In this issue: RE: _Carol_ lit by two new candles RE: _Carol_ lit by two new candles RE: _Carol_ lit by two new candles Re: _Carol_ lit by two new candles Re: Any URLS for Mrs. Catherine Crowe? Re: _Carol_ lit by two new candles Days of the dead Tradition of Christmas ghosts <WAS: _Carol_ lit by two new candles> Re: Days of the dead Re: Tradition of Christmas ghosts <WAS: _Carol_ lit by two newcandles> Re: Days of the dead Ghosts at Christmas RE: Tradition of Christmas ghosts <WAS: _Carol_ lit by two new candles> Etext avail: Maurice Leblanc's _The confessions of Arsene Lupin_ Seeking origins of Vampires, Vampyres, Nosferatu Re: Seeking origins of Vampires, Vampyres, Nosferatu Re: Seeking origins of Vampires, Vampyres, Nosferatu Re: Any URLs for Mrs. Catherine Crowe? Famous composer makes bird talk Re: Etext avail: Maurice Leblanc's _The confessions of Arsene Lupin_ Re: Famous composer makes bird talk RE: Famous composer makes bird talk RE: Famous composer makes bird talk RE: Famous composer makes bird talk Today in History -- Nov 09 Reeve at Gutenberg -----------------------------THE POSTS----------------------------- Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999 19:47:26 -0500 From: "James E. Kearman" <jkearman(at)mindspring.com> Subject: RE: _Carol_ lit by two new candles Sigurdur Fjalar Jonsson wrote: > I can well remember my mother telling my that on new years > eve the Cows > aquire the power of speech. If we could hear them, they would undoubtedly encourage us to become vegetarians. I've heard this story before but I can't place it. I thought it was on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but the memory is too faint to recall. Nice to hear from you, Sigurdur! Cheers, Jim
===0===
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999 17:53:44 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com> Subject: RE: _Carol_ lit by two new candles >I thought it was on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but the memory >is too faint to recall. I have heard this, too, but I thought it was on the Epiphany? It was supposed to be a gift of Jesus' that ALL animals would have the power of speech for one hour, at midnight, on the Epiphany. So you could ask your cat those questions you've been dying to. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999 20:32:12 -0800
From: Jack Kolb <kolb(at)UCLA.EDU>
Subject: RE: _Carol_ lit by two new candles
>> I can well remember my mother telling my that on new years
>> eve the Cows
>> aquire the power of speech.
Tangentially related perhaps is Hardy's "The Oxen":
The Oxen
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
"Now they are all on their knees,"
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.
So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
"Come; see the oxen kneel,
"In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,"
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.
Jack Kolb
Dept. of English, UCLA
kolb(at)ucla.edu
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 00:39:19 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re: _Carol_ lit by two new candles
While the winter solstice and the accompanying "thinning of the barriers"
between this world and the next may explain the origin of
telling ghost stories on and around December 31, it probably cannot be
given as the reason Victorians, and Englishmen before and after them, told
ghost stories around Christmas.
If you had gone to a scholarly man like M. R. James and asked him
why he told such stories to his young charges at school, I doubt if he
would have said anything about the winter solstice, nor would Dickens have
thought of ghosts in terms of pagan holidays. The same would hold true, I
suspect, for almost all the households in which ghost stories were told
during and before our period.
The question is, I believe, Why would people continue to tell these tales
long after paganism had ceased to be a force in the life of the ordinary
person? And especially why would they be told in Christian homes and
countenanced (as in the case of James and no doubt many other house
masters) at school? What rationale could be given? Apart from the
simple enjoyment of these stories, which certainly played a large role,
I think that at least part of the answer lies in some of the reasons I
gave in my last post--to which Jim Kearman kindly added an item in the
same vein.
The story of the animals speaking may also well be explained by the Garden
of Eden story where, according to many legends, Adam and Eve could "talk
to the animals"--at least in the prelapsarian state. That the animals
were thought to do so at Christmas may well be a sign that Christmas
represents the possibility of a return to Paradise, a Paradise much more
glorious than the original one.
