In this issue:
Bierce definitions
Re: Owl Creek Bridge on Film
Re: Owl Creek Bridge on Film
Re: Owl Creek Bridge on Film
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Re: Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Owl Creek
Re: Owl Creek
Re: Owl Creek
Re: Owl Creek
Today in History - June 8
Re: Owl Creek Bridge on Film
Re: Owl Creek
Re: Owl Creek
Chat: liberal/conservative
Owl Creek
Re: Owl Creek
Re: Owl Creek
Etext avail: Shakespeare/Bacon bibliography
Re: Owl Creek
Re: Today in History - June 8/OT
RE: Owl Creek
Announcing new Ariel-musicalchemy list
Today in History - June 9
metre in railway poem
-----------------------------THE POSTS-----------------------------
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 11:24:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Bierce definitions
I've always enjoyed Bierce's definition of "conservative"
conservative n. A statesmen who is enamored of existing
evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to
replace them with others.
Sounds like some Bierce picked up from that arch-conservative,
Prince Hamlet, who said:
Better to bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of.
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, 08 Jun 1999 12:12:44 -0600 From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org> Subject: Re: Owl Creek Bridge on Film Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 07:37:32 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> >>Any idea on who directed or starred in this? >Check the Ambrose Bierce appreciation page I posted earlier (did you get this?). It appeared as a Twilight Zone and was directed by a French director. You can still order the film on video grouped with other T/Z. The film followed the story very closely. Since I saw the film first the ending was a shock. One of the few times I think the film might be more >effective than the story, still, Bierce's writing led you on the same way.... What I remember is the version that was shown on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which an earlier posting hinted was the same as on TZ. It extended the story somewhat in that Farquar met one of those happy slaves along the way. But to return to the original question, I noted at the outset that Mr. Farquar of Alabama was clearly kin to the Wilkes family of Georgia - he was played by Ronald Howard, son of Leslie Howard. (As some may not know, Ronald also starred in a British Sherlock Holmes series. The entire run was available on video from Publishers Clearing House a few years ago.) Jerry Carlson gmc(at)libra.pvh.org
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 11:31:30 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> Subject: Re: Owl Creek Bridge on Film >What I remember is the version that was shown on Alfred Hitchcock >Presents, which an earlier posting hinted was the same as on TZ. I can't get on the Ambrose Bierce site all of a sudden but from what they listed the Alfred Hitchcock one was a different version, an adaptation of the Bierce story but no director given. The Twilight Zone episode showed as the final episode of the series, not really in conjunction with Mr. Serling, in 1962. It was an award winning French film, directed by Robert Enrico. This is the one that I see is available now as Treasures of the Twilight Zone. The T/Z version/French just has him approaching the plantation, his beloved lifts from a swing and comes towards him hands outstretched when the rope pulls.... I don't think I've even seen the A/H version but it is quite amusing that Ashley Wilkes was cousin to the Farquar's. But then they were to the Hamiltons, too! Thanks for the piece of trivia...is anyone running reruns of the old A/H show that one may keep checking for this? Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 14:33:04 -0500 From: "S.T. Karnick" <skarnick(at)INDY.NET> Subject: Re: Owl Creek Bridge on Film Deborah wrote, >Thanks for the piece of trivia...is anyone running reruns of the old A/H >show that one may keep checking for this? TVland shows them weeknights at 11:30 EDT. Best w's, S.T. Karnick
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 15:32:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Here, as elsewhere in his stories, Bierce's finest effects come from his
distortions of time and space. Read the opening paragraphs of the story:
Bierce seems to be describing a photograph--everything is static. Time
seems frozen. With Farquar's "escape" the stasis is broken; the planter's
fall into the water (often symbolic of time, of course) sends him
whirling downstream--everything speeds up; then he loses all sense of time
just before arriving back home. Throughout, the only sense of "normal"
time we have is the scene in which Farquar, enjoying the comforts of home,
chats unknowingly with the Union agent: this is the quotidien world of
those who never think of death, Note the use of space, too. In
the static world of the first pages, everything is open; we seem to be in
a field. Later, during the "escape," space is expressed in terms of
straight lines and enclosures--the stream and later the endless road are
the lines; the banks of the stream and the dense wood
the enclosures. Bierce is leaving nothing to chance: if he doesn't get the
agoraphobiac in you, he will seek out the claustrophobiac. Both leave us
with a sense of suffocation, and suspense.
