the Intellectuals</i>. Fabian Society pamphlet (1957)</li>
<li><i>New Maps of Hell: A Survey of Science Fiction</i> (1960)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">New Maps of Hell: A Survey of Science Fiction</span>. 1960. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1961.</b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">New Maps of Hell: A Survey of Science Fiction</span>. 1960. A Four Square Book. London: New English Library Limited., 1963.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The James Bond Dossier</i> (1965)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The James Bond Dossier</span>. 1965. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1966.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li>[as Lt.-Col William ('Bill') Tanner] <i>1965 The Book of Bond, or Every Man His Own 007</i> (1965)</li>
<li><i>What Became of Jane Austen?, and Other Questions</i> (1970)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">What Became of Jane Austen?, and Other Questions</span>. 1970. Panther Books Limited. London: Granada Publishing Limited, 1972.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>On Drink</i> (1972)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">On Drink</span>. Pictures by Nicolas Bentley. 1972. Panther Books Ltd. Frogmore, St Albans, Herts: Granada Publishing Limited, 1974.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Rudyard Kipling and His World</i> (1974)</li>
<li><i>Everyday Drinking</i> (1983)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Every Day Drinking</span>. Illustrated by Merrily Harpur. London: Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1983.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>How's Your Glass?</i> (1984)</li>
<li><i>The Amis Collection</i> (1990)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Amis Collection: Selected Non-Fiction, 1954-1990</span>. Introduction by John McDermott. 1990. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Memoirs</i> (1991)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Memoirs</span>. Hutchinson. London: Random Century Group Ltd., 1991.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The King's English: A Guide to Modern Usage</i> (1997)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The King’s English: A Guide to Modern Usage</span>. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis</i>. ['On Drink' (1972); 'Everyday Drinking' (1983); 'How's Your Glass?' (1984)]. Introduction by Christopher Hitchens (2008)</li>
<br />
<b>Edited:</b><br />
<br />
<li>[with Robert Conquest] <i>Spectrum anthology series</i>. 5 vols (1961-66)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Spectrum I: A Science Fiction Anthology</span>. Ed. Kingsley Amis & Robert Conquest. 1961. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1964.</b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Spectrum II: A Second Science Fiction Anthology</span>. Ed. Kingsley Amis & Robert Conquest. 1962. Pan Science Fiction. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1965.</b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Spectrum III: A Third Science Fiction Anthology</span>. Ed. Kingsley Amis & Robert Conquest. London: Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1963.</b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Spectrum IV: A Fourth Science Fiction Anthology</span>. Ed. Kingsley Amis & Robert Conquest. 1965. Pan Science Fiction. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1967.</b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Spectrum V: A Fifth Science Fiction Anthology</span>. Ed. Kingsley Amis & Robert Conquest. 1966. Pan Science Fiction. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1969.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li>G. K. Chesterton. <i>Selected Stories</i> (1972)<ul>
<li><b>G. K. Chesterton. <i>Selected Stories</i>. Ed. Kingsley Amis. London: Faber, 1972.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The New Oxford Book of Light Verse</i> (1978)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The New Oxford Book of Light Verse</span>. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Golden Age of Science Fiction</i> (1981)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Golden Age of Science Fiction</span>. London: Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1981.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Amis Anthology: A Personal Choice of English Verse</i> (1988)</li>
<br />
<b>Letters:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Letters of Kingsley Amis</i>. Ed. Zachary Leader (2000)<ul>
<li><b>Leader, Zachary, ed. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Letters of Kingsley Amis</span>. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000.</b></li>
<li><b>Leader, Zachary, ed. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Letters of Kingsley Amis</span>. 2000. Rev. ed. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<br />
<b>Secondary:</b><br />
<br />
<li><b>Jacobs, Eric. <span style="font-style: italic;">Kingsley Amis: A Biography</span>. Hodder & Stoughton. London: Hodder Headline PLC, 1995.</b></li>
<li><b>Bradford, Richard. <span style="font-style: italic;">Lucky Him: The Life of Kingsley Amis</span>. London: Peter Owen Publishers, 2001.</b></li>
<li><b>Leader, Zachary. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Life of Kingsley Amis</span>. 2006. Vintage Books. London: The Random House Group Limited, 2007.</b></li>
</ol>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0025007/">Martin Amis</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Martin Louis Amis</b></span><br />
(1949-2023)</div>
<br />
<ol>
<b>Novels:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Rachel Papers</i> (1973)<ul>
<li><b><i>The Rachel Papers</i>. 1973. Frogmore, St Albans, Herts: Granada Publishing Limited, 1976.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Dead Babies</i> (1975)<ul>
<li><b><i>Dead Babies</i>. 1975. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1988.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Success</i> (1978)<ul>
<li><b><i>Success</i>. 1978. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1988.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Other People</i> (1981)<ul>
<li><b><i>Other People: A Mystery Story</i>. 1981. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1988.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Money</i> (1984)<ul>
<li><b><i>Money: A Suicide Note</i>. 1984. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>London Fields</i> (1989)<ul>
<li><b><i>London Fields</i>. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1989.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Time's Arrow: Or the Nature of the Offence</i> (1991)<ul>
<li><b><i>Time's Arrow, or The Nature of the Offence</i>. 1991. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1992.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Information</i> (1995)<ul>
<li><b><i>The Information</i>. 1995. Flamingo. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Night Train</i> (1997)</li>
<li><i>Yellow Dog</i> (2003)</li>
<li><i>House of Meetings</i> (2006)</li>
<li><i>The Pregnant Widow</i> (2010)</li>
<li><i>Lionel Asbo: State of England</i> (2012)</li>
<li><i>The Zone of Interest</i> (2014)<ul>
<li><b><i>The Zone of Interest</i>. Jonathan Cape. London: Random House, 2014.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Inside Story</i> (2020)</li>
<br />
<b>Short stories:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Einstein's Monsters</i> (1987)</li>
<li><i>Two Stories</i> (1994)</li>
<li><i>God's Dice</i> (1995)</li>
<li><i>Heavy Water and Other Stories</i> (1998)<ul>
<li><b><i>Heavy Water and Other Stories</i>. 1998. Vintage. London: Random House UK Limited, 1999.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Amis Omnibus</i> (1999)</li>
<li><i>The Fiction of Martin Amis</i> (2000)</li>
<li><i>Vintage Amis</i> (2004)</li>
<br />
<b>Screenplays:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Saturn 3</i> (1980)</li>
<li><i>London Fields</i> (2018)</li>
<br />
<b>Non-fiction:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Invasion of the Space Invaders</i> (1982)</li>
<li><i>The Moronic Inferno: And Other Visits to America</i> (1986)<ul>
<li><b><i>The Moronic Inferno, and Other Visits to America</i>. 1986. King Penguin. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Visiting Mrs Nabokov: And Other Excursions</i> (1993)</li>
<li><i>Experience</i> (2000)<ul>
<li><b><i>Experience</i>. 2000. Vintage. London: The Random House Group Limited, 2001.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews 1971–2000</i> (2001)</li>
<li><i>Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million</i> (2002)<ul>
<li><b><i>Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million</i>. 2002. Vintage. London: The Random House Group Limited, 2003.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Second Plane</i> (2008)</li>
<li><i>The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump. Essays and Reportage, 1986–2016</i> (2017)</li>
<br />
<b>Secondary:</b><br />
<br />
<li><b>Powell, Neil. <span style="font-style: italic;">Amis & Son: Two Literary Generations</span>. Macmillan. London: Pan Macmillan Ltd., 2008.</b></li>
</ol>
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<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHmP9chvIcixITAeor6lDeVuq4n1xfEbf3X80jrJDYhd6iCT2OfMfNXvn2824AINZE747ghzXvupe7WJOetkUqt3YIVMKo17V6OtYBIRXnSNyzEo-VwEJDenkUyfIvprBooDPVzw1gLByqxLiHggItDgnZykbyJofHBPyjIDLcLuH_AmFaA/s639/32660274-8687167-image-a-13_1598994289754.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHmP9chvIcixITAeor6lDeVuq4n1xfEbf3X80jrJDYhd6iCT2OfMfNXvn2824AINZE747ghzXvupe7WJOetkUqt3YIVMKo17V6OtYBIRXnSNyzEo-VwEJDenkUyfIvprBooDPVzw1gLByqxLiHggItDgnZykbyJofHBPyjIDLcLuH_AmFaA/s400/32660274-8687167-image-a-13_1598994289754.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8687167/What-scandalous-plot-twist.html">Father and Son?</a> (2020)</span></div><br />
<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-46169469535497084862023-05-09T13:56:00.009+12:002023-05-09T14:02:50.081+12:00The Wreck of the Batavia<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRtScjVce9I-mL8SX5ss8R9vvr5h4wzMu1U-QtUqi_UACGHMcrS7OTR8eryNUPUqjhUi__609b14rKDspgjI79N_yf5BapqbZ2VwYd9kTVVr-IruzngX42LiyvileqsMFNKq953ZTktrAuxH4LQyPHoLUUJIps1pTyyPhsJ7yzdfNfoeopA/s450/128824.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRtScjVce9I-mL8SX5ss8R9vvr5h4wzMu1U-QtUqi_UACGHMcrS7OTR8eryNUPUqjhUi__609b14rKDspgjI79N_yf5BapqbZ2VwYd9kTVVr-IruzngX42LiyvileqsMFNKq953ZTktrAuxH4LQyPHoLUUJIps1pTyyPhsJ7yzdfNfoeopA/s600/128824.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Mike Dash: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/128824.Batavia_s_Graveyard">Batavia's Graveyard</a> (2002)</span></div>
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The other day I picked up a second-hand copy of Mike Dash's <i>Batavia's Graveyard</i>, a sober, no-nonsense account of what his publishers describe as "history's bloodiest mutiny."<br />
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The subject is far from novel for me. I remember as a young boy watching a documentary called "The Wreck of the Batavia" which left me with nightmares for weeks afterwards. I don't know if I've ever quite got over it, in fact: especially some of the reenactments where the chief mutineer's henchmen hunted down their victims with knives in the shallow waters of the reef that surrounded them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQrPh_pgguPX_dklLI0PM2ZXlfmMllUOQsGxoEqpRvUtDfa_HDZ4bOUsuuMcGo7rQNryYdQEIL3NwNyHAZyCaWspNMMKg5ntR3NjfETSKBwq7SdPUi6-QUQfuTHlQQ7iZsnCKHkx3ValaiSj-IJXnv73V42zn9yr6Z7fjH8EYZSNMSTaGDBQ/s708/batavia1_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="708" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQrPh_pgguPX_dklLI0PM2ZXlfmMllUOQsGxoEqpRvUtDfa_HDZ4bOUsuuMcGo7rQNryYdQEIL3NwNyHAZyCaWspNMMKg5ntR3NjfETSKBwq7SdPUi6-QUQfuTHlQQ7iZsnCKHkx3ValaiSj-IJXnv73V42zn9yr6Z7fjH8EYZSNMSTaGDBQ/s400/batavia1_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Bruce Beresford, dir.: <a href="https://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/wreck-batavia/clip1/">The Wreck of the Batavia</a> (1973)</span></div><br />
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It doesn't surprise me that this film turns out to have been an early work by renowned Australian director <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Beresford">Bruce Beresford</a>. There was a horrible authenticity about the live action sequences, in particular, which seems to prefigure the future creator of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaker_Morant_(film)"><i>Breaker Morant</i></a>, and - in particular - one of my favourite movies of all time, <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/04/acquisitions-72-francis-parkman.html"><i>Black Robe</i></a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTHNwcO9TBvHosxsfqyL9ChZvpcjaDy9GDEw0lVRj5dNK6p26xTibmueVGqZpE4jTA_qYK3RkJfM2CiXqQElo-28T2KQgyC6My_bgKlacSUSaz50QdB_zQa74t6_9PgpP_IquBuKpwjfjfU-_KzSfKivQy-PLvmFSObZzUTyQQG1Nm8mSlw/s302/Black_robe_ver2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTHNwcO9TBvHosxsfqyL9ChZvpcjaDy9GDEw0lVRj5dNK6p26xTibmueVGqZpE4jTA_qYK3RkJfM2CiXqQElo-28T2KQgyC6My_bgKlacSUSaz50QdB_zQa74t6_9PgpP_IquBuKpwjfjfU-_KzSfKivQy-PLvmFSObZzUTyQQG1Nm8mSlw/s600/Black_robe_ver2.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Bruce Beresford, dir.: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Robe_(film)">Black Robe</a> (1991)</span></div><br />
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Another important - though unjustly neglected - work inspired by the event is Australian writer Henrietta Drake-Brockman's novel <i>The Wicked and the Fair</i>, which, despite the garish cover-picture below, is quite an interesting and serious work.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPEgJTWY28vJWWXKeezSaakZDNex9H34a293gSne1N5fXN3ZuNdwduf1Mw0PwyzRLtKy8SX7IZ246fw1VQ58SrN89Vs9bFx_KVIREO6fqoWEd4tKgPjvzIm2H6lLUKTemsTkf5TZVyzvi1i7H4fu1WVFLxUdxLC92BE9LhE5qOWPfZL5UReg/s600/wicked-and-the-fair.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="413" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPEgJTWY28vJWWXKeezSaakZDNex9H34a293gSne1N5fXN3ZuNdwduf1Mw0PwyzRLtKy8SX7IZ246fw1VQ58SrN89Vs9bFx_KVIREO6fqoWEd4tKgPjvzIm2H6lLUKTemsTkf5TZVyzvi1i7H4fu1WVFLxUdxLC92BE9LhE5qOWPfZL5UReg/s600/wicked-and-the-fair.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Henrietta Drake-Brockman: <a href="https://australianwomenwriters.com/2017/07/henrietta-drakebrockman-27-july-1901-8-march-1968/">The Wicked and the Fair</a> (1957)</span></div><br />
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She followed it up with a factual account based on her own extensive local as well as archival research: <i>Voyage to Disaster</i> (1963). Even Mike Dash is forced to admit a considerable debt to this ground-breaking book, though he tempers his admiration for her thoroughness with some rather grudging remarks about her frustrating lack of clear indexing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnk_Jdm6-Vhff6zliRx_Wgrku-NqfDUK-FUG0gehgaB0V-QcK-m8ICSq68JFkukoBxOpWnnzMjqEWwOI7VzIH16v-rz6pBgLSzl5BMrce7hqQtOMJ6YVXjHfXwYspUNfghBB7E8Jz9EDJC7IA68iAb5ul-US-_7pDyRaSWnxRNsE1fNQZ3Q/s1208/bajaj.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1208" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnk_Jdm6-Vhff6zliRx_Wgrku-NqfDUK-FUG0gehgaB0V-QcK-m8ICSq68JFkukoBxOpWnnzMjqEWwOI7VzIH16v-rz6pBgLSzl5BMrce7hqQtOMJ6YVXjHfXwYspUNfghBB7E8Jz9EDJC7IA68iAb5ul-US-_7pDyRaSWnxRNsE1fNQZ3Q/s600/bajaj.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Jeremy Roberts: <a href="https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/writingelsewhere/10494/the-dark-cracks-of-kemang-the-bajaj-boys-in-indonesia-by-jeremy-roberts/">The Dark Cracks of Kemang: The Bajaj Boys in Indonesia</a> (2022)</span></div><br />
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Why did this story leave such an indelible mark on me? Recently I've been reading poet Jeremy Roberts' account of his own time in Indonesia - in Jakarta, in fact, the 'Batavia' of the Dutch colonists.<br />
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One can read in every line of his book his simultaneous attraction / repulsion for the chaotic city and its teeming sea of inhabitants. I've never visited Indonesia, so can't really comment, but my own travels in Thailand and India give me some hint of what he's talking about - that incommunicable atmosphere one feels in a large sprawling Eastern urban centre, especially at evening, when the heat of the day recedes and everyone comes out on the street to eat and talk.<br />
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Of course, though Batavia <i>was</i> the planned destination for the ship, in fact the Batavia itself never got there. It was wrecked off the coast of Western Australia. It's possible, in fact, that two of the mutineers eventually marooned on the mainland were the first Europeans to set foot on the lucky country. Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies, is where the rest of the survivors ended up, though.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiODnf9xUVqunJO8cgKnXpySYyKNoRnhOpEfUV7mITOhgF4932yew4OABilPG0YBgVAd77kgEtNtHkcCnLPtIEZWKdLC9F3h9fjQESUUuGxXsCewg9dX98Ae5yR7F5KtenDEqP4tYkqAHmOnyZ53A2IQaJ35zNNSm3Plm1Z-0AgzAcXSxmMUA/s1920/1920px-Page13image1804736.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1159" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiODnf9xUVqunJO8cgKnXpySYyKNoRnhOpEfUV7mITOhgF4932yew4OABilPG0YBgVAd77kgEtNtHkcCnLPtIEZWKdLC9F3h9fjQESUUuGxXsCewg9dX98Ae5yR7F5KtenDEqP4tYkqAHmOnyZ53A2IQaJ35zNNSm3Plm1Z-0AgzAcXSxmMUA/s400/1920px-Page13image1804736.png"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeronimus_Cornelisz">Massacre of the Batavia's survivors</a> (1628)</span></div><br />
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I suppose that it was the nightmarish revelation of just how far - to what insane and illogical extremes - a truly charismatic leader can go which affected me most about the story. To the very end, even when he stood in front of the gallows, the murderous Jeronimus Cornelisz was still trying to bargain his way out of any responsibilty for what had taken place. The man who had ordered so many deaths for his own amusement could not credit that the same thing might actually happen to him.<br />
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In the Bruce Beresford documentary he's described as an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptism">Anabaptist</a> - certainly he had idiosyncratic religious views, which included a conviction that any idea that came to him <i>must</i> come from God, and that therefore anything he did, regardless of whether or not it might be considered conventionally "sinful", was <i>ipso facto</i> justified.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHq3cl4C6S0LtNZiMSoaBNBvwJgSafY6JATEBjaAib0UWGLqMvqxNH4OpUOj7auqSq-iKNTfxpXDQe7FGzPl6oGP0400PLwdN7y7_NgpxIxgkmc26mho09VV66FxGoh6ROLkYx0Hk348Cx2e8kurGm1e0MiNFh-BGpUs8IEWtIfVRRAhHgKA/s475/17252067.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHq3cl4C6S0LtNZiMSoaBNBvwJgSafY6JATEBjaAib0UWGLqMvqxNH4OpUOj7auqSq-iKNTfxpXDQe7FGzPl6oGP0400PLwdN7y7_NgpxIxgkmc26mho09VV66FxGoh6ROLkYx0Hk348Cx2e8kurGm1e0MiNFh-BGpUs8IEWtIfVRRAhHgKA/s600/17252067.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Saki: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17252067-sredni-vashtar">Sredni Vashtar</a> (1912)</span></div><br />
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The only previous association I had with the word "Anabaptist" came from the Saki story "<a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Clovis/Sredni_Vashtar">Sredni Vashtar</a>", where the sickly, neglected boy Conradin has only two friends: "a ragged-plumaged Houdan hen, on which the boy lavished an affection that had scarcely another outlet", and "a large polecat-ferret", which lived in a cage at the back of the tool-shed he spent most of his time in.