Bob C.
On Sun, 7 Nov 1999, Deborah McMillion Nering wrote:
> >They believed that during Yule--beginning on the winter solstice and
> >ending on December 31--that the barriers between this world and the
> >next were the thinnest and that ghosts and other supernatural beings
> >could cross over into this world.
> I haven't heard this for England--it was always Halloween (variously
> known as Samhain) when the veils were thinnest and thus the earliest
> celebrations of days of the dead. When you do research into the
> furthest history of Halloween this is what is said. But I do not
> know if this holds true for Iceland, Nordic countries--there are many
> a strange Winter Solstice tale coming from that land. I think we
> read one not too long ago!
>
> Of course, there is the reference in Shakespeare to a tale told in Winter....
>
> Deborah
>
> Deborah McMillion
> deborah(at)gloaming.com
> http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
>
>
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 10:03:46 -0500 (EST)
From: Richard King <rking6king(at)netscape.net>
Subject: Re: Any URLS for Mrs. Catherine Crowe?
Stephen:
The only web link I can come up with is the Cyclopaedia of Ghost Story Writers
at http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~agg/personal/ghosts/ghocyc.html .
This looks like an interesting site for Gaslight participants to know about,
although the information contained is pretty basic.
Richard King
rking6king(at)netscape.net
Any URLs for Mrs. Catherine Crowe?
Date:
Sun, 7 Nov 1999 01:55:53 -0500
From:
sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
To:
gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Has anyone seen any weblinks for Mrs. Catherine Crowe, author of _The Night
Side
of Nature, or Ghosts and Ghost Seers_ (1848), or the companion volume
_Light and
Darkness, or Mysteries of Life_ (1850), or _Ghost Stories and Family
Legends_
(1859)?
Stephen D
mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
____________________________________________________________________
Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at
http://webmail.netscape.com.
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 10:19:31 -0500 (EST)
From: Richard King <rking6king(at)netscape.net>
Subject: Re: _Carol_ lit by two new candles
Wasn't the exploration of different aspects of the supernatural (ghosts, life
after death, secret knowledge, spiritualism, seances, spirit rapping, etc.) a
sort of fad generally among the Victorians? If there is a fad within society,
then the periodicals of the time would reflect this interest exhibited among
readers who bought the magazines. Why Christmas? Bob and others have answered
that. I would add that perhaps Christmas was a time when special issues of
periodicals would be printed, maybe people had some vacation time to do some
reading then, maybe Dickens's publication had advertisements in it that sold
items of interest for people wanting to buy Christmas presents. Also, if
people had free time around Christmas vacation (poor Bob Crachett didn't have
much, however), they would have indulged whatever fad was in vogue at the time
(like ghost tales around the fireside). Has anyone ever seen a copy of
Dickens's ALL THE YEAR ROUND? Sounds like these would be a fascinating
resource for Victorian studies.
I checked Dickens in that Cyclopaedia of Ghost Story Writers (
http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~agg/personal/ghosts/ghocyc.html )I just sent over and
here is what it says:
"Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
No introduction is required to the paragon of Victorian literature.
However, it is perhaps not widely recognised
that Dickens was almost solely responsible for formulating the
Victorian's avid appetite for the traditional ghost
story. This stemmed from his Christmas Carol (1843) and was promoted
through his weekly magazine All the Year
Round for which he wrote many excellent stories.
To Be Taken With a Grain of Salt, No. 1 Branch Line: The Signalman, The
Bagman's Story, Telling Winter Stories, The
Tale of the Bagman's Uncle, The Ghost in Master B.'s Room"
Wonder what his (a Dr. Alastair Grey Gunn, apparently) sources are for the
statement about Dickens being responsible for this (not that I'm doubting
this)? Would be interesting to find out more about this. He also lists other
ghost information at http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~agg/personal/ghosts/
(Introduction to Ghostly Literature, History of the Ghost Story, On-line Ghost
Stories, Other Ghostly Links).