A very clever artist, this Bierce.
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
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 16:03:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re: Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
I just wanted to append a couple of additional thoughts to my post.
First, the effect of the story depends upon the abrupt and very rapid
shift from stasis to action, from timelessness to time. As Farquar
is yanked from one state to the other, so are we. Second, at the very
end of the tale we move back to the scene of the execution where we
learn that all we have just read has happened in Farquar's mind. When
we return, however, the sense of stasis and extended space is gone:
all that remains is the fact of Farquar's death; we see nothing more.
Farquar's consciousness, which has been our consciousness throughout
the story, has ceased to exist. Time and space collapse. This becomes
final and must abrupt shift, and at the end we find--nothing. That
is the shock of the tale.
I know that some Gaslighters don't care for the "trick ending," but here
it is done with wonderful artistry rather than being, as it sometimes is,
simply a form of the _deus ex machina_ technique.
Bob C.
On Tue, 8 Jun 1999, Robert Champ wrote:
> Here, as elsewhere in his stories, Bierce's finest effects come from his
> distortions of time and space. Read the opening paragraphs of the story:
> Bierce seems to be describing a photograph--everything is static. Time
> seems frozen. With Farquar's "escape" the stasis is broken; the planter's
> fall into the water (often symbolic of time, of course) sends him
> whirling downstream--everything speeds up; then he loses all sense of time
> just before arriving back home. Throughout, the only sense of "normal"
> time we have is the scene in which Farquar, enjoying the comforts of home,
> chats unknowingly with the Union agent: this is the quotidien world of
> those who never think of death, Note the use of space, too. In
> the static world of the first pages, everything is open; we seem to be in
> a field. Later, during the "escape," space is expressed in terms of
> straight lines and enclosures--the stream and later the endless road are
> the lines; the banks of the stream and the dense wood
> the enclosures. Bierce is leaving nothing to chance: if he doesn't get the
> agoraphobiac in you, he will seek out the claustrophobiac. Both leave us
> with a sense of suffocation, and suspense.
>
> A very clever artist, this Bierce.
>
> 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
> _________________________________________________
> @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
>
>
>
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 16:16:42 -0400 From: Linda Anderson <lpa1(at)ptdprolog.net> Subject: Owl Creek Having read the story once, I will never read it again. I felt cheated, tricked, suckered in, angry and very very upset by the ending. It's a story that went immediately to the trash heap. But never out of my head. Damn that man for writing like that! Just seeing the words "Owl Creek" brings it all back, in color, and makes the boxes of tissues leap off the shelf into my lap. I'm not even reading the posts with "Owl Creek" in the subject. I don't want to remember it even more clearly than I do already. And that's my $0.02. Linda Anderson
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 15:24:00 -0500 From: Chris Carlisle <CarlislC(at)psychiatry1.wustl.edu> Subject: Re: Owl Creek I agree with Linda. I haven't said anything about this story because it upset me so when I first read it, and I don't want to read it again. Yes, certainly Bierce is skillful, even brilliant in this story, but I just don't want to do that again! Kiwi
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 13:33:03 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)gloaming.com> Subject: Re: Owl Creek >I agree with Linda. I haven't said anything about this story because >it upset me so when I first read it, and I don't want to read it >again. Yes, certainly Bierce is skillful, even brilliant in this >story, but I just don't want to do that again! I am fascinated by this response! Well, it does show his skill if it affected you both so much. Yes, it deeply affected me in both the viewing and the reading. So close to home and so tragic an ending...and in Bob's wonderful analysis first the agoraphobia then the claustrophobia then nothing. But frankly "Desiree's Baby" got to me more than this one. An innocent and her child probably dying so forlornly and I hadn't even realized it. That was a shock. This was a shock but one I could deal with. Tragic but I almost had had no hope to begin with...the whole timeless aspect, and the weird way it appeared to twist around gave me enough foreshadowing that the 'trick' ending didn't catch me the same way, I guess. I felt doom from the beginning, not so much that the rope was still around his neck but doom all the same.... Thanks for the input from all. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 13:54:19 -0700
From: "Jesse F. Knight" <jknight(at)internetcds.com>
Subject: Re: Owl Creek
It *is* rather amazing the different responses this story has generated.
