In this issue: Self-Introduction RE: "The Music Essence" Re: Self-Introduction Re: Chat: new mystery! series Chat: No books for new series Re: The Music Essence Re: Re: The Music Essence Today in History - Feb. 1 Re: _Haunted Lives_ and New Web Search page Re: Self-Introduction Literature as Art? Bob Eldridge intro Fiction? Literature? Reading. Re: Fiction? Literature? Reading. Re: The Music Essence Today in History - Pork Sausage Day This week's author Re: This week's author Re: The Irish Zorro Desert Islander Re: This week's author Re: This week's author Re: Bob Eldridge intro -----------------------------THE POSTS----------------------------- Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 10:01:20 -0500 (EST) From: DOUGLAS GREENE <dgreene(at)odu.edu> Subject: Self-Introduction Havign just joined the list, I wanted to introduce myself. I am the editor of a collection, DETECTION BY GASLIGHT (Dover), made up, obviously enough, of Victorian and Edwardian detective stories and with Jack Adrian I recently edited THE DETECTIONS OF MISS CUSACK by L. t. Meade and Robert Eustace--a collection of 6 detective stories from the late 90's about a woman detective. Doug Greene
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 09:25:29 -0600 From: athan chilton <ayc(at)UIUC.EDU> Subject: RE: "The Music Essence" I had a chance to finish this story & am glad to see others are still commenting on it--that means I'm not too late to put my .02 in! My reaction to it was very personal, as you will see... I read this story with a weird sense of familiarity. It isn't that I've read it before; it's partially that I've *had* the experience of synesthesia. All of my life I have had very poor vision (at present -16 diopters cylinder prescription) and perhaps because of this, my hearing has always been very acute. It's almost as if what I've lacked in vision I've been able to make up for in auditory sensitivity. There was one occasion when I was younger (and my consciousness not wholly unaltered) that I was able to 'see' music as well as hear it, and this was an astounding and very moving experience for me, the memory of which has never left me. Imagine the music of Ravi Shankar et al as twining streams of jeweled sound--red and green and gold! It was amazing to me that my mind could create and 'see' such things even though my eyes could see only imperfectly things that were 'really there'... I have also developed special ways of using what vision I do have--extreme close-up vision--to allow me to do very fine woven beadwork & other small detail work. I've been grateful for this ability, but in the long run I've begun to feel that it doesn't make up for the fact that I can't see anything beyond my own nose without very, very thick glasses which still don't give me full correction. So I've decided to go ahead with LASIK eye surgery--in just over a week, in fact--but now, reading this tale has given me the strangest new thoughts: "What if I discover that I don't like being able to see that well? Do I truly want to lose the Monet-like Impressionist blur that is my uncorrected vision?" These thoughts are strange, and make me comprehend what Margaret must have felt when she replaced the "limiting" silence of her deafness with the world's audible cacaphony! I'm going to go through with the surgery--but I have the odd sense that I will be losing something, too--something which people with normal eyesight have never had and probably cannot comprehend. But the world looks so different and so magical, if you will, when you cannot see it clearly, and the seasons become blurs of pure color... Well! The surgeon says that there's no way I can ever be 100% correctable even with this surgery, so I won't be completely bereft! But personal musings aside, I liked this story very much; I enjoyed Margaret's passion and comprehension of music as something sacred; I liked the entire atmosphere. Ludlow is my kind of writer--perceptive, able to create a mood with such deft atmospheric touches you don't see him doing it; able to bring the reader into the world he is creating. I didn't want the story to end--and that's the mark of a good tale for me. athan ayc(at)uiuc.edu
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 10:51:44 -0500 From: "Richard L. King" <rking(at)INDIAN.VINU.EDU> Subject: Re: Self-Introduction Welcome, Doug! I've got a copy of DETECTIVE BY GASLIGHT and have enjoyed it. Best wishes, Richard King rking(at)indian.vinu.edu DOUGLAS GREENE wrote: > Havign just joined the list, I wanted to introduce myself. I am the > editor of a collection, DETECTION BY GASLIGHT (Dover), made up, > obviously enough, of Victorian and Edwardian detective stories and > with Jack Adrian I recently edited THE DETECTIONS OF MISS CUSACK by > L. t. Meade and Robert Eustace--a collection of 6 detective stories > from the late 90's about a woman detective. > > Doug Greene