Richard King
rking6king(at)netscape.net
Subject:
Re: _Carol_ lit by two new candles
Date:
Mon, 8 Nov 1999 00:41:00 -0500
From:
Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
To:
gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
While the winter solstice and the accompanying "thinning of the barriers"
between this world and the next may explain the origin of
telling ghost stories on and around December 31, it probably cannot be
given as the reason Victorians, and Englishmen before and after them, told
ghost stories around Christmas.
If you had gone to a scholarly man like M. R. James and asked him
why he told such stories to his young charges at school, I doubt if he
would have said anything about the winter solstice, nor would Dickens have
thought of ghosts in terms of pagan holidays. The same would hold true, I
suspect, for almost all the households in which ghost stories were told
during and before our period.
The question is, I believe, Why would people continue to tell these tales
long after paganism had ceased to be a force in the life of the ordinary
person? And especially why would they be told in Christian homes and
countenanced (as in the case of James and no doubt many other house
masters) at school? What rationale could be given? Apart from the
simple enjoyment of these stories, which certainly played a large role,
I think that at least part of the answer lies in some of the reasons I
gave in my last post--to which Jim Kearman kindly added an item in the
same vein.
The story of the animals speaking may also well be explained by the Garden
of Eden story where, according to many legends, Adam and Eve could "talk
to the animals"--at least in the prelapsarian state. That the animals
were thought to do so at Christmas may well be a sign that Christmas
represents the possibility of a return to Paradise, a Paradise much more
glorious than the original one.
Bob C.
____________________________________________________________________
Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at
http://webmail.netscape.com.
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 10:45:14 -0500 From: Jack Skoda <jskoda(at)lucentctc.com> Subject: Days of the dead So Yule and Halloween are times when the viel between our world and the realm of the dead thins... What about the May 5th festival in Mexico? Most of my Cinqo de Mayo knowledge comes from Corona commercials but if I understand it correctly, it is also a day of the dead, in the beginning of spring. I wonder if there are more such festivals of the dead during the summer and autumn... - -- - -- Jack Skoda <jskoda(at)sover.net>
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 08:58:26 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Tradition of Christmas ghosts <WAS: _Carol_ lit by two new candles>
Deborah Mc. asked:
>>Was it Dickens who started the idea of having special issues devoted
to ghost stories thus making it a popular thing? Or was it just the
short days and the prolonged hours in front of fireplaces that
brought it out? Why ghost stories for Christmas?<<
I remember this thread discussed on Victoria, or Dickns-L. Altho Dickens
himself refers to a Christmas ghost tradition, I don't think anyone could find
an example of it before his sets of stories, either written by him or under his
editorship.
Stephen
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 09:05:54 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com> Subject: Re: Days of the dead >Cinqo de Mayo knowledge comes from Corona commercials >but if I understand it correctly, it is also a day >of the dead, in the beginning of spring. Cinqo de Mayo is a celebration of Independence, a military victory reclaiming the capitol. Dias des los Muertos, Days of the Dead, is Nov. 2nd (or variously several days) coinciding with All Souls. Our gallery puts up an annual Dias altar in celebration of our multicultural heritage (and add Jack o' Lanterns to the mix, and whatever other ethnic 'death' motifs out there). Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 10:26:36 -0600
From: James Rogers <jetan(at)ionet.net>
Subject: Re: Tradition of Christmas ghosts <WAS: _Carol_ lit by two newcandles>
At 08:58 AM 11/8/99 -0700, Stephen wrote:
>Deborah Mc. asked:
>
>>>Was it Dickens who started the idea of having special issues devoted
>to ghost stories thus making it a popular thing? Or was it just the
>short days and the prolonged hours in front of fireplaces that
>brought it out? Why ghost stories for Christmas?<<
>
> I remember this thread discussed on Victoria, or Dickns-L. Altho
Dickens
>himself refers to a Christmas ghost tradition, I don't think anyone could
find
>an example of it before his sets of stories, either written by him or
under his
>editorship.
