In this issue:
Today in History - Jan. 29
Opera (WAS: More on Ludlow)
Re: _The Bells_ again
Re: Opera (WAS: More on Ludlow)
The Irish Zorro
Etext avail: Stella Benson's "The desert islander"
Later that week, a man bit a dog
_Haunted Lives_
svankmaier
Divertimenti
Re: Divertimenti
RE: "The Music Essence"
Re: Divertimenti
Re: svankmaier
Chat: new mystery! series
RE: "The Music Essence"
Re: Chat: new mystery! series
1890's currencies (WAS: RE: Chat: new mystery! series)
Sally Benson
Music Essence
-----------------------------THE POSTS-----------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 12:42:37 -0700
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - Jan. 29
1813
Jane Austin publishes Pride and Prejudice, a blend of
instruction and moral entertainment.
1861
Kansas is admitted into the Union as the 34th state.
1918
The Supreme Allied Council meets at Versailles.
Born on January 29
1843
William McKinley, 25th President of the United States who led
the country in the
Spanish-American War.
1880
W.C. Fields, comedian and actor whose films included _David
Copperfield_ and _My Little
Chickadee_. (Personally, I think he took Mr. Micawber as a
role model for his entire career.
Of course, mention of Micawber reminds me of a "discussion
question" in Richard Armour's
lit textbook parody, _The Classics Reclassified_: "It is said
that Dickens based the character
of Mr. Micawber on his own father. Do you want your son to
become a writer?" &8-{)
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Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 13:49:36 -0700 From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org> Subject: Opera (WAS: More on Ludlow) Bob Champ wrote: > Much of Ludlow's criticism, as readers of the story might be able to > guess, dealt with opera, which he considered to be the ultimate artistic > experience. Given that opera combines the arts of literature (the libretto), both vocal and orchestral music (the score), vocal and physical interpretation of both of these (the singers and musicians), and visual art (the sets), it can't help but be the ultimate artistic experience of the 19th century. All that's missing is to add food for the audience whenever the characters are eating, and to make creative use of the ventilation system with temperatures and scents, to engage all of the senses in the experience (actually, Disney and some Las Vegas spectacles do use some of these techniques, as well as tricks with the seats, but only in relatively lighthearted fare. Nobody I know of has applied them to anything as mentally involving as grand opera). Jerry gmc(at)libra.pvh.org
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Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 13:57:55 -0700
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Re: _The Bells_ again
I missed both the play and its discussion, so maybe this was already pointed
out - Judging from the description of the story, it may have been inspired by
Edgar Alan Poe's poem, "The Bells", which includes both sleigh bells and
wedding bells:
Hear the sledges with the bells-
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
II
Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!
III
Hear the loud alarum bells-
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor,
Now- now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows:
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells-
Of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!
IV
Hear the tolling of the bells-
Iron Bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people- ah, the people-
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All Alone
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone-
They are neither man nor woman-
They are neither brute nor human-
They are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells-
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells-
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells-
Bells, bells, bells-
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
Did the smell of the lime kiln bring on fire alarm bells, and were there
funeral bells for Mathias at the end?
Jerry
gmc(at)libra.pvh.org
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Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 17:44:24 -0500 (EST) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Opera (WAS: More on Ludlow) In a message dated 1/29/99 8:54:57 PM, Jerry wrote: <<Given that opera combines the arts of literature (the libretto)>> I've read many of those libretti... great literature? Hmmm smiling, phoebe
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Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 19:08:40 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: The Irish Zorro
When I was a kid--a long time ago--I was a faithful watcher of Walt
Disney's "Zorro." Zorro was played by Guy Williams, who looked
every inch the son of a Spanish grandee--dark, masculine, hardsome;
and had just enough of a lilt in his voice that one might swear
that he had been brought up in old Spain.
Now an Italian historian claims to have discovered that that lilt
probably should have been Irish. Here, from the _Times_ of London
is a story about Fabio Troncarelli's researches into the character
who (more than likely) inspired the Zorro legend.
Bob C.
