The Pope's Erotic Novel

One of the most popular books of the 15th century was the Historia de duobus amantibus or the Story of two lovers, written by Enea Silvio Piccolomini from Siena in 1444. It was first published in Cologne in 1468 and then in Rome in 1476, whereupon it followed a meteoric increase in publication. One reason for its popularity could be that it is one of the first notable erotic novels, only preceded by Petronius Arbiter's Satyricon and Boccaccio's Decameron, and the first epistolary erotic novel. Another reason could be that Piccolomini went on to become Pope Pius II in 1458.

Piccolomini in his older, more frumpy times

The novel follows the adulterous love of Lucretia, a married woman in Piccolomini's native Siena, and Euryalus, companion of Sigismund, the visiting Duke of Austria. Their relationship progresses from the search for reciprocal affection following a chance meeting, through love letters and secret meetings to a tragic finale. This plot has often been likened to that of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and the popularity of the novel might have made it available to Shakespeare 153 years later.

Euryalus and Lucretia meeting on the title page of
an edition from 1500 (click the image to zoom)

Interestingly, the novel is in many ways highly transitional. It occured at a time of budding Renaissance, including a topic and imagery which, save for Boccaccio, had been taboo in Medieval times. Whereas modern readers might find that the relative absence of sex and the poetically introspective and psychological approach to love remind them more of romance than of erotica, contemporary ones would relish in the novel's deviance from the religious rigidity of a waning era.

Euryalus delivers a love letter. 
The illustration breaks with standards of Medieval illumination. 
These were kept alive in Venice, but the Florentine printers 
developed this style because they were printing for
a larger, less wealthy public. (click the image to zoom)

No one exemplifies this change more distinctly than the author himself, albeit in unexpected ways. As a young Poet Laureate of Gaspar Schlick, the Chancellor of the Holy Roman Emperor (Sigismund of Austria...), Piccolomini seems to have embraced the ideals of the Renaissance. In the novel, one of Euryalus' last resort for gaining access to Lucretia, her husband's cousin Pandalus, points out that "Why, she is so changed by love, you would not think her the same person. Alas for piety, alas for grief! No one, until this happened, in all the city was chaster than she, no one more modest. It is indeed amazing that nature has given to love so much power over men’s thoughts." (i). Nature, as Fransesco de Sanctis points out, and in particular human nature, is now what is right (ii). Lucretia and Euryalus are clearly meant to be together, while the laws of society, which were the prevailing good in Medieval texts and the authority behind Lucretia's faltering marriage, is now what is wrong. While Dante viewed nature as evil and Medieval literature tended to view love as something granted by external, supernatural powers, Piccolomini places love in human nature. This Renaissance humanism which focuses on man and nature rather than religion and religious concepts saturates the novel and rules of society and honour which causes the tragic end to their relationship confirms this attitude.

The lovers, in a fond embrace, are being warned by a servant that
Lucretia's husband is at the door. The print is probably 
re-used from some other work. (click  the image to zoom)

However, Piccolomini soon became Pope, resulting in a remarkable volte-face. As Pope Pius II, he famously stated "Aeneam rejicite, Pium suscipite!" ("Reject Aeneas, accept Pius!"). He distanced himself from the favourable descriptions of nature, and particularly that of Lucretia, as well as the success of his younger self, albeit unsuccessfully. In this sense, upon ascending to the top of the Holy See, Aeneas returned to pre-Renaissance sentiments, luckily for us, to no avail.

The erstwhile poet had already made his mark, providing posterity with lyrical and heartfelt descriptions of love and the experience of it. The English translation, introduced by the below paragraphs, makes for a delightful read and a story which remains as engaging and vivid today as it did almost six hundred years ago.

"

THE city of Siena, your native town and mine, did great honour to the Emperor Sigismund on his arrival, as is now well known; and a palace was made ready for him by the church of Saint Martha, on the road that leads to the narrow gate of sandstone. As Sigismund came hither, after the ceremonies, he met four married ladies, for birth and beauty, age and ornament, almost equal. All thought them goddesses rather than mortal women, and had they been only three, they might have seemed those whom Paris, we are told, saw in a dream. Now Sigismund, though advanced in years, was quick to passion; he took great pleasure in the company of women, and loved feminine caresses. Indeed he liked nothing better than the presence of great ladies. So when he saw these, he leaped from his horse, and they received him with outstretched hands. Then, turning to his companions, he said: ‘Have you ever seen women like these: For my part, I cannot say whether their faces are human or angelic. Surely they are from heaven.’ 

They cast down their eyes, and their modesty made them lovelier. For, as the blushes spread over their cheeks, their faces took the colour of Indian ivory stained with scarlet, or white lilies mixed with crimson roses. And chief among them all, shone the beauty of Lucretia. A young girl, barely twenty years of age, she came of the house of the Camilli, and was wife to Menelaus, a wealthy man, but quite unworthy that such a treasure should look after his home; deserving rather that his wife should deceive him or, as we say, give him horns. 

This lady was taller than the others. Her hair was long, the colour of beaten gold, and she wore it not hanging down her back, as maidens do, but bound up with gold and precious stones. Her lofty forehead, of good proportions, was without a wrinkle, and her arched eyebrows were dark and slender, with a due space between. Such was the splendour of her eyes that, like the sun, they dazzled all who looked on them; with such eyes she could kill whom she chose and, when she would, restore the dead to life. Her nose was straight in contour, evenly dividing her rosy cheeks, while nothing could be sweeter, nothing more pleasant to see than those cheeks which, when she laughed, broke in a little dimple on either side. And all who saw those dimples longed to kiss them. A small and well-shaped mouth, coral lips made to be bitten, straight little teeth, that shone like crystal, and between them, running to and fro, a tremulous tongue that uttered not speech, but sweetest harmonies. And how can I describe the beauty of her mind, the whiteness of her breast?

"

The remaider of the novel can be found by clicking here.

What do you think?

What is your opinion of the about-face of Pius the poet pope? He could have distanced himself from his earlier work either because of the requirements of office, because of old age and changed values but also for a number of other reasons. What do you think these might be and can you sympathise with his choices?

Also, an erotic novel more or less without sex: is that a contradiction in terms? Is it an erotic novel at all or would you classify it as something else? If so, what and why?