>
>
I'm not altogether sure that it was a literary
tradition as much as an oral one....Stories told in the family circle at
Xmas. Can't recall where I got this impression. Maybe from M.R. James
James
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 08:46:18 -0700 From: Mary Walker <mwalker3(at)csulb.edu> Subject: Re: Days of the dead "Dios De los Muertos" The Days of the Dead are November 1 & November 2 (All Saints Day & All Souls Day). The Aztec festival for the dead was in the summer but after colonization local customs were transferred to the Church's day for remembering the dead. Cinco de Mayo is a patriotic holiday celebrating the expulsion of the French from Mexico. Of course the first of May (or May eve or Walpurgisnacht or St. George's Eve etc.) was also considered a time when the veil was thin and supernatural forces were active in much of European folk tradition but to the best of my knowledge that was not transferred to Latin America. Mary Jack Skoda wrote: > So Yule and Halloween are times when the viel between > our world and the realm of the dead thins... What > about the May 5th festival in Mexico? Most of my > Cinqo de Mayo knowledge comes from Corona commercials > but if I understand it correctly, it is also a day > of the dead, in the beginning of spring. > > I wonder if there are more such festivals of the > dead during the summer and autumn... > > -- > -- Jack Skoda <jskoda(at)sover.net>
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 09:26:10 -0800 (PST)
From: Ginger Johnson <ferret(at)eskimo.com>
Subject: Ghosts at Christmas
Cows talking at Christmas? That struck a chord. Isn't there a legend
about all animals being able to talk on Christmas Eve? I can't think of
the title but there's a carol about it too.
Does it sound familiar to anyone else?
Ginger Johnson
"It isn't the extravagances of life we regret, it's the economies."
- Somerville and Ross
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 12:07:08 -0600
From: majkia <majkia(at)home.com>
Subject: RE: Tradition of Christmas ghosts <WAS: _Carol_ lit by two new candles>
At the least it makes intuitive sense that the shortest days of
the year, when Yule logs were lit to try to ensure the sun
returns and doesn't disappear totally, that ghosts, representing
the underworld where the lost sun had gone, would be part of the
tradition. Well, at least it seems that way to me :-)
Majkia
- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
[mailto:owner-gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA]On Behalf Of
sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Sent: Monday, November 08, 1999 9:58 AM
To: gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Tradition of Christmas ghosts <WAS: _Carol_ lit by two
new
candles>
Deborah Mc. asked:
>>Was it Dickens who started the idea of having special issues
devoted
to ghost stories thus making it a popular thing? Or was it just
the
short days and the prolonged hours in front of fireplaces that
brought it out? Why ghost stories for Christmas?<<
I remember this thread discussed on Victoria, or Dickns-L.
Altho Dickens
himself refers to a Christmas ghost tradition, I don't think
anyone could find
an example of it before his sets of stories, either written by
him or under his
editorship.
Stephen
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 11:37:06 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Etext avail: Maurice Leblanc's _The confessions of Arsene Lupin_
From: Stephen Davies(at)MRC on 11/08/99 11:37 AM
To: Gaslight-announce(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
cc:
Subject: Etext avail: Maurice Leblanc's _The confessions of Arsene Lupin_
(LUPNMENU.HTM#conf) (Nonfic, Chronos)
Maurice Leblanc's _The confessions of Arsene Lupin_ (1913)
lupinX11.sht
This week's story will begin discussion on Wed., 99-nov-10, and is
taken from _The confessions of Arsene Lupin_ (1913). It is called:'
"The two hundred thousand francs reward".
Earlier Lupin stories were offered from _The exploits of Arsene
Lupin_ (1907).