Inquisition unmasks Zorro the Irishman
AN ITALIAN historian has found new evidence in the secret archives of the Holy
Inquisition unmasking the original Zorro, the dashing hero of countless
swashbuckling films set against the background of rebellion against Spanish
rule in Mexico and California.
In the latest film, a box office hit starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Antonio
Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Zorro is a Spanish aristocrat who leads a
double life.
But according to Fabio Troncarelli, Professor of History at Viterbo
University, there is "detailed proof" in the closely guarded Inquisition
archives - which the Vatican has gradually begun to make more freely available
to scholars - that the real Zorro, a masked swordsman who evades capture and
inspires downtrodden Mexicans with the hope of independence, was an Irishman
from Wexford called William Lamport.
Professor Troncarelli said there were "copious references" in the secret
archives to Lamport, who was born in Ireland in 1615 and died at the stake in
Mexico City in 1659. "He led a double life like Zorro, and had a thick red
beard and flashing eyes," Professor Troncarelli said. "He was quite a
womaniser, and led a life even more adventurous than anything the
screenwriters have dreamt up."
Professor Troncarelli, 50, said he had spent half his life investigating the
Zorro myth, using papers held in Madrid, Dublin, Rome and Mexico City.
"But the key information is buried in the records of the trials of suspected
heretics and subversives conducted by the Inquisition," he said. "They were
meticulous. The name of Lamport kept coming up."
He said that Lamport's fame as a popular hero in Central America was "still
reverberating in the 19th century, 200 years after his death".
According to the Inquisition records, Lamport was born into a noble Irish
family and was educated by Jesuits in Dublin and London. But he ran away to
sea after allegedly voicing anti-English sentiments and fell in with a gang of
pirates. Still in his early twenties, Lamport arrived in Spain, where he
Hispanicised his name to "Guillen Lombardo".
He fought in Spain's 17th-century wars against the French, and his bravery and
skill came to the attention of the Duke of Olivares, chief minister, until
1643, at the court of Philip IV of Spain (who reigned from 1621-1665).
At 25 Lamport, who had begun to acquire a reputation as a ladies' man as well
as a swordsman, was sent by Olivares to Mexico to escape a scandal after he
had seduced and abandoned a Spanish noblewoman.
It was in Mexico City that Lamport, or "Lombardo", perfected his double life.
Officially he moved in the highest circles and became engaged to a noblewoman
named Antonia Turcios. But he had many other lovers, acted as a spy for
Olivares, and assumed a false identity to befriend local Indian tribes,
learning their healing skills and dabbling in astrology.
It was this which eventually brought him to the attention of the Inquisition,
which accused Lamport of "conspiring against Spain to liberate the Indians and
the black slaves and set himself up as king of an independent Mexico".
He spent ten years in prison while the investigation dragged on, but (like Sir
Anthony in the film) managed to escape, always keeping one step ahead of his
pursuers.
He even returned to Mexico City, emerging from his hiding place at night to
plaster the city walls with posters mocking the Inquisition and revealing its
secrets.
Lamport's luck ran out because of his inability to resist a pretty woman,
Professor Troncarelli told Corriere della Sera. According to a letter dated
1647 from the Bishop of Mexico to Philip IV, who asked to be kept informed
about the hunt for "Lombardo", he was found in bed with the wife of Marquis
Lope Diez de Cadereyta, the Viceroy of Mexico.
Lamport was jailed for a further seven years and then condemned to burn at the
stake. "But he cheated the Inquisition one last time," Professor Troncarelli
said. "Before the flames were lit, he managed to strangle himself with the
rope used to tie him to the stake."
Lamport did not metamorphose into Zorro until 1872, when Vicente Palacio Riva,
a retired Mexican general, tried his hand at an historical romance in the
style of Dumas's Three Musketeers entitled The Memoirs of an Impostor.
The hero of the book is called Guillen Lombardo but leads a double life as a
nobleman named Diego de la Vega, plotting by night with a secret society to
overthrow Spanish rule and the power of the Inquisition.
Like the real Zorro, De la Vega is also betrayed in the end by his weakness
for women. In 1919 Johnston McCulley, a New York journalist, reworked the
tale, giving Diego de la Vega his famous mask, and the following year the
first film, The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks, appeared.