I personally think that Bierce did much to develop short story techniques,
but like Poe, his subject matter is so far removed from the norm, he has
never been given much credit. Certainly I don't think that Bierce is the
kind of writer that one should ingest with large gulps. For me, a story or
two every few months is enough. Still, I admit I read him with a fair
degree of regularity.
His editorial work in San Francisco with such brilliant romantic poets as
George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith shows that he was passionately
devoted to the finest literature.
As for this particular story--some have a natural dislike of the
surprise ending and think it is cheating. However, the trick ending, in
this case, is the very point of the story. For those of you who felt
cheated and suckered by this ending, I wonder if that wasn't exactly the
point Bierce was trying to make. He no doubt felt cheated and suckered by
life, and I suspect he was suggesting that most of us are cheated and
suckered by life. We have these delusions that we will find happiness, love
and caring, and just as we seem to approach it, we find ourselves at the end
of a rope.
That may be a cynical point of view for some, but for others that may be
realism. He wasn't called Bitter Bierce for nothing.
Jesse F. Knight
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 16:07:40 -0600
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - June 8
1861
Tennessee secedes from the Union and joins the Confederacy.
1862
The Battle of Cross Keys, Virginia, during the Shenandoah
Campaign.
1863
Residents of Vicksburg flee into caves as Union troops under
Grant's army begin to
shell the city. Farther south, Union Admiral David Farragut
prepared to attack
Port Hudson.
1866
Prussia annexes Holstein from Denmark.
1904
U.S. Marines land in Tangiers, Morocco, to protect U.S.
citizens.
1908
King Edward VII of England visits his cousin Czar Nicholas II
of Russia in an effort to improve
relations between the two countries.
1915
William Jennings Bryan quits as President Woodrow Wilson's
Secretary of State.
Birthdays
1813
David D. Porter, Union Admiral during the Civil War.
1867
Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect. His creations
included the Guggenheim Museum in
New York [pictured with him on a two-cent stamp in his honor]
and Falling Waters outside Chicago.
1916
Francis Crick, British scientist who codiscovered the double
helical structure of DNA. [One of the
professors I had in my previous life as a biochemist had
worked for Watson and Crick. I forget which
- according to his description - was jolly and friendly, and
which was a martinet. I also couldn't tell
which was which when I saw them interviewed recently in one
of the "Most Significant People of the
Century" specials.]
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 20:04:12 -0500 From: Marta Dawes <smdawes(at)home.com> Subject: Re: Owl Creek Bridge on Film I've seen the Hitchcock version, and I didn't care for it. The main character does voiceovers while he's escaping, meant to portray his thoughts, and it really spoiled the effect. It was just not half as good as the French version. Marta Deborah McMillion Nering wrote: > > >What I remember is the version that was shown on Alfred Hitchcock > >Presents, which an earlier posting hinted was the same as on TZ. > > I can't get on the Ambrose Bierce site all of a sudden but from what they > listed the Alfred Hitchcock one was a different version, an adaptation of > the Bierce story but no director given. The Twilight Zone episode showed > as the final episode of the series, not really in conjunction with Mr. > Serling, in 1962. It was an award winning French film, directed by Robert > Enrico. This is the one that I see is available now as Treasures of the > Twilight Zone. The T/Z version/French just has him approaching the > plantation, his beloved lifts from a swing and comes towards him hands > outstretched when the rope pulls.... > > I don't think I've even seen the A/H version but it is quite amusing that > Ashley Wilkes was cousin to the Farquar's. But then they were to the > Hamiltons, too! > Thanks for the piece of trivia...is anyone running reruns of the old A/H > show that one may keep checking for this? > > Deborah > > Deborah McMillion > deborah(at)gloaming.com > http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 20:24:23 -0500 From: Marta Dawes <smdawes(at)home.com> Subject: Re: Owl Creek What I like about Bierce is that everything he ever wrote or said makes me think, and the fact that he had such a unique way of looking at things. I once saw, long ago, a short film about his story, "Chickamauga", on PBS, I think. If I had seen it before I read the story I would have been repelled, but because I read the story it made sense. That's why I read Bierce, because his stories are unique. I didn't feel cheated by "Owl Creek", which I read before I saw the film. There are stories that have done that to me, but not this one. I felt that the conclusion was inevitable, given that it was Bierce writing it. Marta "Jesse F. Knight" wrote: > > It *is* rather amazing the different responses this story has generated. > I personally think that Bierce did much to develop short story techniques, > but like Poe, his subject matter is so far removed from the norm, he has > never been given much credit. Certainly I don't think that Bierce is the > kind