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 lupinX11.sht
get lupinX01.sht
get lupinX02.sht
get lupinX03.sht
get lupinX04.sht
or visit the Gaslight website at:
http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/lupnmenu.htm#conf
Stephen D
mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 12:17:27 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Seeking origins of Vampires, Vampyres, Nosferatu
I received the following post this weekend, but am not sure what pointer to give
this casual visitor to the Gaslight website. I'm presuming he read: "Vampyres
and ghouls" (1871) http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/vmpghoul.htm
Stephen D
mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
- ---------------------- Forwarded by Stephen Davies/Academic/MRC on 11/08/99
12:12 PM ---------------------------
Subj: Vampires, Vampyres, Nosferatu
Hi, I'm writing to ask about the article I read on your site. I've sort
of made it my hobby to find out the origin of the vampire legend/myth.
I was wondering if you guys might be able to point me in the right
direction.
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 14:47:38 -0500 (EST) From: Barbara Weitbrecht <pinniped(at)patriot.net> Subject: Re: Seeking origins of Vampires, Vampyres, Nosferatu I always send such querents to Paul Barber's _Vampires, Burial and Death: Folklore and Reality_. They don't always appreciate it, but at least they get exposed to actual scholarship instead of literary speculation. BEW - -- Barbara Weitbrecht pinniped(at)patriot.net
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 14:05:21 -0600 From: Jane Harrison <jharrison3(at)mindspring.com> Subject: Re: Seeking origins of Vampires, Vampyres, Nosferatu Hello: The vampire myth began in ancient times. Only this was not the Romanticized version of 19th Century. There are several myths concerning a blood-monster/blood spirit and originated in the theme of angry relatives/ancestors needing sacrifices to satisfy them. This sort of ties into the discussion you have had on ghosts and on the All Souls Day and All Saints Day. Ancient societies, many, all over the world, believe that the dead/souls are still with us. Medieval Christianity was very entrenched in this, and so is Catholicism and similar traditions as in Eastern Church, Russian, etc. The person dies, but soul lives on. This is in our understanding: though the body lays down in the grave, the soul does not. Well imagine ancient cultures wondering what became of their relatives? Because blood is associated with life, blood was the ultimate sacrifice. It's too much to write here, but the point is, the first vampires were really spirits come back to haunt relatives and some sort of blood sacrifice was necessary to appease the spirit. Eventually, this evolved into a spirit or thing/blood monster who need blood to stay in the land of the living and control their families, etc. But it was still a more spiritual being. Later, as it evolved, it became an animal or took on other shapes, then finally it could lift it's own body from the grave, provided it had blood. <GGGG> On ghosts, well the same is true without the blood. The souls of the dead are still with us. From October 31st till winter solstice, the veil between their world and ours is the thinnest. Many cultures believe the spirits can walk between the worlds at this time. Modern Christianity still retains this belief in the majority of Christians around the world. So in essence, ghosts would be most abundant between October 31st and December 21st or so in Northern Hemisphere. Halloween developed from scaring away evil spirits at this time so the Harvest would be good. And so forth. The Christmas ghost is much the same thing. Since most Christian cultures are entrenched in Old World Religions, etc. they retain the belief in ghosts of all kinds. They do not see ghosts as occult elements but rather as an extension of the cycle of life, because the world of the dead is a real as the world of the living. A Christmas ghost story was to remind people of life and the spirit of giving. Hope this helps, Jane ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 17:10:42 -0800 From: Marta Dawes <smdawes(at)home.com> Subject: Re: Any URLs for Mrs. Catherine Crowe? I found the following site that has a contemporary review of "Night-side of Nature": http://www.umdl.umich.edu/moa/browse.author/n.39.html But I couldn't find much else that was pertinent. The Theosophical Society, http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/, has a document that mentions Mrs. Crowe and her writings. I also ran across a page for Sarah Orne Jewett, http://www.violetbooks.com/jewett.html, that also mentions Mrs. Crowe's influence on her. Marta sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA wrote: > > Has anyone seen any weblinks for Mrs. Catherine Crowe, author of _The Night Side > of Nature, or Ghosts and Ghost Seers_ (1848), or the companion volume _Light and > Darkness, or Mysteries of Life_ (1850), or _Ghost Stories and Family Legends_ > (1859)? > > Stephen D > mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Name: att1.htm > att1.htm Type: Hypertext Markup Language (text/html) > Encoding: base64 > Description: Internet HTML - -- Marta "The Graveyards of Omaha" http://members.xoom.com/martadawes "The New Twilight Zone" http://members.xoom.com/newtwilzone
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 22:25:14 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Famous composer makes bird talk
I don't know if there are any Wagnerite among Gaslighters, but I recall
that there is a talking bird in the third opera of Ring cycle,
_Siegfried_. Siegfried kills a dragon, Fafner, and in the course of the
battle, gets some blood on his fingers. Being the Aryan hero that he is,
he licks it off, and suddenly discovers that he can understand the
"speech" of a bird. This bird appears later in the opera both to warn and
advise Siegfried--a man born to trouble.