_________________________________________________
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Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Those who are alive receive a mandate from those
who are silent forever. They can fulfill their
duties only by trying to reconstruct precisely
things as they were and by wresting the past
from fictions and legends.
--Czeslaw Milosz
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
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===0===
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 17:12:09 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Etext avail: Stella Benson's "The desert islander"
(DSRTISLN.HTM) (Fiction, Chronos, Scheds)
Stella Benson's "The desert islander"(1939 ed.)
dsrtisln.sht
I've not been able to date "The desert islander" by Stella
Benson, but I agree with Maugham that it deserves to
be in his anthology of short stories. It's a
psychological tale of an interestingly complex
Foreign Legionnaire.
This story will be the basis of next week's discussion.
It is now available on the website and as an ASCII etext
thru FTPmail.
To retrieve the plain ASCII file,
send to: ftpmail(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
with no subject heading and completely in lowecase:
open aftp.mtroyal.ab.ca
cd /gaslight
get dsrtisln.sht
or visit the Gaslight website at:
http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/dsrtisln.htm
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Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 22:15:31 -0500 From: "James E. Kearman" <jkearman(at)gate.net> Subject: Later that week, a man bit a dog 100 YEARS AGO (From the files of "The Northern Scot", January 28th, 1899) LIGHT UP - Messrs Simpson and Johnston have introduced at the post office at Lhanbryd, acetylene gas into the premises in place of electric light, which they have used for over six years. The new light gives everyone satisfaction. http://www.northern-scot.co.uk/echoes.html +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- I believe "gaslight" was powered by coal gas, generated by heating soft coal and capturing the released gas. Acetylene was made by adding calcium carbonate to water, which releases the acetylene as a gas. Miner's lamps used acetylene, because it was convenient. A miner had only to carry some crystals of calcium carbonate to place in the tank of his lamp. When the lamp went out, he tipped in a few crystals, added some water and lit the resulting gas. Acetylene gas is used today for welding metals, usually combined with oxygen to provide a hotter flame. So, why did they switch back to gas? Acetylene was easy to produce, and those thrifty Scots probably tired of replacing lightbulbs! Cheers, Jim - ---------------------------------------- Jim Kearman mailto:jkearman(at)iname.com http://www.gate.net/~jkearman
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Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 00:40:25 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: _Haunted Lives_
I've just finished reading the chapters from _Haunted Lives_ and once
again found myself admiring the deftness with which LeFanu creates
mystery, his fine ability to draw character, and his wonderful way of
describing old houses--to such a degree that you feel as if you were
sitting in one yourself. (LeFanu's houses are, in some ways, his finest
creations--a trait he shares with M. R. James and Oliver Onions.)
Laura Challys Gray is an interesting figure. She reminds me a little
of those women who often take Bertie Wooster in hand, making
demands the poor dope can never satisfy; or like one of the bright
young things of Evelyn Waugh's novels, though she is not here in
"party mode." She is obviously intelligent, and like many intelligent
people of means, performs experiments on her psyche that you know
instinctively will turn out wrong. In fact her experiment in withdrawal
begins to go awry almost immediately, as she starts to have secrets
and tell untruths, despite her assurance to the lovelorn Mannering that
she has never told a lie. (LeFanu's portrait of Mannering's growing
involvement with his cousin is both clever and funny.)
Withdrawal itself is a kind of lie, especially if it takes on the aspect
of concelament. And concealment, it is clear, is going to be a theme
in this novel, though the concealment always seem to be blown up--as
for instance when Dacre, who has made his acquaintance Lord
Ardenbroke promise never to mention his name to anyone, blithely tells
it to Miss Wardell (and through her to Laura). And of course both Laura
and Dacre have summed each other up at a distance, even if it is too early
to tell whether or not they are right (at least too early for me). As for
Laura's assurance that Dacre has written that nasty letter threatening to
spy on her--well, perhaps the identity of that letterwriter is the one bit
of concealment that will last to the end of the novel.