of writer that one should ingest with large gulps. For me, a story or > two every few months is enough. Still, I admit I read him with a fair > degree of regularity. > His editorial work in San Francisco with such brilliant romantic poets as > George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith shows that he was passionately > devoted to the finest literature. > > As for this particular story--some have a natural dislike of the > surprise ending and think it is cheating. However, the trick ending, in > this case, is the very point of the story. For those of you who felt > cheated and suckered by this ending, I wonder if that wasn't exactly the > point Bierce was trying to make. He no doubt felt cheated and suckered by > life, and I suspect he was suggesting that most of us are cheated and > suckered by life. We have these delusions that we will find happiness, love > and caring, and just as we seem to approach it, we find ourselves at the end > of a rope. > > That may be a cynical point of view for some, but for others that may be > realism. He wasn't called Bitter Bierce for nothing. > > Jesse F. Knight
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 19:31:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re: Owl Creek
I read this story a long, long time ago, but had forgotten or perhaps
never before noticed the intensity of Farquhar's experience after his
"escape." Perhaps this is the exact experience of those people who, time
after time, willingly put themselves in situations where they confront
death: e.g., mountain-climbers, matadors, professional soldiers. I don't
know, not being one of these people, but if the heightened sense of awareness--
almost akin to a mystic or drug-induced state--that Farquar undergoes
is any indication, Bierce has helped me better understand the attraction
of these situations. (There is also something called sexual asphyxiation,
from which numerous people have died, but I will leave that topic alone.)
I think there are some clues along the way that tell us that Farquhar is
in the grip of a very unsual mental state--that something may very
well be wrong: consider the sensory distortions he experiences in this
passage: "He dug his fingers into the sand, threw it over himself in
handfuls and audibly blessed it. It looked like diamonds, rubies,
emeralds; he could think of nothing beautiful which it did not resemble.
The trees upon the bank were giant garden plants; he noted a definite
order in their arrangement, inhaled the fragrance of their blossoms. A
strange roseate light shone through the spaces among their trunks and the
wind made in their branches the music of aeolian harps." All of this is
wonderful, but rather strange, exotic at the least. Fitz Hugh Ludlow
would have probably said that here was a man in the throes of a hashish
experiment.
I was not particularly upset by the ending, then, because it was hard
to buy completely the "reality" of Farquhar's experience.
By the way, the sensation of being caught in swiftly running water is
captured brilliantly by William Faulkner in his short novel, _Old Man_.
Never was chaos of it recreated so well as in those pages.
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: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 18:47:17 -0500 From: rking(at)INDIAN.VINU.EDU Subject: Chat: liberal/conservative > Bob and others: That reminds me of a more current definition of a > liberal as being "a conservative who has been arrested, while a > conservative is a liberal who has been mugged." Wonder if Bierce would > agree? > > Richard King > rking(at)indian.vinu.edu > > PS to Deborah: Me email to you keeps bouncing--you having email problems > again or is it on my server?
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 18:48:55 -0500 From: rking(at)INDIAN.VINU.EDU Subject: Owl Creek > I had read "Owl Creek Bridge" (isn't it required reading in all high > school English classes?) long ago, and I believe Bierce wasn't the only writer to play with bitter, trickster endings. Didn't Borges (or was it Updike) > write a more modern take on this story with a concert violinist who is > standing before a WWII Nazi firing squad and God gives him his last > wish: to play the most beautiful music of his lifetime. Just as he > finishes his music, he comes out of his daze and realizes he achieved > his goal in his mind, just as the bullets strike his body? Does anyone > remember this one? If so, doesn't it see like an "Owl Creek" version? > > Richard
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 17:02:48 -0700 From: Patricia Teter <PTeter(at)getty.edu> Subject: Re: Owl Creek Bob C. wrote: <<(There is also something called sexual asphyxiation, from which numerous people have died, but I will leave that topic alone.)>> [laughing] If the interesting discussion concerning Owl Creek does not entice the rest of us to read this week's story, Bob's cleverly planted note certainly will! Now I must read Bierce's tale to see what evoked this analogy. Patricia
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 20:17:01 -0400
From: "John D. Squires" <jdsbooks(at)ameritech.net>
Subject: Re: Owl Creek
The "Owl Creek" ending has been used many times. The short-lived
TV show "VR5" used it once with a character dreaming of a last
minute reprieve & reconciliation with his family in the seconds between
the drop of the gas pellets and his execution for treason.
