In this issue: Chat: flapper slang Re: Gaslight Digest V1 #40 Re: Chat: flapper slang Fantomas Fantomas RE: Fantomas Re: Fantomas (websites & woops) This week's story? SciFi classic e-text Re: Concerning _Les Vampires_ Vernes Birthday today Fantomas (again) Unruffled Riders Re: Vernes Birthday today Today in History - Feb. 9 Re: Today in History - Feb. 9 Re: Vernes Birthday today Re: Vernes Birthday today "Have Gun Will Travel" episode Re: "Have Gun Will Travel" episode Re: Vernes Birthday today "The Desert Islander" again Re: "The Desert Islander" again RE: "The Desert Islander" again Etext avail: Stella Benson's "The desert islander" (fwd) -----------------------------THE POSTS----------------------------- Date: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 22:21:15 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> Subject: Chat: flapper slang Thanks for passing these on, Bob, they were a lot of fun. Now the next time I watch a "Thin Man" movie I will be in the know, with the cheaters on and the popcorn at hand. >Lollygagger -- a young man addicted to attempts at hallway spooning Not the way I use this term!!--always thought it was someone who drug their feet, or was slow moving along with the group (i.e. a lagger). Wow! great fun. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
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Date: Sat, 06 Feb 1999 17:46:31 +1100 From: Lucy Sussex <lsussex(at)netspace.net.au> Subject: Re: Gaslight Digest V1 #40 > > Tales of Terror from Blackwood's Magazine > Edited with an Introduction by ROBERT MORRISON and CHRIS BALDICK > > The tales of terror and hysteria published in the heydey (1817-32) of > Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine became a literary legend in the nineteenth > century. Blackwood's was the most important and influential literary-political > journal of its time, and a major institution not just in Scottish letters but > in the development of British and American Romanticism. This edition selects > some of the best tales from the magazine's first fifteen years, and includes > works by well-known writers such as Walter Scott, James Hogg, and John Galt > alongside talented but now almost forgotten authors like William Godwin, > Samuel Warren, and William Mudford. I'll be pedantic and disagree with this - Godwin was, after all, the author of CALEB WILLIAMS (1794), an important precursor of the detective novel, and still a gripping read. Not to mention marrying Mary Wollstonecraft and fathering Mary Shelley. James Hogg is a fabulous writer! I just read the MEMOIRS AND CONFESSIONS OF A JUSTIFIED SINNER. Lucy Sussex
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Date: Sat, 06 Feb 1999 08:31:42 -0500 (EST) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Chat: flapper slang Deborah said these were fun... was this a private post? Didn't see anything about flapper slang in my mailbox... hmmm phoebe
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Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 22:11:26 -0500 From: "Kevin J. Clement" <clementk(at)alink.com> Subject: Fantomas On Fri, Feb 5, 1999, Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu> wrote: >On Thu, 4 Feb 1999, Patricia wrote: > >> Bob C., thanks for the information on the upcoming >> screening of _Les Vampires_. This series came out during >> the Fantomas craze, did it not? I seem to remember >> a few Fantomas fans in the group. > >The first Fantomas film, simply entitled _Fantomas_, appeared in >1913 and was directed by the same man who made _Les Vampires_, >Louis Feuillade. > >Bob C. Is this serial/film series available on videotape as well or is it ever shown on tv? It would be interesting to watch as well and compare with Les Vampires. I've found a few websites on Fantomas but Kevin Clement clementk(at)alink.com
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Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 23:00:57 -0500 From: "Kevin J. Clement" <clementk(at)alink.com> Subject: Fantomas On Fri, Feb 5, 1999, Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu> wrote: >On Thu, 4 Feb 1999, Patricia wrote: > >> Bob C., thanks for the information on the upcoming >> screening of _Les Vampires_. This series came out during >> the Fantomas craze, did it not? I seem to remember >> a few Fantomas fans in the group. > >The first Fantomas film, simply entitled _Fantomas_, appeared in >1913 and was directed by the same man who made _Les Vampires_, >Louis Feuillade. > >Bob C. Is this film series available on videotape as well or is it ever shown on tv? It would be interesting to watch and compare with Les Vampires. I've found a few websites on Fantomas but was unable to find any information on availability. Kevin Clement clementk(at)alink.com
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Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 15:03:17 +1100
From: Craig Walker <cwalker(at)lto.nsw.gov.au>
Subject: RE: Fantomas
Kevin,
Details on these websites would be excellent.