<blockquote>And one day, out of Heaven knows what material, he spun the beast a wonderful name, and from that moment it grew into a god and a religion.</blockquote>
The Houdan hen, however,
<blockquote>was never drawn into the cult of Sredni Vashtar. Conradin had long ago settled that she was an Anabaptist. He did not pretend to have the remotest knowledge as to what an Anabaptist was, but he privately hoped that it was dashing and not very respectable. </blockquote>
Conradin's loathsome guardian Mrs. de Ropp is unimpressed with his choice of a place to play, and announces one morning at breakfast that the hen has been sold and taken away:
<blockquote>With her short-sighted eyes she peered at Conradin, waiting for an outbreak of rage and sorrow ... But Conradin said nothing; there was nothing to be said. Something perhaps in his white set face gave her a momentary qualm, for at tea that afternoon there was toast on the table ...</blockquote>
Sredni Vashtar comes through for his worshipper, though. When Mrs. de Ropp goes down to find out just what Conradin has been hiding at the back of the shed ("I believe it's guinea-pigs. I'll have them all cleared away") she gets a little more than she bargained for:
<blockquote>out through that doorway came a long, low, yellow-and-brown beast, with eyes a-blink at the waning daylight, and dark wet stains around the fur of jaws and throat.</blockquote>
It's hard not to cheer as the "great polecat-ferret made its way down to a small brook at the foot of the garden, drank for a moment, then crossed a little plank bridge and was lost to sight in the bushes." And yet - much though, like most readers, I relish his triumph - it's disturbing to sense a little of Cornelisz in Coradin, with his great choric hymn:
<blockquote><i>Sredni Vashtar went forth,<br />
His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth were white.<br />
His enemies called for peace but he brought them death,<br />
Sredni Vashtar the Beautiful</i>.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx44QkOSFjYgACZtMX8A_n_TFi6t3LYSC9fvP9CS5jY2-fUJpNzZE4Bi8jvnFBPB6NaeZ0AD0R2TQ5fsz35xt6e0AQya1JGOQm1EelNDqxWGC0bL9wR7ILujYw3HGFBfWGIOgWL5hkQ3Jms--hoUp0NbZzQlf2ns0GteuhPsJREiInjzks4Q/s446/Image-bat-hist-04b_%28cropped%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="287" data-original-width="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx44QkOSFjYgACZtMX8A_n_TFi6t3LYSC9fvP9CS5jY2-fUJpNzZE4Bi8jvnFBPB6NaeZ0AD0R2TQ5fsz35xt6e0AQya1JGOQm1EelNDqxWGC0bL9wR7ILujYw3HGFBfWGIOgWL5hkQ3Jms--hoUp0NbZzQlf2ns0GteuhPsJREiInjzks4Q/s400/Image-bat-hist-04b_%28cropped%29.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeronimus_Cornelisz#/media/File:Image-bat-hist-04b_(cropped).jpg">Execution of Cornelisz and the Other Mutineers</a> (1628)</span></div><br />
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Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-57582539835114657572023-04-23T16:04:00.017+12:002023-04-23T16:15:02.990+12:00Zero at the Bone<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4LVBi-y167jP9gSS4W3cKfUV5pPhOYdv_AW1_YEuPIvlTkcuoV3sEdXKEvEfieox30PPV4u1k9UY30IL-YpTxkQKyZ7t2i3-Jwpsmx2WJs0j2ea66C2rLUjjmZeCSZlc5ApEUWjedix8RXL_m8jHscopYBhj9nTfjhmhBVlarpok9c4Q32w/s2016/IMG_0438.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4LVBi-y167jP9gSS4W3cKfUV5pPhOYdv_AW1_YEuPIvlTkcuoV3sEdXKEvEfieox30PPV4u1k9UY30IL-YpTxkQKyZ7t2i3-Jwpsmx2WJs0j2ea66C2rLUjjmZeCSZlc5ApEUWjedix8RXL_m8jHscopYBhj9nTfjhmhBVlarpok9c4Q32w/s600/IMG_0438.JPG"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Zero</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 78%;">[all photographs: Bronwyn Lloyd]</span>
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">i.m. Zero Tolerance Lloyd-Ross</span></b><br />
(c. November 2007-21st April 2023)</div>
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<blockquote>We're devastated by the loss of our delightful companion Zero, who left this world - hopefully for a better one - on Friday.<br />
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I don't really have any words to express how much she's meant to us over the fifteen and a bit years we were privileged to have her with us. Instead, I thought I'd put up some photos of her over the course of her life, together with a few poems I wrote about her during this time.<br />
<br />Hail and farewell, beloved friend. We'll never stop missing you.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYi4oAY4yNi_MGjHzUx040XEnkChWv_RuS2mEuP_o56QADYh3OhnWR3EkYQ49CzfITZDnumd-53yozpqqaMTmkiUUkQ3HcJPi1RfEos8RSvqt-X1DXTCNxzuQXdIpsmdsP02f8Zmvc7ISNXx2tvVKpIjiADM_eoJ9SJNYrYMEBqwroHGGEOA/s2592/9%20-%20September.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYi4oAY4yNi_MGjHzUx040XEnkChWv_RuS2mEuP_o56QADYh3OhnWR3EkYQ49CzfITZDnumd-53yozpqqaMTmkiUUkQ3HcJPi1RfEos8RSvqt-X1DXTCNxzuQXdIpsmdsP02f8Zmvc7ISNXx2tvVKpIjiADM_eoJ9SJNYrYMEBqwroHGGEOA/s400/9%20-%20September.JPG"/></a></div><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">•</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsBgF03mONnR71TmLtrhZifM0-PrxdyYdmp3oF0gQCeoACd-QMAHDPM4SJMSehxhcNgHOW8CSniJaryyqnfhJw8Ep2lMS6aL9sm20VGJohFISExyNuzreVuMp6sVGt6jBXmnFo1SJbaLSWl2mhfabC3KoHxojx5rIqCuOw5oo4Lo2Ijkxa2Q/s2592/6%20-%20June.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="1944" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsBgF03mONnR71TmLtrhZifM0-PrxdyYdmp3oF0gQCeoACd-QMAHDPM4SJMSehxhcNgHOW8CSniJaryyqnfhJw8Ep2lMS6aL9sm20VGJohFISExyNuzreVuMp6sVGt6jBXmnFo1SJbaLSWl2mhfabC3KoHxojx5rIqCuOw5oo4Lo2Ijkxa2Q/s600/6%20-%20June.JPG"/></a></div><br />
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<blockquote><b><span style="font-size: 130%;">Zero at the bone</span></b><br />
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<br />
The dark looniness<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">of your leaping</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 4em;">worries me</span><br />
<br />
no pause to reflect<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">furry paws</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 4em;">outspread</span><br />
<br />
food comfort sleep<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">combine in</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 4em;">strange parentheses</span><br />
<br />
(just like the town<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">they found you in</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 4em;">dodging</span><br />
<br />
post-Xmas traffic)<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">beating up</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 4em;">poor Smudge</span><br />
<br />
before you’d met us<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">even</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 4em;">now hounding</span><br />
<br />
Otis<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">forgiving? maybe</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 4em;">needy</span><br />
<br />
certainly<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">roving emblem</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 4em;">of desire</span><br />
<br />
claws outspread<br />
<br />
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(12-15/3/08)</blockquote>
This is an early piece, written shortly after she first came to us. She was certainly a very spirited kitten! Later on she calmed down a little, but she never ceased to have strong views on a number of issues. It first appeared in the anthology below:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5JiGPwX7Y1M_SPFcI42--tHX3hnPDnXqozZpNIFQ7-ZYZoWLGWh8IZaanm1nn6pVItkvq9En8RnG99-6zJx3Nhh_dH8U4fEC4UBS_SDwaIK1QFvpU-jVWeRAqUKFxnnmbP2aoVNQ4Jn9U1f-CRJoCPwudR8Fhel5sQTYe2GQS7efTEV61wg/s640/Our%20Own%20Kind%20%282009%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="423" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5JiGPwX7Y1M_SPFcI42--tHX3hnPDnXqozZpNIFQ7-ZYZoWLGWh8IZaanm1nn6pVItkvq9En8RnG99-6zJx3Nhh_dH8U4fEC4UBS_SDwaIK1QFvpU-jVWeRAqUKFxnnmbP2aoVNQ4Jn9U1f-CRJoCPwudR8Fhel5sQTYe2GQS7efTEV61wg/s400/Our%20Own%20Kind%20%282009%29.jpg"/></a></div>
<blockquote><i>Our Own Kind: 100 New Zealand poems about animals</i>. Ed. Siobhan Harvey (Auckland: Godwit, 2009): 67-68.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_PsJ6ljuc_E4lH-vRW92v71OKh6BKPBKdn7EhDtkPm5TJbdeY5kcKqTaQuCcGMiO5r3ecuOUpFDG1OdJPOuvZ3zuHylfTIu2tzPm_lStRF72Kqtc4Cuc1wXO8Y6JJiqHi8UpvKVZrPRq7qA41Vry6diVPfHHsrh6kgz3iGkUfHQ4yyq6Rg/s2048/11%20-%20November.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_PsJ6ljuc_E4lH-vRW92v71OKh6BKPBKdn7EhDtkPm5TJbdeY5kcKqTaQuCcGMiO5r3ecuOUpFDG1OdJPOuvZ3zuHylfTIu2tzPm_lStRF72Kqtc4Cuc1wXO8Y6JJiqHi8UpvKVZrPRq7qA41Vry6diVPfHHsrh6kgz3iGkUfHQ4yyq6Rg/s400/11%20-%20November.JPG"/></a></div><br />
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<blockquote><b><span style="font-size: 130%;">Zero is lying down today</span></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
but little specks of blood<br />
on the bedspread<br />
make me think<br />
<br />
she may have run into<br />
one of her twin nemeses<br />
last night<br />
<br />
<i>Yellow</i><br />
a big fat greedy<br />
green-collared glutton<br />
<br />
or <i>Brindle</i><br />
a raccoon-tailed<br />
bully<br />
<br />
each of whom<br />
sneaks in the back door<br />
several times a day<br />
<br />
to eat her food<br />
she jumps out<br />
hisses at them<br />
<br />
but is only a little cat<br />
once or twice we’ve seen<br />
them ganging up on her<br />
<br />
unable to help her<br />
unless it’s in plain sight<br />
I suppose that’s it<br />
<br />
our little cat<br />
so wilful<br />
cuddly<br />
<br />
spirited<br />
has become the thing<br />
we most fear losing<br />
<br />
yet cannot safeguard<br />
threaten to crush<br />
with the sheer weight<br />
<br />
of our love<br />
<br />
(18/1/16-22/10/17)</blockquote>
This poem makes Zero sound like a bit of a victim, and it's true that she was bullied from time to time by larger neighbouring cats. She never provoked these fights, but she always gave as good as she got. Later on most of these cats seem to have moved away, so the last few years of her life were almost entirely free of such squabbles. The poem first appeared in <i>Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2020</i>, edited by Johanna Emeney, and subsequently in the book below:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQlq6e5iH-E96HWbuxP4VaCSeb67i8jJtIxnXM_tHHy69jCNpXGpG-3tsUG4nKHmKJ4iHU2XoBLQRNLmWyBMVm3-JFzKtnebTlmpnolOcmr5mlLZAWrbM6l8a4FnUGef2vdxuTG2MRlle9spQBaWnUe6WeZzVvJ5_zlvoSHsjtC6ynOz63Ag/s1300/The%20Oceanic%20Feeling.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="1300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQlq6e5iH-E96HWbuxP4VaCSeb67i8jJtIxnXM_tHHy69jCNpXGpG-3tsUG4nKHmKJ4iHU2XoBLQRNLmWyBMVm3-JFzKtnebTlmpnolOcmr5mlLZAWrbM6l8a4FnUGef2vdxuTG2MRlle9spQBaWnUe6WeZzVvJ5_zlvoSHsjtC6ynOz63Ag/s400/The%20Oceanic%20Feeling.png"/></a></div>
<blockquote><i>The Oceanic Feeling</i>. Drawings by Katharina Jaeger. Afterword by Bronwyn Lloyd (Auckland: Salt & Greyboy Press, 2021): 21.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBItCFqJp7HhNYp9G5MMxWYAeRLIeULGnyRd57iMWfNoNxIfIKtSHSaHQsAm6rs-DtUDB4xmURVVXGnfABh2-e6-MMlKZcZmN_xOBIaxvZGtWEa0h6U7KKKNi_Lr9NsqSxz8JRmzSlOIAeY0E7a9zhPo7HGU4QRF6FgI9sjppbbRid1ZIE1g/s2592/2%20-%20February.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBItCFqJp7HhNYp9G5MMxWYAeRLIeULGnyRd57iMWfNoNxIfIKtSHSaHQsAm6rs-DtUDB4xmURVVXGnfABh2-e6-MMlKZcZmN_xOBIaxvZGtWEa0h6U7KKKNi_Lr9NsqSxz8JRmzSlOIAeY0E7a9zhPo7HGU4QRF6FgI9sjppbbRid1ZIE1g/s400/2%20-%20February.JPG"/></a></div><br />
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<blockquote><b><span style="font-size: 130%;">All I want</span></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
is for every moment<br />
of every day<br />
<br />
to be constant bliss<br />
for Zero<br />
<br />
Astyanax cringing<br />
from his daddy’s helmet<br />
<br />
safe in his mother’s arms<br />
Andromache<br />
<br />
watching enslaved<br />
as Achilles’ son<br />
<br />
throws her baby off<br />
the walls<br />
<br />
if only I could wish away<br />
fast cars on the road<br />
<br />
trespassing neighbour cats<br />
basements with tempting doors<br />
<br />
shut after her<br />
lead nails<span style="padding-left: 2em;">poison baits</span><br />
<br />
the loss of a furry friend<br />
is the sack of Troy<br />
<br />
by the Greeks<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
(2/9/22-8/4/23)</blockquote>
This poem, written late last year, sounds uncomfortably prophetic to me now. The reference to Andromache's baby Astyanax being frightened by his father Hector's plume is from Homer's <i>Iliad</i> [Bk 6, ll.466-502]. His death at the hands of Achilles' son Neoptolemus is reported in Euripides' <i>Trojan Women</i> [ll.719-25]. The last two lines are a paraphrase of the quote below:
<blockquote>Someone has said that the death of a mouse by cancer is the whole sack of Rome by the Goths
<div style="text-align: center;">- Ford Madox Ford, <i>The Good Soldier</i> (1915)</div></blockquote>
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Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-75826531305493924272023-04-03T07:25:00.001+12:002023-04-03T07:25:28.909+12:00SF Luminaries: John Christopher<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkFhHNiZ5CpYeknfJavLHPDwi3IH9cyjokt7Bi-ZObxNh3USKXCV6XfgnvxTKxSBWTLZcrSrnnuglOBxGINCLuykoZDAITHcx68cpCJthoQIdVcsC8AhYsGJ07gK3R08smR8FPe-L4SXD3iIt2pjh45b11-rpdykYf271ry30c8cRIGdV7Ww/s888/MV5BODcwMTM0NDMtMjMxMS00MjE1LWFmNDYtNDEzOWM3ZGRhNTU4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQwOTA4NDE1._V1_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="888" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkFhHNiZ5CpYeknfJavLHPDwi3IH9cyjokt7Bi-ZObxNh3USKXCV6XfgnvxTKxSBWTLZcrSrnnuglOBxGINCLuykoZDAITHcx68cpCJthoQIdVcsC8AhYsGJ07gK3R08smR8FPe-L4SXD3iIt2pjh45b11-rpdykYf271ry30c8cRIGdV7Ww/s600/MV5BODcwMTM0NDMtMjMxMS00MjE1LWFmNDYtNDEzOWM3ZGRhNTU4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQwOTA4NDE1._V1_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086818/">The Tripods</a> (1984-85)</span></div><br />
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"John Christopher" - aka Christopher Youd, Samuel Youd (his real name), Hilary Ford, William Godfrey, Peter Graaf, Peter Nichols, William Vine, and Stanley Winchester - is perhaps best remembered for his YA SF series <i>The Tripods</i>, dramatised - rather poorly - by the BBC a couple of decades after the trilogy first appeared.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioWfBjX81RsFPpCtolyO3ZdeIHyhVYRBCiKRzxINO_5o_jbaYh0MVSSks23fjRfiyr_VwRb9a6NMJ2gWWnnngw3zJRImZY7a-uxeJ5nXLpNkfSCGzgGwZu7C4wXNu5yCUn1LmOwmZeNgJthfwoepEvvp-9nhtfn_A60aiSGyrTBBVA4BQlXQ/s4032/img_3080.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioWfBjX81RsFPpCtolyO3ZdeIHyhVYRBCiKRzxINO_5o_jbaYh0MVSSks23fjRfiyr_VwRb9a6NMJ2gWWnnngw3zJRImZY7a-uxeJ5nXLpNkfSCGzgGwZu7C4wXNu5yCUn1LmOwmZeNgJthfwoepEvvp-9nhtfn_A60aiSGyrTBBVA4BQlXQ/s600/img_3080.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://blueskiesandgreenpastures.com/2022/03/01/book-review-the-tripods-trilogy-by-john-christopher/">The Tripods Tetralogy</a> (1967-88)</span></div><br />
<br />
Concentrating solely on his 'second life' as a YA author would be to sell him short, though. His earlier adult novels have often been characterised - mostly by people who haven't read them - as imitations of fellow Brit <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2021/11/sf-luminaries-john-wyndham.html">John Wyndham</a>'s crossover megahit <i>The Day of the Triffids</i> (1951).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2JdYdqu12_TnyG1-DO17Sh0C5WAK1Ypxof2jh0WEc2g31sDdx71WPpoBbA7nXPoNv4vup6zXgGQL4fXxTsLjNWVqxrzmmc9UrIKmBSFYuUoD5IoX7p7LncKNEQJolCWZ60z_hf8VRDcRgI649C7D63Sf1mB-2-pKX-4WpBqTMkVezLJGWew/s640/2064041520_c31e53bfb7_z.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2JdYdqu12_TnyG1-DO17Sh0C5WAK1Ypxof2jh0WEc2g31sDdx71WPpoBbA7nXPoNv4vup6zXgGQL4fXxTsLjNWVqxrzmmc9UrIKmBSFYuUoD5IoX7p7LncKNEQJolCWZ60z_hf8VRDcRgI649C7D63Sf1mB-2-pKX-4WpBqTMkVezLJGWew/s600/2064041520_c31e53bfb7_z.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://shortreviews.blog/2021/11/12/the-death-of-grass-john-christopher/">The Death of Grass</a> (1956)</span></div><br />
<br />
This may hold some truth for one or two of them - <i>The World in Winter</i> (1962), for instance - but even the Wyndham-influenced <i>Death of Grass</i> (1956) occupies a distinctly fiercer and more troubled space in the post-apocalyptic landscape than the older writer's "cosy catastrophes" (in Brian Aldiss's phrase). It's this brutal and uncompromising flavour which makes his work particularly relevant to readers today.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEBTBIhESzT5YXMv2Mo13lTZ6txNDM2ODE80FAZX1HAsNibIoqrfg4DtC4tB463pZtlgGlEut7J6hJus-9Z_RLI5KS48hYhlOw-DkjwGoLxJrAjo89hrjDOJnZ8dpNtF_9gpr3fme5gvS3iQyf8HTmWWpNk4ZpAR_1dSDotKbN_MuCuJQXOIyl6l--/s1024/CHRISTOPHER-obit-jumbo.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="709" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEBTBIhESzT5YXMv2Mo13lTZ6txNDM2ODE80FAZX1HAsNibIoqrfg4DtC4tB463pZtlgGlEut7J6hJus-9Z_RLI5KS48hYhlOw-DkjwGoLxJrAjo89hrjDOJnZ8dpNtF_9gpr3fme5gvS3iQyf8HTmWWpNk4ZpAR_1dSDotKbN_MuCuJQXOIyl6l--/s600/CHRISTOPHER-obit-jumbo.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/books/john-christopher-science-fiction-writer-dies-at-89.html">Sam Youd ['John Christopher']</a> (1922-2012)</span></div><br />
<br />
As you'll see from the bibliography <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christopher#Bibliography">here</a>, Youd began writing novels under his own name, then under a succession of other pseudonyms, each tailored to one of his many interests. It was as "John Christopher" that he achieved his greatest commercial (and probably artistic) success, however:
<blockquote>I read somewhere ... that I have been cited as the greatest serial killer in fictional history, having destroyed civilisation in so many different ways – through famine, freezing, earthquakes, feral youth combined with religious fanaticism, and progeria.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- quoted on his <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2001324.John_Christopher">Goodreads</a> author page</div></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhELSbE0kxM-DE9N0XcGuWhXM1ldOEo68LeXi9XzJiP284ypEG0zkWhhvcIkVBwHcA87aN3Vnfbl2F9-p8xwAuAFYXDZV2ZcnZ0N7bBUwM-yHu-cIg2RpKEsZUu0dCynK--jQ24v6O8q1os8j8hGsTYNfPMkpOvHNRBNXgzQDUMTg2ejSUhDQ/s990/31263304991.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="750" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhELSbE0kxM-DE9N0XcGuWhXM1ldOEo68LeXi9XzJiP284ypEG0zkWhhvcIkVBwHcA87aN3Vnfbl2F9-p8xwAuAFYXDZV2ZcnZ0N7bBUwM-yHu-cIg2RpKEsZUu0dCynK--jQ24v6O8q1os8j8hGsTYNfPMkpOvHNRBNXgzQDUMTg2ejSUhDQ/s600/31263304991.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/Caves-Night-John-Christopher-Eyre-Spottiswoode/31263304991/bd">The Caves of Night</a> (1958)</span></div><br />
<br />
These early novels were all thrillers of one type or another, but not all of them can be classified as Sci-fi. <i>The Caves of Night</i> is about a group of amateur speleologists lost in an unknown cave system, and <i>The Long Voyage</i> (which I've discussed in more detail <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn6">here</a>) describes the strange odyssey of a ship that drifts through the North Sea to the ice-packs of Greenland.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtc61IYC8jmoiY7AE9TrVn2oumXZvhQaiqrwRhZyII-_NRW9Q26QPNVXFqfmhW-qC8laeSazxO2Zas2IQKZmg-qTLhccVH5RbF3Jyj_BHeSKg4p2yFeDLhJV7YGu7C0UJa9u1Ec_xP6Q2ce0NXJNYB2NQ7cPeTF1QAiM9YL4C88aX1Gv7YLQ/s1600/The%20Guardians.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="987" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtc61IYC8jmoiY7AE9TrVn2oumXZvhQaiqrwRhZyII-_NRW9Q26QPNVXFqfmhW-qC8laeSazxO2Zas2IQKZmg-qTLhccVH5RbF3Jyj_BHeSKg4p2yFeDLhJV7YGu7C0UJa9u1Ec_xP6Q2ce0NXJNYB2NQ7cPeTF1QAiM9YL4C88aX1Gv7YLQ/s600/The%20Guardians.JPG"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="http://wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-guardians.html">The Guardians</a> (1970)</span></div><br />