Finally, the personal aspect. Love, romance and sexuality are highly personal themes. Could this be the reason for the novel's popularity back then? What is your personal reaction to the novel? Who deserves your personal sympathy, Aeneas or Pius?

Comments on The Tale of Sir Bob are always welcome! 

Further reading: A quick but good introduction, a thorough analysis, a look at illustrations and a young literate's reactions

Sources: (i), (ii), Pic1, Pic2, Pic3, Pic4

Watson and Other Excitable Characters - Ejaculations in the Sherlock Holmes Canon

Hopefully, this heading did not make you ejaculate with shock! Recently, I watched the first episode of the QI J-season, and after a particularly entertaining passage on language and literature, I ejaculated with joy. However, I did so not in the most common modern sense of the word, but in the late 18th century sense. The e comes from latin out (of) while iaculor is to throw or hurl (like a javelin), so while re-ject means to throw/send something back and e-ject means to throw/send something out, an ejaculation used to be just any kind of outburst.

In this particular QI episode, the use of the word in the Sherlock Holmes canon was the object of much mirth. There are 23 ejaculations in the canon, all of which presumably intended to be verbal, but like imagining Frodo and Sam as lovers in The Lord of the Rings, once you've thought it you can't un-think it and you're scarred for life:

This is just a few, though, and so you might ask, "Surely, this must be something for someone with a blog on literature! Why not the lot?" And you did, to which I reply, "Enjoy!"

"

You must have observed the way in which he held his head and swung his cane. A steady, respectable, middle-aged man, too, on the face of him—all facts which led me to believe that he had been a sergeant.”
“Wonderful!” I ejaculated.
“Commonplace,” said Holmes

---

Simple as it was, there were several most instructive points about it.”
“Simple!” I ejaculated.
“Well, really, it can hardly be described as otherwise,” said Sherlock Holmes, smiling at my surprise.

---

“NOW, WATSON,” said Holmes, rubbing his hands, “we have half an hour to ourselves. Let us make good use of it. My case is, as I have told you, almost complete; but we must not err on the side of over-confidence. Simple as the case seems now, there may be something deeper underlying it.”
“Simple!” I ejaculated.

---

(Watson, in response to his soon-to-be fiancée)

It was selfish, no doubt, disloyal, wrong, but I could realize nothing save that the golden barrier was gone from between us.
“Thank God!” I ejaculated from my very heart.
She looked at me with a quick, questioning smile.

- A Study in Scarlet -

“What on earth does this mean?” I ejaculated after I had twice read over the extraordinary announcement.
Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in high spirits. 

- The Red-Headed League -

This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the coroner's jury.”
“It was a confession,” I ejaculated 

- The Boscombe Valley Mystery -

While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind.

--- 

With these he constructed a sort of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of shag which I had seen upon the previous night.
“Awake, Watson?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Game for a morning drive?”
“Certainly.”
“Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the stable-boy sleeps

- The Man with the Twisted Lip -

 Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. “By Jove, Peterson!” said he, “this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have got?”
“A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though it were putty.”
“It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone.”
“Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!” I ejaculated.

- The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle -

The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. 

- The Adventure of the Specled Band -

“What on earth has that to do with it?” I ejaculated.

- The Adventure of the Copper Beeches -

“The young imp cannot be found,” said Dr. Trevelyan; “the maid and the cook have just been searching for him.”
Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
“He has played a not unimportant part in this drama,” said he. “The three men having ascended the stairs, which they did on tiptoe, the elder man first, the younger man second, and the unknown man in the rear—”
“My dear Holmes!” I ejaculated.

- The Resident Patient -

“Surely the gate was open!” ejaculated Phelps.
“Yes, but I have a peculiar taste in these matters. I chose the place where the three fir-trees stand, and behind their screen I got over without the least chance of any one in the house being able to see me. I crouched down among the bushes on the other side, and crawled from one to the other—witness the disreputable state of my trouser knees—until I had reached the clump of rhododendrons just opposite to your bedroom window. There I squatted down and awaited developments.
“The blind was not down in your room, and I could see Miss Harrison sitting there reading by the table. It was quarter-past ten when she closed her book, fastened the shutters, and retired.
“I heard her shut the door, and felt quite sure that she had turned the key in the lock.”
“The key!” ejaculated Phelps 

--- 

(and finally)

A moment later the servant's door was opened, and Mr. Joseph Harrison stepped out into the moonlight.”
“Joseph!” ejaculated Phelps

- The Naval Treaty -

Once or twice it seemed to me that I had seen the same figure before, and I especially noticed two men who appeared to be sheltering themselves from the wind in the doorway of a house some distance up the street. I tried to draw my companion's attention to them, but he gave a little ejaculation of impatience and continued to stare into the street.

- The Adventure of the Empty House – see my earlier post featuring this short story!

As Holmes turned up the lamp the light fell upon a card on the table. He glanced at it, and then, with an ejaculation of disgust, threw it on the floor. I picked it up and read:—

CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON, 

Appledore Towers, 

Hampstead. 

Agent. 

“Who is he?” I asked.
“The worst man in London,” Holmes answered

- The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton -

Amid the droning of the wind there had come the stamping of a horse's hoofs and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against the kerb. The cab which I had seen had pulled up at our door.
“What can he want?” I ejaculated, as a man stepped out of it.
“Want! He wants us. And we, my poor Watson, want overcoats and cravats and galoshes, and every aid that man ever invented

---

Tut-tut! Well, then, these tracks upon the grass, were they coming or going?”
“It was impossible to say. There was never any outline.”
“A large foot or a small?”
“You could not distinguish.”
Holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.

- The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez -

This brought his hand within a few inches of the broken end of the rope, but it was not this so much as the bracket itself which seemed to engage his attention. Finally he sprang down with an ejaculation of satisfaction.
“It's all right, Watson,” said he.

- The Adventure of the Abbey Grange -

My visit was specially made to the good Mr. Ames, with whom I exchanged some amiabilities, which culminated in his allowing me, without reference to anyone else, to sit alone for a time in the study.”
“What! With that?” I ejaculated.
“No, no, everything is now in order. You gave permission for that, Mr. Mac, as I am informed. The room was in its normal state, and in it I passed an instructive quarter of an hour.”

- The Valley of Fear - 

In the bedroom he made a rapid cast around and ended by throwing open the window, which appeared to give him some fresh cause for excitement, for he leaned out of it with loud ejaculations of interest and delight.