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 09:26:07 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> Subject: Re: Chat: new mystery! series >I think that the the name of the writer was Russell Lewis, I was >impressed by the program Checked Amazon, Amazon UK and Barnes & Noble and can find no books. This would be a disappointment if it's just tv scripts. Very compelling character. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 10:05:37 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> Subject: Chat: No books for new series This from the PBS Online guide: >>Heat of the Sun is a coproduction of Carlton Productions and WGBH Boston. >>Private Lives (Episode 1) is written by Russell Lewis and directed by >>Adrian Shergold. Hide in Plain Sight (Episodes 2 and 3) is written by >>Timothy Prager and directed by Diarmuid Lawrence. The Sport of Kings >>(Episodes 4 and 5) is written by Russell Lewis and directed by Paul Seed.<< Doesn't sound like it's a book series. Too bad--really excellent. Here's the PBS site if anyone wants more information: http://www.pbs.org/plweb-cgi/fastweb?getdoc+pbsonline+pbsonline+28481+0+wAAA+Hea t%26of%26the%26sun%26%28Heat%26of%26the%26sun%29%3Ahomepage%26%28Heat%26of%26the %26sun%29%3Astation Is that long enough? But it should take you directly to HEAT OF THE SUN. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 12:38:37 -0700 From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org> Subject: Re: The Music Essence On Sat, 30 Jan 1999 James Kearman wrote: >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. This brings to mind one of the theses of Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" series (_The Clan of the Cave Bear_, etc. - which also explain why I couldn't take much of H.G. Welles' caveman stories): The Neanderthal "Clan" are physiologically incapable of fluent vocal speech, and so they are extremely adept at communicating with gestures and body language, including very sophisticated shading of meaning - a skill the articulate "Others" (our subspecies) find it difficult to learn - particularly since only by accident does one of the Others (Ayla, the heroine of the series) realize that the Clan _are_ communicating with each other, and therefore fully human. Jerry gmc(at)libra.pvh.org
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 15:33:26 -0500 (EST) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Re: The Music Essence In a message dated 2/1/99 7:48:32 PM, you wrote: <<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>> I have a vivid memory of walking down a street in New York's Greenwich Village in the 60's and watching a deaf person on the sidewalk "yelling" signs at a person hanging out of a second-story window, also yelling. There was no question in my mind that they were shouting at each other -- not because of the distance between them, but the passion in whatever it was they were communicating. hmmmm phoebe
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 14:42:49 -0700 From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org> Subject: Today in History - Feb. 1 1861 A furious Governor Sam Houston storms out of a legislative session upon learning that Texas has voted 167-7 to secede from the Union. 1902 U.S. Secretary of State John Hay protests Russian privileges in China as a violation of the "open door policy." 1905 Germany contests French rule in Morocco. 1909 U.S. troops leave Cuba after installing Jose Miguel Gomez as president. Born on February 1 1878 Hattie Caraway, first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. 1901 Clark Gable, American actor famous for his roles in _Mutiny on the Bounty_ and _Gone With the Wind_. 1902 Langston Hughes, African-American poet
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 13:57:31 -0800 From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu> Subject: Re: _Haunted Lives_ and New Web Search page Bob C., I greatly enjoyed your comments on Le Fanu's Haunted Lives; I am severely behind on the Gaslight readings, but did have the opportunity to read half of the first installment. I'm looking forward to the remainder. On another note; While searching for Mayne Reid on the Gaslight website last week I noticed the new Search page. Looks great, Stephen! The layout is very clear and readable, and when moving to a link, the screen jumps out of frames into a full-size screen. Love that! And, I just discovered how to display more than thirty hits at one time! Patricia
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 18:56:29 -0500 From: "S.T. Karnick" <skarnick(at)INDY.NET> Subject: Re: Self-Introduction Doug is too modest to mention it, but he is the highly esteemed editor and publisher of an excellent series of mystery short story collections, some of which touch on our period, such as his new collection of Quincannon stories by Bill Pronzini. The Detection by Gaslight collection is well worth having and includes some stories we've already discussed, and I look forward to reading the Cusack collection. Welcome to the group, Doug. Best w's, S.T. Karnick - -----Original Message----- From: DOUGLAS GREENE <dgreene(at)odu.edu> To: gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA <gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA> Date: Monday, February 01, 1999 10:10 AM Subject: Self-Introduction >Havign just joined the list, I wanted to introduce myself. I am the >editor of a collection, DETECTION BY GASLIGHT (Dover), made up, >obviously enough, of Victorian and Edwardian detective stories and >with Jack Adrian I recently edited THE DETECTIONS OF MISS CUSACK by >L. t. Meade and Robert Eustace--a collection of 6 detective stories >from the late 90's about a woman detective. > >Doug Greene >