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The first of his novels I myself read was <i>The Guardians</i>. I got it for my birthday one year, and it made an indelible impression on me. There was a sharpness and precision to the writing which I hadn't really encountered before. He didn't seem to pull any punches for his "juvenile" audience. In fact it's clear in retrospect that he found these shorter narrative units particularly suited to his talents.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi78acPTDrM1YiN-VraarlE_8jdiEKNEdEXHykuWRa6q5WZuNH1oV7a2vVOTjGwstLSkOJZV5OfQ-GnsfxAMtAobpqmG6ciIYGAPNzDjOYGEvSJFOCaA2tzt9SKvHxvhU7pXbXttfow0I3gi9d-1Q9DK6fbV9cKl88axpjLKbTXm2bj_DIxvA/s1000/DyetYV-XQAE6a_x.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi78acPTDrM1YiN-VraarlE_8jdiEKNEdEXHykuWRa6q5WZuNH1oV7a2vVOTjGwstLSkOJZV5OfQ-GnsfxAMtAobpqmG6ciIYGAPNzDjOYGEvSJFOCaA2tzt9SKvHxvhU7pXbXttfow0I3gi9d-1Q9DK6fbV9cKl88axpjLKbTXm2bj_DIxvA/s400/DyetYV-XQAE6a_x.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://twitter.com/neilphilipmyth/status/1092033712441704448">The Prince in Waiting trilogy</a> (1970-72)</span></div><br />
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Perhaps the high point of his talent is the brilliantly original - and terrifying - "Prince in Waiting" books. The protagonist Luke was, I think, my very first antihero. Camus's Meursault, Greene's whisky priest, Joyce's Leopold Bloom, none of them surprised me as much as the bitter, scheming, unrepentant hero of these three vividly imagined novels.<br />
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After that the temperature of his writing began to cool off a little. Had he gone too far for Puffin Books? Certainly the successors to <i>The Prince in Waiting</i> were mostly one-offs, and the "Fireball" trilogy, when it finally arrived, was a bit of a disappointment.<br />
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But then I don't think it really matters where you start with John Christopher. The "adult" novels are not really significantly more demanding - or terrifying - than the children's ones. My favourite of them all remains <i>The Long Voyage</i> - it's the one I keep on coming back to - but I suppose his most dazzling achievement would have to be <i>The Prince in Waiting</i> and its sequels.<br />
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Whichever of them you choose to read, though, you certainly won't be wasting your time. He's long outlasted the era he wrote in, and only a few of his books are <a href="https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/john-christopher/206293/">still in print</a>. They're worth snapping up when you see them, though. I still have a couple of them I'm looking for, but fewer and fewer bookshops now maintain those tatty shelves of SF paperback which used to be such a happy hunting ground for fans like me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-Fy2JPEQFqY6296Hl770I6reJ8ZdSVTRD7zo9xzpvzIPXocpfv0KMqk0GQ8wkScdMzomwITSsNe1ym0Zbo4AXEWc8dkknv0mskcjmjG1SDGISFa3nLKbunfn7RLti9BYlWPhS4o5lAwYAJVMeNsLkChhWIJi5etiwl5j2q0fDpMJQo7x9w/s1600/s-l1600.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-Fy2JPEQFqY6296Hl770I6reJ8ZdSVTRD7zo9xzpvzIPXocpfv0KMqk0GQ8wkScdMzomwITSsNe1ym0Zbo4AXEWc8dkknv0mskcjmjG1SDGISFa3nLKbunfn7RLti9BYlWPhS4o5lAwYAJVMeNsLkChhWIJi5etiwl5j2q0fDpMJQo7x9w/s600/s-l1600.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/224390551683">The Fireball trilogy</a> (1981-86)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5M8BAp0-Aw9gEbaltpLa4ugqk4cnG5QjFc7YPC-zIoqHoKHm4fu-SvYyu29THVL-rktf3y-E6T2gSK5C9eIEDgbYrUx6MmXfWTWUDchJWneMXNZYDamiGNOYnNjCYnRaQd48r0-HLOBrWG1HzTCe2IjxGmrkht0o08BqhMxdsJR8Pb9ZvcxQiUCGu/s300/John_Christopher.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5M8BAp0-Aw9gEbaltpLa4ugqk4cnG5QjFc7YPC-zIoqHoKHm4fu-SvYyu29THVL-rktf3y-E6T2gSK5C9eIEDgbYrUx6MmXfWTWUDchJWneMXNZYDamiGNOYnNjCYnRaQd48r0-HLOBrWG1HzTCe2IjxGmrkht0o08BqhMxdsJR8Pb9ZvcxQiUCGu/s400/John_Christopher.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christopher">Sam Youd</a> (1929-2018)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">Sam Youd ['John Christopher']</span></b><br />
(1922-2012)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOeukPz3tJ6sx29ywgV7l1zeeEzLiUo9cJndMk3uLFv-w_r5yTNH5YlAqRfpblIVkE97EYrWNWmGOWf6PNVk7tGHlGXn6uaKszw7cuZ4KRU7P0rq4Cpq7Je8Z3xq1ytk2b8eVZh5Z_6U1cNVi4EpKIJFMcXtRe-aOTrO9Rbf2g6MUfNE499g/s2598/31029775289.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2598" data-original-width="1803" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOeukPz3tJ6sx29ywgV7l1zeeEzLiUo9cJndMk3uLFv-w_r5yTNH5YlAqRfpblIVkE97EYrWNWmGOWf6PNVk7tGHlGXn6uaKszw7cuZ4KRU7P0rq4Cpq7Je8Z3xq1ytk2b8eVZh5Z_6U1cNVi4EpKIJFMcXtRe-aOTrO9Rbf2g6MUfNE499g/s600/31029775289.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Year-Comet-CHRISTOPHER-John-London-Michael/31029775289/bd">The Year of the Comet</a> (1955)</span></div><br />
<ol>
<b>Novels:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Year of the Comet</i> [US: <i>Planet in Peril</i> (1959)] (1955)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Year of the Comet</span>. 1955. London: Sphere Books, 1978.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Death of Grass</i> [US: <i>No Blade of Grass</i> (1957)] (1956)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Death of Grass</span>. 1956. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Caves of Night</i> (1958)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Caves of Night</span>. 1958. London: Panther, 1962.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>A Scent of White Poppies</i> (1959)</li>
<li><i>The Long Voyage</i> [US: <i>The White Voyage</i>] (1960)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Long Voyage</span>. 1960. London: Sphere books, 1986.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The World in Winter</i> [US: <i>The Long Winter</i>] (1962)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The World in Winter</span>. 1962. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Cloud on Silver</i> [US: <i>Sweeney's Island</i>] (1964)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Cloud on Silver</span>. 1964. Hodder Paperbacks. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1966.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Possessors</i> (1964)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Possessors</span>. 1964. London: Sphere books, 1978.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>A Wrinkle in the Skin</i> [US: <i>The Ragged Edge</i>] (1965)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">A Wrinkle in the Skin</span>. 1965. London: Sphere books, 1978.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Little People</i> (1966)</li>
<li><i>Pendulum</i> (1968)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Pendulum</span>. 1968. Hodder Paperbacks. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1969.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Bad Dream</i> (2003)</li>
<br />
<b>Short Stories:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Twenty-Second Century</i> (1954)</li>
<br />
<b>YA Fiction:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Tripods trilogy</i>:<ol>
<li><i>The White Mountains</i>. 1967. Rev. ed. (2003)</li>
<li><i>The City of Gold and Lead</i> (1967)</li>
<li><i>The Pool of Fire</i> (1968)</li>
</ol><ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Tripods Trilogy: The White Mountains; The City of Gold and Lead; The Pool of Fire. </span>1967 & 1968. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Lotus Caves</i> (1969)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Lotus Caves</span>. 1969. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Guardians</i> (1970)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Guardians</span>. 1970. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Sword of the Spirits trilogy</i><ol>
<li><i>The Prince In Waiting</i> (1970)</li>
<li><i>Beyond the Burning Lands</i> (1971)</li>
<li><i>The Sword of the Spirits</i> (1972)</li>
</ol><ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">The Prince in Waiting Trilogy: The Prince In Waiting; Beyond the Burning Lands; The Sword of the Spirits</span>. 1970, 1971 & 1972. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>In the Beginning</i>. Structural Readers (1972)</li>
<li><i>Dom and Va</i> (1973)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Dom and Va</span>. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1973.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Wild Jack</i> (1974)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Wild Jack</span>. 1974. A Beaver Book. London: Hamish Hamilton Children’s Books, 1978.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Empty World</i> (1977)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Empty World</span>. 1977. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>The Fireball trilogy</i><ol>
<li><i>Fireball</i> (1981)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Fireball</span>. Fireball Trilogy, 1. 1981. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>New Found Land</i> (1983)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">New Found Land</span>. Fireball Trilogy, 2. 1983. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>Dragon Dance</i> (1986)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">Dragon Dance</span>. Fireball Trilogy, 3. 1986. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986.</b></li>
</ul></li>
</ol></li>
<li><i>When the Tripods Came</i> (1988)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">When the Tripods Came</span>. 1988. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990.</b></li>
</ul></li>
<li><i>A Dusk of Demons</i> (1993)<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-style: italic;">A Dusk of Demons</span>. 1993. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1994.</b></li>
</ul></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz424k8ZFMQRlFvmwJz8KC-kDlfZcizCmkixQelvitUSZCrqNEn_CqSsZYnSESl_OxPBzhNrLVppTwkDLneB1G6Oor1sJytY6HZWI5guH8cKOtMxVE6yBIqEQTZyyU22lqCbR7A_rkGBPf1-CUFc1tqB9-FKQkC5NDMoUVVOzrOYLyxPWa7A/s475/51K72FVJ7JL._AC_SY780_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz424k8ZFMQRlFvmwJz8KC-kDlfZcizCmkixQelvitUSZCrqNEn_CqSsZYnSESl_OxPBzhNrLVppTwkDLneB1G6Oor1sJytY6HZWI5guH8cKOtMxVE6yBIqEQTZyyU22lqCbR7A_rkGBPf1-CUFc1tqB9-FKQkC5NDMoUVVOzrOYLyxPWa7A/s600/51K72FVJ7JL._AC_SY780_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dusk-Demons-John-Christopher/dp/0689806337">A Dusk of Demons</a> (1993)</span></div><br />
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<b>as Christopher Youd:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Winter Swan</i> (1949)</li>
<br />
<b>as Samuel Youd:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Babel Itself</i> (1951)</li>
<li><i>Brave Conquerors</i> (1952)</li>
<li><i>Crown and Anchor</i> (1953)</li>
<li><i>A Palace of Strangers</i> (1954)</li>
<li><i>Holly Ash</i> [US: <i>The Opportunist</i>] (1955)</li>
<li><i>Giant's Arrow</i> [UK: as Anthony Rye] ((1956)</li>
<li><i>The Burning Bird</i> [US: <i>The Choice</i> (1961)</li>
<li><i>Messages of Love</i> (1961)</li>
<li><i>The Summers at Accorn</i> (1963)</li>
<br />
<b>as William Godfrey:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Malleson at Melbourne</i> (1956)</li>
<li><i>The Friendly Game</i> (1957)</li>
<br />
<b>as William Vine:</b><br />
<br />
<li>"Death Sentence". <i>Imagination Science Fiction</i> (June 1953)</li>
<li>"Explosion Delayed". <i>Space Science Fiction</i> (July 1953)</li>
<br />
<b>as Peter Graaf:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Joe Dust Series</i>:<ol>
<li><i>Dust and the Curious Boy</i> [US: <i>Give the Devil His Due</i>] (1957)</li>
<li><i>Daughter Fair</i> (1958)</li>
<li><i>The Sapphire Conference</i> (1959)</li>
</ol></li>
<li><i>The Gull's Kiss</i> (1962)</li>
<br />
<b>as Hilary Ford:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Felix Walking</i> (1958)</li>
<li><i>Felix Running</i> (1959)</li>
<li><i>Bella on the Roof</i> (1965)</li>
<li><i>A Figure in Grey</i> (1973)</li>
<li><i>Sarnia</i> (1974)</li>
<li><i>Castle Malindine</i> (1975)</li>
<li><i>A Bride for Bedivere</i> (1976)</li>
<br />
<b>as Peter Nichols:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>Patchwork of Death</i> (1965)</li>
<br />
<b>as Stanley Winchester:</b><br />
<br />
<li><i>The Practice</i> (1968)</li>
<li><i>Men With Knives</i> [US: <i>A Man With a Knife</i>] (1968)</li>
<li><i>The Helpers</i> (1970)</li>
<li><i>Ten Per Cent of Your Life</i> (1973)</li>
</ol>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhFOq9J6Voh-7ds50W0_tj4UQl32h8OQvgRHzte-mpMdgB3N_96UurnKuUG7IDqDnq78FYYl0IGOEnQ-rVz2TNvmRu-T1tTXQ67AuoVmOIxgC3c4YnbOsIid4FgEeSDnn8JwYucMq8ByNU7y0lEK_qs16qdG8XGqfc8kilyb_zE0ZpRdCggA/s474/4108Y1DK9KL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhFOq9J6Voh-7ds50W0_tj4UQl32h8OQvgRHzte-mpMdgB3N_96UurnKuUG7IDqDnq78FYYl0IGOEnQ-rVz2TNvmRu-T1tTXQ67AuoVmOIxgC3c4YnbOsIid4FgEeSDnn8JwYucMq8ByNU7y0lEK_qs16qdG8XGqfc8kilyb_zE0ZpRdCggA/s600/4108Y1DK9KL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Bad-Dream-John-Christopher/dp/0727859609">Bad Dream</a> (2003)</span></div><br />
<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-43098876172360944382023-03-27T10:38:00.013+13:002023-05-26T11:09:23.614+12:00My Favourite Vintage Bookshops: Ponsonby<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqG9phl6txVnjq6T1dyGq9pnvX2jIo42TfWEudQFO1weuby5cmubBppSGjMbB2ABcoq_TzXQJAI1Ew65ttnRA4ZwQZJuvyTICitMnL9M783ins5KvRBnOkU4WTF3vK11AUcW3H4XYqyRecQ_-ESWkihOb3k5b8Phqrf8Y_4J76cVQANzgImw/s438/4277400.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqG9phl6txVnjq6T1dyGq9pnvX2jIo42TfWEudQFO1weuby5cmubBppSGjMbB2ABcoq_TzXQJAI1Ew65ttnRA4ZwQZJuvyTICitMnL9M783ins5KvRBnOkU4WTF3vK11AUcW3H4XYqyRecQ_-ESWkihOb3k5b8Phqrf8Y_4J76cVQANzgImw/s600/4277400.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Robin Hyde: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4277400-wednesday-s-children">Wednesday's Children</a> (1937 / 1993)</span></div>
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<blockquote>The story is of Wednesday, half-sister of Ronald Gilfillan, a comfortable conforming New Zealander with "a quarter-acre section neatly fenced". Having consulted Madame Mystera, a fortune-teller of Freemans Bay, and been told that fortune, lovers and children are ahead of her, Wednesday takes a ticket in a lottery. She wins £25,000.<div style="text-align: center;">
- Joan Stevens. <i>The New Zealand Novel 1860-1965</i>. 1961. Rev. ed. Wellington: A. H. & A. W. REED, 1966.<br />[<a href="https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SteNove-t1-body-d4-d9.html">NZETC</a>]</div></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyePqeYNfC1aZ5K9MsL7hdzsOboOft13lumX9lb57sK6fAC_SdfgjPnHQvTH8JNQZ8GHDh_9COcPTQELADU9lEaxKuu-tqwf6DiwOxHrR1J6YnSg74wrNoUrTMFR41Ap8MWkcU1nRB6J97zD3g1Vp4-fQmgeB_PF-TlQTss9Ni69wM4nXB_w/s500/9780908652372-us-300.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyePqeYNfC1aZ5K9MsL7hdzsOboOft13lumX9lb57sK6fAC_SdfgjPnHQvTH8JNQZ8GHDh_9COcPTQELADU9lEaxKuu-tqwf6DiwOxHrR1J6YnSg74wrNoUrTMFR41Ap8MWkcU1nRB6J97zD3g1Vp4-fQmgeB_PF-TlQTss9Ni69wM4nXB_w/s600/9780908652372-us-300.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Robin Hyde: <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/wednesdays-children/author/robin-hyde/">Wednesday's Children</a> (1937 / 1989)</span></div><br />
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One of the nicest things about <i>Wednesday's Children</i> - for an Aucklander, at any rate - is the vision it provides of our lost city of the past.<br />
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I remember, for example, a daring weekend sail in my father's family-sized 16-foot yacht out into the Hauraki Gulf. We ended up landing on the far end of Browns Island, the only portion which can be safely approached from the sea, due to the skein of reefs that surrounds it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiubbN6cN0iv1wfAc_smxeng5XjDo_M73gaYW7De_sFuKKW3bCVgnZPVMRrFFwWJ6tSr9VZf0n2vgUfVt5darqxuZ5l-8jnvJPKVkguCTJitN6wq-OsNw5qpnkkH3Tm_t4K45wOvJ5PX5hHn-oKD-f-cOPaBFQvKoNS1Bk2kemdN6LBp4z7Tw/s500/p16088gns.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiubbN6cN0iv1wfAc_smxeng5XjDo_M73gaYW7De_sFuKKW3bCVgnZPVMRrFFwWJ6tSr9VZf0n2vgUfVt5darqxuZ5l-8jnvJPKVkguCTJitN6wq-OsNw5qpnkkH3Tm_t4K45wOvJ5PX5hHn-oKD-f-cOPaBFQvKoNS1Bk2kemdN6LBp4z7Tw/s400/p16088gns.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/16088/motukorea">Motukorea / Browns Island</a></span></div><br />
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We had to scale a fairly steep cliff to emerge out into the open fields, the ones which look so attractive from a distance, but which turned out to be quite swampy when experienced up close.<br />
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After that the wind got up, and we couldn't make it back through the outgoing tides at the head of the harbour. We were forced to anchor the yacht off Mission Bay and row our way forlornly by dinghy to shore. My father sailed the boat back to his mooring in Ngataringa Bay next day single-handed.<br />
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So when I read about Wednesday Gilfillan's residence on Brown's Island it immediately struck a chord. Mind you, I wouldn't fancy rowing out there in a tiny dinghy on a regular basis - but it's by no means an impossible feat.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLM4RTCmzunXZllD8d502gEIXUpzhceYF0VwTyWSFqhAXdaaRQBepfsFXYTC6sObo2m_B4oaLMtMC0z1wOJSqQusgBz06ztt_-kb4_PacaGHsFr0ncdBQ-ZoTjY--JIRfDB0oRnaFao_S4KnfeQv7s7K96jKljX3dyK7kvp1-7e9VZMs18A/s1238/b99b9a2578c4875f6f4681b469690c3d.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLM4RTCmzunXZllD8d502gEIXUpzhceYF0VwTyWSFqhAXdaaRQBepfsFXYTC6sObo2m_B4oaLMtMC0z1wOJSqQusgBz06ztt_-kb4_PacaGHsFr0ncdBQ-ZoTjY--JIRfDB0oRnaFao_S4KnfeQv7s7K96jKljX3dyK7kvp1-7e9VZMs18A/s400/b99b9a2578c4875f6f4681b469690c3d.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/600034350334314071/">Freemans Bay, Auckland</a> (1900s)</span></div><br />
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And then there's Wednesday's part-time gig as a fortune-teller in Freemans Bay. Robin Hyde's descriptions of its tight-packed streets and working men's houses certainly allow her to channel her inner city-beat reporter. Has it changed much? Profoundly, I fear. Which makes her pen-portrait even more valuable.<br />
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It's nice to know that there are still a few vintage bookshops in the glitzy surrounds of Ponsonby / Grey Lynn. How they manage to survive is beyond me. But I suppose there must be enough people out there who savour the unique odour of mould and bookdust to keep them in business. All power to them!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnM-YB0wsiwn9DRxITwMNnIxArfK6XspjDhDEU8ltmC9XyYkNfG-43HSqh1LrjdgE2Dg0u-uuxzry8fU3zVLQv8Y1uRpN66n99UrNioIs0a-vPZATJmqjarg81UVb1meMOFIdrDs0Mg4TvjkjW4Sl4TGa4IxHvUvyq86F98hb0ZhtmbCf9Q/s800/IMG_2011-e1523497932339.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnM-YB0wsiwn9DRxITwMNnIxArfK6XspjDhDEU8ltmC9XyYkNfG-43HSqh1LrjdgE2Dg0u-uuxzry8fU3zVLQv8Y1uRpN66n99UrNioIs0a-vPZATJmqjarg81UVb1meMOFIdrDs0Mg4TvjkjW4Sl4TGa4IxHvUvyq86F98hb0ZhtmbCf9Q/s600/IMG_2011-e1523497932339.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Robin Hyde: <a href="https://www.deadsouls.co.nz/shop/robin-hyde-wednesdays-children/">Wednesday's Children</a> (1937)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0v8kks1_Km6Xh1fevxwOFKPvA53WLstejhaN_2XEoXBP2BLr50HcUowuajtc5SrJwxoehcrg4kqQFdvv45hKb_ZB0gy7CLzJ58Js5RCDrHzhBuvizDgYKFT91fvKsfs9RZrW6JooU_nf-fndSjEnf4I-RD5djvwrgepcDi84ItrtoWIRdnA/s3750/IMG_1651.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="3750" data-original-width="2500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0v8kks1_Km6Xh1fevxwOFKPvA53WLstejhaN_2XEoXBP2BLr50HcUowuajtc5SrJwxoehcrg4kqQFdvv45hKb_ZB0gy7CLzJ58Js5RCDrHzhBuvizDgYKFT91fvKsfs9RZrW6JooU_nf-fndSjEnf4I-RD5djvwrgepcDi84ItrtoWIRdnA/s600/IMG_1651.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://theopenbook.co.nz/">The Open Book</a></span>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="https://theopenbook.co.nz/"><b>The Open Book</b></a></span><br />
[201 Ponsonby Road, Auckland]</div><br />
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I remember once coming up to the counter in this shop with an armful of books, only to be asked:
"What is it, exactly, you <i>do</i>?"<br />
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I must have looked a bit bemused, so the owner went on to explain that she found it very difficult to square such very disparate purchases with one another.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxkZBficx5ijTXWNax6PHCwPLe4O5dThbBIwzg_M0CGoXT_OIcHxVIMqkEtAcZULzDXuxqmH3K1qwLMdrmL38SsHlj_omN6IR-DNM8mS4ri9SyGyyNCyOu9N0w9a0-xZrhiVVXI-KuCaZv-GMv5C_5cHXNIq5UjYvfqjEApdM2i_9TMLtQag/s1063/1382479790.0.x.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxkZBficx5ijTXWNax6PHCwPLe4O5dThbBIwzg_M0CGoXT_OIcHxVIMqkEtAcZULzDXuxqmH3K1qwLMdrmL38SsHlj_omN6IR-DNM8mS4ri9SyGyyNCyOu9N0w9a0-xZrhiVVXI-KuCaZv-GMv5C_5cHXNIq5UjYvfqjEApdM2i_9TMLtQag/s600/1382479790.0.x.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Clute & Peter Nicholls, ed.: <a href="https://biblio.com.au/book/encyclopedia-science-fiction-clute-john-nicholls/d/1382479790">The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction</a> (1999)</span></div>