Thanks
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: Kevin J. Clement [mailto:clementk(at)alink.com]
> Sent: Monday, February 08, 1999 14:11
> To: gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
> Subject: Fantomas
>
>
> On Fri, Feb 5, 1999, Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu> wrote:
>
> >On Thu, 4 Feb 1999, Patricia wrote:
> >
> >> Bob C., thanks for the information on the upcoming
> >> screening of _Les Vampires_. This series came out during
> >> the Fantomas craze, did it not? I seem to remember
> >> a few Fantomas fans in the group.
> >
> >The first Fantomas film, simply entitled _Fantomas_, appeared in
> >1913 and was directed by the same man who made _Les Vampires_,
> >Louis Feuillade.
> >
> >Bob C.
>
> Is this serial/film series available on videotape as well or
> is it ever
> shown on tv? It would be interesting to watch as well and compare with
> Les Vampires. I've found a few websites on Fantomas but
>
> Kevin Clement
> clementk(at)alink.com
>
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Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 00:10:06 -0500 From: "Kevin J. Clement" <clementk(at)alink.com> Subject: Re: Fantomas (websites & woops) On Mon, Feb 8, 1999, Craig Walker <cwalker(at)lto.nsw.gov.au> wrote: >Kevin, > >Details on these websites would be excellent. > >Thanks > >Craig Woops, please ignore the 1st Fantomas email I sent. That was a rough draft that accidently got sent instead of saved. Nasty feature sent my email when I hit enter after clicking on the email window. I've found two _Fantomas_ sites sofar that were helpful to me. The Fantomas Website http://www.fantomas-lives.com/ has scans of novel covers, posters, and some good info The Friends of Fantomas Society In the New World http://www.fantomas.org/ includes a midi "Fantomas Waltz", haven't had a chance to explore as much both seem to feature the original films and novels more than the 60's films. Kevin Clement clementk(at)alink.com
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Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 01:12:32 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: This week's story?
Has Stephen posted a story for this week? I seem to have missed the
info if he has. Can't remember seeing it.
Sorry to have sent that Flapper Slang Dictionary with all the definitions
run together. (That will teach me to look at a downloaded post before
I send it!)
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
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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: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 02:22:49 -0900 From: Robert Raven <rraven(at)alaska.net> Subject: SciFi classic e-text To all gaslighters, Just a note that George Allan England's 1914 classic trilogy Darkness and Dawn is now available on-line at http://www.litrix.com Bob Raven
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Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 09:03:52 -0800 From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu> Subject: Re: Concerning _Les Vampires_ Bob C. writes: <<The first Fantomas film, simply entitled _Fantomas_, appeared in 1913 and was directed by the same man who made _Les Vampires_, Louis Feuillade.>> Ah, I knew there had to be a connection! <g> Thanks, Bob. Patricia
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Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 20:52:04 -0500 From: clementk(at)alink.com (Clement, Kevin) Subject: Vernes Birthday today Jules Verne is Born (1828) His "Voyages Extraordinaires," such as Journey to the Center of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, wedded high adventure to a sense of wonder and a faith in science. from http://www.scifi.com/calendar/ though Verne's birthday probably won't be up for much longer... Though I learned of this too late to rent a Verne flick or loan a Verne book, there are plenty of Verne etexts out there. Kevin Clement clementk(at)alink.com
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Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 01:58:01 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Fantomas (again)
Elliot Smith of the Fantomas website (I forget the formal name)sent
me a post concerning videos of the Feuillade film(s}. I reproduce
the most salient part of it below
Bob C.
<<
Evidently Facets Multimedia (?) has available a video of Feuillade's JUVE
CONTRE FANTOMAS. The print is of rather mediocre quality, and (I believe)
has French intertitles. That's the only one of the series that's available,
to my knowledge. Several years ago Gaumont restored all of the Feuillade
Fantomas films; I'm hoping that some enterprising company like WaterBearer
Films will see fit to issue the entire series.
_________________________________________________
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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, 09 Feb 1999 14:09:39 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Unruffled Riders
The December/January issue of _Civilization_ contains a brief
article on the Rough Riders and the fate of cavalry troops during
the Spanish-American War. It also explores the role of the
camera in "creating" history. I thought it would be of interest
to Gaslighters.