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 17:29:32 -0800 From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu> Subject: Literature as Art? First, welcome to the group Bob Eldridge and Doug Greene. Glad to have you both join the Gaslight discussions. Bob E. wrote: <<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.)>> Interesting comments, Bob E. Literature or Fiction? All of it is Fiction, but only some of it could be called Literature. <grin> To some degree, this is very subjective, however, would I call the majority of pulp fiction generated around the turn of the century Literature? No, but it does have value as literature, and some of it is great fun to read. As you can see from the Gaslight website, over the years we have read a wide range of fiction, from literature to pulp serials, as well as a few pathetic stories we have consigned to oblivion. Some writers, naturally are better than others, but I must say that every story has been enlightening in some manner. Any other thoughts about this issue? Patricia Patricia A. Teter PTeter(at)Getty.edu
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Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 21:14:46 -0500 (EST) From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu> Subject: Bob Eldridge intro Bob Eldridge writes: <<. 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 thought that I would take this opportunity to point out that the 1903 edition of _The Hashish Eater_ has a cover illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. << 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.<< Well, Bob, we do what we can to help out our fearless leader, Stephen Davies, a man to whom we all owe an enormous debt of gratitude. Don Dulchinos was very helpful. Don and I worked out a deal. I wanted three Ludlow stories for Gaslight: "The Phial of Dread," "The Music Essence," and "The Taxidermist." I was able to get a copy of the first at the U. of Maryland library; Don sent me his _only_ photocopies of the last two on the understanding that I would type them up both for Gaslight and his Ludlow page. I did just that. I am also going to try finding Ludlow?s Poesque story, "A Strange Acquaintance of Mine." This tale is set in New Orleans during a fever epidemic. << 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.<< Yes, very often I will read a story, and value it, chiefly because of a window that it opens up onto another time. The story might not interest me, the characters may pall; but the description of some out-of-the-way place, of a particular belief, a way of doing things that has passed, hold me fascinated. I think many of us on Gaslight are like that: a certain amount of nostalgia for the past is strong in us, though we are quite aware that this past was not without its problems. What I try to find, personally, are values that I can still adhere to. As someone not exactly enamored of the present, I look back to a time that at least seems saner, more innocent, and more whole. << 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.)<< I believe most Gaslight members would agree with your last statement. My own view is that stories are often quite sophisticated and rise to the level of (sometimes) exquisite art. On the other hand, we see tales that we realize are not of very high quality artistically, though it may have elements that intrigue us. No one, I believe, is bound to like only the best--I know that I like many things that are not particularly good and shun others that I am well aware are superior. (Taste doesn?talways equal aesthetic value.) << 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.<< Yes, in the case of Ludlow, I believe this is true. He calls himself in _The Hasheesh Eater_, a Pythagorean. But much of what we see as the finest in nineteenth-century literature does owe a debt to the Middle Ages. For example, the works of DeQuincey and Melville draw strongly on seventeenth-century writers like Sir Thomas Browne. << Do we get a preview of coming attractions for the Le Fanu piece? Is it mystery, or supernatural, or what?<< A good question. We will have to wait for the rest of it (this is a novel being given to us in parts (why not as a serial?), so we don?t quite know what LeFanu is doing. Welcome to Gaslight! 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 _________________________________________________ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 07:32:32 -0800 (PST) From: Susan Demers <susandemers(at)hotmail.com> Subject: Fiction? Literature? Reading. Bob Eldridge's query as to the nature of the material with which we choose to spend our halogen-lit evenings brings to mind a recent comment of my father's. He is a lifetime reader who became a college professor. (Largely I have always thought for the opportunity to infect other readers.)One of four brothers he is the only one to graduate from high school. Ultimately he collected 2 M.A.s, a Ph.D. and an Ed.D. As we were discussing how siblings can be so very different, he began to talk about his mother. She was a dour and hard-working Scot Presbyterian emigre who demanded much of her hard working sons. When she caught my uncles reading Zane Grey she confiscated the books as trash and policed their reading for many months. Initially they would sneak around trying to cadge copies of