<blockquote>Clute, John, & Peter Nicholls, ed. <i>The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction</i>. 1979. 2nd ed. Contributing Editor Brian Stableford. Technical Editor John Grant. Orbit. 1993. London: Little, Brown and Company (UK), 1999.</blockquote>
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I think I had, on that particular day, located a nice paperback copy of John Clute's magisterial <i>Encyclopedia of Science Fiction</i>, to which I was proposing to add a rather sumptuous edition of <i>The Holy Qu'ran</i>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5Pgggzzh_rLX5lBm5EAJggXf6oXjm_X5bni0wiA4nIGKPC3bg0pQ98IVGERhg55Z2zL7aZOap_22Z97qHJVXp5BuVLa7qtcyOBD5xLaKyXu2fGz6eReBYdagQBVGc78I7WGvjOUeZSmhL-HZ0trAVUzGdNMwVM4Mhq9bw2Ji0xCoed9IAw/s2560/A1D2JEKODDL.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="2079" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5Pgggzzh_rLX5lBm5EAJggXf6oXjm_X5bni0wiA4nIGKPC3bg0pQ98IVGERhg55Z2zL7aZOap_22Z97qHJVXp5BuVLa7qtcyOBD5xLaKyXu2fGz6eReBYdagQBVGc78I7WGvjOUeZSmhL-HZ0trAVUzGdNMwVM4Mhq9bw2Ji0xCoed9IAw/s600/A1D2JEKODDL.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holy-Qur-Translation-Meanings-Commentary/dp/B0036FN882">The Holy Qur-an: English Translation of the Meanings and the Commentary</a> (1991)</span></div>
<blockquote><i>The Holy Qur-ān: English Translation of the Meanings and Commentary</i>. Ed. Mushaf Al-Madinah An-Nabawiyah. Trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali et al. Saudi Arabia: King Fahd Holy Qur-ān Printing Complex, A.H. 1411 [= 1991].</blockquote>
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"I teach Creative Writing at Massey University" was my rather lame reply. I could see her still shaking her head as I left, though. How could the same person be equally enthusiastic about Science Fiction and the intricacies of Arabic culture?<br />
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I remember that one of the kinder reviews I received for my poetry collection <i><a href="http://hesiodic.blogspot.com/2007/10/chantals-book-2002.html">Chantal's Book</a></i>, some twenty years back, referred to me as "a literary magpie, gathering together his shiny objects with a remarkable eclecticism." The author was James Norcliffe, whose recent novel <i>The Frog Prince</i> I've just lately written about for <a href="https://landfallreview.com/a-fool-in-love/"><i>Landfall Review Online</i></a>. I hope I did it justice.<br />
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He did rather hit the nail on the head with that "magpie" analogy, though. I do like to collect pretty objects and ideas and put them together. You could call it mosaic - or even collage - if you were inclined to be charitable. If not, you could simply refer to it as lack of focus.<br />
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Never mind, it works for me. "The world is so full of a number of things / I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings" and all that ...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ2zJovw-dhXlTXWumx753BtvfeoLL0g8cqmUk9Hultm-hssausF3vUlDn_7SrAf2wKx5AMEJ0fn5-md9JKQqTQ9R-HaATqg5XXXq_3SOQoQQEn2v56XT_26Ourl_VT_UVU3DqhMref9dkFF02Rd-o4FxdWCC22aNLNw09tOa1a8tvR6QezA/s573/1511966344.0.l.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ2zJovw-dhXlTXWumx753BtvfeoLL0g8cqmUk9Hultm-hssausF3vUlDn_7SrAf2wKx5AMEJ0fn5-md9JKQqTQ9R-HaATqg5XXXq_3SOQoQQEn2v56XT_26Ourl_VT_UVU3DqhMref9dkFF02Rd-o4FxdWCC22aNLNw09tOa1a8tvR6QezA/s600/1511966344.0.l.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Herman Melville: <a href="https://www.abaa.org/book/1511966344">Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land</a> (1959)</span></div>
<blockquote>
Herman Melville. <i>Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land</i>. Ed. Walter E. Bezanson. New York: Hendricks House, Inc., 1960.</blockquote>
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The shop has now changed hands. I still find the odd bargain in there, however. The above edition of Melville's <i>Clarel</i> was certainly an exciting addition to my <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2010/06/acquisitions-14-herman-melville.html">collection of Melvilliana</a>.<br />
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I'm still not quite sure why the copy of Tuwhare's Ralph Hotere-illustrated <i>Sapwood and Milk</i>
I found there was quite so reasonably priced, but perhaps they're less rare than I thought. In any case, I <i>didn't</i> think about it: just bought it (my motto as a bibliophile).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AZb8wQqFR23Lbh3nH3ebjLxeN3rNRDe1uWDSL49AHw9nKftc2vy98y6AA0MI6j8x54fokbX_ZZEKIjuoXkSfZrG39hVkWJygfKzNRji9ee4K4v78lXhJdxHoi_JAuBA8_TRX/s439/25342_Tuwhare-Hone_Sap-wood--Milk.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AZb8wQqFR23Lbh3nH3ebjLxeN3rNRDe1uWDSL49AHw9nKftc2vy98y6AA0MI6j8x54fokbX_ZZEKIjuoXkSfZrG39hVkWJygfKzNRji9ee4K4v78lXhJdxHoi_JAuBA8_TRX/s600/25342_Tuwhare-Hone_Sap-wood--Milk.jpg"/></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Hone Tuwhare: <a href="https://www.artybees.co.nz/tuwhare-hone/sap-wood-milk">Sap-wood and Milk</a> (1973)</span></div>
<blockquote>Hone Tuwhare. <i>Sap-wood and Milk</i>. Illustrated by Ralph Hotere. 629 of 700 numbered copies. Dunedin: Caveman Press, 1973.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSz82YAG8eMH_bWVq-3fseWEPNefOjUIQH94IuE2t66NjlduAN2poNEtor5XPa0UDD6O_K7qiT3bHzayTB4HvIh2Rxhd2daL9w6tGuPs-4_B2e1_6owJ8fUqNnWR2h5EZRmjTwTyOANnxy-p5GKm-MBkKoPkBEG8sG34uFicNcu3AkD-6ipg/s348/348s.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSz82YAG8eMH_bWVq-3fseWEPNefOjUIQH94IuE2t66NjlduAN2poNEtor5XPa0UDD6O_K7qiT3bHzayTB4HvIh2Rxhd2daL9w6tGuPs-4_B2e1_6owJ8fUqNnWR2h5EZRmjTwTyOANnxy-p5GKm-MBkKoPkBEG8sG34uFicNcu3AkD-6ipg/s400/348s.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/dominion-books-auckland">Dominion Books</a></span>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/dominion-books-auckland"><b>Dominion Books</b></a></span><br />
[230 Jervois Rd, Herne Bay, Auckland 1011]</div><br />
<blockquote><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=dominion+books+auckland+closed"><b>Latest news</b></a>: "Dominion Books,which has been selling secondhand books at 230 Jervois Rd in Herne Bay since 1986, is finally closing down at the end of May 2023. Between now and then I am selling all stock at $3 per book, or as big a bag as you like for$20. I am no longer buying any books. I am clearing out my entire stock. Thanks to loyal customers after all these years."</blockquote>
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Many years ago my father used to take me to a second-hand bookshop called "Dominion Books" - not unreasonably, as it was then <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/balmoral-shop-owned-by-hello-sailor-singers-mum/EYFOUWDAOSSJIIJETMSPLDSH5E/">located on Dominion Road</a>. It was owned by a certain Mrs. Brazier, mother of soon-to-be-famous singer Graham Brazier.<br />
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It was a gloomy, fascinating place, full of obscure tomes in almost-unreachable corners. Or at any rate that's my memory of it. I'm not quite sure when she sold the business, which then moved to Jervois Road in Herne Bay, but I imagine it must have been back in the seventies sometime. Or perhaps the early eighties [1986, it now appears].<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtW-KJHHfVTYv3WMsP-oKSRnxjtVNCQ3ATWS-lgA7KxVNtZYX5jDWq1sHVd8XPKnsfSfUEOeEGEN7VhTnlGmCBf_XDDwDf3DUKOLzdt6GrP1JD5MQrqrdu-KRWhFrQy24Ft9rbir5l67bf72SVfcoBGSSw4hkkr4YGiwTw3mtrnp31uP77Wg/s500/D_NQ_NP_823311-MLA41571652551_042020-O.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtW-KJHHfVTYv3WMsP-oKSRnxjtVNCQ3ATWS-lgA7KxVNtZYX5jDWq1sHVd8XPKnsfSfUEOeEGEN7VhTnlGmCBf_XDDwDf3DUKOLzdt6GrP1JD5MQrqrdu-KRWhFrQy24Ft9rbir5l67bf72SVfcoBGSSw4hkkr4YGiwTw3mtrnp31uP77Wg/s400/D_NQ_NP_823311-MLA41571652551_042020-O.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: <a href="http://www.elem.mx/obra/datos/230905">Obras completas</a> (1969)</span></div>
<blockquote>Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. <i>Obras Completas</i>. 1951-1957. Prólogo de Francisco Monterde. 1969. “Colección Sepan Cuantos …”, 100. Ciudad de México: Editorial Porrúa, S. A., 1977.</blockquote>
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So that's the reason for the rather anomalous name of this fascinatingly out-of-the-way shop, which still seems to specialise in obscure treasures hidden in odd corners. Take the book above, for instance. Who on earth would be interested in the complete works - in Spanish - of a seventeenth-century Mexican nun?<br />
<br />
Well, me, I'm afraid. My PhD thesis was on <a href="http://versionsofsouthamerica.blogspot.com/">Versions of South America in English Literature</a>, which took me all the way from Aphra Behn's <i>Oroonoko</i> (1688) to Kathy Acker's <i>Blood and Guts in High School</i> (1978).<br />
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Along the way I spent a lot of time poring over Nobel-prize-winning poet Octavio Paz's classic work on Mexican Culture, <i>The Labyrinth of Solitude</i> (1950). Paz also wrote extensively on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juana_In%C3%A9s_de_la_Cruz">Sor Juana de Asbaje</a> - notably in his other great prose work <i>Sor Juana: The Traps of Faith</i> (1982).<br />
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This profoundly gifted young polymath, Sor Juana, occupies a position in Mexico somewhat akin to that of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murasaki_Shikibu">Murasaki Shikibu</a> in Japan - or, for that matter, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Mansfield">Katherine Mansfield</a> in New Zealand: the one indisputably great, mysterious genius at the heart of an entire literary tradition.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGvf77W4q696jmblhZQU4yUgCjAhIl143u9H4SDH3n0xAMAHHoxekX1TzBqD5EzSxyrgrcBo0dENRRQeMspyBLv79KCwzUBK-uLOE7G3VC1zsviH2QezeBIa9VOEnrf8cO0BytwAKevCOLESHRmbeeUCiLSAUg83U9hUFWNl4SJ1DvqbHzKw/s880/30922131128.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGvf77W4q696jmblhZQU4yUgCjAhIl143u9H4SDH3n0xAMAHHoxekX1TzBqD5EzSxyrgrcBo0dENRRQeMspyBLv79KCwzUBK-uLOE7G3VC1zsviH2QezeBIa9VOEnrf8cO0BytwAKevCOLESHRmbeeUCiLSAUg83U9hUFWNl4SJ1DvqbHzKw/s600/30922131128.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">William Plomer, ed.: <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/Kilverts-Diary-Selections-Rev-Francis-Kilvert/30922131128/bd">Kilvert's Diary</a> (3-1-23)</span></div>
<blockquote>Francis Kilvert. <i>Kilvert’s Diary: Selections from the Diary of the Rev. Francis Kilvert, 1870-1879</i>. 3 vols. Ed. William Plomer. 1940. Rev ed. 1960-61. Illustrated Edition. London: Jonathan Cape, 1977.</blockquote><br />
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Here's another nice purchase from Dominion Books. I have a perhaps unreasonably aversion to abridgements of classic books. It wasn't until I was able to find all three volumes of William Plomer's edition that I could really settle down to reading Kilvert's diary, which I found very entertaining indeed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg97Cy-S2WEs4WmgY9ifJ69gBS5SKbdWkEEQ4_R6CX1Wh3T4cf8oPkFAPtvdyB6rpIBlmMWEkFmY_hS0Ry_UmHIfrFbxDpeFUlECuDCIyzdhxPhJ57L9gA6GmZKo-fdEMB4doC0w9rP4qwS2hhUskvaLm-ac06o37zyp8HR0RF3pmEM9ZT5ow/s640/812Qui0gfoL.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="415" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg97Cy-S2WEs4WmgY9ifJ69gBS5SKbdWkEEQ4_R6CX1Wh3T4cf8oPkFAPtvdyB6rpIBlmMWEkFmY_hS0Ry_UmHIfrFbxDpeFUlECuDCIyzdhxPhJ57L9gA6GmZKo-fdEMB4doC0w9rP4qwS2hhUskvaLm-ac06o37zyp8HR0RF3pmEM9ZT5ow/s600/812Qui0gfoL.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Christopher Ricks, ed.: <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2010/06/acquisitions-21-longman-annotated.html">The Poems of Tennyson</a> (1969)</span></div>
<blockquote>Christopher Ricks, ed. <i>The Poems of Tennyson</i>. Longmans Annotated English Poets. London & Harlow: Longman, Green and Co, Ltd.. 1969.</blockquote>
<br />
This one was the real prize, though. I spent a long time searching for this particular edition of Tennyson, from the <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2010/06/acquisitions-21-longman-annotated.html">Longman Annotated English Poets</a> series. It's true that there's a later, three-volume second edition, but the sheer audacity of including Tennyson's complete poetry in one massive volume was the main reason I had to have this one. And there it was! - one fine day in the poetry section - straight from Bill Pearson's collection, as it turned out.<br />
<br />
It is, in other words, always worth having a glance in Dominion Books. The stock there does, admittedly, tend to linger on the shelves, but you never know what might have walked in just the day before ...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBjOOfeyw1D3RfGXUqez_nPwUecO0uAF7VX0TLc60kjnDgM1ytnXqs4e1k-ctmuhNkPplpQY62XNq_5nWyNyw7ccOm6ScT-cnl4Ky9uwxxyoBYZX2_qkj-uRlT5XZU_eg-3alZAmpir6OC6GDEby7RdGQvx0JmFfXjrjWNAbJ_npx6gw7cQ/s563/dominionbooksmark.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBjOOfeyw1D3RfGXUqez_nPwUecO0uAF7VX0TLc60kjnDgM1ytnXqs4e1k-ctmuhNkPplpQY62XNq_5nWyNyw7ccOm6ScT-cnl4Ky9uwxxyoBYZX2_qkj-uRlT5XZU_eg-3alZAmpir6OC6GDEby7RdGQvx0JmFfXjrjWNAbJ_npx6gw7cQ/s600/dominionbooksmark.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ink eats Man: <a href="https://inkeatsman.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/dominion-books-auckland/">Dominion Books</a> (2010)</span></div><br />
<br />
Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-7746327408935132122023-03-04T11:31:00.002+13:002023-03-05T10:46:20.033+13:00'Of the Devil's party without knowing it'<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisOVLHVIj0pJlsl0cMzhRnW5bF5k8q__zI5RGlxr0oob9egQahaxhG4q6sLFRQ897DZizPzu0AI-KkTTBC2N43WR_hl6uZYY6r7YJfe3zsrb8eF1lB_-n1b7GGdj-_TTPaNUVVisR42wPr7TGsbm8a_YSqFCpYf5gyaqwxpixxMVvDrQ2v_2SXNNxJ/s1505/MV5BMzFmYzUzNDctODRlNi00ZjNhLTgzOWYtOGFiOTZlYjM2MzdhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzAxNjkxMDk@._V1_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1505" data-original-width="1146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisOVLHVIj0pJlsl0cMzhRnW5bF5k8q__zI5RGlxr0oob9egQahaxhG4q6sLFRQ897DZizPzu0AI-KkTTBC2N43WR_hl6uZYY6r7YJfe3zsrb8eF1lB_-n1b7GGdj-_TTPaNUVVisR42wPr7TGsbm8a_YSqFCpYf5gyaqwxpixxMVvDrQ2v_2SXNNxJ/s600/MV5BMzFmYzUzNDctODRlNi00ZjNhLTgzOWYtOGFiOTZlYjM2MzdhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzAxNjkxMDk@._V1_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Andrew Wall, dir. & writ.: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6187756/">The Fantasy Makers</a> (2018)</span></div><br />
<br />
<blockquote>The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when he wrote of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- William Blake: <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-marriage-of-heaven-and-hell-by-william-blake"><i>The Marriage of Heaven and Hell</i></a> (1790)</div></blockquote>
<br />
Recently Bronwyn and I watched the documentary "The Fantasy Makers", hoping for some insights into the work of George MacDonald and his successors J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. I have to say that it was a somewhat disappointing experience. A succession of non-entities - obscure Academics and writers, none of whom I'd ever heard of - came on screen to proclaim the vital significance of the Christian faith to the works of these three authors, and the various ways in which that old-time religion had jump-started their imaginations.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lhHGlisokj4CW5zLDdM5dJKC6l-tEiYHFDIqzKdhi2VDxhy8OMHoiTQqDawt5Bp6KOIk6ufK6Wbr21hRAIWtQvvrcEsbuij3cG3EzYHiEAmlwbGJbDyTEM82ZalEvr6WZPjO20IGb1KDSsna5ljbdoIsELWX9MlYeNYlrSkoUucSCmvjK2Py53LI/s1200/MALCOLM-GUITE.00_18_48_15.Still003-sm.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lhHGlisokj4CW5zLDdM5dJKC6l-tEiYHFDIqzKdhi2VDxhy8OMHoiTQqDawt5Bp6KOIk6ufK6Wbr21hRAIWtQvvrcEsbuij3cG3EzYHiEAmlwbGJbDyTEM82ZalEvr6WZPjO20IGb1KDSsna5ljbdoIsELWX9MlYeNYlrSkoUucSCmvjK2Py53LI/s400/MALCOLM-GUITE.00_18_48_15.Still003-sm.png"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.refuge31.com/project/the-fantasy-makers-faith-in-imagination/">One of the hairier contributors to <i>The Fantasy Makers</i>:<br />
Rev Dr A Malcolm Guite of Girton College, Cambridge</a></span></div><br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong. This is certainly a defensible proposition: indeed a pretty obvious one, given the tendency of MacDonald and Lewis in particular to incorporate a good deal of Christian allegory and even straightout preaching in their respective fantasy worlds. There's no doubt, either, about the significance of his Catholic faith to J. R. R. Tolkien.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_c9voxZ0-aQkr0pWYGyspLJPrQYVsUTy22xHp_CVMilpjOh8f8f728D6b8dLTaOE3PDAJfE5jQxj934Ga9vqm5gsDnzLWV4PmchewyS1PMYfyGQnqW2WDvvmtCqE0LYEe-lbmkDFe8Aw1AMEGfncRsZxkzndvpxqFIs552vl97pmZ0WG9XiHiXdCH/s1000/71bi4LNLXdL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="702" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_c9voxZ0-aQkr0pWYGyspLJPrQYVsUTy22xHp_CVMilpjOh8f8f728D6b8dLTaOE3PDAJfE5jQxj934Ga9vqm5gsDnzLWV4PmchewyS1PMYfyGQnqW2WDvvmtCqE0LYEe-lbmkDFe8Aw1AMEGfncRsZxkzndvpxqFIs552vl97pmZ0WG9XiHiXdCH/s600/71bi4LNLXdL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Makers-Tolkien-Lewis-MacDonald/dp/B07DKRPFTH">The Fantasy Makers</a></span></div><br />
<br />
Where I part company with this documentary is in its selective - and thus quite misleading - account of the growth of the modern Fantasy genre. It's strongly implied in context that reading MacDonald had a decisive effect on Tolkien - whereas it's really Lewis who was more influenced by him. It's true that <i>The Hobbit</i> is deeply indebted to MacDonald's <i>The Princess and the Goblin</i>, but William Morris's series of heroic romances were the real catalyst for Tolkien's own peculiar fusion of mythology and folktale.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqg1c6Z3GazpwVhhhvkts51bSofT5W4MhiqTER4XhPtRXg8umxcir-OraTGGmEkQFPonxtcZNN_KhvMU5MwWXGG7Q4GkH28k9CnZZB-1bxsJptmXx38wRAWgeHgpY3pBLZ_ds8Mhh6oQiT2JXLmPragn0AXRNs9y1GeAWusdorNNRhJmJBTB1KmsQP/s2500/House_of_the_Wolfings_Title_Page_First_Edition_1889.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1700" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqg1c6Z3GazpwVhhhvkts51bSofT5W4MhiqTER4XhPtRXg8umxcir-OraTGGmEkQFPonxtcZNN_KhvMU5MwWXGG7Q4GkH28k9CnZZB-1bxsJptmXx38wRAWgeHgpY3pBLZ_ds8Mhh6oQiT2JXLmPragn0AXRNs9y1GeAWusdorNNRhJmJBTB1KmsQP/s600/House_of_the_Wolfings_Title_Page_First_Edition_1889.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">William Morris: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Wolfings">The House of the Wolfings</a> (1889)</span></div><br />
<br />
So why leave out Morris? There were, of course - there always are - limitations of space. You can't put in everyone. In this case, though, there was a simpler reason: he wasn't a Christian. He was, admittedly, brought up as one, but in later life he espoused atheism, along with a very militant form of Communism. He was as independent a thinker as he was a writer and artist.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5i19u3joBfdTvfZrATiN8OKHhn9ujAyMLjaM8yJDV8827QBpKbOKmL6dByDwGK4hErwk61ZLA0iY07oYhY6Wpdk2FdiOg1m3c7uLn6BLzcGaNtO7S8uNCGkmxhfx8nsRVNWeih-7TxF4ZUOf-kZbYwkzRbUB5bRB0nxcgdJFY59LoBXOqqg/s1767/William_Morris_age_53.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1767" data-original-width="1404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5i19u3joBfdTvfZrATiN8OKHhn9ujAyMLjaM8yJDV8827QBpKbOKmL6dByDwGK4hErwk61ZLA0iY07oYhY6Wpdk2FdiOg1m3c7uLn6BLzcGaNtO7S8uNCGkmxhfx8nsRVNWeih-7TxF4ZUOf-kZbYwkzRbUB5bRB0nxcgdJFY59LoBXOqqg/s600/William_Morris_age_53.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">William Morris: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris">William Morris</a> (1834-1896)</span></div><br />
<br />
It puts me in mind of an account I once heard of a Children's TV programme which one of my school friends inadvertently found himself watching one idle afternoon. The kids were all sitting around in a circle while the house band, called (I think) the Certain Sounds, performed various uplifting numbers.<br />
<br />