Bob C. (wondering where everyone is)
1,001 American Knights
_There will be few such chances again to see a brigade of cavalry
advancing--in a line two miles long--tearing, cheering, through
the undergrowth, their stell swords flashing over their heads
and the stell horseshoes flashing underfoot_
So wrote war correspondent Richard Harding Davis upon
witnessing the First Volunteer Cavalry maneuvering on the
sandy wastes of Tampa, Florida, before the invasion of Cuba.
When the Spanish-American War was declared in April
1898, men lugging the recently invented motion-picture
camera joined the rush of journalists for the first time
(there's extant film, too, of reporters literally rushing the
telegraph office in Key West to file their latest stories).
The Library of Congress has restored and made available
68 films of the Spanish-American War and the Phillipine
Revolution that survived because they were submitted
by the Biograph Company or the Edison Manufacturing
Company for copyright protection...(To find [stills] on
the Internet, go to the Library's home page--www.loc.gov--
and click into the American Memory collection, then
click on the "motion pictures" heading and scroll down
the list of film collections to "The Spanish-American War
in Pictures, 1898-1901.")
Davis recognized that such scenes of charging horsemen
would soon belong wholly to the past, although this did
not become generally apparent until the tragic early days
of World War 1). But even in the midst of the rapid and
profound technological changes of the 1890s, which
saw experimentation with gasoline automobiles and heavier-
than-air flight and the improvement of machine guns and
artillery, Americans still clung to the romantic image of
cavalry as the embodiment of manly warfare. Famous for
dash and elan, mounted troops recalled the glorious days
of chivalrous knighthood as well as the wide-ranging
freedom of cowboys--ways of llife that middle-class
American youth revered as they saw their own world
being taken over by machines and the drive for corporate
profits. "It may be that the United States is to become
the Knight Errant of the world," wrote the Methodist
Bishop Charles C. McCabe, reflecting the moral outrage
American felt over Spain's suppression of Cuban
liberties. "War with Spanin may put her in a position
to demand civil and religious liberty for oppressed people
of every nation and of every clime."
The "knights" of the First Volunterr Cavalry, more
famous as the Rough Riders, were cowboys, Indians,
and Hispanics drawn from the Southwest, and Eastern
bluebloods who had proven their mettle of the playing
fields of the Ivy League. Theodore Roosevelt, who
as assistant secretary of the Navy had spent previous
months modernizing the American fleet, resigned to
join this decidedly unmodern outfit as second-in-
command under Leonard Wood. They would not become
"Roosevelt's" Rough Riders until casualties and illness
in Cuba brought his promotion. These mounted warriors,
combining as they did the glamour of big-city
sophisticates with the true grit of the frontier, quickly
became the most popular of all American military units.
But Davis was more immediately prescient than he knew,
for just a few hours after he witnessed the most elaborate
of the Tampa maneuvers, Wood and Roosevelt were
informed that there would be no room for cavalry horses
on the transport vessels. One wit promptly dubbed the
regiment Wood's Weary Walkers. They were charge
heroically in Cuba, but on foot, and by far the great
majority of these--and all American--casualties would be
the very unglamorous result of dysentery, malaria, and
yellow fever.
But no matter to the filmmakers: Thomas Edison decided
to improve upon history by staging scenes in New Jersey,
also preserved, depicting mounted Rough Riders supporting
infantry at the battle of El Caney--a kind of yellow-
journalistic anticipation of _Wag the Dog_. Not only were
the real participants on foot; they were never even within
rifle shot of El Caney. This restaging of the past was
also a glimpse of the future. Now images, both authentic
and otherwise, of every armed conflict around the world
find their way quickly into our homes, but the trail
for both was blazed a hundred years ago.
David Traxel
_________________________________________________
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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, 09 Feb 1999 13:10:18 -0500 (CDT) From: MEDS002(at)UABDPO.DPO.UAB.EDU Subject: Re: Vernes Birthday today As an aside to the Verne birthday note, I was channel surfing in between bouts of leaf mulching this past Sunday afternoon and came upon the last few minutes of an episode of _Have Gun Will Travel_ with Richard Boone on TVLand...the credits of this particular episode noted: "Based on Jules Verne's novel _Around the World in 80 Days_"...you just never know where that Verne fellow will turn up...aj wright
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Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 12:20:06 -0700
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - Feb. 9
1825
The House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams, sixth
U.S. President.