- The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot - 

(Holmes misses Watson…)

And here it is that I miss my Watson. By cunning questions and ejaculations of wonder he could elevate my simple art, which is but systematized common sense, into a prodigy.

- The Blanched Soldier -

"

What do you think?

Once more with the etymology! Is the fact that the predominant meaning of words change, sometimes with comic results, the most appealing part of language, or is it something else? According to Queer  and Feminist Theory, a lot of literature can be read from a new angle, as with Lord of the Rings and now clearly the Holmes canon. Have you read anything lately where a different understanding of the genders and gender roles alters your understanding of the text?

Comments on The Tale of Sir Bob are always welcome! 

Sources: As given

Bad Sex in Literature

In 1993, the British magazine Literary Review started handing out an award out of the ordinary. Nowadays, with the horrors of Fifty Shades of Grey stalking the literary landscape, it seems particularly relevant. Yes, it is the

Bad Sex in Fiction Award

Awarded to the author who produces the worst description of a sex scene in a novel, the award aims to to "draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it". Here is a short film showing the nomination process:

Seems tailor made for Fifty Shades of Grey, does it not? The only problem is that pornographic or erotic fiction is excluded, and rightly so, since part of the impact of the sex scenes are their situation in mainstream literature. The internet has reeled at the exclusion of J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy from the shortlist, but Jonathan Beckman, literary editor of the Literary Review explains in an interview with The Guardian that it simply was not bad enough, despite being filled with rape, casual sex and pedophilia. That says something of previous awardees. 

Previous winners have bestowed phrases like "Like a lepidopterist mounting a tough-skinned insect with a too blunt pin he screwed himself into her" (Rowan Somerwille: The Shape of Her) and "Moan moan moan moan moan went Hoyt as he slithered slithered slithered slithered and caress caress caress caress went the fingers" (Tom Wolfe: I am Charlotte Simmons) upon the world. More bad sex in fiction can be found here.

This year's award ceremony is on Tuesday 4th of December, and so it is up to you, dear reader, to decide whether any of the nominees are worthy heirs to these devastatingly squalid contribution to the canon:

Rare Earth by Paul Mason: “She breathed hot into his neck and he plunged three rough fingers down the front of her jeans, making her squeak. She had never tried wu-wei in this situation before and Khünbish, hairy and slightly paunchy, she noticed now that he had his shirt off, was generating slightly more karmic energy than she had anticipated.”

Noughties by Ben Masters: “We got up from the chair and she led me to her elfin grot, getting amongst the pillows and cool sheets. We trawled each other’s bodies for every inch of history. I dug after what I had always imagined and came up with even more. She stroked my outlines in perfect synchrony until I was febrile in her hands, willingly guided elsewhere.”

Infrared by Nancy Huston: “He runs his tongue and lips over my breasts, the back of my neck, my toes, my stomach, the countless treasures between my legs, oh the sheer ecstasy of lips and tongues on genitals, either simultaneously or in alternation, never will I tire of that silvery fluidity, my sex swimming in joy like a fish in water…”

The Adventuress: The Irresistible Rise of Miss Cath Fox by Nicholas Coleridge: “In seconds the duke had lowered his trousers and boxers and positioned himself across a leather steamer trunk, emblazoned with the royal arms of Hohenzollern Castle. ‘Give me no quarter,’ he commanded. ‘Lay it on with all your might.’”

Back to Blood by Tom Wolfe: “Now his big generative jockey was inside her pelvic saddle, riding, riding, riding, and she was eagerly swallowing it swallowing it swallowing it with the saddle’s own lips and maw — all this without a word.”

The Yips by Nicola Barker: “She smells of almonds, like a plump Bakewell pudding; and he is the spoon, the whipped cream, the helpless dollop of warm custard. She steams. He applauds, his tongue hanging out (like a bloodhound espying a raw chop in a cartoon).”

The Divine Comedy by Craig Raine: “And he came. Like a wubbering springboard. His ejaculate jumped the length of her arm. Eight diminishing gouts. The first too high for her to lick. Right on the shoulder.”

The Quiddity of Wilf Self by Sam Mills: “Down, down, on to the eschatological bed. Pages chafed me; my blood wept onto them. My cheek nestled against the scratch of paper. My cock was barely a ghost, but I did not suffer panic.”

What do you think? 

Which contribution do you think will receive this year's Bad Sex in Literature Award? Are there other candidates whom you think should have been included? If so, why? Feel free to include representative excerpts and do not forget to keep an attentive eye at the Literary Review webpage next Tuesday!

Comments on The Tale of Sir Bob are always welcome!

Source: Text

"Calcium Made Interesting" by Graham Chapman

This is an essay written by the late Dr. Graham Chapman of Monty Python. It is superb for teaching both chemistry and English.

"

Calcium Made Interesting

Calcium, an alkaline belonging to the group 2A of the periodic table, has large breasts. Its metallic form is readily oxidized and releases hydrogen from water. It occurs naturally as the carbonate CaCO3 in limestone, chalk, marble, and in brothels. This element makes up 3.4 percent of the earth’s crust and has wild parties 3.4 times a week round at its place. When Calcium Carbonate gets a bit heated it gives off CO2, and when it drinks claret it gets so sloshed it forms Calcium Hydroxide a.k.a. Ca(OH)2. The reaction of CaO and H2O to form Ca(OH)2 (a process which is called slaking, by the way) is very naughty indeed and can only be compared to sexual intercourse! At the climax of the reaction a white precipitate called Calcium Hydroxide appears and stains the sheets.

Calcium also occurs as the phosphate in Apatite and forms a large part of many silicate minerals which, if you’re really stoned, is a great scene to get zonked on, man. How about CaSO4 and 2H2O as a mantra? Or more simply just repeat “Gypsum” to yourself. But take care because on a bad trip, if things get a bit hot, it turns to Plaster of Paris (Where there are many prostitutes and a great gay scene—see ‘Ferrous Sulphate’). If Apatite, when finely ground and taken from between the thighs of a young school girl with blue knickers and white socks, is treated with Sulphuric Acid it produces super-phosphates which are used as fertilizers, if that’s anybody’s bag.