This led to a "discussion" (i.e. harangue) where the hosts of the show denounced the excesses of contemporary Rock music - this was, admittedly, the era of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath - and stressed how wholesome, by contrast, were the songs they'd just been listening to. Those confirmed degenerates the Rolling Stones came in for a bit of a tongue-lashing, too.<br />
<br />
All of a sudden a youth leapt up from the floor and shouted "The Rolling Stones are <i>great</i> - and the Certain Sounds are sh ..." They cut to commercial before he could finish what he was saying - but I think the audience got the message. Ah me, the perils of live TV!<br />
<br />
When the programme resumed the lone rebel had, of course, been removed - and no doubt taken backstage for indoctrination. But, as the poet Horace once observed: "you can drive out nature with a pitchfork, but still she'll come back" [<i>naturam expelles furca, tamen usque recurret</i>]. His work there was done.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEc_PFPtSU4Jn77WbMTQvGS76iPLDbx1Z8H2NBNE2a-GHngKi1JTSt2Vb12aznqN5bhhGA27PPu4RglvVhys8zC0itolDYqJxCANF1rcMKPyYIJ9D1H2RnzmGQrh2fbS3_OgE2gBa2p4N_d16oSa7qq_3JmaNGitsENS2MP1KHCZQx6DxcrA/s900/Debut%20albums.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEc_PFPtSU4Jn77WbMTQvGS76iPLDbx1Z8H2NBNE2a-GHngKi1JTSt2Vb12aznqN5bhhGA27PPu4RglvVhys8zC0itolDYqJxCANF1rcMKPyYIJ9D1H2RnzmGQrh2fbS3_OgE2gBa2p4N_d16oSa7qq_3JmaNGitsENS2MP1KHCZQx6DxcrA/s400/Debut%20albums.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.classicchristianrockzine.net/2015/05/top-50-best-christian-rock-debut-albums.html">Top 50 Christian Rock Bands</a> (2015)</span></div><br />
<br />
The more the speakers in <i>The Fantasy Makers</i> stressed how hip-hop-happening the Bible was, and how deeply it had influenced the whole course of storytelling through the ages, the more I could hear the voice of my sister-in-law trying to persuade the rest of us at one extended-family gathering that Christian Rock was <i>cool</i>, and it was <i>we</i> who were the fuddy-duddies in sticking to more conventional forms of Rock 'n' Roll.<br />
<br />
The Bible <i>is</i> undoubtedly a great source of stories, and Tolkien and his friends <i>were</i> very religious, but the intense vehemence with which the assorted talking heads in the documentary asserted these simple truths was in itself enough to make one feel suspicious.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFeC1lQt18aXEOjSECW6FhQUxDl7cNiqwO27wD0ncOgff1DQh1_aqoRg7mlu8BieJSvPiGcCz0FnKppsCcpJwy2hUuYll44qnkN6R_CJTiyJf8pYNgtit5H-A__1m-0RqOHcEBeKPtl4LjL71BfyVDo1Ub51J8XR2bkeATD59I0OrqfnEgsw/s1747/On_Fairy-stories_%28expanded_edition%29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1747" data-original-width="1082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFeC1lQt18aXEOjSECW6FhQUxDl7cNiqwO27wD0ncOgff1DQh1_aqoRg7mlu8BieJSvPiGcCz0FnKppsCcpJwy2hUuYll44qnkN6R_CJTiyJf8pYNgtit5H-A__1m-0RqOHcEBeKPtl4LjL71BfyVDo1Ub51J8XR2bkeATD59I0OrqfnEgsw/s600/On_Fairy-stories_%28expanded_edition%29.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">J. R. R. Tolkien: <a href="https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Tolkien_On_Fairy-stories">On Fairy-stories</a> (2008)</span></div><br />
<br />
It was, after all, Tolkien himself who stressed the vital need to make a distinction between the realm of Faerie and its two nearest neighbours, Heaven and Hell. In his classic 1939 essay "On Fairy-Stories", he quotes from the old Border Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer:
<blockquote>
<i>O see ye not yon narrow road<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">So thick beset wi' thorns and briers?</span><br />
That is the path of Righteousness,<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">Though after it but few inquires.</span><br />
<br />
And see ye not yon braid, braid road<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">That lies across the lily leven?</span><br />
That is the path of Wickedness,<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">Though some call it the Road to Heaven.</span><br />
<br />
And see ye not yon bonny road<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">That winds about yon fernie brae?</span><br />
That is the road to fair Elfland,<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">Where thou and I this night maun gae.</span></i>
</blockquote>
Having first mistaken her for Mary Mother of God, Thomas is inveigled into accompanying the Fairy Queen down the third of these paths, and so:
<blockquote>
<i>Till seven long years were gone and done<br />
<span style="padding-left: 2em;">True Thomas on earth was never seen.</span></i></blockquote>
He brings nothing back with him from this mysterious realm except the ability to make rhymes and music.<br />
<br />
Mind you, it isn't all good - and there's certainly nothing safe about it. Thomas was lucky to get back home at all: centuries can easily go by in the blink of an eye for those who've been taken away to Faerie. And there is, of course, the little matter of the Devil's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teind">teind</a> (or tithe) - a tax of souls enforced by Hell in exchange for allowing this realm to exist independently.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga7UYh2QotaQQIqGeKkMqf62dJEounivQfU1VNkAze4PwB0Vrtlxtg4LdLSFBqrP_gkWrjdHEKmi4UW69sGWGSO1wUhT0JiN3eo49Ow-twbHBfFKkp08Mn5lCtADyHSCLdziySUZuV_lCQUh7Jalo-OiJLR7XjtGn5fZco3oSqmnE0iwzLGw/s1024/Johann_Heinrich_Fu%CC%88ssli_058.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="963" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga7UYh2QotaQQIqGeKkMqf62dJEounivQfU1VNkAze4PwB0Vrtlxtg4LdLSFBqrP_gkWrjdHEKmi4UW69sGWGSO1wUhT0JiN3eo49Ow-twbHBfFKkp08Mn5lCtADyHSCLdziySUZuV_lCQUh7Jalo-OiJLR7XjtGn5fZco3oSqmnE0iwzLGw/s400/Johann_Heinrich_Fu%CC%88ssli_058.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Henry Fuseli: <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/faerie#/media/File:Johann_Heinrich_F%C3%BCssli_058.jpg">The Faerie Queene</a> (1788)</span></div><br />
<br />
'Of the Devil's party without knowing it' - well, no, not quite. Tolkien, Lewis, and MacDonald were quite clear in their opposition to <i>that</i> gentleman, witness their respective portraits of him as Morgoth in the <i>Silmarillion</i> (along with his chief lieutenant Sauron in <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>); the Infernal Minister served by civil servant Screwtape in <i>The Screwtape Letters</i>; not to mention the gloomy landlord depicted in MacDonald's introduction to Valdemar Adolph Thisted's <i>Letters from Hell</i>.<br />
<br />
It <i>is</i> undeniable, though, that - as a reader - you feel a certain sense of excitement in Tolkien whenever he allows himself to revel in the imagery and atmosphere of the pre-Christian Teutonic heroic age. The story comes to life. In Lewis, too, when he allows his English children entry to a country where fauns and centaurs and the other nature spirits of Classical Paganism are permitted to roam freely.<br />
<br />
Milton, according to Blake, "wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when he wrote of Devils & Hell" - Tolkien, too, could write freely enough of both Middle-earth <i>and</i> Mordor, but when it comes to Valinor and the Blessed Realms, it all just fades off into sunlight and singing.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQItB3C4yljqH1-ikE33OWQKRe5QO91j9_eZPiu-2YKto7oe__t1eLxdFOz9RWl6YwI6hJ2jEJs-nBPXP_ZDknVdFuwKHuVcqq9K8UI0Qwkhdc3Nrnfn90k2QfUqDYl-d2nk6rO-zQ7_-7t3t8nUsjDcC7UIJ9hN-n5IjVpL8cpy-2pRVYnQ/s1867/FatherChristmas.JPG.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1867" data-original-width="1452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQItB3C4yljqH1-ikE33OWQKRe5QO91j9_eZPiu-2YKto7oe__t1eLxdFOz9RWl6YwI6hJ2jEJs-nBPXP_ZDknVdFuwKHuVcqq9K8UI0Qwkhdc3Nrnfn90k2QfUqDYl-d2nk6rO-zQ7_-7t3t8nUsjDcC7UIJ9hN-n5IjVpL8cpy-2pRVYnQ/s600/FatherChristmas.JPG.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Pauline Baynes: <a href="https://narnia.fandom.com/wiki/Father_Christmas">Father Christmas</a> (1950)</span></div><br />
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Think, too, of how embarrassing is the sudden appearance of Father Christmas in Lewis's first Narnia book <i>The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i>. It just seems so jarringly wrong to drag St. Nick into the midst of all these talking animals and powerful magicians. Not even the superbly imaginative Pauline Baynes can do much with this intrusion. But Lewis must have learned from the experience, because he never did anything quite so crass again.<br />
<br />
Tolkien detested Lewis's Narnia books precisely because of their imbalance of tone and seriousness. <i>Nymphs and Their Ways: The Love Life of a Faun</i>, the title of one of the raunchier books on Mr. Tumnus's bookshelf, exemplified for Tolkien everything that was wrong about this mish-mash of pagan and contemporary themes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN_8ey3Nd_k-nBBGhqh0dUTAii4DdmJVHmJgYXDrnV_Ai3XJ2SLWsEVCljTUl6wElU-Uxxlexn5HFbhklysOTNGirhR3UaOMdwBHO9oV1iaQjlxfC2dP69qwj12E12WKLGHoMkEXGo6MY_sXvsQRYuxQZ9pl2zaOVCOIY5WP6n99wKF9EwaA/s1963/andromeda.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1113" data-original-width="1963" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN_8ey3Nd_k-nBBGhqh0dUTAii4DdmJVHmJgYXDrnV_Ai3XJ2SLWsEVCljTUl6wElU-Uxxlexn5HFbhklysOTNGirhR3UaOMdwBHO9oV1iaQjlxfC2dP69qwj12E12WKLGHoMkEXGo6MY_sXvsQRYuxQZ9pl2zaOVCOIY5WP6n99wKF9EwaA/s400/andromeda.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Ludovico Ariosto: <a href="https://www.furiosoatlas.com/">Orlando Furioso</a> (1516-32)</span></div><br />
<blockquote>If Ariosto rivalled it in invention (in fact he does not) he would still lack its heroic seriousness. No imaginary world has been projected which is at once so multifarious and so true to its own inner laws; none so seemingly objective, so disinfected from the taint of an author’s merely individual psychology; none so relevant to the actual human situation yet so free from allegory. And what fine shading there is in the variations of style to meet the almost endless diversity of scenes and characters – comic, homely, epic, monstrous, or diabolic!<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- C. S. Lewis, <a href="https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2015/07/27/blurb/">Blurb</a> for <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> (1954)</div>
</blockquote>
Lewis, by contrast, was careful to praise Tolkien's "heroic seriousness", but suggested that his inventiveness might find a parallel (if not a rival) in Ariosto's <i>Orlando Furioso</i>. Tolkien, characteristically, bristled at the comparison, but one suspects that it was not made idly.<br />
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Lewis felt, it would seem, that Tolkien was at risk of starting to believe his own ideas about 'sub-creation' - that he was, in effect, within a hair of setting himself up as the god of his own creation. And there is certainly little that's ostensibly Christian about Tolkien's world: its values seem far more firmly based on Old Norse stoicism and blind courage.<br />
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Whatever bargain these writers may have struck with their own consciences, it seems clear to me whenever I read them that both Lewis and Tolkien were more in love <i>imaginatively</i> with the Queen of Faerie than they could ever could be with the minutiae of their own religion. <i>That</i> was theology; <i>this</i> was fantasy.<br />
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I don't question (or doubt) the sincerity of their faith, just as I don't doubt that of Milton - or Blake, for that matter. I may not share it myself, but I did in my younger days, so have at least <i>some</i> understanding of the mind-set involved.<br />
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The creative instinct, however, is an unruly thing: once you start to discipline it and push it in the directions demanded by dogma, you end up with (at best) <i>Hymns Ancient and Modern</i>; at worst, Socialist Realism.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3vUOC43YhVClnK6Pw0K9YTW1nase9CjqFr5235x2mFKdzP-QDQQizSxgi6RzOYGmU5h-q7pvNdJKuG9JCgu8LnuhfqpF_GBSGQpNHPsrQ9HoZqJA9AKfmDSFVaEkTGRqA2wnzx0uvKmpY55jPiZeXKFCHvJM0lb67PE6hGMZi-XUz0F_2AQ/s1880/919wRuO9KyL.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1880" data-original-width="1340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3vUOC43YhVClnK6Pw0K9YTW1nase9CjqFr5235x2mFKdzP-QDQQizSxgi6RzOYGmU5h-q7pvNdJKuG9JCgu8LnuhfqpF_GBSGQpNHPsrQ9HoZqJA9AKfmDSFVaEkTGRqA2wnzx0uvKmpY55jPiZeXKFCHvJM0lb67PE6hGMZi-XUz0F_2AQ/s600/919wRuO9KyL.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">C. S. Lewis: <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/COSMIC-TRILOGY-C-S-Lewis/dp/0370314395">The Cosmic Trilogy</a> (1938-45)</span></div><br />
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The reason, I suspect, that none of the more distinguished commentators on Lewis, Tolkien, and their fellow Inklings - the ones you might actually have heard of - could be persuaded to appear in this rather tin-eared documentary, is that they could see at once that it was attempting to shrink them to the size of mere Christian propagandists.<br />
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And yes, on one level, that is what they were - C. S. Lewis, in particular. But you don't have to be a Christian to delight in <i>Out of the Silent Planet</i> or <i>Perelandra</i>, just as <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> cuts across creeds and cultures to engage with real human truths.<br />
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Both of them took the road to fair Elf-land, and both paid a certain price for doing so. George MacDonald is a more complex case - his guilt over such lapses from the party-line threatens time and again to overturn his fantasies in mid-course. But the greatness of his narrative gift keeps us reading <i>At the Back of the North Wind</i> and the 'Curdie' books despite any failures of taste or consistency within them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcspETzMO5XQS-D_fCOcdD7xbFCE9vAbEYVz062xM9W_vzSOKg0Rn8cdUIIXtTHNuTwRHFu8WFKlAYIuDHPUdNeZ78J6bzXfFw7cLjtBY6Jr_eovctlR3CnbTzfedLkk5Kry2_V-lHlDJw60itFJ2pGhLBviuT6Prk1TruHzvbocPox-_5fw/s800/IMG_2751_brighter-800x450.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcspETzMO5XQS-D_fCOcdD7xbFCE9vAbEYVz062xM9W_vzSOKg0Rn8cdUIIXtTHNuTwRHFu8WFKlAYIuDHPUdNeZ78J6bzXfFw7cLjtBY6Jr_eovctlR3CnbTzfedLkk5Kry2_V-lHlDJw60itFJ2pGhLBviuT6Prk1TruHzvbocPox-_5fw/s400/IMG_2751_brighter-800x450.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/academic-centers/wadecenter/plan-your-visit/museum/">The Marion E. Wade Center Museum</a> (Wheaton College, Illinois)</span></div><br />
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There's a reason why this particular set of seven British authors have been granted their own research centre at a major American university, and it's not because of the orthodoxy of their belief systems:<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2007/05/books-id-like-to-own-fantasy.html">George MacDonald</a> (1824-1905)</li>
<li><a href="http://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-fiction-of-g-k-chesterton.html">G. K. Chesterton</a> (1874-1936)</li>
<li><a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/03/acquisitions-42-inklings.html#_ftn5">Charles Williams</a> (1886-1945)</li>
<li><a href="http://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2009/05/tolkien-industry.html">J. R. R. Tolkien</a> (1892-1973)</li>
<li><a href="http://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-many-faces-of-dorothy-l-sayers.html">Dorothy L. Sayers</a> (1893-1957)</li>
<li><a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/03/acquisitions-42-inklings.html#_ftn1">Owen Barfield</a> (1898-1997)</li>
<li><a href="http://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2011/10/selling-c-s-lewis.html">C. S. Lewis</a> (1898-1963)</li>
</ol>
Barfield was an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroposophy">Anthroposophist</a>, Chesterton and Tolkien were Catholics, Lewis and Sayers were Anglicans, MacDonald was probably more of a Unitarian than anything else, and it's very hard to say just what precisely Charles Williams was: he certainly dabbled in magic and occultism more than any of the others.<br />
<br />
Where they stand together is in the superreal vividness of their imaginations. Their respective versions of Christian faith may well have been a help in this, but all seven of them had to cast their nets wider than that to write anything worth reading. The details of their individual bargains with Faerie remain sealed up with their bones.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_acamVI5hz91bWu_fQNw9tJn4jeGQoyxsbP6Iu4bRZkJglHW9tchMmlxlTSwoE1H_RmL-DRkOGvJV0FoekcsIwd-tyYjAOsej5v3pRt6Aa9yDZ0-7bNpUqlTP5BJpG7B7kF0JyOdIJSvwykgjEpOTJgBuRfDJL4T_86kNbIRhUog-ABffiQ/s1000/cover.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_acamVI5hz91bWu_fQNw9tJn4jeGQoyxsbP6Iu4bRZkJglHW9tchMmlxlTSwoE1H_RmL-DRkOGvJV0FoekcsIwd-tyYjAOsej5v3pRt6Aa9yDZ0-7bNpUqlTP5BJpG7B7kF0JyOdIJSvwykgjEpOTJgBuRfDJL4T_86kNbIRhUog-ABffiQ/s600/cover.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">George MacDonald: <a href="https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/academic-centers/wadecenter/plan-your-visit/museum/">Phantastes: A Faerie Romance</a> (1858)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMyqba4aShl-HsXIGkGvJG_xX9coPGGVjUsFuQr7KLH4pSkvRdYACjJrtTYj3ASdxllWzEDGjX7CMb6KReE02Ss7cgnSdMpA1SvRC1yj-S8Hqgx5GrJm-bndWHaiLBnWR92-VvbdwsjCe_e9yJLp2GxzdXDwa159kiWZoZLKdfyIyA7ePdoQ/s712/George_MacDonald_1860s-1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="469" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMyqba4aShl-HsXIGkGvJG_xX9coPGGVjUsFuQr7KLH4pSkvRdYACjJrtTYj3ASdxllWzEDGjX7CMb6KReE02Ss7cgnSdMpA1SvRC1yj-S8Hqgx5GrJm-bndWHaiLBnWR92-VvbdwsjCe_e9yJLp2GxzdXDwa159kiWZoZLKdfyIyA7ePdoQ/s600/George_MacDonald_1860s-1.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald">George MacDonald</a> (1860)</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">George MacDonald</span></b><br />
(1824-1905)</div>
<br />
<ol>
<b>Fantasy:</b><br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-style: italic;">Phantastes & Lilith</span>. 1858 & 1895. Introduction by C. S. Lewis. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964.</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic;">At the Back of the North Wind / The Princess and the Goblin / The Princess and Curdie</span>. 1870, 1871, 1882. London : Octopus Books, 1979.</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Princess and the Goblin</span>. 1871. Illustrated by Arthur Hughes. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973.</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Princess and Curdie</span>. 1882. Illustrated by Helen Stratton. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1980.</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Gifts of the Child Christ: Fairy Tales and Stories for the Childlike</span>. 1882. Ed. Glenn Edward Sadler. 2 vols. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973.</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Light Princess and Other Tales: Being the Complete Fairy Tales</span>. Illustrated by Arthur Hughes. Introduction by Roger Lancelyn Green. 1961. Kelpies. Edinburgh: Canongate, 1987.</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Complete Fairy Tales</span>. Ed. U. C. Knoepflmacher. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1999.</li>
<br />
<b>Novels:</b><br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Marquis of Lossie</span>. 1877. London: Cassell & Co., 1927.</li>
<br />
<b>Non-fiction:</b><br />
<br />
<li>'Preface' to Valdemar Adolph Thisted. <span style="font-style: italic;">Letters from Hell</span>. 1866. Trans. Julie Sutter. 1884. London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1911.</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic;">George MacDonald: An Anthology</span>. Ed. C. S. Lewis. 1946. London: Geoffrey Bles: The Centenary Press, 1947.</li>
<br />
<b>Poetry:</b><br />
<br />
<li>MacDonald, George. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Poetical Works</span>. 2 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1911.</li>
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<b>Secondary:</b><br />
<br />
<li>Raeper, William. <span style="font-style: italic;">George MacDonald</span>. 1987. Herts, England: A Lion Book, 1988.</li>