magazines(It was the age of the short story.)and books. In the end, their interest was exhausted and they got out of the habit of reading which was an undeveloped one at best. He maintains that if they had been allowed to read the trash they would have out of desperation moved on to other things. (At this point my dad who was extolling the virtues of Anna Quinlan's wonderful assay "How Reading Changed My Life" confessed that he had never been able to stomach the Waverley novels although they were "supposed" to be good for him and that he simply ignored his mother to read all the seafaring genre junk he could get his hands on!) I think he is indeed correct. That reading is a habit which must be fed and nourished and these genre stories that we are engaged in reading give us the opportunity spend time in another era, to read some of the material that shaped our parents and grandparents views of America and the twentieth century and most wonderfully for me, to slow time if only for a half hour or so to savor language written by folk who were not in a rush and who believed in the power of mere words to entertain, cast a spell, create an alternate reality, comment on life, have an opinion or idea or two. Most refreshing. Susan Demers ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 08:53:54 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> Subject: Re: Fiction? Literature? Reading. >I think he is indeed correct. That reading is a habit which must be fed >and nourished and these genre stories that we are engaged in reading >give us the opportunity spend time in another era Susan, Thanks for a great story and I heartily agree. My father was addicted to early science fiction and read loads of "trash" scifi magazines in the middle part of this century. I remember being very attracted to the covers of them and would sneak them at 6 years old to try and read. I was afraid someone would say they were too old for me but when found out my father gave me a big stack of them. Somewhere along the line I started reading Nancy Drew, Biographies of Famous People, and finally into Dumas, Austin, Alcott, Dickens, Hammett, Raymond Chandler and H.P.Lovecraft. Eclectic at best. Yet a close friend had the same experience of your father's, books were not encouraged in his house and he never got in the habit of reading. I started him back up again with the same method my parents used--great books in weird covers. Once he started reading that was it. So it's never too late. His cross section though covers all the lost children books he missed out on to engrossing reading of Scientific American and Armchair Physics. So it's not only another era, it's another dimension as well! Best, Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 09:28:10 -0700 From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org> Subject: Re: The Music Essence The full issue I cut this from was forwarded to me through Medlib-L for another story - but this story's parallel to "The Music Essence" is quite striking. Jerry gmc(at)libra.pvh.org To: nursingnetwork <nursingnetwork(at)Majordomo.net> Date: Monday, February 01, 1999 10:38 AM Subject: Today's Healthcare News from the Nursing Network - 2/1/99 Today's Headlines for Monday, 2/1/99 - Please note that some links may no longer be active because of the date of the story Title: Blind man says sight a burden Resource: AP Wire Service When doctors restored Shirl Jennings' sight, his old world of darkness filled with fear and frustration. Used to seeing nothing, suddenly seeing everything was a shock. Images appeared but he did not know what they were without touching or smelling them. Lacking depth perception, walking down a sidewalk became a frightening journey. He tripped over curbs, stumbled over things and could not walk up stairs. He did not understand facial expressions. When he tried to go back to work as a masseur, the body parts began to disgust him. Jennings, whose story inspired the movie "At First Sight," had no visual memory when he regained his sight at age 51. The experimental surgery fixed his eyes, but his mind did not know how to interpret the images flooding his senses. http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558276761-979
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 11:56:37 -0700 From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org> Subject: Today in History - Pork Sausage Day 1848 The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo formally ends the Mexican War. 1870 The press agencies Havas, Reuter and Wolff sign an agreement whereby between them they can cover the whole world. 1876 The National Baseball League is founded with eight teams. 1900 Six cities, Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Chicago and St. Louis agree to form baseball's American League. 1901 Mexican government troops are badly beaten by Yaqui Indians. 1916 U.S. Senate votes independence for Philippines, effective in 1921. Born on February 2 1754 Charles Maurice de Tallyrand-Perigord, minister of foreign affairs for Napoleon I, who represented France brilliantly at the Congress of Vienna. 1882 James Joyce, Irish novelist and poet who wrote _Ulysses_ and _Portrait of a Young Man_. 1890 Charles Correl, "Andy" of the "Amos and Andy" radio program. 1895 George Halas, National Football League co-founder.