To sum up, Calcium is an aphrodisiac. In fact, just reading about it gives you both an orgasm and a high that you’ll really phone home about! Try this excerpt on for size:

Meeting the hard calcareous rock he thought how Calcium is involved in almost every biological function. As his hand came ever closer, up until it reached that place… Oh, the relief… Oh! The ecstasy… He reflected upon how this amazing mineral provides the electrical energy for the heart to beat and for all his muscle movement. Slowly, as his hand fell to his zip and he eased his fingers, slowly inserting them into his flies and, groping, he pondered upon how Calcium is responsible for feeding every cell. To his surprise he was not embarrassed as he…and then he…

Wow! But if you want a real buzz, then get into other Calcium compounds like Calcium Carbide (CaC2) which is produced when it is heated with ‘coke.’ It’s something else, man, way out! It will not only stimulate your erogenous zones but increase your vital statistics. (If you’re interested it can be delivered to your home in a plain brown wrapper. Details in the next chapter.)

"

Sources: Chapman, Graham; Calcium Made Interesting, Pic1,  Pic2

Lydia and Wickham

This essay aims to provide a close analysis of the representations of the sub-plot concerning Lydia and Wickham from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in two film adaptations of the novel (i). These two films will be the 2005 film Pride & Prejudice by director Joe Wright and director Gurinder Chadha’s 2004 Bride & Prejudice. Throughout, comparisons and investigations into the adaptive relationship to the original will be made and the terminology used in this endeavour will be taken from Deborah Cartmell et.al. and Julie Sanders (ii). Seeing as the analysis of the representations of the sub-plot in these two adaptations would be highly deficient without a similar one of characters and characterisation, such will also be provided. Mise-en-scène will only be treated indirectly and when relevant.

Jane Austen’s hypotext sports a number of sub-plots all of which can be labelled based on their protagonists. The primary plot, of course, concerns Elizabeth Bennet’s relationship with Mr. Darcy, while a number of sub-plots, like the Elizabeth-Collins sub-plot or the Jane-Bingley sub-plot work in conjunction with the primary plot. However, due to this interconnectivity, there are some challenges concerned with considering sub-plot as distinct from primary plot or indeed other sub-plots. This essay will consider the sub-plot where Lydia and Wickham elope and are made to marry with relevant instances of foreshadow and indications of the affair. It must, however, at times refer to the Darcy-Wickham sub-plot since this is defining the Wickham character in hypo- and hypertext. Furthermore, while elements of the sub-plot affect the primary plot, so do elements from the primary plot affect the sub-plot. When Darcy exposes Wickham for a scoundrel, he lays the foundation for the Lydia-Wickham sub-plot while this in return gives Darcy an opportunity to show his virtue.

Finally, it is worth noting how the sub-plots serve a purpose in relation to the primary plot. In many cases, the protagonists of sub-plots function as foils to those if the primary plot emphasising different qualities in these. The sub-plot in question is certain to appear in adaptations, because the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy is explained in contrast to the relationship between Lydia and Wickham through the way these relationships engage with each other.

Gurinder Chadha’s Bride & Prejudice

Chadha’s film Bride & Prejudice is a complex adaptation of Austen’s hypotext influenced by both Bollywood and Hollywood cinema. It is set primarily in modern India, but also in England and the US. It follows the plot of the original closely, centring on the adapted Bennet family, the Bakshi, and their quest for acceptable marriages for the Bakshi daughters. Like Chadha’s 2002 film Bend it like Beckham, it enters into a complex social discourse addressing issues such as multiculturalism post-colonialism and globalisation. It also comments on heritage cinema versions of the hypotext with its own brand of national cinema (iii). It thus closely engages with its literary hypotext in a variety of ways. This chapter will study the representation of the Lydia-Wickham sub-plot in Chadha’s adaptation, here identifiable as the Lakhi-Wickham sub-plot.

Like the hypotext, the film contains a number of sub-plots amongst which the Lakhi-Wickham sub-plot figures. The adaptation of a plot from literature into the film medium often entails a shortening of both the plot itself and the reduction and sometimes omission of subplots. This is because directors would find that the timeframe available is unable to cater for all the plot elements present in the hypotext. In Bride & Prejudice, the Lydia-Wickham sub-plot is maintained but relegated further to the margins and somehow altered in order to suit the medium. All the basic constituents of the sub-plot are present; the exposition of characters, the elopement and the resolution but much of what is represented through the spoken and written dialogue and internal monologue of other characters in the hypotext is substituted for brief visual or significant spoken representations in the hypertext. Thus, the exposition of the characters, the signifiers of their romantic involvement and the resolution are shown rather than told (iv). This technique condenses the sub-plot and allows the primary plot to fit within the timeframe of the film.

The film also alters the original sub-plot somewhat. It includes a growing affair between Lakhi and Wickham. This might be a necessary addition in order to explain the transition of Wickham’s affections from Lalita, the adapted Elizabeth, to Lakhi or a commentary on the lack of such in the hypotext, where the elopement appears suddenly. Furthermore, the resolution appears on a level which is visually more available to the audience than a more “faithful” representation of the equivalent in the hypotext would indicate (v). In the film, the adapted Darcy and Lalita tracks down Wickham and where he in Austen’s novel is made to marry Lydia, he loses a fistfight against Darcy in the film and Lakhi recognises her folly as opposed to Lydia. This is an approximation of the resolution to a modern setting and a modern audience where the crucial involvement of Darcy is retained. Finally, the fundamental conflict in Lydia and Wickham’s elopement, the romantic union outside cultural norms, is maintained although not as explicitly as in the hypotext because this would require more playtime. The extra flaw, Wickham’s moral deficiencies and his earlier elopement with Georgiana Darcy, was in Austen’s novel introduced well before his elopement with Lydia. In the film, however, these faults had to be altered. They had to be introduced closer to the actual elopement in order to keep the suspense of the plot and within the time frame of the film. Also, more of the faults from the hypotext had to be approximated, despite time concerns, in order to make the unsuitability of the union apparent to a modern, Western audience who unlike a more traditional Bollywood audience would not necessarily consider the union immoral. After the elopement has taken place, Darcy reveals that Wickham had earlier made his sister pregnant at the age of 16 as compared to them having an affair when she was 15 (vi). In this manner, Chadha approximates the conflict and restructures the plot in order to accommodate modern, Western sensibilities and the altered medium, but it is worth noting that the significance of the Darcy-Wickham sub-plot is maintained as crucially intertwined with that of the Lydia-Wickham sub-plot.