</ol>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1_LKY--S6fxC1NOHKKTJFJoIkXvR3AE-vJpKjY7zJqRzFw5dW7sW6nLSv4f9-x97depMp2v7oAToPGdfHJCdniAWfMabbjpqOvwiHJ-FckgJtonr01i6kq7YVxCDhAiGSmqcOMzLcvb6KLj7c9m5VPq0KadANsxV5eDYnGhm8nmUg7FvrrQ/s1015/552941.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1015" data-original-width="689" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1_LKY--S6fxC1NOHKKTJFJoIkXvR3AE-vJpKjY7zJqRzFw5dW7sW6nLSv4f9-x97depMp2v7oAToPGdfHJCdniAWfMabbjpqOvwiHJ-FckgJtonr01i6kq7YVxCDhAiGSmqcOMzLcvb6KLj7c9m5VPq0KadANsxV5eDYnGhm8nmUg7FvrrQ/s600/552941.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">George MacDonald: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/552941.The_Gifts_of_the_Child_Christ">The Gifts of the Child Christ</a> (1882)</span></div><br />
<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-36176096271478032782023-02-18T10:44:00.001+13:002023-02-18T10:44:14.281+13:00The Great Storm<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT6k8qSNQ-c3YdA_9pLVJgwXqagwqdngUq3Zv5YWgIUrRJxFC0d9uBWNllkXK_3-MsHLeghTqgpGQV5yvDi-6oCyG3wTEMwup7DoLzyz4ZFDyK1f3-XX8oMoz0C_k4fBtYMAs449gtz1CafyfnKU1gdfqMICZ7pW3Uoka6lCJ2qAXQpjN3LA/s1050/4LDTNB7_cyclone_thursday_JPG.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="1050" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT6k8qSNQ-c3YdA_9pLVJgwXqagwqdngUq3Zv5YWgIUrRJxFC0d9uBWNllkXK_3-MsHLeghTqgpGQV5yvDi-6oCyG3wTEMwup7DoLzyz4ZFDyK1f3-XX8oMoz0C_k4fBtYMAs449gtz1CafyfnKU1gdfqMICZ7pW3Uoka6lCJ2qAXQpjN3LA/s400/4LDTNB7_cyclone_thursday_JPG.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">RNZ: <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/484064/cyclone-gabrielle-closes-in-on-aotearoa-warnings-and-forecasts">Cyclone Gabrielle closes in on Aotearoa</a> (11/2/2023)</span></div>
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As we start to settle into - hopefully - the cleanup and recovery from the floods and other ravages of Cyclone Gabrielle here in the North Island, it got me to thinking about some of the great storms of literature.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='400' height='322' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzOBcN3pJf5lvrcKA9ZHqp_fgJ12VrKny4NQk8SQHwK1ePf8_otGOv6B79qpkA1e10NQtTvblUQ21U' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Flooding in Mairangi Bay</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 78%;">[photography: Bronwyn Lloyd (27/1/2023)]</span></div>
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<a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title="">Joseph Conrad</a>'s <i>Typhoon</i>, yes, most people have heard of that, but there are some other equally impressive ones which may be less familiar.<br />
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There's <a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title="">Daniel Defoe</a>'s pioneering piece of journalism recording the progress of the great storm of 1703, for instance - or the shipwreck at Yarmouth in <a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title="">Charles Dickens</a>'s <i>David Copperfield</i>. <a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title="">John Masefield</a> and <a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title="">Richard Hughes</a> are two seafaring authors who appear to have set out deliberately to challenge Conrad at his own game.<br />
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And then, to mention a couple of more recent examples, there's British Sci-fi writer <a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title="">John Christopher</a>'s <i>The Long Voyage</i>, an intense and poetic narrative of a ship lost at sea; not to mention (to bring things full circle) the evocation of the UK's great storm of 1987 - which I remember well - at the end of <a class="style23" href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title="">A. S. Byatt</a>'s <i>Possession: A Romance</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-u_cxn8E50RUK8KzvUJb5l6khizKAjoFdpFzXdHof4Ai5VlSJ6RNs5v9liuy8GI85b2nLeEAZaw2fkD-ISJf7XlChvbyXLhJyUOELLonzop2IFWzjMO_cOOwVpLVm6pEZbV99fKuhbgVbvuyiCfBCUFHnhOp9UHF7xZSXDjDGkDqenS8cNQ/s1500/MV5BOGU2MWRiYmQtMDY1MS00OTUzLTkzYTktYjE5YTE4MTI0NzRkL2ltYWdlL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="996" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-u_cxn8E50RUK8KzvUJb5l6khizKAjoFdpFzXdHof4Ai5VlSJ6RNs5v9liuy8GI85b2nLeEAZaw2fkD-ISJf7XlChvbyXLhJyUOELLonzop2IFWzjMO_cOOwVpLVm6pEZbV99fKuhbgVbvuyiCfBCUFHnhOp9UHF7xZSXDjDGkDqenS8cNQ/s600/MV5BOGU2MWRiYmQtMDY1MS00OTUzLTkzYTktYjE5YTE4MTI0NzRkL2ltYWdlL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Wolfgang Petersen, dir. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177971/">The Perfect Storm</a> (2000)</span></div>
<blockquote>Sebastian Junger. <i>The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea</i>. 1997. London: Fourth Estate, 1998.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1D5GUxtOt3r-HdonUac_UnSgdMbtd9x643yEeK6Ib6eAp65GMBVpdevK4r4WmIlwGsG7yZxYMXa_BjVzy3_IHOOkl38aL_7UyOMDIaHCX4y4cIPSNEMvnNJfbEoZRI8_b_auMOaY9dmER1G33UpdTwI_vbVUS2hnsxiCi1oclYc0-dm8zBA/s785/The_Storm_by_Daniel_Defoe_cover_page.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="785" data-original-width="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1D5GUxtOt3r-HdonUac_UnSgdMbtd9x643yEeK6Ib6eAp65GMBVpdevK4r4WmIlwGsG7yZxYMXa_BjVzy3_IHOOkl38aL_7UyOMDIaHCX4y4cIPSNEMvnNJfbEoZRI8_b_auMOaY9dmER1G33UpdTwI_vbVUS2hnsxiCi1oclYc0-dm8zBA/s600/The_Storm_by_Daniel_Defoe_cover_page.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Daniel Defoe: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Storm_%28Daniel_Defoe%29">The Storm</a> (1704)</span><br />
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<div id="ftn1">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn1" name="_ftn1" title="">Daniel Defoe:</a><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>The Storm</b></span><br />
(1704)</div></div><br />
<blockquote>Daniel Defoe. <i>The Storm</i>. 1704. Ed. Richard Hamblyn. London: Allen Lane, 2003.</blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2010/06/acquisitions-29-daniel-defoe.html">Daniel Defoe</a> was certainly a man for firsts: the first major English novel, <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> (1719); the first substantive non-fiction novel, or 'faction': <i>Memoirs of a Cavalier</i> (1720); and the first 'substantial piece of modern journalism', <i>The Storm</i>, his blow-by-blow account of the great storm of 1703, compiled from numerous eye-witness accounts.<br />
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<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdN-sE5gXIUQl8LLHXcJ8TKZc7ingmIZ0KZCQlIln1TayjDCAky5fXNSnxz6tmDo9hDhkFdv8XLrqilGgdhZE4JLyynAZ7WWCoN3_yZiWrfhFpwnx7IwfHPCrRC4O-xiiRvU3hXSd2F7vgi2TxLS9wvpdBP3wgTToW20G8lMMplqBp6OxWEg/s1440/bhc0985.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdN-sE5gXIUQl8LLHXcJ8TKZc7ingmIZ0KZCQlIln1TayjDCAky5fXNSnxz6tmDo9hDhkFdv8XLrqilGgdhZE4JLyynAZ7WWCoN3_yZiWrfhFpwnx7IwfHPCrRC4O-xiiRvU3hXSd2F7vgi2TxLS9wvpdBP3wgTToW20G8lMMplqBp6OxWEg/s400/bhc0985.jpeg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/great-storm-1703">The Great Storm of 1703</a></span></div><br />
<br />
It was, as he described it, "The Greatest, the Longest in Duration, the widest in Extent, of all the Tempests and Storms that History gives any Account of since the Beginning of Time. ... No pen could describe it, nor tongue express it, nor thought conceive it unless by one in the extremity of it."
<blockquote>
Most People expected the Fall of their Houses. ... Whatever the Danger was within doors, 'twas worse without; the Bricks, Tiles, and Stones, from the Tops of the Houses, flew with such force, and so thick in the Streets, that no one thought fit to venture out, tho' their Houses were near demolish'd within.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- Daniel Defoe, <a href="https://archive.org/details/novelsandmiscel15defogoog/page/n259/mode/2up?view=theater"><i>The Storm</i></a>. 1704. <i>The Novels and miscellaneous works of Daniel Defoe</i>. 6 vols. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855. vol. 5: 260-421.</div></blockquote>
Defoe's book may, unfortunately, have been a bit ahead of its time, given its poor sales, but it remains a lively read, and certainly anticipates the skill with which he would blend factual details with fiction in later works such as the classic <i>Journal of the Plague Year</i> (1722).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4cLwvqUdNDVizQk0f8fFAwWA3_Ok2bD_Pi8cBk3x5DwISAguDlcqOWGi3yD8abP2zWNS4n0L4kBbjijvCRmMa9RIPH18DTOYwQkobd43NsCTVuKvNNtqQBbCYvCMQHhlwqXW4Ijm21rfzJKElCol6Khztgy6ANbzyPzQ5VQWwLnUAr37rw/s1167/9780141937977.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1167" data-original-width="759" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4cLwvqUdNDVizQk0f8fFAwWA3_Ok2bD_Pi8cBk3x5DwISAguDlcqOWGi3yD8abP2zWNS4n0L4kBbjijvCRmMa9RIPH18DTOYwQkobd43NsCTVuKvNNtqQBbCYvCMQHhlwqXW4Ijm21rfzJKElCol6Khztgy6ANbzyPzQ5VQWwLnUAr37rw/s600/9780141937977.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Daniel Defoe: <a href="https://www.penguin.co.nz/books/the-storm-9780141937977">The Storm: An Essay</a> (2005)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3sgpMyuOnexpFcd5nlB6W1xVyDtJFJKIE44y5RgCIzvu4ztUMFVY9XZi68AW_1kDdSifIXsvvsOAZofVIKIwpm0UMVAIbutql5zDO3UccZXQu35CYQCMsdHfQI_Cll6Y4jD6ZxEw0L95_5CkMvtkVV3DI0xvFTjCYStdKjs9aXJ4CwbDgZA/s847/2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="847" data-original-width="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3sgpMyuOnexpFcd5nlB6W1xVyDtJFJKIE44y5RgCIzvu4ztUMFVY9XZi68AW_1kDdSifIXsvvsOAZofVIKIwpm0UMVAIbutql5zDO3UccZXQu35CYQCMsdHfQI_Cll6Y4jD6ZxEw0L95_5CkMvtkVV3DI0xvFTjCYStdKjs9aXJ4CwbDgZA/s600/2.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Phiz: <a href="https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/phiz/dc/2.html">Frontispiece to <i>David Copperfield</i></a> (scanned by Philip V. Allingham)</span>
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<br />
<div id="ftn2">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn2" name="_ftn2" title="">Charles Dickens:</a><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>David Copperfield</b></span><br />
(1850)</div></div><br />
<blockquote>Charles Dickens. <i>The Personal History of David Copperfield</i>. 1850. Ed. Trevor Blount. Penguin Classics. 1966. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985.</blockquote>
<br />
Here are <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-world-of-charles-dickens.html">Charles Dickens</a>'s original notes for the 18th monthly part of his most personal and, indeed, largely autobiographical novel <i>David Copperfield</i>, serialised from May 1849 to November 1850 by his London publishers Bradbury & Evans:
<blockquote>
Ham and Steerforth. Steerforth in a sinking ship<br />
in a great storm off Yarmouth Roads. Ham goes<br />
off in a life boat, - or with a rope around his waist? -<br />
through the surf. Both Bodies washed ashore together?<br />
<span style="padding-left: 22em;"><u>No.</u></span><br />
a mighty wind.<br /><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- John Butt & Kathleen Tillotson, <i>Dickens at Work</i>. 1957. London & New York: Methuen & Co., 1982: 168.</div></blockquote>
The co-authors of <i>Dickens at Work</i>, the first book to give close attention to the 'notes-to-self' number plans which have survived for some (not all) of his novels, comment thus on his preparations for the portrayal of the great Yarmouth storm:
<blockquote>No scene in the book was given such careful presentation as the storm scene. ... The labour involved ... is conveyed in a letter to Forster of 15 September: 'I have been tremendously at work these two days', he writes; 'eight hours at a stretch yesterday, and six hours and a half today, with the Ham and Steerforth chapter, which has completely knocked me over'. Two days later he told Wills that the 'most powerful effect in all the Story is still on the Anvil'. Thus the writing of this chapter occupied at least four days. [170]</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wMBJs4QUNT69GC_hVdhWTxeBvcm1vRU2v5yW2oTIjaW_PBmVqxjWeg-RNMWvSdcwXyLgDDviJe3nrrxbiSyfeRpulh-cptPFkWswtR7vPOrq3o1iTYWSD2BNbA-bvBNwUF_oRorm0YlXqOZ_KyCOGAm9HBCrjCeBbS-FYdvqfXM3Jid1zQ/s685/56.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wMBJs4QUNT69GC_hVdhWTxeBvcm1vRU2v5yW2oTIjaW_PBmVqxjWeg-RNMWvSdcwXyLgDDviJe3nrrxbiSyfeRpulh-cptPFkWswtR7vPOrq3o1iTYWSD2BNbA-bvBNwUF_oRorm0YlXqOZ_KyCOGAm9HBCrjCeBbS-FYdvqfXM3Jid1zQ/s400/56.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Fred Barnard: <a href="https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/barnard/dc/56.html">The Storm</a> (1872)</span></div><br />
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Portraying this scene adequately seems to have been a bit too much for the matter-of-fact Phiz, his usual illustrator, so it wasn't till Fred Barnard provided some new pictures for Chapter LV, "Tempest," in the posthumous Household Edition of <i>David Copperfield</i>, that any real attempt was made to show Ham Peggotty preparing to swim out to the wreck in an effort to save the unfortunate souls left aboard.<br />
<br />
It certainly seems preferable to Harry Furniss's later version, below, of the 'the last parting' between David and Steerforth - "he was lying easily with his head upon his arm": the one detail Dickens marked "<u>To remember</u>" in the number plan for this chapter.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDmxTXoleK6sS2RloqFcZ1UWhtQ6OjFMRNaPsLwcUIUqVOXMKt21O-yJiHL4BMXG0p7rOq55k7ZmlfceOm2HN_LLubilCMkoEz46kSHZ3C4WENPEkKoLPIcZ7T4GKMG96XLzyPugl3oUQ3FPqsqHw6TrW1F-AcLhI9nNhID0iEHsrnwetgTg/s1000/424.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="651" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDmxTXoleK6sS2RloqFcZ1UWhtQ6OjFMRNaPsLwcUIUqVOXMKt21O-yJiHL4BMXG0p7rOq55k7ZmlfceOm2HN_LLubilCMkoEz46kSHZ3C4WENPEkKoLPIcZ7T4GKMG96XLzyPugl3oUQ3FPqsqHw6TrW1F-AcLhI9nNhID0iEHsrnwetgTg/s600/424.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Harry Furniss: <a href="https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/furniss/424.html">The End of Steerforth</a> (1910)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMejOOOIpHmGriTOcF6uLoHSZ0P3T_7e5BMEv6Xa5ga1scR4I0R-tQ-WRbE51n5h5uksf7ild_9KaghVuoFOhTNpLIPUO4mdo2vmLKSGq2MiXihsc90YS5IYey9Ls3ayivMGS8njvAZ1TTRQPVhXBqjil-09HALUO3H-2Ew1MBlrYFDTQ1Bg/s800/typhoon-and-other-stories-joseph-conrad-first-edition.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="542" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMejOOOIpHmGriTOcF6uLoHSZ0P3T_7e5BMEv6Xa5ga1scR4I0R-tQ-WRbE51n5h5uksf7ild_9KaghVuoFOhTNpLIPUO4mdo2vmLKSGq2MiXihsc90YS5IYey9Ls3ayivMGS8njvAZ1TTRQPVhXBqjil-09HALUO3H-2Ew1MBlrYFDTQ1Bg/s600/typhoon-and-other-stories-joseph-conrad-first-edition.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Joseph Conrad: <a href="https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/typhoon-and-other-stories-joseph-conrad-first-edition/">Typhoon and Other Stories</a> (1903)</span>
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<div id="ftn3">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn3" name="_ftn3" title="">Joseph Conrad:</a><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Typhoon</b></span><br />
(1903)</div></div><br />
<blockquote>Joseph Conrad. <i>Typhoon and Other Stories</i>. 1903. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-material-interests-reading-joseph.html">Joseph Conrad</a>'s great novel <i>Lord Jim</i> (1900) hinges on an emergency at sea: not a storm, but a collision between a pilgrim ship bound to Mecca and some kind of floating debris, possibly an entire submerged ship floating just below the surface of the water. <br />
<br />
The main character Jim's failure to measure up to the disaster dictates, inexorably, the rest of the tragic action of the story.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhQDav2bSwOgfYP7Q07ykJtK5ytFKaKSxDn6rZbeo-78MzvEtingN_aQMPFDama5hYUGnmuQmlctbD6rbrIAXR5qilLD_k0SgH9efvP63iRhXJg5xrb2uQTszAbThUKuZYPuvkh8NXzSmgRRbJc85yqytFweKmJKshlkB3lc8Qsqo0zVV75A/s1500/h-3000-conrad_joseph_lord-jim_1922_edition-originale_tirage-de-tete_4_57338.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhQDav2bSwOgfYP7Q07ykJtK5ytFKaKSxDn6rZbeo-78MzvEtingN_aQMPFDama5hYUGnmuQmlctbD6rbrIAXR5qilLD_k0SgH9efvP63iRhXJg5xrb2uQTszAbThUKuZYPuvkh8NXzSmgRRbJc85yqytFweKmJKshlkB3lc8Qsqo0zVV75A/s600/h-3000-conrad_joseph_lord-jim_1922_edition-originale_tirage-de-tete_4_57338.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Joseph Conrad: <a href="https://www.edition-originale.com/en/literature/first-and-precious-books/conrad-lord-jim-1922-57338">Lord Jim</a> (1900)</span></div><br />
<br />
One can't help feeling, though, that Conrad may have thought that he'd missed a trick by not including, in <i>Lord Jim</i>, the sheer unbridled energy of a Pacific typhoon (the same thing as a hurricane, essentially, except that different names are used for these storms in the Atlantic and the Pacific).<br />
<br />
"Typhoon" is not exactly a light-hearted work: it portrays a state of things so far beyond the normal expectation of what might happen, even at sea, that it can literally drive people insane. Nevertheless, it's true to say that it showcases Conrad's trademark irony rather more centrally than <i>Lord Jim</i>.<br />
<br />
Just as Jim's romantic illusions about life are the crucial factor that destroys him, so Captain MacWhirr's complete lack of imagination is the thing that saves him and his crew from the immeasurable devastation of the storm. MacWhirr understands objectively that his ship might sink, but he cannot really <i>see</i> it in his mind's eye.<br />
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It therefore never occurs to him to do anything but continue with the normal business of the voyage. And so, bizarrely, he and most of the others are saved.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpBgd8SAA_IL3k4fCTHWj9DaAtM9Rn1ahgbKgrIrSWtIEwULPIPFtkbprs4JkgrvrrVn3ha5gNufGVdkMbONGCqVENshbJrQGIyg-1bflD8OLcF8BK58ZwyxqLNaByDaTNpLJhDr41JasbQHS-SFcaCE3z7mCYF-wm47i0RStNszVRgajkA/s1175/61MnWN0yXGL.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1175" data-original-width="758" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpBgd8SAA_IL3k4fCTHWj9DaAtM9Rn1ahgbKgrIrSWtIEwULPIPFtkbprs4JkgrvrrVn3ha5gNufGVdkMbONGCqVENshbJrQGIyg-1bflD8OLcF8BK58ZwyxqLNaByDaTNpLJhDr41JasbQHS-SFcaCE3z7mCYF-wm47i0RStNszVRgajkA/s600/61MnWN0yXGL.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Joseph Conrad: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Typhoon-Other-Stories-Penguin-Classics/dp/014144195X">Typhoon and Other Stories</a> (1903)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ekeQ6xrctVirJ_AuoiXNmuoLy1wU1-TR2FTyKQGXpVALda9-uYdd8aQ6wP-QHfRy3rqtJL8Kkst9iUPHXmSfXWIMOzcsIYoBjtEcHgbLfBgXb9IXSwPGOsAxrqwZh2AbE4mzfnVJCnpGZc0jbD8a1c64XwQWh_o_Waauua5lDLq4p5ivSQ/s1215/223506934.0.x.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1215" data-original-width="842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ekeQ6xrctVirJ_AuoiXNmuoLy1wU1-TR2FTyKQGXpVALda9-uYdd8aQ6wP-QHfRy3rqtJL8Kkst9iUPHXmSfXWIMOzcsIYoBjtEcHgbLfBgXb9IXSwPGOsAxrqwZh2AbE4mzfnVJCnpGZc0jbD8a1c64XwQWh_o_Waauua5lDLq4p5ivSQ/s600/223506934.0.x.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Masefield: <a href="https://www.biblio.com/book/victorious-troy-hurrying-angel-masefield-john/d/223506934">Victorious Troy</a> (1935)</span>
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<br />
<div id="ftn4">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn4" name="_ftn4" title="">John Masefield:</a><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Victorious Troy</b></span><br />
(1935)</div></div><br />
<blockquote>John Masefield. <i>Victorious Troy, or The Hurrying Angel</i>. 1935. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1935.</blockquote><br />
<br />
A Long time ago I wrote a <a href="http://masefieldnovels.blogspot.com/">Masters' thesis</a> about the novels of English Poet Laureate <a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-john-masefield.html">John Masefield</a> - or, rather, his <i>early</i> novels: he wrote 23 of them in all.<br />
<br />
<i>Victorious Troy</i> is one of the later ones, and one of the few to be focussed entirely on the sea.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3RlJa5gbRoZOr5Ea0MDVIbVAqneFF8cefCzKFuNsWUUMj4TGjO_VArC8R3LFDDixixkFaTTVGMuwPn0UUhedxfBG54OBdW0zJbfoqoTJKlJ774Jl3gRwk9bBLW-RVN7ycgh-h6xcs_2DiFwQYokrAU1vLWfbkjFJVmNrWytfwA6yL02ED1Q/s1200/dawning_1200x1200.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="749" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3RlJa5gbRoZOr5Ea0MDVIbVAqneFF8cefCzKFuNsWUUMj4TGjO_VArC8R3LFDDixixkFaTTVGMuwPn0UUhedxfBG54OBdW0zJbfoqoTJKlJ774Jl3gRwk9bBLW-RVN7ycgh-h6xcs_2DiFwQYokrAU1vLWfbkjFJVmNrWytfwA6yL02ED1Q/s600/dawning_1200x1200.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Masefield: <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/bird-dawning/author/masefield-john/">The Bird of Dawning</a> (1933)</span></div><br />