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 17:49:10 -0500 (EST) From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu> Subject: This week's author Whenever I am at sixes-and-sevenses about an author whose work appeared in the first two or three decades of this century, I invariably turn to that mine of information, Kunitz and Haycraft's _Twentieth-Century Authors_. The book, as usual, had some interesting information to communicate about this week's author. After reading her brief bio, I'm sure you'll say along with me, What an extraordinary person! Bob C. Benson, Stella (1892-December 6, 1933), English novelist, was born at Lutwyche Hall, Muchwenlock, Shropshire, the daughter of Ralph Beaumont Benson and Caroline (Chomondeley) Benson, daughter of the Rev. R. H. Cholmondeley. May Cholmendeley, the novelist, was her aunt. Stella was a delicate child, and so was educated privately, at home, on the French Riviera, in Germany and in Switzerland. A lifelong love of travel early declared itself. Just before the war she took an interest in woman suffrage and worked for a time in the East End of London for the Charity Organization Society. Dissatisfied with the Society's methods, she felt that the best way to see the life of the poor was to share it. She therefore opened a small genreal shop in the depressed district of Hoxton, taling a local woman as partner. There she remained until 1917, writing her first two novels, _I Pose_ and _This Is the End_ during that period. _I Pose_ was sent to the great publishing house of Macmillan, with a request for a decision in a week's time, and accepted by them. Miss Benson then became a land worker, but owing to the weakness of her lungs left for America in June 1918. She was under doctor's orders for California, but spent some time (and all her money) in New York and New England, so that when she arrived in California she had to take menial employment on a ranch. Just before Christmas, 1918, she arrived in San Francisco with five dollars in her pocket, and on Christmas day she finished her third novel, _Living Alone_. She passed eighteen months living in a tiny room in Berkeley, working first as lady's maid, bill collector, and book agent, but later securing more suitable posts, first as tutor in the University of California and next as editorial reader for the University Press. In January, 1920, she set off for England again by way of the Far East. She took eighteen months on the journey and had all manner of adventures, inclufing tiger shooting in India, teaching fifty Chinese boys in a mission school, and working in the X-ray department of an American hospital at Peking. In China, too, she met the man she was to marry--John O'Gorman Anderson, of the Customs service. The wedding took place in London in 1921, and the honeymoon was spent in traveling the American continent from East to West in a Ford car, a journey described in _Little World_. Back in China, the Andersons were stationed first at the remote village of Mengste, in the Yunnan, next to the bitterly cold Kirin province of Manchuria, and later in an upcountry town in South China, whence they escaped with difficulty from a dangerous situation caused by the internecine wars. Stella Benson's later books included _Good-bye, Stranger_, a retelling of familiar myths and stories, _The Man Who Missed the 'Bus_, an exercise in the uncanny, and _Tobit Transplanted_ (American title: _The Far-Away Bride_), which won her the Feminia Vie Heureuse Prize. It relateds with intricate detail and considerable insight the life of a White Russian community in Manchuria. _Worlds Within Worlds_ was a collection of travel articles from magazines. Twho collections of short stories, _Hope Against Hope_ and _Christmas Formula_ wre also made. Her last place of residence was Hongay, in the province of Tongking. There she died of pneumonia a month before her forty-first birthday. "My first book, _I Pose_," wrote Stella Benson in the last year of her life, "was written in order to Show Off...._Living Alone_ was the first of my books the writing of which interested me impersonally--the first, in fact, that was in some measure a book about _other people_, not only about myself in different masochistic or romantic or inverted guises...._The Poor Man_ was written in a mood of revulsion against visions, and for this reason was a very formless and--in a sense--an even more intemperate book than its predecessors....My last novel, _Tobit Transplanted_, being written with a fixed frame (the frame provided by the apocryphal story), allowed me greater scope than usual for detachment of outlook. It is my first really consistent effort to