I'm adding a small post just to ensure that everyone knows (and that I remember) what the Special of the Day is going to be on our upcoming menus. I will not be posting large quantities every day, but hope to at least toss out a recommendation for your consumption.
Mondays - Mystery
Tuesdays - Historical
Wednesdays - Romance
Thursdays -Paranormal
Fridays - Fantasy
Saturdays - Sci-Fi
Sometimes, I will be posting "kids' meal" recommendations -- Juvenile Fiction or Young Adult--within the categories above. I still read these books (at least the well-written ones) and love them dearly; I know many adults do. Plus, readers with kids at home may want suggestions for new reading material.
Also, non-fiction deserves the occasional look-in and will therefore occasionally supplant the usual topic.
I think that covers it for now. If any reader wants to hear about other genres, please mention it! I rarely read War, True Crime, or graphic/gory Thrillers, but if there are any exceptionally well-written examples of these genres, I'd love to hear about them.
Friday, May 6, 2016
Introductions Over the Smorgasbord
So after a busy couple of years, I'm back. It seems like the right time to do a few entries on the blog, and also, that introductions from an old friend, Silverlock, are in order.
After several pages of Chapter 1, we finally learn the names of the main character and his new acquaintance. The main character introduces himself as A. Clarence Shandon. His companion considers three names to be "very fancy" and says that, in that case, if you assembled his names, he would be called O. Widsith Amergin Demodocus... Boyan Taliesin Golias. He leaves out a few to shorten it up.
I don't know if Shandon's name is meant to be a literary reference, since he is a thoroughly pragmatic post-modern businessman who doesn't read anything but non-fiction or the newspaper. Possibly the names refer to events current to Myers' lifetime. For example, the Clarence could refer to prominent lawyer and proponent of economic reform Clarence Darrow (defender of Scopes during the Scopes "Monkey" trial).
No doubt there are also literary layers to Shandon's names, or at least, one can interpret them that way. I do wonder a little if A. Clarence could refer to the Angel Clarence in "It's a Wonderful Life" -- an angel who needs to earn his wings, an outsider able to see the big picture of his friend's life. Shandon is a town in Cork, Ireland, and there is a poem called "The Shandon Bells" by Francis Sylvester Mahoney. The poem is about the sound of church bells, comparing them to the bells of home and childhood in Shandon; the language is robust and swinging but the tone is nostalgic and sweet. One would never accuse Shandon being homesick for Chicago, but I suppose he ought to miss the reading and stories from childhood even if he doesn't realize it. Perhaps as he lives the literature in the Commonwealth, it comes to remind him of the childhood stories. Though at this point in the book, that is sheer romantic supposition.
Golias' names, though, are without question a conglomeration of literary references.
The O. is most likely an abbreviation (since Shandon abbreviated his own first name) for Orpheus, the poet and musician who went to Hades to retrieve his beloved and was told she could follow him back out, so long as he didn't look back. There's time to go read that myth if you'd like, but there are lots of other names ahead. I did have one other thought about the "O." There is a wonderful story teller whose name starts that way: O. Henry, the great master of the short story with the twist/surprise ending. I would be willing to bet that the O. can and does stand for both Orpheus and O. Henry; I hope you will concede that it is at least possible, and then wait until after this post to read the many, delightful, and absorbing O. Henry stories. I will do a post on some of my favorites another time.
Widsith (Old English, late 10th century) is both a poem and the Scop (bard, skald, poet) mentioned in the poem. The name means "far journey" or widely travelled. The idea of the Scop is a bit meta-poetical, as they are the fictional poets mentioned within poems and directing the action in the poem. The Widsith poem itself is a catalog of peoples both ancient and contemporary to the poet, and who their rulers were/are. Widsith the Scop travels to each and every time and land to be with the rulers. The poem contains the first mention of the Vikings in literature (wicinga cynn). Unless you possess a copy of the Exeter Book and can read Old English, you'll have to do with a translation.
In the Irish Mythological Cycle (Milesian conquest of Ireland), Amergin was a bard and judge for the Milesians. As an impartial judge, he sets the rules of battle between the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians, then takes the Milesian ships out beyond the 9th wave (a magical boundary). When the druids of the Tuatha raise a storm against them, Amergin sings a song that calms the storm and allows the Milesian ships to land. Here's a beautiful version of Amergin's Song in the Gaelic (with English subtitles) on YouTube.