<br />
The first of his purely 'seafaring' novels, <a href="https://cracabondbooks.com/products/002199"><i>The Bird of Dawning</i></a>:
<blockquote>
... is the remarkable story of a crew and the principal hero, Cruiser Trewsbury, between shipwreck and triumph. When their clipper, participant of the annual tea race from China to London, sinks on its home journey, Cruiser takes command of the only boat which escapes the disaster. A gruelling journey of 700 miles across the Atlantic in an open boat awaits the small crew. The discovery, soon to be made, that they have an insufficient quantity of both water and food on board, dashes all hopes. Passing ships which fail to spot the shipwrecked and sharks greedily approaching the boat contribute to the picture of doom. By remarkable circumstances, however, they discover a ship, one of the other tea clippers, drifting on the sea with its crew gone. With the crew back in the race for the coveted price of being the first tea clipper of the season to dock in London ...</blockquote>
The book includes a marvellous set-piece passage describing the effects of a single great wave on a ship at sea. Perhaps it was this that persuaded Masefield to go the whole hog and devote an entire novel to the description of a great storm.<br />
<br />
<i>Victorious Troy</i>, published two years later, is:
<blockquote>... Set during the grain race of 1922. ... The ship from which the novel gets its title is struck by a cyclone in the South Pacific and it is Dick Pomfret, the senior apprentice, who valiantly saves the vessel.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- Philip W. Errington, <i>John Masefield: The "Great Auk" of English Literature. A Bibliography</i>. London: The British Library / New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2004: 420.</div></blockquote>
It's certainly far more <i>detailed</i> than "Typhoon", but lacks the latter's focus and psychological acuity. As an unabashed adventure story and rattling good yarn, though, it's well worth reading by those addicted to the likes of C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieldUAcUmQ39GKwRYzstDFT29cw2MVXTGNn3dDTMg-9osotK8MDtA937zJoJADFTodK0mty7KrNapTK6iycFywGoOa9-Rhc1N1pWL0olx3kR7EAooqeDLeJBFg_QWrNCkmvaTf8A9n42U7b_YsQ6LE455LIB4UxquqXiaIs7BUx5PrwB-TsQ/s418/IMG_8183.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieldUAcUmQ39GKwRYzstDFT29cw2MVXTGNn3dDTMg-9osotK8MDtA937zJoJADFTodK0mty7KrNapTK6iycFywGoOa9-Rhc1N1pWL0olx3kR7EAooqeDLeJBFg_QWrNCkmvaTf8A9n42U7b_YsQ6LE455LIB4UxquqXiaIs7BUx5PrwB-TsQ/s600/IMG_8183.JPG"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Masefield: <a href="https://www.goldsborobooks.com/product/victorious-troy">Victorious Troy</a> (1935)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLJFMrW_08MXAj8z5QcoatVEVFluKIgudNUrXPs-kdXggc7TH_atYy-j01fladxMsYQZ6_Dk7YMa56-eb-vhoHcsXkaq5y3r8-zFtbV9Ef1ZEcRLYVtnkU6bs_GK6K-eqyb2sicuku_40BZYdPHzgz80i1-I0Yyh1oNYkJT8lEPyP1-PuDg/s2511/1454924475.0.x.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2511" data-original-width="1769" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLJFMrW_08MXAj8z5QcoatVEVFluKIgudNUrXPs-kdXggc7TH_atYy-j01fladxMsYQZ6_Dk7YMa56-eb-vhoHcsXkaq5y3r8-zFtbV9Ef1ZEcRLYVtnkU6bs_GK6K-eqyb2sicuku_40BZYdPHzgz80i1-I0Yyh1oNYkJT8lEPyP1-PuDg/s600/1454924475.0.x.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Richard Hughes: <a href="https://www.biblio.com/book/hazard-hughes-richard/d/1454924475">In Hazard</a> (1938)</span><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn5">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn5" name="_ftn5" title="">Richard Hughes:</a><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>In Hazard</b></span><br />
(1938)</div></div><br />
<blockquote>Richard Hughes. <i>In Hazard</i>. 1938. London: Chatto & Windus, 1948.</blockquote>
<blockquote>In 1932 the <i>Phemius</i>, a Holt Line steamship, was caught in a hurricane for six days. Hoping that his captain’s report could be turned into something, the chairman of the shipping line sent a copy to Masefield and then to Hughes, whose first novel, <i>A High Wind in Jamaica</i>, had been set at sea. In 1938 Hughes used the incident as the basis for <i>In Hazard</i>, his second novel.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">- Richard Hughes, "<a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/sea/securing-hatches">Securing the Hatches</a>". <i>Lapham's Quarterly</i> (1929)</div></blockquote>
Once again, this is a case of an author who'd had great success with one description of a storm or a shipwreck, deciding to extend the trope into a complete work of fiction.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zTA0q7Z6_Hzns9NE-ZfwIbexh0lsfEtsc08O9ZTy5rIc-MeRbSGrT-MZk3mJUJe7KkZlKORbmtTVnS13lUancQt_DJwc-o_ZQzKa1ycTBRA0j-TkN3oxlCiU3dNYlB_CkOWli4AolgnfPoFuUgldvqCa4UvZnq3QqBB0tNk6jRu3txc_ew/s475/9995030.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zTA0q7Z6_Hzns9NE-ZfwIbexh0lsfEtsc08O9ZTy5rIc-MeRbSGrT-MZk3mJUJe7KkZlKORbmtTVnS13lUancQt_DJwc-o_ZQzKa1ycTBRA0j-TkN3oxlCiU3dNYlB_CkOWli4AolgnfPoFuUgldvqCa4UvZnq3QqBB0tNk6jRu3txc_ew/s600/9995030.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Richard Hughes: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2223315631">A High Wind in Jamaica</a> (1929)</span></div><br />
<br />
The account of a hurricane at the beginning of <i>A High Wind in Jamaica</i> is justly famous: impossible to forget, in fact. The rest of the novel takes a completely different tack into the psychology of young children left up to their own devices - in a manner somewhat prophetic of Golding's <i>Lord of the Flies</i> - and is also very successful in its own way, but the novel as a whole does seem to separate into these two disparate parts.<br />
<br />
<i>In Hazard</i> is not so famous. In fact, the only reason I've actually read it is because I happened to pick up a battered second-hand paperback copy when I was in my teens. It's been damned with descriptions such as "allegorical of the Second World War" or "limited in its range", but I suspect the most of these comments come from people unfamiliar with it.<br />
<br />
It may be because I've read it so many times that I practically know it by heart, but it still seems to me a staggeringly good novel. The storm it describes is apocalyptic, seemingly incredible, and yet - based entirely on an actual event, as the quote above records.<br />
<br />
It is by far my favourite book among the very few that Richard Hughes gave us. He, too, seems to me a severely underrated writer, who definitely deserves resurrection. There's a good biography by Richard Perceval Graves, published in 1994.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjtyJurThFh6Mu-sv26cAerQtHgBjdrKOOG1HS5FYwtPsd3oO_O1y2D6Yg5dcsNZJzlG9nwWV9huJ8Pa_5jgt_Co4YLQgseDGtAQBeyFQIYkSJmhPxYmgw9oY1RsMLSt5OJgKgzABnYGqZiqfSGtJxus3_WL6lwujOt3f2ST4hNh_z8YUG-w/s475/9781885031068-us-300.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjtyJurThFh6Mu-sv26cAerQtHgBjdrKOOG1HS5FYwtPsd3oO_O1y2D6Yg5dcsNZJzlG9nwWV9huJ8Pa_5jgt_Co4YLQgseDGtAQBeyFQIYkSJmhPxYmgw9oY1RsMLSt5OJgKgzABnYGqZiqfSGtJxus3_WL6lwujOt3f2ST4hNh_z8YUG-w/s600/9781885031068-us-300.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Richard Hughes: <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/in-hazard/author/richard-hughes/">In Hazard</a> (1998)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBeYlaNk-SXFc4TbpdwVEdbXRLE25oTQDiT70WC8PqVSbVZeYgqCREzZP3Bp2aBAnEC0yeJ4k1gwtS8bEUuyPIViazW_HE80Km0mlj9TPFsKHHPD4JkpuYSjU6ICncCY9dL9wqUBYiCA3NLL60nM1lNAtIOP6B69UfUki5USpKLzkkL0Nag/s1692/31140665274.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1692" data-original-width="1145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBeYlaNk-SXFc4TbpdwVEdbXRLE25oTQDiT70WC8PqVSbVZeYgqCREzZP3Bp2aBAnEC0yeJ4k1gwtS8bEUuyPIViazW_HE80Km0mlj9TPFsKHHPD4JkpuYSjU6ICncCY9dL9wqUBYiCA3NLL60nM1lNAtIOP6B69UfUki5USpKLzkkL0Nag/s600/31140665274.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Long-Voyage-CHRISTOPHER-John-London-Eyre/31140665274/bd">The Long Voyage</a> (1960)</span><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn6">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn6" name="_ftn6" title="">John Christopher:</a><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>The Long Voyage</b></span><br />
(1960)</div></div><br />
<blockquote>
John Christopher. <i>The Long Voyage</i>. 1960. London: Sphere Books, 1986.</blockquote>
<br />
Before he became the beloved author of such YA classics as the <i>Tripod</i> books and <i>The Prince in Waiting</i> trilogy, "John Christopher" (whose real name was Samuel Youd) was mainly known for a series of grim survival stories, some SF, some not, more or less in the mode of John Wyndham and the early J. G. Ballard.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6K88Zye5x-A1fOlLKu5HXn50PefhML8PqI0fXgv6mLrbpHKWJjyJVd_tRq7gH0Xi7omnzBRhReR-mS5d8KPlan54sl93dt-YA6pdWC0sjfg9PtnGwFm9PuFLoBWVmbBZFQUNaBnDUar1PuoPi3rQiOSRCEj_WWAdCrJ4_6kxnH8w9z3lD-Q/s1000/the-world-in-winter-john-christopher-first-edition.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6K88Zye5x-A1fOlLKu5HXn50PefhML8PqI0fXgv6mLrbpHKWJjyJVd_tRq7gH0Xi7omnzBRhReR-mS5d8KPlan54sl93dt-YA6pdWC0sjfg9PtnGwFm9PuFLoBWVmbBZFQUNaBnDUar1PuoPi3rQiOSRCEj_WWAdCrJ4_6kxnH8w9z3lD-Q/s600/the-world-in-winter-john-christopher-first-edition.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/the-world-in-winter-john-christopher-first-edition/">The World in Winter</a> (1962)</span></div><br />
<br />
<i>The World in Winter</i> and <i>The Death of Grass</i> are probably the best known of these. Both are uncompromisingly pessimistic, and (indeed) would fit more comfortably into contemporary lists of post-apocalyptic literature than they did into the literary landscape of the 1950s and 60s.<br />
<br />
He was by no means a one-note writer, however, and <i>The Long Voyage</i> (known in the US as <i>The White Voyage</i>) is probably my favourite among all of his books.<br />
<br />
It depicts a long struggle for survival by a few passengers and crew left on a derelict ship in the North Sea as it drifts ever northwards towards the Arctic Circle. The Shackleton-like spirit displayed by the Captain and (to a lesser extent) by his First Mate is balanced by the careful character depiction of the less heroic others.<br />
<br />
It's hard to describe why the result seems imbued with such precision and truth. It's one of those rare novels I always feel like rereading the moment I finish it. It has a curious depressing charm which I can only compare to Philip Larkin's equally bleak <i>A Girl in Winter</i>, a dark background against which the few moments of epiphany shine out with surprising depth.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI6dC5inuVcObL7kMwZPLOSYD_D6XUo7BFMXU3z6sRA4BPc3pwEt3_hkD2lnwe0deIn7HUqUYBipjwmsf2a6x3wCSPDinT1ZuorysR2OuNeQqblUxgz303JTiw8qinR9ZwCs8x2jyAbqGT1oRk8ZOeiyagJAKSjrTVPqZgKBUA2JWVcFSQ7g/s488/51tBQSfso7L.SX316.SY480._SL500_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI6dC5inuVcObL7kMwZPLOSYD_D6XUo7BFMXU3z6sRA4BPc3pwEt3_hkD2lnwe0deIn7HUqUYBipjwmsf2a6x3wCSPDinT1ZuorysR2OuNeQqblUxgz303JTiw8qinR9ZwCs8x2jyAbqGT1oRk8ZOeiyagJAKSjrTVPqZgKBUA2JWVcFSQ7g/s600/51tBQSfso7L.SX316.SY480._SL500_.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">John Christopher: <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/john-christopher/long-voyage.htm">The White Voyage</a> (1960)</span></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaTpfSP55KtqO31CtvDGdcHdHWeUKlw1sVmXKERS0ayKwbm_tao935vwtRrcE7WU68usZ6UUifjGWcLokKWodC-sD0qi_DnXokkEoYFKTr74VZoIyr7GN4tUiRDE5C5Ow8Lh9pWgoDuBTupk4qAFVHS0iF38Jl4xlkH46HgXyJhluKGChlg/s290/images.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaTpfSP55KtqO31CtvDGdcHdHWeUKlw1sVmXKERS0ayKwbm_tao935vwtRrcE7WU68usZ6UUifjGWcLokKWodC-sD0qi_DnXokkEoYFKTr74VZoIyr7GN4tUiRDE5C5Ow8Lh9pWgoDuBTupk4qAFVHS0iF38Jl4xlkH46HgXyJhluKGChlg/s600/images.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">A. S. Byatt: <a href="http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/edoc/ia/eese/artic97/nowak/8_97.html">Possession</a> (1990)</span><br />
<br />
<div id="ftn7">
<a href="https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-great-storm.html#_ftn7" name="_ftn7" title="">A. S. Byatt:</a><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Possession</b></span><br />
(1990)</div></div><br />
<blockquote>A. S. Byatt. <i>Possession: A Romance</i>. 1990. London: Vintage, 1991.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The Great Storm of 1987 is one of the worst recorded weather events in British history, claiming 18 lives in the UK and uprooting 15 million trees. ...<br />
<span style="padding-left: 1em;">During a lunchtime weather broadcast, in a moment which proved pivotal to the public's perception of the coming storm, the BBC's Michael Fish made an offhand comment which was misunderstood to mean there was no hurricane coming.</span><br />
<span style="padding-left: 1em;">The storm then hit in the early hours before dawn with a ferocity which no one had been prepared for, ripping through the country from the west near Cornwall and advancing with every hour ...</span></blockquote>
In the late 1980s I was living in the UK, as I worked on my Doctoral thesis at the University of Edinburgh. I didn't have much access to news, as the television room in my local Halls of Residence seemed to be perpetually occupied by darts fans who resented any attempt to change the channel. But even I was aware of the great storm of 1987.<br />
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Though it mostly affected the south of England rather than Scotland, where I was based, I can still remember those images of whole forests of downed trees. For a dendrophile such as myself, the sight was particularly devastating.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh5rzpUflrmjbthToiFKJFvVI_3G4ascee_cwKrmretTQ-GnjxTpnKYqQl5BKxVyW_WD_IGGlCRNgnQHqOwT4tgHlWrngOmUH2VubdmR_5h4YuBH50ytZCL3sHJtY8Ue5YD91KGXhECZmTdbKzvQo0v3R2BBK0qQCKKxefjst0GvfBn0AZxg/s615/0_h_01125123.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="615" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh5rzpUflrmjbthToiFKJFvVI_3G4ascee_cwKrmretTQ-GnjxTpnKYqQl5BKxVyW_WD_IGGlCRNgnQHqOwT4tgHlWrngOmUH2VubdmR_5h4YuBH50ytZCL3sHJtY8Ue5YD91KGXhECZmTdbKzvQo0v3R2BBK0qQCKKxefjst0GvfBn0AZxg/s400/0_h_01125123.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.suffolklive.com/news/history/the-great-storm-of-1987-6681358">The Great Storm of 1987</a> (2022)</span></div><br />
<br />
Years later, when I read the sensation of the season, A. S. Byatt's Booker-Prize winning novel <i>Possession</i>, I was very impressed by the way in which she managed to weave the great storm into her preposterously entertaining tale of two nineteenth-century poets' hidden affair, and the nefarious attempts by various scholars to steal all the details for their own devious purposes - a dastardly scheme foiled finally by our two present-day heroes.<br />
<br />
The novel has been described as "historiographic metafiction", and it gave rise to a whole slew of - mostly less succcessful - imitations. There was, however, a wonderful serendipity in reading it in 1990 as an obscure graduate student, like Roland Michell in the novel, and to feel the part-fictional, part-truthful events rhyming one by one with my own lofty fantasies of Academic success.<br />
<br />
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Byatt was influenced by <i>David Copperfield</i> in her decision to set the denouement of her novel during a great storm. But then, who <i>wasn't</i> she influenced by? Her novel may seem less unusual now, thirty years on, given it's been so often emulated, but it remains a wonderful yarn, and certainly one I would recommend to anyone who's not yet encountered it.<br />
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At all costs ignore the horribly bad movie adaptation, though.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Ix0gEd-pMQz_-MsoIo-ImZ2umfFjGGaIKiEUo7ghyenMjFAErKqlAscNaRsO11MCGEmqUs3P2xwTgg1eAbzk_wHAnvrGG5QtUWOH9MzQ6ahNPp6sYkDp9NgnKynYT5PZ2xFK6vDRm_9szA2brkqM59lnIRULW6RcSpu5ys6jaVlDMmwTcA/s475/6768498.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Ix0gEd-pMQz_-MsoIo-ImZ2umfFjGGaIKiEUo7ghyenMjFAErKqlAscNaRsO11MCGEmqUs3P2xwTgg1eAbzk_wHAnvrGG5QtUWOH9MzQ6ahNPp6sYkDp9NgnKynYT5PZ2xFK6vDRm_9szA2brkqM59lnIRULW6RcSpu5ys6jaVlDMmwTcA/s600/6768498.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">A. S. Byatt: <a href="https://hoorayfordeadwhitemales.com/2020/03/08/possession/">Possession</a> (1990)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiPcAl1f1Qh5GjQtIjVI3BkIrAgRK2r-BiGmYYHVq7YSzNZr5_cDjU1QtTZRjdDHPRlfTKCKHSMrDrv_VWTnjbm0RwRD3bllWsM6hP22K7fp-I0nLMzvK3MeZLdZ3ID9Ggf-wHZ9_g5MPKZsfwJpkVEW-hSVice-2SCXMlQusIrJJe9tnGLw/s3822/2XHMS3BC6FJBDHB5TDPMRGBT4U.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="2146" data-original-width="3822" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiPcAl1f1Qh5GjQtIjVI3BkIrAgRK2r-BiGmYYHVq7YSzNZr5_cDjU1QtTZRjdDHPRlfTKCKHSMrDrv_VWTnjbm0RwRD3bllWsM6hP22K7fp-I0nLMzvK3MeZLdZ3ID9Ggf-wHZ9_g5MPKZsfwJpkVEW-hSVice-2SCXMlQusIrJJe9tnGLw/s400/2XHMS3BC6FJBDHB5TDPMRGBT4U.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">@MonteChristoNZ/via REUTERS: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/more-heavy-rain-expected-new-zealands-flood-ravaged-auckland-2023-01-30/">Auckland Floods</a> (31-1-2023)</span></div>
<br />
<br />
So will what we've just experienced here in New Zealand go down in history as the great storm (or storms) of 2023? It seems very probable. It's hard to avoid the thought that both the weather forecasters and the civil defence authorities were to blame in not reacting more quickly to the events of Frday 27th January, but they certainly tried to make up for the deficiency in their warnings about Cyclone Gabrielle.<br />
<br />
No doubt there are many more lessons for the future to be learnt from all this. For the moment, though, our concentration has to be on starting to repair as much as possible of the damage that's been done. And to mourn for the dead.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSfZPSeFa2SC-Jq2VgRF4vhE4YGYfyy_jmxKyw7sbymSizE-1Ovslwg7vl4gKhgzFeUfyqE05_fMniaYop82WFNdg7kWzylwwSFCHl9AZQz-PhdmkvvFbaAKQ8hk2xuadT9fPD2jl0hyJ_GW9Dx7UQ3G0TkJcmpKXKnYfMVH_efGdwCdIDg/s1024/33XK3ZAXBZEKVCHHGJNGFQWUDY.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="576" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSfZPSeFa2SC-Jq2VgRF4vhE4YGYfyy_jmxKyw7sbymSizE-1Ovslwg7vl4gKhgzFeUfyqE05_fMniaYop82WFNdg7kWzylwwSFCHl9AZQz-PhdmkvvFbaAKQ8hk2xuadT9fPD2jl0hyJ_GW9Dx7UQ3G0TkJcmpKXKnYfMVH_efGdwCdIDg/s600/33XK3ZAXBZEKVCHHGJNGFQWUDY.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Brett Phibbs: <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-floods-interactive-map-how-hard-was-your-suburb-hit/OZZ3SVMVFJENBES7C2X2ANQFME/">Colwill Road, Massey</a> (5/2/2023)</span></div>
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<br />Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-40883046840414174472023-02-02T09:12:00.000+13:002023-02-02T09:12:15.275+13:00My Favourite Vintage Bookshops: Auckland CBD<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJtk4XPXSR9IJQ7FsMOgvWRIlFYVDEEonECqXQSZXucPAMHkqlhlAgS3yLmeKVER9qt6FmvDTUKLlfNWiKGKDdxs5nVi_33I8rJbjHLbz4jDPRQjtnPe0YvoJFvHmYrhPhscyd7etragfoQDbRKh2aXvwS6IPNNP_Nt2Cyeex_Vv9LAS2jsA/s1481/MV5BNDIzYjIyMGEtYzIyZS00OGY3LWI5ODYtN2M1YjAxOTA5OTgzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzI3MDEzMzM@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1481" data-original-width="1000" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJtk4XPXSR9IJQ7FsMOgvWRIlFYVDEEonECqXQSZXucPAMHkqlhlAgS3yLmeKVER9qt6FmvDTUKLlfNWiKGKDdxs5nVi_33I8rJbjHLbz4jDPRQjtnPe0YvoJFvHmYrhPhscyd7etragfoQDbRKh2aXvwS6IPNNP_Nt2Cyeex_Vv9LAS2jsA/s600/MV5BNDIzYjIyMGEtYzIyZS00OGY3LWI5ODYtN2M1YjAxOTA5OTgzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzI3MDEzMzM@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" /></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Isabel Coixet, dir.: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3127022/">The Bookshop</a> (2017)</span></div><br />
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Despite its stellar cast - Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson - and all its undoubted felicities of setting and atmosphere, I'm not sure I'd see <i>The Bookshop</i> as an entirely successful movie. It's a bit too depressing, for a start.<br />