record, as honestly as was possible for me, the point of view of people _as other people_not as people seen by me or seen through myself, but people _seeing_ by themsleves--each from the vantage point of his own identity." Stella Benson was recognized by the few from her beginnings as a wit and an original, but it was only with the publication of _Tobit Transplanted_ that she reached high circulation figures. Frail, diffident, and modest, she wrote anywhere and at any time, using a pencil and working in an exercise book. Tolstoy was her most admired author. She was devoted to dogs, which figured largely both in her books and her life, was a fine horsewoman, and made competent drawings in pen-and-ink. _________________________________________________ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 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 _________________________________________________ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 15:45:29 -0800 From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu> Subject: Re: This week's author Bob C., thank you for the Stella Benson biographical information. After reading this week's story, I was very curious about Benson and her odd little tale. The location and characters now make sense, but I am still contemplating the disturbing ending. Has anyone read any other piece by Stella Benson? I am curious to hear other reactions to this story. Patricia Patricia A. Teter PTeter(at)Getty.edu
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 16:12:29 -0800 From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu> Subject: Re: The Irish Zorro Bob C. wrote: <<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, handsome; 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.>>> Sheesh! thanks for bursting the bubble! Red hair and beard??? Not MY Zorro! <grin> Patricia (off to play swashbuckler with the REAL Zorro!)
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 19:12:46 -0500 From: "James E. Kearman" <jkearman(at)gate.net> Subject: Desert Islander A disturbing story, indeed. A Russian deserter from the French Foreign Legion, who doesn't want to be 'generalized.' An English gentleman who, at great risk and difficulty, tries to transport the deserter to a place where he can have his leg amputated. Meanwhile the Boxer Rebellion (?) rages in the background. Is there some message about Colonialism? Constantine (an allusion to the emperor who brought Christianity into the Roman Empire, another great revolution?) is concerned lest he be ill thought of by the Englishman. I think I see the allusions but the analysis eludes me. Cheers, Jim - ---------------------------------------- Jim Kearman mailto:jkearman(at)iname.com http://www.gate.net/~jkearman
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 17:39:24 -0800 From: "Robert T. Eldridge" <rfx(at)earthlink.net> Subject: Re: This week's author Patricia Teter wrote: > > Bob C., thank you for the Stella Benson biographical > information. After reading this week's story, I was > very curious about Benson and her odd little tale. > The location and characters now make sense, > but I am still contemplating the disturbing ending. > > Has anyone read any other piece by Stella Benson? > I am curious to hear other reactions to this story. > > Patricia > > Patricia A. Teter > PTeter(at)Getty.edu Patricia, et. al: I seem to be out of the loop on this Benson story. When I go to Gaslight's home page, and search Current Reading Schedule, it only goes up through January, and the first installment of _Haunted Lives_ by Le Fanu. Which story are we supposed to be reading? I do know a couple of things about the author, or her work, rather. "The Man Who Missed the Bus" is a short story with some supernatural content, of an allegorical nature. I read it some time ago, and was not too taken with it. (It was published in the Elkin Mathews series of Woburn Books - a series that later included Algernon Blackwood's "Full Circle.") Another short story of hers, "The Awakening," is supposedly supernatural. Her main contribution to the weird/fantasy/supernatural genre, though, is her novel, _Living Alone_, which Bleiler (in _The Guide to Supernatural Fiction_) describes as an account of "everyday events during World War I transmuted by 'magic,' told in an idiosyncratic way." This looked quite interesting to me, judging from the first few pages. Having glanced now through my copy of Stella Benson's _Collected Short Stories_, I see now that we're reading "The Desert Islander," but I still don't understand where the electronic version of the text is to be found. Meanwhile, I look forward to reading this Benson story. She sounds like quite an adventurous woman. Bob Eldridge