Laura is one of those women who wasn't supposed to exist in the Victorian
world, at least to some of the current teachings. She is an heirness,
and quite in control of her own money; indeed, cousin Mannering's
chief business, so far, is to see to it that her money is spent as she
chooses. She is also a woman of some power, which she seems to use to
satisfy her own will. Thus, it is she alone who is responsible for
keeping de Beaumirail in prison, and not even a troop of his male supporters
can move her to change her mind. Then, there is her treatment of the
clergymen, Mr. Parker. She routs him on the subject of theology, and
treats him as more or less a fool. Now, to hear some critics talk of
Victorian women you would think they were all a downtrodden lot, crushed
under the heel of patriarchy; but here is Laura whose words and action
seem to give the lie to that argument.
At this point, however, Laura seems not be in control of her own fate--not
because she doesn't have money and power, but because she is in the
presence of some unknown and sinister personage against whom money
and power are probably not very great guarantees of escape. Such a person
we would today call a "stalker," but I suspect that there is much more to
this than merely stalking.
Bob C.
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Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Those who are alive receive a mandate from those
who are silent forever. They can fulfill their
duties only by trying to reconstruct precisely
things as they were and by wresting the past
from fictions and legends.
--Czeslaw Milosz
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 16:44:50 +1100 From: Lucy Sussex <lsussex(at)netspace.net.au> Subject: svankmaier I second this recommendation! A marvellous film-maker. Looking at his work, either he has an unrivalled collection of Victorian toys, or access to a VERY good toy museum. Lucy Sussex
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Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 14:19:49 -0500 (EST) From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu> Subject: Divertimenti Some entertainments on the web and in the Smithsonian magazine for February: first, the web. A site called Legends offers engaging bios and links for such categories as the following: Arthur Robin Hood Poets and Painters Swashbucklers and Fops Pirates and Privateers Very engaging. The URL is http://www.legends.dm.net I visited the site suggested by Jim Kearman yesterday and found it wonderful. There is an especially fine page devoted called "Elgin Worthies" devoted to character sketches of real-life Scottish eccentrics of the 19th century. Again, the URL is http://www.northern-scot.co.uk Thanks to Jim for making us aware of this interesting site. This month's Smithsonian magazine contains two articles of interest to Gaslighters. The first deals with a photo shoot for that famous (or do you say infamous) beauty Evelyn Nesbit. There are 5 of 31 photos taken in 1901 by Rudolf Eickemeyer, including an unposed one entitled _Tired Butterfly_. This lovely photo shows Evelyn stretched out on a bearskin rug where, according to the article, she slumped exhausted after her day of posing for Eikemeyer. An interesting connection: Evelyn went to a boarding school run by Mrs. Mathilda DeMille, the mother of future director Cecil B. DeMille. Perhaps she later took advantage of that association for she made some movies. I looked her up at the Internet Movie Database and found the following filmography. I have no idea of how large or small Evelyn's parts where, but the titles seem to be comments on her life in New York with those two cads White and Thaw. Hidden Woman, The (1922) .... Ann Wesley Thou Shalt Not (1919) .... Ruth Fallen Idol, The (1919) My Little Sister (1919) Her Mistake (1918) .... Rose Hale I Want To Forget (1918) Woman Who Gave, The (1918) Her Greatest Love (1917) (as Evelyn Nesbit-Thaw) .... Alice Loring ... aka Redemption (1917) Threads of Destiny (1914) (as Evelyn Nesbit Thaw) .... Miriam Gruenstein The Smithsonian also has an article about John Singer Sargent, along with some generous color reproductions of his paintings. Among these is a three-page foldout (a la Playboy magazine!) of his portrait _Madame X_. The article is a visual delight. There is much to be enjoyed in the world yet, my hearties. Bob C.