So it goes
John Squires
rking(at)INDIAN.VINU.EDU wrote:
> > I had read "Owl Creek Bridge" (isn't it required reading in all high
> > school English classes?) long ago, and I believe Bierce wasn't the
only
> writer to play with bitter, trickster endings. Didn't Borges (or was it
> Updike)
> > write a more modern take on this story with a concert violinist who is
> > standing before a WWII Nazi firing squad and God gives him his last
> > wish: to play the most beautiful music of his lifetime. Just as he
> > finishes his music, he comes out of his daze and realizes he achieved
> > his goal in his mind, just as the bullets strike his body? Does anyone
> > remember this one? If so, doesn't it see like an "Owl Creek" version?
> >
> > Richard
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 18:50:45 -0600
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Etext avail: Shakespeare/Bacon bibliography
From: Stephen Davies(at)MRC on 06/08/99 06:50 PM
To: Gaslight-announce(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
cc:
Subject: Etext avail: Shakespeare/Bacon bibliography
(SHAKESPEARE.HTM) (Nonfic, Chronos)
Shakespeare -- Authorship bibliography (1999)
Shakespeare.bib
In late April, I wrote:
> I've been debating whether to introduce a Shakespearean authorship page
to
>Gaslight. I already have a bibliography prepared of Gaslight sources: all
>articles and books on the subject. It was a subject which greatly
interested
>our Victorian ancestors, and should provide some amusement for those of us
who
>think they can solve a mystery if given a chance.
There was a smattering of positive response to seeing the biblio., and
here it is. This does not necessarily mean that Shakespeare will come up for
discussion on Gaslight.
To retrieve all the plain ASCII files send to: ftpmail(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
with no subject heading and completely in lowercase:
open aftp.mtroyal.ab.ca
cd /gaslight
get Shakespeare.bib
or visit the Gaslight website at:
http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/Shakespeare.htm
Stephen D
mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 19:09:15 -0700 From: Jack Kolb <kolb(at)UCLA.EDU> Subject: Re: Owl Creek But not as well as a certain novel by a recent Nobel Prize winner--I'm tempted not to say more. An ENTIRE novel. It's great, though not as great as Bierce's story. Bierce always gratifies my opinion of the damned human race. He's one of my favorite authors, though I admit a steady diet might lead you to wander cynically into Mexico and disappear. Jack Kolb >The "Owl Creek" ending has been used many times. The short-lived >TV show "VR5" used it once with a character dreaming of a last >minute reprieve & reconciliation with his family in the seconds between >the drop of the gas pellets and his execution for treason. > So it goes >John Squires
===0===
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 22:50:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Gihennings(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Today in History - June 8/OT Regarding the item on Frank Lloyd Wright and Falling Waters. Falling Waters is located in Pennsylvania, not too far from Pittsburgh. If you ever have an opportunity to visit it do! However, if you are over 6 feet in stature, expect to spend your time ducking through doorways! The house was designed for the Gimbel family, who apparently weren't very tall and house reflects it! 'Just thought I'd add that. Gisele
===0===
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 14:29:14 +1000
From: Craig Walker <genre(at)tig.com.au>
Subject: RE: Owl Creek
Just an aside,
One mustn'y forget the Twilight Zone - Award-nominated episode:
An Ocurrance at Owl-Creek Bridge.
It was the first hour-long Twilght Zone devised by Rod Serling and rarely
shown on TV - although a few people have seen it now.