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 22:34:32 -0500 From: "S.T. Karnick" <skarnick(at)INDY.NET> Subject: Re: This week's author Robert Eldridge wrote, in part, >Patricia Teter wrote: >> >> Bob C., thank you for the Stella Benson biographical >> information. After reading this week's story, I was >> very curious about Benson and her odd little tale. >> The location and characters now make sense, >> but I am still contemplating the disturbing ending. > I seem to be out of the loop on this Benson story. When I go to >Gaslight's home page, and search Current Reading Schedule, it only goes >up through January, and the first installment of _Haunted Lives_ by Le >Fanu. Which story are we supposed to be reading? Same here. I never got the message alluded to earlier about Zorro -- which I would like to have seen -- and when I go to the website the schedule only goes through January. I seem to be having the same problem some of us had a while ago, receiving only some of the messages. Best w's, S.T. Karnick
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Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 18:23:55 -0800 From: "Robert T. Eldridge" <rfx(at)earthlink.net> Subject: Re: Bob Eldridge intro Thanks to Bob Champ, Patricia Teeter, and Susan Demers for their thoughtful responses to my posting, (and to those of you who may have felt some response without putting it into words). A few re-responses: > I thought that I would take this opportunity to point out that the 1903 > edition of _The Hashish Eater_ has a cover illustration by Aubrey > Beardsley. This is the edition I have. The title page and frontis are by Beardsley. I'd be happy to scan them and post them (if I can figure out how) if anyone wants to see them. > I am also going to try finding Ludlow?s Poesque story, "A Strange > Acquaintance of Mine." This tale is set in New Orleans during a > fever epidemic. > Sounds good. I'll look forward to it. > Yes, very often I will read a story, and value it, chiefly because of a > window that it opens up onto another time. One of the reasons I gravitate to the Gaslight period as a reader is because I think it was a golden age of literature in some ways. Literacy was widespread; and literature (meaning any and all printed material designed for other than purely utilitarian ends, like a phone book) was the dominant art form, without comptetion from the electric and electronic media that would take over later in the twentieth century. Being the dominant form, it attracted the best minds to it both as producers and as consumers - and the best producers of a form are as nothing without a good audience. In addition, after about 1885, with the introduction of the Linotype machine, and the subsequent lowered costs of printing, it flourished all the more as a mass medium. The situation of literature in the Victorian and Edwardian period puts me in mind of the situation of drama in the Elizabethan, which likewise was the dominant form, with great appeal for both masses and elite. I think it's for very good reasons that anyone who loves books and what they contain should feel nostalgia for the gaslight era. The printed word ruled in a way that it never had, and never has since. > I believe most Gaslight members would agree with your last statement. > My own view is that stories are often quite sophisticated and rise to > the level of (sometimes) exquisite art. On the other hand, we > see tales that we realize are not of very high quality artistically, > though it may have elements that intrigue us. No one, I believe, is bound > to like only the best--I know that I like many things that are not > particularly good and shun others that I am well aware are superior. > (Taste doesn?talways equal aesthetic value.) My hunch about what's going on here, in part, at least, is that, the more one explores and comes to know a particular medium or genre, the more one is able to find value in the second and third ranks of its work. I think I know the difference between great and good work in fiction, but I don't expect everything I read to be great. The good has value too; and sometimes a story may have only one or two good features, but is to be cherished just the same for whatever it contributes to the living stream of our language. I enjoyed the stories that Susan and Deborah related about the different paths that reading takes as it enters into the lives of those who come to love it. I bet that everyone has a good story about this. Bob Eldridge "Lege, lege; aliquid haerebit." ------------------------------ End of Gaslight Digest V1 #39 *****************************