Film Poster

Seeing as the sub-plot is defined by character, a brief introduction to characters and characterisation is in order. The hypertext has received the Austen characters in a new cultural context. There is, in general, a one-to-one relationship between the received and the original characters (although a few minor characters are left out and Mary and Kitty are combined into the comparatively flat character of Maya). Lydia, then, becomes the flirtatious and socially naïve Lakhi while George Wickham becomes Johnny Wickham. Nomenclature does, in other words, play a role in presenting adaptive fidelity to the hypotext. Furthermore, as evidenced by the Wickham character, the characters are approximated for a modern audience and a modern setting in terms of names. This does not merely concern names, as Wickham’s defining vocational characteristic, being a soldier, is received in the new setting as a backpacking and seemingly unemployed Casanova, his social weight retained in contrast to the adapted Darcy’s position as a corporate executive. This change is made because a soldier would not hold the same attractions for Lakhi in the hypertext as he would for Lydia in the hypotext. Finally, it is worth noting that the relationship between Lakhi and Wickham appears in the film as noticeably secondary to that between Lalita and Wickham. This can be seen as a result of the limitations of the medium, for because of the limitations in play time, Wickham’s role in relation to Lalita and Darcy needs to be visualised more directly and succinctly than in the sub-plot in question here.

Without a clear narrative voice, the Bride & Prejudice characterisation diverges from that of the original novel. Whereas the novel’s point of view catered for the direct comments of a third person omniscient narrator in addition to the characterisations afforded by written and spoken dialogue, the hypertext has to represent the protagonists of the sub-plot through different means. While the rest of the film makes widespread use of a characteristic Bollywood feature, diegetic songs and item numbers, for characterisation, Lakhi and Wickham is primarily characterised through action as well as apparel, being in the margins of the primary plot.

Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice

Wright’s Pride & Prejudice, launched in 2005, ten years after Andrew Davies’ iconic fusion adaptation for television, is an adaptation for a new target audience. It is set in 1797 when First Impressions, the first version of Austen’s 1813 hypotext, was published. It thus distances itself from earlier adaptations, all centred on the latter version, whose formality would alienate the younger target audience intended for this film. This approximation entails some degree of rejection of the Laura Ashley school of filmmaking, “chocolate box England” and heritage aspects of earlier adaptations and incorporates Hollywood-style elements, which would appeal more to a younger audience (vii). This, coupled with the change of medium discussed above, affects all levels of the film, including the sub-plot of Lydia and Wickham.

The first foreshadowing of an affair, and a platonic one at that, is given immediately after the introduction of the Wickham character (viii). After initially having made Lydia and Kitty’s acquaintance, he joins them in shopping for ribbons. In offering to pay for Lydia’s ribbon, he strokes her cheek and produces a formerly palmed coin from behind her ear. This is a signifier of physicality with connotations to prostitution and the gesture has no ready equivalent at that point in the hypotext plot (ix). However, where the book indicates the platonic aspects of the relationship in the possibility of Lydia’s coming “upon the town” or being “secluded from the world, in some distant farm house”, i.e. prostitution or giving birth in hiding, this very visual representation approximates that aspect for a younger, more modern audience (x).

The film’s representation of the sub-plot goes on to follow the hypotext relatively close. As opposed to the Chadha adaptation, this adaptation allots the appropriate amount of play time needed to make the Lydia-Wickham sub-plot a considerable factor in the primary plot. On the commentary track, Wright recognised that once Elizabeth and Darcy had been brought together at Pemberley, taking centre stage in earnest, the sub-plot had to be made appropriately prominent to appear relevant (xi). Its relevance, as mentioned in introduction, stems from its comparative role, allowing for Darcy’s consolidation of his virtue, morality and place in Elizabeth’s heart. The Lydia-Wickham sub-plot works further here to define both Lydia and Wickham as negative foils outside the primary plot protagonists’ subjective spheres. This means that all the major elements of the hypotext sub-plot, the conflict; the news of the elopement, the resolution; the marriage settlement and even the, from a narrative point of view, consolidating stay at Longbourn can be found in the film.

The points of divergence from the hypotext, then, appear only in a number of smaller instances and do not constitute a decisive rewrite of the original sub-plot. As often as not these divergences can be explained by the above mentioned factors of medium and audience. The news of the elopement is brought by letter, as in the hypotext (xii). However, the corresponding scene not only includes both the Gardiners in addition to Elizabeth but also Mr. Darcy (xiii). This was probably done to limit the play time whilst still incorporating the protagonists of the primary plot, establishing the above mentioned function of the unravelling sub-plot for viewers. Elizabeth’s comical circling of the wall might be a ploy to appeal to those younger viewers unaware of the implications or unimpressed by the social magnitude of such an elopement.

Film Poster

Furthermore, Mr. Bennet does not show the same feelings of guilt in Lydia’s fate as he does in the hypotext (xiv). In the novel, Bennet comments on his guilt in between correspondence by letters with Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Collins. The omission of all this is a part of a larger process of limiting the narrative to the essentials and even commenting on the sheer amount of correspondence in the interval between the rise of the conflict and the resolution. Also, in terms of narrative levels, the added dimension of Bennet’s feelings would complicate the levels above, i.e. the sub-plot and the primary plot, and confuse younger viewers. Therefore, the film contents itself with visual representations of exasperation which can easily be neglected or missed without much consequence for the sub-plot. The only indication of Bennet’s regret in his method of raising his daughters is given when he in the film, like in the book, becomes stricter with Kitty as a result of the Lydia-Wickham sub-plot.

When the Wickhams arrive for their stay at Longbourn, Lydia reveals Darcy’s role in the resolution with considerably less candour in the hyper- than in the hypotext. In a scene which in many ways shares some characteristics with the elopement letter scene in terms of reduction of narrative space, Lydia performs the role originally assigned to Mrs. Gardiner (xv). Thus, in the interest of narrative space and flow, for the hypotext letter from Mrs. Gardiner would certainly disrupt the dinner scene, the same agenda for simplification is pursued for much the same reasons as above.