Demodocus is a character in Homer's Odyssey, a blind bard who sings of the Greek gods and the adventures of heroes, reducing Odysseus to tears. Demodocus is described as beloved of the Muse, whose gifts are mingled, as she took his eyes but gave him the sweetest voice.
Boyan was a bard in the Rus saga "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" (Old East Slavic, late 12th century). The poem contains a wonderful description of Boyan's abilities as a poet: "For Boian (sic) was a wizard; when he wished to create a song, He would move in all directions through the tree as a squirrel--as a grey wolf along the ground, as a dusky eagle beneath the clouds." He grew to be so popular that the Ukrainian tradition grew to call all bards boyans. There is some speculation as to whether Boyan was a real individual or merely a character who outgrew his poem.
An actual historical poet and bard, Taliesin was a 6th century Welsh poet who served in the courts of kings. Some of his poems still survive today in The Book of Taliesin (Middle Welsh). His name means "Shining Brow" in Middle Welsh. He was so highly regarded that he later became a character in numerous tales, including Tennyson's Idylls of the King. He authored a number of legends and finally became one himself, as a companion to Bran the Blessed and King Arthur.
Finally, Golias. The character Golias, or Bishop Golias, appears to have been created in the 12th century as a protest against corruption and worldliness among the priesthood and church leaders. Bishop Golias is described as "a fat mock-Bishop who is the familiar pattern of all that is gross and worldly among men professing to be spiritual guides" (English Writers: from the Conquest to Chaucer, Henry Morley) and "the lord of vagabonds" presiding over literature that "satirized the church and exalted the delights of wine, love and song" (Halsall, Fordham University). The Golias stories are usually in the form of mock-scriptural references (The Apocalypse, The Confession, etc.), and are written, in Latin, by numerous different authors. Golias gave the educated men of the era (mostly churchmen or men educated by the church) a chance to indulge in ribald, humorous, satirical secular writing anonymously.
If after you survived a shipwreck, you were introduced to someone named O. Widsith Amergin Demodocus Boyan Taliesin Golias, chances are, you would know at least one of those names (especially if the O is written out to Orpheus and you've walked the Fantasy section in your local bookstore to see the modern takes on Taliesin) and you would therefore expect that you've met your local guide, who is a poet and bard, judge and satirist, with a larger than life personality. Shandon just looks blank. Golias comments under his breath, "Not too well informed."
Sadly, before I started hunting down these references, I wasn't too well informed, either, being limited to the Orpheus and Taliesin references. Of course, I don't speak or read Middle Welsh, Old English, Greek, Old East Slavic or Latin. I have no doubt the works lose something in translation, but that will have to do for reading here.
More on Chapter 1 next time!
After several pages of Chapter 1, we finally learn the names of the main character and his new acquaintance. The main character introduces himself as A. Clarence Shandon. His companion considers three names to be "very fancy" and says that, in that case, if you assembled his names, he would be called O. Widsith Amergin Demodocus... Boyan Taliesin Golias. He leaves out a few to shorten it up.
I don't know if Shandon's name is meant to be a literary reference, since he is a thoroughly pragmatic post-modern businessman who doesn't read anything but non-fiction or the newspaper. Possibly the names refer to events current to Myers' lifetime. For example, the Clarence could refer to prominent lawyer and proponent of economic reform Clarence Darrow (defender of Scopes during the Scopes "Monkey" trial).
No doubt there are also literary layers to Shandon's names, or at least, one can interpret them that way. I do wonder a little if A. Clarence could refer to the Angel Clarence in "It's a Wonderful Life" -- an angel who needs to earn his wings, an outsider able to see the big picture of his friend's life. Shandon is a town in Cork, Ireland, and there is a poem called "The Shandon Bells" by Francis Sylvester Mahoney. The poem is about the sound of church bells, comparing them to the bells of home and childhood in Shandon; the language is robust and swinging but the tone is nostalgic and sweet. One would never accuse Shandon being homesick for Chicago, but I suppose he ought to miss the reading and stories from childhood even if he doesn't realize it. Perhaps as he lives the literature in the Commonwealth, it comes to remind him of the childhood stories. Though at this point in the book, that is sheer romantic supposition.
Golias' names, though, are without question a conglomeration of literary references.