1861
Jefferson F. Davis is elected president of the Confederate
States of America.
1864
Union General George Armstrong Custer marries Elizabeth Bacon
in their hometown of
Monroe, Mich.
1904
Japanese troops land near Seoul, Korea, after disabling two
Russian cruisers.
1909
France agrees to recognize German economic interests in Morocco
in exchange for
political supremacy.
1916
Conscription begins in Great Britain as the Military Service
Act becomes effective.
Born on February 9
1773
William Henry Harrison, ninth U.S. President and the first to
die in office.
1814
Samuel Tilden, philanthropist.
1846
William Maybach, German engineer, designed the first Mercedes
automobile.
(RIDDLE: What happens when a Mercedes hits a lamp post? Answer
below)
1909
Dean Rusk, Secretary of State under presidents John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson.
WARNING: If you continue, you'll be hit with a horrible pun.
ANSWER TO RIDDLE: The Mercedes Bends.
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Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 14:35:21 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re: Today in History - Feb. 9
Have mercy, deities.
Bob C.
On Tue, 9 Feb 1999, Jerry Carlson wrote:
>
(RIDDLE: What happens when a Mercedes hits a lamp post? Answer below)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> WARNING: If you continue, you'll be hit with a horrible pun.
>
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>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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>
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>
> ANSWER TO RIDDLE: The Mercedes Bends.
>
>
_________________________________________________
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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, 09 Feb 1999 14:40:32 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re: Vernes Birthday today
And did you note any resemblances in the show, AJ? I do
remember that Paladin was almost as unperturbable
as Phileas Fogg. Was there a bet on traveling times?
That would make some sense, since Paladin's business
cards read, "Have gun, will travel."
Bob C,
On Tue, 9 Feb 1999 MEDS002(at)UABDPO.DPO.UAB.EDU wrote:
> As an aside to the Verne birthday note, I was channel surfing in between bouts
> of leaf mulching this past Sunday afternoon and came upon the last few minutes
> of an episode of _Have Gun Will Travel_ with Richard Boone on TVLand...the
> credits of this particular episode noted: "Based on Jules Verne's novel
_Around
> the World in 80 Days_"...you just never know where that Verne fellow will turn
> up...aj wright
>
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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, 09 Feb 1999 15:52:40 -0500 (CDT) From: MEDS002(at)UABDPO.DPO.UAB.EDU Subject: Re: Vernes Birthday today I really didn't see enough of the _Have Gun..._ episode to say how it resembled Verne's bk...caught maybe the last minute and then the credits... aj wright
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Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 17:45:09 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: "Have Gun Will Travel" episode
This may very well have been the episode you _almost_
saw, AJ:
12/03/60
Fogg Bound
Paladin meets Phineas Fogg of
_Around the World in 80 Days_
fame, helps him and entourage
cross river
I found an episode guide, as well as a number of sound files from the show
(mostly, great Paladin lines) at the following URL:
http://www.dynanet.com/~fischer/index.htm
As a teenager, I loved "Have Gun Will Travel."
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
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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, 09 Feb 1999 17:53:40 -0500 From: Linda Anderson <lpa1(at)ptdprolog.net> Subject: Re: "Have Gun Will Travel" episode Bob- was my father's most hated episode in there? The one that broke to commercial just as Paladin had entered the cave and the grizzly bear wrapped its paws around Paladin's throat? the next thing you saw was "What do doctors recommend for headache?" and so on. Dad never forgave the network for that one! Linda Anderson At 05:45 PM 02/09/1999 -0500, you wrote: >This may very well have been the episode you _almost_ >saw, AJ: > >12/03/60 >Fogg Bound > >Paladin meets Phineas Fogg of >_Around the World in 80 Days_ >fame, helps him and entourage >cross river > >I found an episode guide, as well as a number of sound files from the show >(mostly, great Paladin lines) at the following URL: > >http://www.dynanet.com/~fischer/index.htm > >As a teenager, I loved "Have Gun Will Travel." > >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, 09 Feb 1999 18:51:29 -0900 From: Robert Raven <rraven(at)alaska.net> Subject: Re: Vernes Birthday today Coincidentally, I just today picked up at a used bookstore an ancient copy of a really obscure Verne novel called "800 Leagues on the Amazon." Anybody know anything about this work? Bob Raven
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Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 20:48:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: "The Desert Islander" again
I'm a little surprised that the Sally Benson story hasn't produced more
commentary, especially since it presents something of a departure
from our regular fare. It has a modern tone and dwells on character
development far more than plot. The plot, in fact, looks rather thin
compared to some of our tales--consider some of Hyne's elaborate
Captain Cuttle plots, for instance. On the other hand, we seldom pry
so far or so deep into the mind of a character as we do Constantine's.