The last alteration in the representation of the sub-plot to be found consists of an added element. Apart from the presence of the soldiers, whose belligerent vocation is toned down in favour of appearance, Austen’s novels have little room for physical violence, and yet the adaptation hints at such. When the Wickhams are leaving, the novel only remarks Wickham’s vivacity compared to Lydia, but the film clearly shows him violently pushing Lydia down into the seat of the carriage (xvi). This could both emphasise the artificiality of the affair and hint at future domestic abuse. The use of violence, if noticed by viewers, would provide a commentary on the absence of such in the hypotext and to some extent anchor the sub-plot in a social context.

Rupert Friend plays Wickham

In terms of characters and characterisation, much remain similar to the hypotext and the deviations can largely be explained by the introduction to this chapter. The social status of each character is reflected in his or her attire and surroundings. Despite the rejection of revealing Laura Ashley style dresses, a certain physicality to the characters is maintained by the inclusion of dressing scenes, untidy hair and more physical contact than what the hypotext sanctions. The already mentioned foreshadowing of the affair as well as Lydia’s physical display of affection; touching and dancing about, could serve as examples in addition to the above extension of the sub-plot. This approximation of characters and the visual characterisation is mirrored by the characterisation through auditory communication. Though the use of letters, so prominent in the hypotext, is maintained to some extent in the hypertext, the narrative would suffer both in space and flow without the substitution of some letters for dialogue. One effect of this is that characters appear more outspoken. Lydia’s verbal narration of her affair at Longbourn gives her an air of lacking in sensibility which excels that given by the letter in the novel (xvii). Another effect is that in order to maintain the level of intimacy the letter offers, the mise-en-scène would have to create the atmosphere of intimacy a letter has, which would be a natural transition for an adaption into a visual medium. A further signifier of intimacy could be the use of language, body language and posture which is used extensively for purposes of characterisation in the adaptation. In contrast with earlier adaptations and the hypotext, the characters use modern polite language diverging from the original dialogue, modern body language like slouching or expressive airs and looks. The language, attitudes and facial expressions of Lydia in the final scene at Longbourn and her and Elisabeth’s surreptitious play with the glass of wine are both aspects of a visual form of narration and an approximation to a younger audience (xviii). This element in the representation of sub-plot thus mirrors the overarching agenda for the entire sub-plot as well as the adaptation in its entirety; to update Austen’s novel for a new audience, both in terms of form and medium.

Conclusion

Both these film adaptations can be seen as approximations and commentaries on the hypotext and the representation of the Lydia-Wickham sub-plot mirrors this. The Chadha hypertext performs a cultural transposition as well as a modernising approximation and receives the sub-plot in a more visual medium. This process allows for commentary, most prominently a post-colonial one, i.e. in terms of the cultural background of the protagonists and their encounters with cultural settings closer to the hypotext. In the Wright adaptation, the sub-plot is more faithful to the hypotext. It is more prominent and disconnected from Elizabeth’s person in than in Chadha’s adaptation, the resolution is similar but closer to that of Austen and the elopement is not shown as it is in Bride & Prejudice. Thus, the divergences in Wright’s film are less apparent but, as seen above, do serve a purpose.

What is shared by the sub-plot representation in both adaptations are media-specific characteristics, a recognition of a new target audience and the realisation that the sub-plot serves as the primary channel through which the Lydia and Wickham character show their significance for the primary plot. While the two former are shown in the formal and social aspects of the film, the latter is shown by mere inclusion. In terms of narrative, the sub-plot could easily have been left out with a few adjustments to the primary plot, but this would have left the primary plot deficient because of the Lydia-Wickham sub-plot’s relevance for the primary plot and its protagonists in terms of characterisation and plot progress.

Endnotes: 
(i) Jane Austen, ed. by Donald J. Gay: Pride and Prejudice, 3rd ed. New York/London, 2000, Joe Wright: Pride & Prejudice, [2005] (DVD), Gurinder Chadha: Bride & Prejudice, [2004] (DVD)
(ii) Deborah Cartmell et.al.(eds.): The Cambridge Companion to Literature on Screen, Cambridge, 2007, Julie Sanders: Adaptation and Appropriation, London 2006
(iii) See Bill Nichols: Engaging Cinema – An Introduction to Film Studies, New York/London, 2010: 147-153
(iv) See examples of of the exposition of Lakhi and Wickham in Chadha 2004: (02:30-02:57) ,(28:55-33:36), of the elopement in Ibid: (01:31:20-01:31:57) and of the resolution in Ibid (01:33:20-01:36:14).
(v) For comments on the problematic nature of fidelity, see Cartmell et.al. 2007: 108
(vi) Austen 2000: 133, Chadha 2004: (01:33:00-01:33:10)
(vii) For more on the characteristics of these, see Cartmell et.al. 2007: 75-87
(viii) Wright 2005: (29:50-31:22)
(ix) See Austen 2000: 49-50
(x) Ibid: 201
(xi) Wright 2005: (01:31:30-01:31:43)
(xii) Austen 2000: 176-180
(xiii) Wright 2005: (01:27:40-01:28:50)
(xiv) Austen 2000: 194-195
(xv) Ibid: 207-211, Wright 2005: (01:33:05-01:33:25)
(xvi) Austen 2000: 214, Wright 2005: (01:34:30-01:34:32)
(xvii) Austen 2000: 189
(xviii) Wright 2005: (01:31:45-01:34:32)

Bibliography:
Literature:
Austen, Jane ed. by Donald J. Gay: Pride and Prejudice, 3rd ed. New York/London, 2000
Cartmell, Deborah et.al.(eds.): The Cambridge Companion to Literature on Screen, Cambridge, 2007
Nichols, Bill: Engaging Cinema – An Introduction to Film Studies, New York/London, 2010
Sanders, Julie: Adaptation and Appropriation, London 2006
Films:
Chadha, Gurinder: Bride & Prejudice, [2004] (DVD)
Wright, Joe: Pride & Prejudice, [2005] (DVD)
Pictures: 1, 2, 3

Great "Death Bys"

From time to time you come across different "Death Bys". Some are shouted theatrically. Those are the best. Others appear on a button or in a song but they are still amusing. These are my three favourite "Death Bys".

3. Toy Story 3 - Death by Monkeys

In Toy Story 3, the evil Dr. Porkchop presses a button labelled "Death By Monkeys", which releases a barrel of monkeys from his ship. These monkeys then proceed to stretch our heroes in amazing concert. Thus:

2. In Johnny Cash' The Man Who Couldn't Cry - Death by Stretchmarks 

Intriguing idea in a great and very humourous song.