The O. is most likely an abbreviation (since Shandon abbreviated his own first name) for Orpheus, the poet and musician who went to Hades to retrieve his beloved and was told she could follow him back out, so long as he didn't look back. There's time to go read that myth if you'd like, but there are lots of other names ahead. I did have one other thought about the "O." There is a wonderful story teller whose name starts that way: O. Henry, the great master of the short story with the twist/surprise ending. I would be willing to bet that the O. can and does stand for both Orpheus and O. Henry; I hope you will concede that it is at least possible, and then wait until after this post to read the many, delightful, and absorbing O. Henry stories. I will do a post on some of my favorites another time.
Widsith (Old English, late 10th century) is both a poem and the Scop (bard, skald, poet) mentioned in the poem. The name means "far journey" or widely travelled. The idea of the Scop is a bit meta-poetical, as they are the fictional poets mentioned within poems and directing the action in the poem. The Widsith poem itself is a catalog of peoples both ancient and contemporary to the poet, and who their rulers were/are. Widsith the Scop travels to each and every time and land to be with the rulers. The poem contains the first mention of the Vikings in literature (wicinga cynn). Unless you possess a copy of the Exeter Book and can read Old English, you'll have to do with a translation.
In the Irish Mythological Cycle (Milesian conquest of Ireland), Amergin was a bard and judge for the Milesians. As an impartial judge, he sets the rules of battle between the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians, then takes the Milesian ships out beyond the 9th wave (a magical boundary). When the druids of the Tuatha raise a storm against them, Amergin sings a song that calms the storm and allows the Milesian ships to land. Here's a beautiful version of Amergin's Song in the Gaelic (with English subtitles) on YouTube.
Demodocus is a character in Homer's Odyssey, a blind bard who sings of the Greek gods and the adventures of heroes, reducing Odysseus to tears. Demodocus is described as beloved of the Muse, whose gifts are mingled, as she took his eyes but gave him the sweetest voice.
Boyan was a bard in the Rus saga "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" (Old East Slavic, late 12th century). The poem contains a wonderful description of Boyan's abilities as a poet: "For Boian (sic) was a wizard; when he wished to create a song, He would move in all directions through the tree as a squirrel--as a grey wolf along the ground, as a dusky eagle beneath the clouds." He grew to be so popular that the Ukrainian tradition grew to call all bards boyans. There is some speculation as to whether Boyan was a real individual or merely a character who outgrew his poem.
An actual historical poet and bard, Taliesin was a 6th century Welsh poet who served in the courts of kings. Some of his poems still survive today in The Book of Taliesin (Middle Welsh). His name means "Shining Brow" in Middle Welsh. He was so highly regarded that he later became a character in numerous tales, including Tennyson's Idylls of the King. He authored a number of legends and finally became one himself, as a companion to Bran the Blessed and King Arthur.
Finally, Golias. The character Golias, or Bishop Golias, appears to have been created in the 12th century as a protest against corruption and worldliness among the priesthood and church leaders. Bishop Golias is described as "a fat mock-Bishop who is the familiar pattern of all that is gross and worldly among men professing to be spiritual guides" (English Writers: from the Conquest to Chaucer, Henry Morley) and "the lord of vagabonds" presiding over literature that "satirized the church and exalted the delights of wine, love and song" (Halsall, Fordham University). The Golias stories are usually in the form of mock-scriptural references (The Apocalypse, The Confession, etc.), and are written, in Latin, by numerous different authors. Golias gave the educated men of the era (mostly churchmen or men educated by the church) a chance to indulge in ribald, humorous, satirical secular writing anonymously.
If after you survived a shipwreck, you were introduced to someone named O. Widsith Amergin Demodocus Boyan Taliesin Golias, chances are, you would know at least one of those names (especially if the O is written out to Orpheus and you've walked the Fantasy section in your local bookstore to see the modern takes on Taliesin) and you would therefore expect that you've met your local guide, who is a poet and bard, judge and satirist, with a larger than life personality. Shandon just looks blank. Golias comments under his breath, "Not too well informed."
Sadly, before I started hunting down these references, I wasn't too well informed, either, being limited to the Orpheus and Taliesin references. Of course, I don't speak or read Middle Welsh, Old English, Greek, Old East Slavic or Latin. I have no doubt the works lose something in translation, but that will have to do for reading here.
More on Chapter 1 next time!
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