My exposure to this opera, many years ago, was the first time I had ever
heard the legend that animals and people could once understand each other.
I don't know whether it is authentic Germanic lore or something Wagner
made up.
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: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 19:29:27 -0800 From: ken knutson <kknutson(at)cln.etc.bc.ca> Subject: Re: Etext avail: Maurice Leblanc's _The confessions of Arsene Lupin_ sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA wrote: > From: Stephen Davies(at)MRC on 11/08/99 11:37 AM > > To: Gaslight-announce(at)mtroyal.ab.ca > cc: > Subject: Etext avail: Maurice Leblanc's _The confessions of Arsene Lupin_ > > (LUPNMENU.HTM#conf) (Nonfic, Chronos) > Maurice Leblanc's _The confessions of Arsene Lupin_ (1913) > > lupinX11.sht > This week's story will begin discussion on Wed., 99-nov-10, and is > taken from _The confessions of Arsene Lupin_ (1913). It is called:' > "The two hundred thousand francs reward". > > Earlier Lupin stories were offered from _The exploits of Arsene > Lupin_ (1907). > > 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 lupinX11.sht > > get lupinX01.sht > get lupinX02.sht > get lupinX03.sht > get lupinX04.sht > > or visit the Gaslight website at: > > http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/lupnmenu.htm#conf > > Stephen D > mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
===0===
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 22:58:51 +0300 From: cbishop(at)interlog.com (Carroll Bishop) Subject: Re: Famous composer makes bird talk >I don't know if there are any Wagnerite among Gaslighters, but I recall >that there is a talking bird in the third opera of Ring cycle, >_Siegfried_. Siegfried kills a dragon, Fafner, and in the course of the >battle, gets some blood on his fingers. Being the Aryan hero that he is, >he licks it off, and suddenly discovers that he can understand the >"speech" of a bird. This bird appears later in the opera both to warn and >advise Siegfried--a man born to trouble. > >My exposure to this opera, many years ago, was the first time I had ever >heard the legend that animals and people could once understand each other. >I don't know whether it is authentic Germanic lore or something Wagner >made up. I've probably missed most of this, but there's also Orpheus, St. Francis, and King Solomon (when he wore "King Solomon's Ring," the name of a wonder book by scientist Karl Lorenz. The one who had ducklings who thought he was their mommy. Imprinted, that was the word, on him. Lovely photographs of this in the book I think, and there was a movie too. Carroll
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Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 23:34:16 -0500 From: "James E. Kearman" <jkearman(at)mindspring.com> Subject: RE: Famous composer makes bird talk > My exposure to this opera, many years ago, was the first time I had ever > heard the legend that animals and people could once understand each other. > I don't know whether it is authentic Germanic lore or something Wagner > made up. Makes me think of Buchan's Rime of True Thomas, one of my favorite Gaslight stories. I reread it every couple of months. In that story, not only can the bird speak (in a respectable Scottish accent, no less), but it introduces Simon to a world outside his own, and the knowledge induces Simon to become a wanderer and leave his peaceful village. Sort of a Garden of Eden story without all the thunder. In this story, though, the bird apparently can speak only once in a hundred years. An aside: Sometimes the sea, or a pond full of frogs, or even some chatty birds, make a sound that almost resembles muffled human speech. People who spent a fair amount of solitary time out of doors probably sensed this, and... Cheers, Jim
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Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 22:38:35 -0600
From: Jo Ann Hinkle <joann(at)piasanet.com>
Subject: RE: Famous composer makes bird talk
>I don't know whether it is authentic >>>Germanic lore or something Wagner
>made up.