Those who did not quite make the top three:

Death by Chocolate (click to view)

Death by Spoon (click to view)

1. Futurama, Episode 3x5: Amazon Women in the Mood - Death by Snu-Snu

What is snu-snu and why would the shouted horrible, fabulous sentence of "DEATH by SNU-SNU!" bring joyous exclamations to the lips of any victim? Watch and concur!

Sources: Pic1, Pic2, Pic3

Harris' List

This is a small excerpt from Harris' list of Covent-Garden ladies Or man of pleasure's kalender for the year 1793. Containing the histories and some curious anecdotes of the most celebrated ladies now on the town, or in keeping, and also many of their keepers. The title says it all, really.

The "man of pleasure" would browse this handbook in order to find a suitable "fallen lady". Sadly enough, it seems the ladies were actively pursuing an entry in the list for advertising purposes. It was written by the Irish poet Samuel Derrick from inside a debtor's prison and based on the list of available ladies carried by the famous whoremonger Jack Harris. Derrick kept publishing the list, sometimes on the sly before dying and passing on the profits to a former mistress, brothel-keeper Charlotte Hayes. Thus, the list was very much a product from the underbelly of society seeming like another page out of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.

 

Frontispiece



For more entries from Harris' list, go to amazon.co.uk.

Source: Harris. Harris's list of Covent-Garden ladies Or man of pleasure's kalender for the year 1793. Containing the histories and some curious anecdotes of the most celebrated ladies now on the town, or in keeping, and also many of their keepers. London, [1793]. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. NTNU Universitetsbiblioteket. 19 Dec. 2010
CW3325762730&source=gale&userGroupName=ntnuu&version=1.0&docLevel=FASCIMILE>.

Literary Characters - The Country Maid and The Town Lady

The Country Maid and the Town Lady are both, like the coquette and the prude, characters of performance. They represent each their extremity of demography and social life, but both are morally ambiguous; they are both simultaneously associated with moral propriety and sexual availability.

The town lady shares some characteristics with the coquette. She indulges in social arrangements and is able to adapt to social situations. In addition to this, she is polite and fashionable but often decieves her husband for his money. The town lady is a married coquette.What the coquette lacks in sexual constancy (a woman's honour) is found in the town lady, although she is financially and to a degree socially inconstant. The association of the prude and the coquette's femininity to mercantilism also works for the town lady, and similarly to the ambiguity of the prude's modesty, the town lady's politeness can be seen to invite infidelity.

Where the town lady has an unnerving air of performance, the country maid has no such pretensions. She is similar to the country gentleman in her lack of polish and her "naturalness". She is often a virgin but also signifies sexual availability, making her a prime target for the rake. It is no coincidence that the protagonist of the first pornographic novel, John Cleland's eponymous Fanny Hill, was a country maid. Similarly, the country maid's simple attire signifies sexual availability as opposed to the complex and protective dress of the town lady (more on this below). When Richardson's Pamela dons the dress of a country maid she does not only visualise her poor social standing.

A country maid

The town lady's dress, while immediately discouraging sexual notions with its complexity (and immensity), held a number of qualities which made the town woman an artificial character. Its dual nature of protecting the lady within and emphasising her femininity sent mixed messages. Also, its complexity and size as well as its artificiality made her seem unnatural, exaggerated and imposing which did not go down well with current ideals for femininity.

This artifice is what sets the town lady and the country maid apart. The country maid's lack of hypocricy and guile and her inoffensiveness towards the social and sexual hierarchy makes her a positive character throughout the 18th century. However, this is accompanied with a lack of wit which, somewhat related to the "she-tragedies", leaves her at a loss towards the end of the period. Simultaneously, the increasing worry that the town lady's frivolity might lead her into infidelity, or that her debts must be paid in a similar manner saw the town lady in need of reform. In Frances Burney's Evelina, the eponymous heroine has to find a middle ground between the country maid's innocense and the town lady's politeness. Neither the one or the other could ever be a heroine as the ideal woman woman was expected to be moderate.

Source: Elaine M. McGirr, Eighteenth-Century Characters: A Guide to the Literature of the Age (Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

Literary Characters - The Coquette and The Prude

Somewhat like the rake and the fop, and the country gentleman and the cit the Coquette and the Prude seem to be opposed but turn out to share a number of qualities. The coquette is a flirt, playing on the expectations of men and her own femininity while the prude is the seeming opposite, excessively occupied with her virtue and excluding her heart and potential admirers.

The characters share one crucial common trait; both resist marriage and are thus increasingly frowned upon as marriage and motherhood become the percieved natural state of women. Although the coquette faces a downward slide into vulgarity and the prude a similar one into spinsterhood or a transformation into an old maid, their similarities become increasingly apparent throughout the 18th century. Samuel Richardson's prudish Pamela was easily satirised in Henry Fielding's coquette Shamela as resistance to male advances just as easily can be interpreted as schemes to attract these men. Pamela might be both a prude and a coquette. Although it seems Richarson finds prudery impossible (as it is based in modesty which is so attractive), her flaunting of her virtue in most social settings signifies mixed characteristics.

Pamela - prude or coquette?

Addison and Steele were very preoccupied with these characters and saw them in a mercantilistic light. Both, they argued, tried to increase their stock by manipulating the market. This meant being unnatural, which in the expanding capitalism was seen as just as dangerous as in social life.

Later, this was seen as uncomfortable evidence of the superficiality of gender roles and the effect of this. Assumed characters not only opposed the "natural state of woman" but they also presumed to threaten the balance of power relations. Colley Cibber suggests in The Provok'd Husband that the coquette and the prude assumes these characters to preserve their techincal chastity, allowing them to take social liberties elsewhere. In this sense, far from increasing their attractions, they become repulsive because they are not "proper" women.

In spite of this, the coquette was an oft represented character. Likened to the fop, she was lively and social. Her agenda was also understood as a mere postponement of married life, to which end she would avoid too close a relationship to one single suitor. On the other hand, there were also a number of tragic coquettes. Richardson's Clarissa could for instance be seen as a coquette paying for her failure with her life. Whether successful or not, the coquette always ranked above the prude. Both characters were seen as threats to the feminine ideal, but the prude was thought to enbody all the coquette's vices but none of  her virtues and she, unlike the coquette, rejected married life altogether.