Cheers
Craig
+---------------------------------------+
Craig Walker
Genre Manipulations - Reality Engineers
Ph: Intl +61 2 9550-0815
Fx: Intl +61 2 9564-5689
Mb: Intl +61 419 22-0013
ICQ: 1053193
genre(at)tig.com.au
"Cross a Goldfish with an Elephant
and you get an Elephant ...that
never....erm....something"
+---------------------------------------+
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
> [mailto:owner-gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA]On Behalf Of Robert Champ
> Sent: Wednesday, 9 June 1999 09:31
> To: gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
> Subject: Re: Owl Creek
>
>
> I read this story a long, long time ago, but had forgotten or perhaps
> never before noticed the intensity of Farquhar's experience after his
> "escape." Perhaps this is the exact experience of those
> people who, time
> after time, willingly put themselves in situations where they confront
> death: e.g., mountain-climbers, matadors, professional
> soldiers. I don't
> know, not being one of these people, but if the heightened
> sense of awareness--
> almost akin to a mystic or drug-induced state--that Farquar undergoes
> is any indication, Bierce has helped me better understand the
> attraction
> of these situations. (There is also something called sexual
> asphyxiation,
> from which numerous people have died, but I will leave that
> topic alone.)
>
> I think there are some clues along the way that tell us that
> Farquhar is
> in the grip of a very unsual mental state--that something may very
> well be wrong: consider the sensory distortions he
> experiences in this
> passage: "He dug his fingers into the sand, threw it over himself in
> handfuls and audibly blessed it. It looked like diamonds, rubies,
> emeralds; he could think of nothing beautiful which it did
> not resemble.
> The trees upon the bank were giant garden plants; he noted a definite
> order in their arrangement, inhaled the fragrance of their blossoms. A
> strange roseate light shone through the spaces among their
> trunks and the
> wind made in their branches the music of aeolian harps." All
> of this is
> wonderful, but rather strange, exotic at the least. Fitz Hugh Ludlow
> would have probably said that here was a man in the throes of
> a hashish
> experiment.
>
> I was not particularly upset by the ending, then, because it was hard
> to buy completely the "reality" of Farquhar's experience.
>
> By the way, the sensation of being caught in swiftly running water is
> captured brilliantly by William Faulkner in his short novel,
> _Old Man_.
> Never was chaos of it recreated so well as in those pages.
>
> 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: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 13:47:41 +0300
From: cbishop(at)interlog.com (Carroll Bishop)
Subject: Announcing new Ariel-musicalchemy list
See what all those haunted violins have done -- hope to see
some of you Gasliterates in Ariel too! A couple have already
arrived, and I think it's going to make for some great
cross-fertilization! By the way, Stephen & Co., THE RED VIOLIN
is apparently just opening in New York. I hope there'll be a
discussion. Carroll
ANNOUNCING: Ariel-musicalchemy(at)onelist.com [co-moderated]
To subscribe: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/Ariel-musicalchemy
To send e-mail to the list: Ariel-musicalchemy(at)onelist.com
THE TEMPEST: I.2. (Ferdinand speaks)
Where should this music be? I'the'air or th'earth?
It sounds no more; and sure it waits upon
Some god o'th'island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the King my father's wrack,
This music crept by me upon the waters,
Allaying both their fury and my passion
With its sweet air. Thence I have followed it,
Or it hath drawn me, rather. But 'tis gone.
No, it begins again.
Where does music come from? How does it affect us, body, soul &
spirit? Why did Jung write so little about it? Are silence &
sound archetypes? opposites? lovers? Does music open us to a
reality beyond time/space? Do the planets sing? Music as
invocation & inspiration. Singing creation-- songlines.
Musical myths: gods, heroes, muses, graces. The human voice as
instrument -- breath, heartbeat, resonance, nervous system. What
prevents using our real voice in musical & other contexts?
Kundalini, the chakras; Alexander. How does the player relate
to his/her instrument? to other musicians & instruments? How does
music relate to storytelling, drama, dance, poetry, opera, film,
architecture, science, nature? Music in literature -- haunted
instruments & players. Music & colour; synesthesia. Occult
traditions of modes & scales. Rhythm, melody, harmony. Suggested
reading: Joscelyn Godwin's HARMONIES OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
(http://www.jungindex.net/books) $10.36 pbk. Also Amazon.com.
We'll open around July 1 but do sign up now, introduce your
self (or one of them) & feel free to start a topic. Let's keep
posts brief, grounded in real experience, open. Good practice
for listening! -- Look forward to meeting you and exchanging
stories. Hope any strayed Temenos or Jung-Psych people who were
interested in music will magically manifest. I expect no less
with Ariel as guiding spirit -- but that's another story!