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Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 14:51:41 -0500 From: "Richard L. King" <rking(at)INDIAN.VINU.EDU> Subject: Re: Divertimenti Here is the URL for the Smithsonian current issue Bob brought to our attention. That article and photos about Evelyn Nesbit is on the page and well worth reading (click on her photo at the top). It is really a fascinating story, and one I don't think I have ever been aware of. Access the current issue at: http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/toccurrent.shtml Richard King
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Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 15:49:30 -0500 From: "James E. Kearman" <jkearman(at)gate.net> Subject: RE: "The Music Essence" I know I'm a few days behind, here... but if I may-- Those of us who can hear and speak, naturally assume our abilities are superior to those who lack one or both faculties. Margaret herself put the lie to that when she told the narrator that "Music is the heart's feeling of God close by, when He touches us in quick throbs, and we try to measure them." Although she couldn't 'hear' as he did, I submit that her appreciation of music was at a higher plane than his. Recall that the narrator was welcomed 'home' when he arrived at the school. He'd been forgiven for his lapses in the material world of business and given another chance at a spiritual existence... But our narrator, with the hubris so common to Western man, thinks he can go God one better, and teach Margaret to hear mechanically, through the use of a material instrument, rather than 'merely' spiritually. Need I go on? He then drags her off to noisy New York City and has her operated on, so she can be like him. What arrogant selfishness! At last, her prayers are answered and she is gathered up once more into (quiet) Heaven. Several years ago, the NY Times Magazine carried an article about rising militance among the hearing impaired. The militant deaf don't want to learn to speak with their vocal cords--for them, signing is a perfectly valid means of expression, one that sets them apart from those who can hear but not sign, and who want to treat the hearing impaired as if they are handicapped and inferior. Going silent again... J mailto:jkearman(at)gate.net
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Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 16:51:46 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re: Divertimenti
Many thanks, Richard; I wasn't aware of this site. It's interesting
how much more text-based the site is than the magazine, especially in the
Singer article. But the site contains all that is worth reading in the
current issue (which is rich indeed)and, blessedly, no advertisements.
Bob C.
On Sat, 30 Jan 1999, Richard L. King wrote:
> Here is the URL for the Smithsonian current issue Bob brought to our
> attention. That article and photos about Evelyn Nesbit is on the page and
> well worth reading (click on her photo at the top). It is really a
> fascinating story, and one I don't think I have ever been aware of. Access
> the current issue at:
> http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/toccurrent.shtml
>
> Richard King
>
>
>
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Those who are alive receive a mandate from those
who are silent forever. They can fulfill their
duties only by trying to reconstruct precisely
things as they were and by wresting the past
from fictions and legends.
--Czeslaw Milosz
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
===0===
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 15:57:03 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> Subject: Re: svankmaier >I second this recommendation! A marvellous film-maker. > >Looking at his work, either he has an unrivalled collection of Victorian >toys, or access to a VERY good toy museum. Not to mention an interesting collection of bones, animal skulls and weird old tables! Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
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Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 10:09:07 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> Subject: Chat: new mystery! series Does anyone know if the new Mystery! series with Superintendent Albert Tyburn is based on a book? I missed the information for it and was quite good. Thanks. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
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Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 18:22:42 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: RE: "The Music Essence"
Jim Kearman writes:
<<
I know I'm a few days behind, here... but if I may--
Those of us who can hear and speak, naturally assume our abilities are
superior to those who lack one or both faculties. Margaret herself put the
lie to that when she told the narrator that "Music is the heart's feeling
of God close by, when He touches us in quick throbs, and we try to measure
them." Although she couldn't 'hear' as he did, I submit that her
appreciation of music was at a higher plane than his. Recall that the
narrator was welcomed 'home' when he arrived at the school. He'd been
forgiven for his lapses in the material world of business and given
another chance at a spiritual existence...
But our narrator, with the hubris so common to Western man, thinks he can
go God one better, and teach Margaret to hear mechanically, through the
use of a material instrument, rather than 'merely' spiritually.
<<
I think you are right here, Jim. The subject of scientific hubris was
certainly in the air at the time of this writing. Notice this theme
in other stories of the period, e.g., Melville's "The Bell Tower" and
Hawthorne's stories "Rappacinni's Daughter" and "The Birthmark."
Ludlow also distinguishes between types of knowing in a way that
seems to come straight from Wordsworth (read "The Tables Turned" and
"Expostulation and Reply"). The narrator knows music largely in
the mechanical sense: he understands its theory and even goes so
far as to recreate a substitute for sound with his kaleidophone. Yet
for all his knowledge he misses the music essence, which is the
direct kind of knowing (a knowing of essences almost in the Platonic
sense)experienced by Margaret.