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In fact, from my own (admittedly selfish) point of view, its main virtue was awakening me to the existence of <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2010/05/books-id-like-to-own.html">Penelope Fitzgerald</a>'s writing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhztgZ4ovODe4aEhsdbVJJ37ZEqEnPRQRcVpq-ftCOsymFdm3sbcOC1iy8vucyCfWpx3ax7X__B6L3hOMp3VrlXK7N79jUKx_igq0ZCt_552ta3p7Vk9YqtvF0doYhI5pvfk2AsZYu2bfLixQ2hSjo5RRSPmyWLe-OO-Qf2OaOHQjWGi6UYEQ/s348/348s.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhztgZ4ovODe4aEhsdbVJJ37ZEqEnPRQRcVpq-ftCOsymFdm3sbcOC1iy8vucyCfWpx3ax7X__B6L3hOMp3VrlXK7N79jUKx_igq0ZCt_552ta3p7Vk9YqtvF0doYhI5pvfk2AsZYu2bfLixQ2hSjo5RRSPmyWLe-OO-Qf2OaOHQjWGi6UYEQ/s400/348s.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/jason-books-auckland">Jason Books</a></span>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="https://www.jasonbooks.co.nz/"><b>Jason Books</b></a></span><br />
[16 O'Connell St, Auckland CBD]</div><br />
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So, sure enough, next time I was in town I dropped into that home-away-from-home which is Maud Cahill's Jason Books, only to discover - surprise! surprise! - a biography <i>and</i> a collection of letters by the author in question waiting to find me:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaWofyj8q7nabrl9YqnzMAm-Pwx1nae3OYXv1gbxK_N6fLFTAhfg61TbNxAPs0lPBDAMnP1fiWIhtEGm82FbINYxke8iIgRlskMvijtwOz2LV1i4okXqrP6gxupSL6ybm8ISRVVJ0wL06BYMlHum_V8OSJvxMf6bzZnSJbqX_bcgpu9Jy8yO4fsCtu/s2339/9781409029946.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2339" data-original-width="1524" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaWofyj8q7nabrl9YqnzMAm-Pwx1nae3OYXv1gbxK_N6fLFTAhfg61TbNxAPs0lPBDAMnP1fiWIhtEGm82FbINYxke8iIgRlskMvijtwOz2LV1i4okXqrP6gxupSL6ybm8ISRVVJ0wL06BYMlHum_V8OSJvxMf6bzZnSJbqX_bcgpu9Jy8yO4fsCtu/s600/9781409029946.jpg" /></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Hermione Lee: <a href="https://www.penguin.co.nz/books/penelope-fitzgerald-9781409029946">Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life</a> (2013)</span></div>
<blockquote>Hermione Lee. <i>Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life</i>. Chatto & Windus. London: Random House, 2013.</blockquote>
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Reading Hermione Lee's account of her has certainly helped me to understand why Fitzgerald's work tends to fix itself in the memory, and indeed reads like a memorial for an entire era of damp, seedy, post-war British misery.<br />
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Oh dear. I'm not really selling it, am I? But then maybe that's the point. Despite that one, career-defining moment when she won the 1979 Booker Prize for her novel <i>Offshore</i>, Fitzgerald's life was pretty short on triumphs and long on endurance.<br />
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After a fairly glittering start at Oxford in the late 1930s, an unfortunate marriage to wartime hero and peacetime drunk Desmond Fitzgerald provided the entrée to a couple of decades of poverty in ever more squalid surroundings.<br />
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Her star-studded family, the Knoxes ("she was the daughter of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._V._Knox" title="E. V. Knox">Edmund Knox</a>, editor of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_(magazine)" title="Punch (magazine)">Punch</a></i>, and ... a niece of the theologian and crime writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Knox" title="Ronald Knox">Ronald Knox</a>, the cryptographer <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dillwyn_Knox" title="Dillwyn Knox">Dillwyn Knox</a>, [and] the Bible scholar <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Knox" title="Wilfred Knox">Wilfred Knox</a>") seem scarcely to have noticed, being far too preoccupied with their own glittering careers to pay much attention to this lone female in the ranks.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYULS2X-S0il-5w_6eGnU1ph0d7s0RF9NePgHpNAiRakpgnG-TSWahM5i9IlsZpxM9OmEnONLGQRAfeoSEDx0Tg8Rfm7SqoAKtxaWw8d74Wk06Ifz9-U9iWz8WkPrHa6O8txn3i7A6nyS_u5kZA6T6NbHC4zATKNuB4Skmn9HkCWvA0KEx9A/s1000/363.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYULS2X-S0il-5w_6eGnU1ph0d7s0RF9NePgHpNAiRakpgnG-TSWahM5i9IlsZpxM9OmEnONLGQRAfeoSEDx0Tg8Rfm7SqoAKtxaWw8d74Wk06Ifz9-U9iWz8WkPrHa6O8txn3i7A6nyS_u5kZA6T6NbHC4zATKNuB4Skmn9HkCWvA0KEx9A/s600/363.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Penelope Fitzgerald: <a href="https://www.staroftheseabooks.com/pages/books/363/penelope-fitzgerald/the-knox-brothers">The Knox Brothers</a> (1977)</span></div><blockquote>Penelope Fitzgerald. <i>The Knox Brothers: Edmund ('Evoe') 1881-1971, Dillwyn 1883-1943, Wilfred 1886-1950, Ronald 1888-1957</i>. 1977. Newton Abbot: Readers Union Group of Book Clubs, 1978.</blockquote>
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Revenge is, however, a dish best served cold (not, I'm sure, that she would have put it in quite those terms), and it now seems quite possible that their pinchbeck brilliance will live on mainly grace to her own extraordinary group biography of - what's the collective noun for brothers? a <i>bruise</i> of brothers, perhaps - her father and uncles: needless to add, another prize from the shelves of Jason Books.<br />
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Does anyone read Ronnie's detective stories or theological musings nowadays - let alone E. V. Knox's volumes of collected skits from <i>Punch</i>? No, it's the world of Fitzrovia, that pre-swinging Sixties era of Dylan Thomas and Mervyn Peake's novels, that Fitzgerald seems to have been foredoomed to chronicle.<br />
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My overarching point, however, is that this is just a typical example of the kinds of serendipitous discoveries which seem to arise naturally when one enters the sacred precincts of Jason Books - some allusion to the Golden Fleece intended in that choice of name, perhaps?<br />
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Maud has a magnificent eye for quality, and her shop is well laid-out, well lit, and very reasonably priced. It's hard to imagine a more delightful bookish experience than browsing there, in fact.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSqJN-ipOohRrkijFP8jTVXGV9c3TIgaxj0qwDXIso59RpxLVDnERRVIPipnSfeBGW7Sal8Vdc4DqUslK_CxWiFs3oKDh-S3sfTGi95m-kyPD-eFUyIoM33PDbWU_UpGO46-BvPlxi7qbCEFOVB-ejugHEoFqcu6BJaW9JRRUAdYWdbLAKjA/s1500/il_fullxfull.4467173097_6e41_1500x.webp" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSqJN-ipOohRrkijFP8jTVXGV9c3TIgaxj0qwDXIso59RpxLVDnERRVIPipnSfeBGW7Sal8Vdc4DqUslK_CxWiFs3oKDh-S3sfTGi95m-kyPD-eFUyIoM33PDbWU_UpGO46-BvPlxi7qbCEFOVB-ejugHEoFqcu6BJaW9JRRUAdYWdbLAKjA/s400/il_fullxfull.4467173097_6e41_1500x.webp"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Richard F. Burton: <a href="https://prettyoldbooks.com/products/arabian-nights-complete-set-the-burton-97485">The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night</a> (c.1940s)</span></div>
<blockquote>Richard F. Burton, trans. <i>The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night: A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments</i>. 1885. 10 vols. U.S.A.: The Burton Club, n.d. [c.1940s].<br />
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Richard F. Burton, trans. <i>Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights with Notes Anthropological and Explanatory</i>. 1886-88. 6 vols. U.S.A..: The Burton Club, n.d. [c. 1940s].</blockquote>
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I remember Jason Books from decades ago, when it was located at the back of a tiny alley off High Street (just behind the Simple Cottage vegetarian restaurant). It was there that I bought my first set of Burton's complete <i>Arabian Nights</i>, in the edition pictured above.<br />
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When Maud took it over from then owner Richard Poore, it moved to an attic in Lorne Street, and then to its present position behind Freyberg Square. In all of its various incarnations, though, it's been a source of wonders.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgAgzQBBB1TOnwFkov7Ws05DMA93KVY6KD82e3Gm1mg4bnpeh5OiBH_7XGeMNU2u4EtHMIpSZ3uUw8N8prgG2om8GxCSZRZntaUwMUzYtTnrluZplIPMS0W13pfU9sI0uJlgzdo_DVt_RS4DvTluPWLQQTbX6ymrLsqOGbf0esMwXZd-uCiw/s1000/3265.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgAgzQBBB1TOnwFkov7Ws05DMA93KVY6KD82e3Gm1mg4bnpeh5OiBH_7XGeMNU2u4EtHMIpSZ3uUw8N8prgG2om8GxCSZRZntaUwMUzYtTnrluZplIPMS0W13pfU9sI0uJlgzdo_DVt_RS4DvTluPWLQQTbX6ymrLsqOGbf0esMwXZd-uCiw/s400/3265.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Mardrus / Mathers: <a href="https://www.tooveys.com/lots/307377/folio-society-publisher-the-arabian-nights">The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night</a> (2003)</span></div>
<blockquote><i>The Arabian Nights: The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Rendered into English from the Literal and Complete French Translation of Dr. J. C. Mardrus by Powys Mathers</i>. Introduction by Marina Warner. 6 vols. London: The Folio Society, 2003.<ul>
<li>Vol. 1: with 8 colour illustrations by Kay Nielsen, 375 pp.</li>
<li>Vol. 2: with 8 colour illustrations by Grahame Baker, 424 pp.</li>
<li>Vol. 3: with 8 colour illustrations by Debra McFarlane, 424 pp.</li>
<li>Vol. 4: with 8 colour illustrations by Roman Pisarev, 424 pp.</li>
<li>Vol. 5: with 8 colour illustrations by Jane Ray, 431 pp.</li>
<li>Vol. 6: with 8 colour illustrations by Neil Packer, 448 pp.</li>
</ul></blockquote>
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And, to go full circle, it was there, rather more recently, that I bought the above lavishly illustrated version of E. Powys Mathers' translation of Dr. J. C. Mardrus's fin-de-siècle French translation of the Arabian Nights, probably the most entertaining and readable "complete" version available in English.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5c4b_CUd20rwnwaAqtC6ZpxkdAh8wIaWE2m35XoRRgo3F9JxZUNoaq_0kLkNa5ixeMlE53brpeyRF4trRGVnZI59y5b8PML7GdenP2BgHgFdKKiYUhKN31xqXOrysshBUyBKBHnTDDf5043Tq9LpwmTCTKT-Hl_Rb1-IfrP55ZyMYdTIIWw/s750/interior_1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="750" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5c4b_CUd20rwnwaAqtC6ZpxkdAh8wIaWE2m35XoRRgo3F9JxZUNoaq_0kLkNa5ixeMlE53brpeyRF4trRGVnZI59y5b8PML7GdenP2BgHgFdKKiYUhKN31xqXOrysshBUyBKBHnTDDf5043Tq9LpwmTCTKT-Hl_Rb1-IfrP55ZyMYdTIIWw/s400/interior_1.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.jasonbooks.co.nz/">Jason Books</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://www.hardtofind.co.nz/news/New-Auckland-shop-opens-today-15-Jun-2018">Hard-to-Find Books</a></span>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="https://www.hardtofind.co.nz/"><b>Hard-to-Find Books </b></a></span><br />
[2-8 St Benedicts Street, Eden Terrace, Auckland 1010]</div><br />
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Warwick Jordan's Hard-to-Find Books has an even more complex history, briefly summarised as follows on their website:
<blockquote>The legendary Hard to Find Bookshop (although it didn't have a name then) began in a garage in John Street, Ponsonby in 1983. In 1984 it moved to a shop in Onehunga (now David Tua's boxing gym), and in 1988 to a mainstreet Onehunga location. At one point it expanded to nine stores in five different cities until Warwick realised empire building wasn't really his passion. Even so, he did open one more shop in 2013 ... our Dunedin store which also houses our Internet stock. On June 13th 2018 the Onehunga store closed, opening again on 15th June 2018 at our miraculous new location - 2-8 St Benedict's Street, Eden Terrace, Auckland.</blockquote>
I was a fairly frequent visitor to the Onehunga store, but even more so now that the business has moved uptown to the debatable land between Upper Queen Street and Symonds Street. It's a wonderful source of back-catalogue items: definitely the best bookshop I know for those nagging gaps in your collection.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCSxLvv4kn8-ju8MAZcu53mQ15xYjk7jk2jEVYltCqNPXgGmiX2wn5mYc7Vg7ayd7Ue1ZQjLlf6Bzr7gfiWsOAwb48qauVUzHCaSqmDfAcnzBHojadCJXOjpuFeUL4hU_QpG2bMBEyieYLVPeqRJiKkcR0GMRFu4IGSkZMzGJ0d-Z7SiMpfw/s640/29597616_225482188010108_794965987501475213_n.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCSxLvv4kn8-ju8MAZcu53mQ15xYjk7jk2jEVYltCqNPXgGmiX2wn5mYc7Vg7ayd7Ue1ZQjLlf6Bzr7gfiWsOAwb48qauVUzHCaSqmDfAcnzBHojadCJXOjpuFeUL4hU_QpG2bMBEyieYLVPeqRJiKkcR0GMRFu4IGSkZMzGJ0d-Z7SiMpfw/s600/29597616_225482188010108_794965987501475213_n.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2010/06/acquisitions-16-loeb-classics.html">Loeb Classics: Greek Historians</a> (2018)</span></div>
<blockquote>Diodorus Siculus. <i>The Library of History</i>. 12 vols. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967, 1976, 1977, 1989.<ol>
<li>Books I-II: 1-34, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1936)</li>
<li>Books II: 35-end, III, IV: 1-58, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1935)</li>
<li>Books IV: 59-VIII, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1939)</li>
<li>Books IX-XII: 40, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1946)</li>
<li>Books XII: 41-XIII, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (1950)</li>
<li>Books XIV-XV:19, Trans. C. H. Oldfather (195</li>
<li>Books XV: 20-XVI: 65, Trans. Charles L. Sherman (1952)</li>
<li>Books XVI: 66-95, XVII, Trans. C. Bradford Welles (1963)</li>
<li>Books XVIII-XIX: 1-65, Trans. Russel M. Geer (1947)</li>
<li>Books XIX: 66-110, XX, Trans. Russel M. Geer (1954)</li>
<li>Books XXI-XXXII, Trans. Francis R. Walton (1967)</li>
<li>Books XXXIII-XL / Index, Trans. Francis R. Walton & Russel M. Geer (1967)</li>
</ol>
Josephus. <i>Works</i>. 9 vols. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961, 1966.<ol>
<li><i>The Life / Against Apion</i>, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1926)</li>
<li><i>The Jewish War</i>, Books I-III, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1927)</li>
<li><i>The Jewish War</i>, Books IV-VII, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1928)</li>
<li><i>Jewish Antiquities</i>, Books I-IV, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray (1930)</li>
<li><i>Jewish Antiquities</i>, Books V-VIII, Trans. H. St. J. Thackeray & Ralph Marcus (1934)</li>
<li><i>Jewish Antiquities</i>, Books IX-XI, Trans. Ralph Marcus (1937)</li>
<li><i>Jewish Antiquities</i>, Books XII-XIV, Trans. Ralph Marcus (1943)</li>
<li><i>Jewish Antiquities</i>, Books XV-XVII, Trans. Ralph Marcus & Allen Wikgren (1963)</li>
<li><i>Jewish Antiquities</i>, Books XVIII-XX / General Index, Trans. Louis H. Feldman (1965)</li>
</ol>
Polybius. <i>The Histories</i>. Trans. W. R. Paton. Introduction by Col. H. J. Edwards. 6 vols. 1922, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967, 1968, 1972.
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I once horrified Bronwyn by buying a huge mountain of <a href="http://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2010/06/acquisitions-16-loeb-classics.html">Loeb Classics Greek Historians</a> from the Onehunga shop. I hope the guy who sold them to me was joking when he said that this would guarantee his wages for the next week, but who knows?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpNpdg0uf6sB8wLArbwD_lWwDW0YYzMrlKCwYum8c75pKS6JnXB74Y0THBiGVwZUXG3l9XboJXqja11oaX-XSQkjoiPvYpzngHrmnmUHkKdNYBJpE6MsfrNplEVjKaA_PIBdfS8PJrU0kfK57tJxrCbDmvZ6FST8C_ZvB6Nh5ld9s4CFwu8A/s387/The-lost-city-z.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpNpdg0uf6sB8wLArbwD_lWwDW0YYzMrlKCwYum8c75pKS6JnXB74Y0THBiGVwZUXG3l9XboJXqja11oaX-XSQkjoiPvYpzngHrmnmUHkKdNYBJpE6MsfrNplEVjKaA_PIBdfS8PJrU0kfK57tJxrCbDmvZ6FST8C_ZvB6Nh5ld9s4CFwu8A/s600/The-lost-city-z.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">David Grann: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_City_of_Z_%28book%29">The Lost City of Z</a> (2009)</span></div>
<blockquote>Grann, David. <i>The Lost City of Z: A Legendary British Explorer's Deadly Quest to Uncover the Secrets of the Amazon</i>. 2009. Pocket Books. London: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd., 2010.</blockquote>
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Another, rather odder experience was my attempt to find a copy of <i>The Lost City of Z</i> in the Hard-to-Find branch in Dunedin. I can't quite remember why I was so anxious to read it - I guess I must have just seen the film - but I knew that if it was available anywhere, it would be available there.<br />
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And sure enough, it was! That's the great thing about Hard-to-Find: the sheer critical mass of books they stock make them the best place to look for particular troublesome items.<br />
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The funny thing came when I whipped out my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nzs.authors/">Society of Authors</a> membership card, which came with a list on the back of 'participating bookstores' in their 10% off for struggling writers scheme. Hard-to-Find was listed among them, and I'd used it many times at the Auckland store.<br />
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"Society of Authors? Is that even a thing? I mean, I've heard of the screenwriters guild and so on, but - did you make it up yourself?" asked the young lady serving at the counter that day.<br />
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"No, no, it's a real thing," I expostulated. "It's affiliated with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEN_International">PEN International</a>."<br />
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"What's PEN International?" she riposted.<br />
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At this point I felt I'd better quit while I was ahead. Nice to know that someone working in a bookshop had so little interest in the people who actually <i>produce</i> the goods she was selling, but I guess it's good to be reminded of our collective insignificance from time to time.<br />
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It was pretty funny at the time, though. I'm sure she remained quite unconvinced by all my attempts to prove that there <i>was</i> such a thing as the Society of Authors, and the whole thing does sound a bit nerdy when you really come down to it ...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIpVKXwdG2_z4n9nRlmcaYjdsnV1eg7HO3743mHu2CwtyryvbylCaez7b1QYdWab6sZWBPfq-1Wqmwvg6as_WZ5BKQWSg4r_v69fIhxPkrG1QXpDWmpJ2DhDQuDva8rn4Y19zZBpx60jrXhqlMjBuGnwyrI_ND4wJbq8fbc093_aJ740U2w/s500/9780435148508-us.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIpVKXwdG2_z4n9nRlmcaYjdsnV1eg7HO3743mHu2CwtyryvbylCaez7b1QYdWab6sZWBPfq-1Wqmwvg6as_WZ5BKQWSg4r_v69fIhxPkrG1QXpDWmpJ2DhDQuDva8rn4Y19zZBpx60jrXhqlMjBuGnwyrI_ND4wJbq8fbc093_aJ740U2w/s600/9780435148508-us.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;">Jack Stillinger, ed.: <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/Poems-John-Keats-Stillinger-J-ed/31260515092/bd">The Poems of John Keats</a> (2009)</span></div>
<blockquote>Stillinger, Jack, ed. <i>The Poems of John Keats: The Definitive Edition</i>. London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd., 1978.</blockquote>
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I've bought a slew of books - fiction, poetry, travel - from the new brick edifice in St. Benedict's Street. It's now almost as choked with stock as the old Onehunga shop was. The above edition of <a href="https://madbookcollection.blogspot.com/2009/04/acquisitions-61-john-keats.html">John Keats</a> was a very pleasant addition to their number. Honestly, you never know what you're going to see when you go in there, which is another good reason for rationing myself to occasional visits.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9tdtC5gbAsYxxZoaU2k-94M_M5bpSUVxs1oSIJmX2EEUpF7DDTBYtwobOL_DsQEEqGRXSEVN1VtXrOsvIXnC5cGRIeP9lfVF0hdK3m8C0Nbz_zjgYV0L4NU8-YrT6myTAAIOYjUMnLpZDS9aJYflr5OZkM-R6uY80cXJZWe4egg71Cn6H_A/s1366/1538605923WebSlide_HardToFind_2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9tdtC5gbAsYxxZoaU2k-94M_M5bpSUVxs1oSIJmX2EEUpF7DDTBYtwobOL_DsQEEqGRXSEVN1VtXrOsvIXnC5cGRIeP9lfVF0hdK3m8C0Nbz_zjgYV0L4NU8-YrT6myTAAIOYjUMnLpZDS9aJYflr5OZkM-R6uY80cXJZWe4egg71Cn6H_A/s400/1538605923WebSlide_HardToFind_2.jpg"/></a>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="https://helloauckland.co.nz/shopping/books/hard-to-find-books">Hard-to-Find Books</a></span></div><br />
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Dr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.com0