We hope there'll be many co-hosts, visible and invisible.
Carroll Bishop (cbishop(at)interlog.com)
===0===
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 11:41:40 -0600
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - June 9
1861
Mary Ann "Mother" Bickerdyke begins her work in Union
military hospitals.
1863
Battle of Brandy Station,Virginia, the largest cavalry
battle of the Civil War.
Birthdays
1893
Cole Porter, American composer and lyricist whose songs
include "Night and
Day,""It Was Just One of Those Things," and "Wunderbar."
1916
Robert S. McNamara, Defense Secretary under John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson.
===0===
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 12:52:23 -0600
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: metre in railway poem
A year ago, in June, I posted two railway poems which are now in the Gaslight
archives on the website. A student is analyzing a literature from the same era
in the context of its railway rhetoric, and would like to know something more
about the metre of the poem. I'm appending his request for info and the
original poem, in case some one else on the list can help.
Stephen
mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
>now, if i can trouble you with one small query re the first poem:
>do you perhaps know the basis of the rhythm/meter scheme it's using?
>i'm guessing it's a popular musical pattern, a type of ballad form maybe?
from _Bentley's miscellany_ (1845) Vol. 18, p. 626
RAILROADS NOW ARE ALL THE RAGE.
RAILROADS now are all the rage
With men of every rank and age;
Pray then get same railroad shares,
To fill your purse, and ease your cares.
Pray then get some railroad shares,
To fill your purse and ease your cares.
Railroads now are gone to Spain,
And by its rail we hope to gain
The produce of its genial soil,
In other forms than that of oil.
Railroads now are all the rage
With men of every rank and age I
Money now is changed for scrip,
If in railroads you will dip:
Railroads bring the money in,
So pray, young ladies, now begin!
Railroads bring the money in,
So pray, young ladies, now begin
If for wealth you vainly sigh,
To the City you must hie;
When the scrip is in your hand,
Gold at will you may command.
Railroads bring the money in,
So pray, young ladies, now begin!
The ladies now get up betimes
Before the clock has struck eight times.
Railroads make them fresh and fair,
By breathing early morning air.
Railroads make them fresh and fair
By breathing fresh the morning air.
See them flock in omnibus,
Without a scruple or a fuss;
The hopes of bringing home some gold
Make them smile at young and old.
The hopes of bringing home some gold
Will make them smile at young and old.
With book in band we all are met,
And mind not weather or the wet;
Railroads deaden every sense
But that of doubling all our pence.
Railroads deaden every sense
But that of doubling all our pence.
Then to the broker off they hie,
Pray how's the market? soft they sigh,
And ask him with an eager face,
"Sir, has the premium taken place?"
When you have got your scrip in hand,
Gold at will you may command.
The ladies now keep scribes and clerks,
Who sagely put down their remarks
Of all railroads of the day,
Of those that *will* and *will not* pay;
Who sagely put down their remarks
Of all the railroads of the day.
The "Railway Times" and "Rail Gazette"
Of railroads boast a goodly set,
The "Examiner" and "Iron Times"
Contribute much to make my rhymes,
The "Examiner" and "Iron Times"
Contribute much to make my rhymes.
The "Chronicle" and "Morning Post,"
Of railroads too, can make a boast;
We *will* have railroads to our door,
And beg the "Act" to grant us more.
We *will* have railroads to our door,
And beg the "Act" to grant us more.
The fields will now be filled with rails,
At thoughts of which the heart quite quails;
Potatoes well may sick and die
When with the smoky air they sigh.
Potatoes well may sick and die
When with the smoky air they sigh.
The "Railway King" all now respect,
*All those* whose gold he does protect;
"Hudson" shows them now the way
Their debts and duns with haste to pay.
"Hudson" shows them now the way
Their debts and duns with haste to pay.
And then, again, there 's dear "*Sir John*,"
That dear "*Sir John*" who ends my song;
His levee 's graced by many a fair
Who in the railroads boldly dare.
Railroads now are all the rage
With men of every rank and age.
Thus railroads are a pleasant thing;
They make us laugh and gaily sing;
And when I sign these mighty deeds
I hope to win by their proceeds,--
Thus railroads are a pleasant thing;
They make us laugh and gaily sing!
(End.)
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End of Gaslight Digest V1 #75
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