No, Wagner didn't make it up. It's in The Saga of the Volsungs, the Norse
saga of Sigurd the Dragonslayer, first written down by Snorri Sturlsson (I
believe) from the oral tradition. Wagner made some changes in the plot, but
its essentially the same story.
Jo Ann Hinkle
joann(at)piasanet.com
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Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 00:05:11 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: RE: Famous composer makes bird talk
Thanks, Jo Ann. I guess my knowledge of The Saga of the Volsungs leaves
much to be desired.
I think a nice topic for the group might be animals in stories we have
read. We all know, of course, the great hound in _The Hound of the
Baskervilles_ and the ape in "The Mystery of Marie Roget." What are some
others?
I remember a Dr. John Silence story we read, a good long time ago, in
which Dr. Silence uses a dog and cat (if I remember correctly) to alert
him to the presense of a ghost in a house he is investigating.
Then there are those whales and decapods!
Bob C.
On Mon, 8 Nov 1999, Jo Ann Hinkle wrote:
> >I don't know whether it is authentic >>>Germanic lore or something Wagner
> >made up.
>
>
> No, Wagner didn't make it up. It's in The Saga of the Volsungs, the Norse
> saga of Sigurd the Dragonslayer, first written down by Snorri Sturlsson (I
> believe) from the oral tradition. Wagner made some changes in the plot, but
> its essentially the same story.
>
> Jo Ann Hinkle
> joann(at)piasanet.com
>
>
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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 Nov 1999 00:08:34 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Today in History -- Nov 09
Interesting things that happened November 9th:
Birthdays on this date:
In 1802 Elijah P. Lovejoy, American newspaper publisher, abolitionist
In 1818 Ivan Turgenev, Russian novelist, poet, playwright (Fathers and Sons)
In 1821 Charles Baudelaire, poet
In 1825 Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill, Commander Third Corps, ANV
In 1830 Eadweard Muybridge, pioneer photographer
In 1841 Edward VII, king of England (1901-10)
In 1850 Lewis Lewin, German toxicologist, father of psychopharmacology
In 1898 Paul Robeson, actor and singer
In 1903 Gregory Pincus, birth control pill inventor
+ Ward Bond
In 1905 James William Fulbright, Missouri Senator
In 1913 Hedy Lamarr, actress
In 1915 Sargent Shriver, former VP candidate, Peace Corps leader
In 1918 Florence Chadwick, Channel Swimmer
+ Spiro Agnew (R), 39th VP (1973-77), crook
Events worth noting:
In 1799 Napoleon becomes dictator (first consul) of France.
In 1848 Post Office at Clay and Pike opens.
In 1861 Battle of Piketon, Ky.
In 1865 Confederate Gen. Lee surrenders to Union Gen. Grant at Appomattox.
In 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates after German defeat in WW I.
In 1924 Miriam (Ma) Ferguson becomes first elected woman governor (of
Texas).
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Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 01:58:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Reeve at Gutenberg
I don't remember seeing it announced on Gaslight, so I thought I would
inform the ladies and gentlemen here assembled (always assuming there are
such <g>) that Arthur Reeve's collection _The Poisoned Pen_, featuring
that square-jawed, scientific-whiz of a detective Craig Kennedy, was last
month made available in e-text format at the Gutenberg Project site.
_The Poisoned Pen_ contains three Reeve stories that we have discussed:
"The Campaign Grafters," "The Invisible Ray," and "The White Slave." I
know the last two well since I typed them for Gaslight distribution.
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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End of Gaslight Digest V1 #111
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