It is here, IMO, that Ludlow is really original. I don't know of
another writer of this time who undertook to penetrate and see
beyond a physical defect to discover the possibility of compensations
that might be the occasion of a greater delight than anything
experienced by the normal or natural individual. That the compensation
is spiritual in Margaret's case follows perfectly from Ludlow's view
of the world, which was an intensely spiritual one.
Btw, to some degree I think this story is a repetition of the Fall:
innocent young woman blissfully connected to the great creative source
falls under the power of a tempter who promises her wonderful things if
she will let herself be guided by him and his greater wisdom. Young woman
trusts the tempter, but finds that his promises are all hollow. In place
of the harmony of Eden he brings her the dissonance of the mundane world,
the world of noise ("pandemonium) and death. Of course, the narrator
doesn't understand this until it is far too late, but it is exactly
in this way, I believe, that the Fall plays itself out in the world.
<<
Several years ago, the NY Times Magazine carried an article about rising
militance among the hearing impaired. The militant deaf don't want to
learn to speak with their vocal cords--for them, signing is a perfectly
valid means of expression, one that sets them apart from those who can
hear but not sign, and who want to treat the hearing impaired as if they
are handicapped and inferior.<<
Yes, I thought of this too, and wonder if any deaf activists have come
across Ludlow's story. Not every deaf person is going to have
Margaret's experiences--I think it is clear that she is a very
unusual, very gifted person. But she brings out superbly the flaw
in the argument made by those who hold that the "quality of life" can
only be experienced by individuals who are, more or less, physically
normal. This last is a profoundly materalistic argument in that
it assumes that the physical is all there is. To experience the loss
of a sense or to be born crippled or with a genetic code that
assures one will develop a terrible disease: these are conditions that
supposedly bring about a less than satisfactory life. Yet in
individuals like Helen Keller, Christy Brown, and Stephen Hawking, we
see that this is not necessarily the case. Indeed, without the
physical difficulties these people experienced, it is possible that
their achievement might not have been anywhere nearly as great.
Once again, these are unusual people, but they illustrate the problem
in making decisions about individuals based on the perception of
a handicap, no matter how extraordinary it might be.
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy; meditate on these things
Philippians 4:8
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
===0===
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 21:00:48 +0000 From: Andrew Gulli <strandmag(at)worldnet.att.net> Subject: Re: Chat: new mystery! series I think that the the name of the writer was Russell Lewis, I was impressed by the program so I tried to locate him as a member of the CWA, since we would be interested in having him contribute a story to the next edition of The Strand Magazine. Regards, Andrew F. Gulli Managing Editor Deborah McMillion Nering wrote: > > Does anyone know if the new Mystery! series with Superintendent Albert > Tyburn is based on a book? I missed the information for it and was quite > good. Thanks. > > Deborah > > Deborah McMillion > deborah(at)gloaming.com > http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 14:13:28 +1100
From: Craig Walker <cwalker(at)lto.nsw.gov.au>
Subject: 1890's currencies (WAS: RE: Chat: new mystery! series)
Dear people on this most excellent list :)
I have a request, which I believe is germaine to the list.
In various mysteries and indeed in reality, from 1795-1888 various Banks
in Great Britina issued banknotes with standard denominations, yet
different designs.
Was there some method of keeping track of these, a central register,
perhaps, or design? What happened in 1890? Was there a change of design
of notes from 1890-1900? I have not been able to find anyplace (on the
net at least) where 1890's GB currencies can be seen, let alone
described.
If this is not germaine to this list, please excuse me and please answer
me privately to reduce non-essential posts to the rest of the people on
the list.
Regards
Craig
+----------------------------------------+
Craig Walker
(h) +612 9550-0815 (w) +612 9228-6698
(h) genre(at)tig.com.au
(w) cwalker(at)lto.nsw.gov.au
ICQ (h) 1053193
ICQ (w) 11547349
+---------------------------------------+
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Gulli [mailto:strandmag(at)worldnet.att.net]
> Sent: Monday, February 01, 1999 08:01
> To: gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
> Subject: Re: Chat: new mystery! series
>
>
> I think that the the name of the writer was Russell Lewis, I was
> impressed by the program so I tried to locate him as a member of the
> CWA, since we would be interested in having him contribute a story to
> the next edition of The Strand Magazine.