It should also be point out too, perhaps, that for this kind of
investigation, the third person limited narration is a superb technique ,
and Benson handles it adroitly here. (I am reminded that this is also the
technique Joyce uses in _Dubliners_--a precursor to his more daring
experiment with interior voices in _Ulysses_.)
I believe, too, as I suggested in my last post, that Benson may well
be drawing on the then-new interest in psychoanalysis--not in any
obvious or vulgar way but as means of dealing sympathetically
with a character who is at once unpleasant and, at times, seemingly
diseased. ( I am tempted to say that what were once eccentricities are
now pathologies.) Constantine's alienation, in any case, marks him
as the kind of character we are going to be seeing much more of in
modern literature. Not that we don't see alienated characters in many
of our stories, but here the subject matter seems to be Constantine's
alienation. Kafka's and Camus's characters don't seemed so very far
removed from the central figure in Benson's tale, though Benson
holds back a little by throwing a veil of humor over her tale. She
presents us with the absurd but cannot quite bring herself to
draw the absurd as an occurence in the lives of everyday men and
women.
Perhaps it is this quite of treatment that has put off much discussion
of the tale, but I am impressed by Benson's treatment of Constantine
and White, two men who see in each other a plight that cannot
be avoided.
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
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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, 09 Feb 1999 21:09:52 -0500 From: "S.T. Karnick" <skarnick(at)INDY.NET> Subject: Re: "The Desert Islander" again Bob's comments are interesting as ever, but, as some of us noted earlier, evidently not all list members have received a schedule lately, and the one on the website ends in January. Unlike most reviewers, I do not like to comment on what I have not read. Best w's, S.T. Karnick - -----Original Message----- From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu> To: gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA <gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA> Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 8:50 PM Subject: "The Desert Islander" again >I'm a little surprised that the Sally Benson story hasn't produced more >commentary, especially since it presents something of a departure >from our regular fare. It has a modern tone and dwells on character >development far more than plot. The plot, in fact, looks rather thin >compared to some of our tales--consider some of Hyne's elaborate >Captain Cuttle plots, for instance. On the other hand, we seldom pry >so far or so deep into the mind of a character as we do Constantine's. >It should also be point out too, perhaps, that for this kind of >investigation, the third person limited narration is a superb technique , >and Benson handles it adroitly here. (I am reminded that this is also the >technique Joyce uses in _Dubliners_--a precursor to his more daring >experiment with interior voices in _Ulysses_.) > >I believe, too, as I suggested in my last post, that Benson may well >be drawing on the then-new interest in psychoanalysis--not in any >obvious or vulgar way but as means of dealing sympathetically >with a character who is at once unpleasant and, at times, seemingly >diseased. ( I am tempted to say that what were once eccentricities are >now pathologies.) Constantine's alienation, in any case, marks him >as the kind of character we are going to be seeing much more of in >modern literature. Not that we don't see alienated characters in many >of our stories, but here the subject matter seems to be Constantine's >alienation. Kafka's and Camus's characters don't seemed so very far >removed from the central figure in Benson's tale, though Benson >holds back a little by throwing a veil of humor over her tale. She >presents us with the absurd but cannot quite bring herself to >draw the absurd as an occurence in the lives of everyday men and >women. > >Perhaps it is this quite of treatment that has put off much discussion >of the tale, but I am impressed by Benson's treatment of Constantine >and White, two men who see in each other a plight that cannot >be avoided. > >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: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 13:35:56 +1100
From: Craig Walker <cwalker(at)lto.nsw.gov.au>
Subject: RE: "The Desert Islander" again
Good afternoon,
I know that *I* haven't received the schedule as yet.
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
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Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 02:46:23 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Etext avail: Stella Benson's "The desert islander" (fwd)
Here's Stephen's etext available post for the Benson story.
Now, as for this week...?
Bob C.
(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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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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End of Gaslight Digest V1 #41
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