> Regards,
> Andrew F. Gulli
> Managing Editor
>
> Deborah McMillion Nering wrote:
> >
> > Does anyone know if the new Mystery! series with
> Superintendent Albert
> > Tyburn is based on a book? I missed the information for it
> and was quite
> > good. Thanks.
> >
> > Deborah
> >
> > Deborah McMillion
> > deborah(at)gloaming.com
> > http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
>
===0===
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 23:59:39 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Sally Benson
Just a quick question to the list: Is the author of this week's story
the same Sally Benson who wrote the novel on which _Meet Me in St.
Louis_ was based? If so, she certainly had range.
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy; meditate on these things
Philippians 4:8
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
===0===
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 23:22:07 -0800
From: "Robert T. Eldridge" <rfx(at)earthlink.net>
Subject: Music Essence
Greetings to all Gaslighters,
I just joined this group, and I am encouraged by our first reading
selection, "The Music Essence," by Fitz Hugh Ludlow. I was aware of the
writer from his hashish book - of which I've had a reprint on my shelves
for some time, but which I haven't really looked at yet. I will be more
eager now to look at it, and at the two other Ludlow stories that seem
to be available to us at this site. I think we owe Robert Champ our
thanks for digging up this story (and, thanks, too, I guess to Don
Dulchinos) and for typing it? Did you really type this out, Robert?
That's dedication.
I was pleased to see a story that may not have had all that much
fantastic incident but had tons of fantastic atmosphere, as well as the
usual virtues of a well-written story.
One of the reasons I gravitate to older reading material is that it
reminds me of the values of another time, and in so doing, reminds me
that the values that we hold as so self-evident today will seem quaint
or horrendous or silly or prophetic to readers a hundred years from now.
It relaxes the grip that these values have on me. I feel as if I can
breather a little more easily. This too shall pass. Some of the values
we see in Victorian literature strike me as more desirable than others;
but the key thing is seeing their difference from whatever we hold
sacred at any given moment today. Some other readers have alluded to
this experience. I suppose this is what we might call the value of older
literature as historical documents.
A story can also have value as literature, which is a different matter,
and I'd be happy to see what other people think about this subject - if
it's not too much of a can of worms, or too stale a subject. One
particular aspect of this debate, and one which bears on all of the
genres that come up on Gaslight, is the issue of literature as Art vs.
literature as Escape. Are we reading Literature or Fiction? (I tend to
see this as a false dilemma, but many others may not.)
A couple of other quick points:
The subject of synaesthesia has come up. (I had just read Bester's
Tiger, Tiger! aka The Stars My Destination, which another reader
mentioned; I would think it must be considered one of the landmarks of
1950s American science fiction.) But when I was reading about the hero's
effort in "The Music Essence" to co-ordinate colors with musical tones,
I was reminded more of efforts widespread in the Renaissance, and going
back to Neoplatonic times, to co-ordinate all sorts of things. Such
philosphers, of what we would now call an occult temperament, used to
line things up in charts to show the harmony of the universe. The seven
planets, the seven metals, the seven colors, the seven tones; the four
elements, the four humors, the four seasons; etc. etc.This view of the
universe, as a harmonious composition, was widespread all during the
Middle Ages and reached flood tide in the seventeenth century, even as
the scientific view was beginning to take root. I would think that a
story that builds (in part) on that sort of world view, even in the
mid-19th century, would owe some of its power to the lure of nostalgia.
I don't mean any of this condescendingly. That lure is still potent
today (and I am certainly not immune to it, nor do I wish to be); I
suspect is will get more potent as the vertigo induced by progress
becomes more acute.
So. Thanks for an excellent story.
Do we get a preview of coming attractions for the Le Fanu piece? Is it
mystery, or supernatural, or what?
Best wishes to all,
Bob Eldridge
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End of Gaslight Digest V1 #38
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