Source: Elaine M. McGirr, Eighteenth-Century Characters: A Guide to the Literature of the Age (Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

Literary Characters - 17th to 18th Century Female Characters

In the restoration comedies, female characters were witty, beautiful and often the male characters' equals. As the centruries progressed, however, certain processes turned these independent characters into innocent victims and chaste wives which, in Alexander Pope's words "have no characters at all" (77). This post will trace this trajectory.

The Restoration saw the first female actresses entering the stage. Previously, female characters had been played by boys who often did not possess the same skills as their older counterparts (which might account for the comparatively few lines given female characters). With an actress-mad king (whose most famous mistress was the actress Nell Gwynn) and the rise of the restoration comedy, female characters on stage would equal male ones in wit and design to the extent of wearing breeches. (So called "breeches parts" would not only show off actresses' legs, but also comment on the boys playing female roles earlier on.). This equality, finding precedents in Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing, could be seen in plays like John Dryden's Secret Love and Marriage á la Mode and William Wycherley's The Country Wife.

Nell Gwynn

With female characters claiming more influence in new dramatic genres it was inevitable that they should enter the formerly male dominated tragedy. Nicholas Rowe's "she-tragedies", like The Fair Penitent and The Tragedy of Jane Shore turned the tide for the female character. In these tragedies, the female character would regret and ripe the results of her Restoration exuberance and women would increasingly be portrayed as victims, as witnessed in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa which relies heavily on Rowe. With the decline of the rake came the decline of its female counterpart. Both Lovelace and Clarissa dies, preparing the ground for the female character who has learned.

Charlotte Lennox' The Female Quixote is the arena in which the several female roles are sorted. The independent heroin of her own romance, Arabella, is at odds with or even above society throughout the novel. At the end, however, after encountering a fallen woman (the Country Maid Miss Groves), the Town Lady Miss Glanville, a cross-dressing Tommy prositute, the Learned Lady (the Countess) and being lectured by a clergyman, she becomes the ideal 18th century heroine. The submissive, passive and chaste wife or victim.

Source: Elaine M. McGirr, Eighteenth-Century Characters: A Guide to the Literature of the Age (Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

Literary Characters - The Fop and the Macaroni

If one strips away the wit and hypersexuality of the rake one is left with the fop. The fop is the flat, shallow and superficial counterweight to the rake. He is very in touch with the fashions of the day, wearing the latest from Paris and updated on the gossip of the town. This veneer, however, conceals his lack of masculinity and wit as well as his shortcomings with women and are but vague imitations of the rakish style.

Although the fop's gentleness and domesticity gave him access to female company and thus represented a challenge to the rake (particularly in Rochester's Dictionary of Love and Richardson's Clarissa), he is generally a character of ridicule. Like the rake's association with the sword and tongue (as well as penis), the fop is associated with the mirror, emphasising his effeminacy and superficiality. Indeed, in Joseph Addison's Specatator 275, he and his lesser versions the Beau and the Pretty Fellow are described as nothing but artificiality and pretense. Thus, the fop is fundamentally unnatural as opposed to the rake being, if possible, too natural.

The macaroni, an exaggerated fop.
Notice the presence of a mirror...

In the 18th century the fop came to be regarded less as a risible figure and increasingly as a dangerously subversive one. Initially, the danger was no more than uselessness. Women, who it was thought could not penetrate the outer, effeminate layer, would end up with a useless man. By the mid-eighteent century, however, this sexual ambiguity was increasingly seen as threatening. As cross-dressing women, often called travesties or Tommies, imitated the foppish style and effeminacy lost its former meaning of "liking women" and took on the modern interpretation of "being like women", being a fop was increasingly linked to being homosexual. The distinctions between the fop, the cross-dressing man (the "Molly") and the homosexual were becoming blurred as foppishness was interpreted as outwards signs of internal perversion. Many of these perceptions can still be found in modern attitudes towards homosexualities.

Furthermore, Britain's cooling relationship to the Catholic Continent and especially France gave the fop a political aspect. With his links to French fashion and customs the fops were seen as French fifth colonists, amongst others by Samuel Foote in his An Englishman in Paris which adds "the French disease" or syphilis to the charges. Here, the fop is joined by the macaroni, an exaggerated fop who imitated foreign speech and customs to excess (and were precursors to the dandies). Both were seen as corrupting influences on British mentality and masculinity and this is witnessed in the rebirth of the risible fop in the shape of the foppish soldier thought unfit for war.

Source: Elaine M. McGirr, Eighteenth-Century Characters: A Guide to the Literature of the Age (Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

Literary Characters - The Rake

The witty, womanising man of the world has appeared in fiction both before and after the heyday of the rake, from Shakespeare to Fleming, but he was never so popular and clearly defined as in the shape of the rake. An elite character, the rake used his sharp tongue, his sword and his wealth to dominate the lower classes and bed the ladies.

His ascendancy came with the English Restoration. The English had suffered through some years of strict Puritan government under Cromwell and when "the merry monarch", Charles II, opened the theatres and started spawning illegitimate offspring the time was ripe of the libertinistic rake to increase his appearance. As theatres introduced women on stage the rake would figure as a role model of enterprising masculinity on stage in the many restoration comedies. The rake reflected the king in many ways; he represents a force above the puritan society, one who presents a wild, primitive force in a polite, civilised dressing. The rake would be, as McGirr puts it, a-social (above society) rather than antisocial (opposed to it).

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester,
the model for Dorimant, the rake in George Etherege's Man of Mode

Like in many modern societies, male honour was what mattered for the rake. This should always be present and defended, and so the rake would disregard debts to the rising middle classes, fight offenders wither with wit or sword and ravish women. The three weapons of the rake would therefore be intimately tied to his masculinity, the phallus and the phallic sword and tongue.

However, the appeal of the rake lessened towards the end of the 17th century. Charles failed to produce a legitimate heir and the capital was struck by plague and fire. John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (portrayed by Johnny Depp in The Libertine), famous for his rakish lifestyle, died of alcoholism and a number of venereal diseases. Thus the tragic aspects of the rake became more apparent and the reformation of the rake became the agenda of the day. Although Mary Davy's The Accomplish'd Rake and Hogarth's series Marriage a la Mode suggested that the rake would have to be forced into reform, die or go mad Colley Cibber's Love's Last Shift and Samuel Richardson's hugely popular Pamela illustrate the contemporary idea that the rake could be reformed by a virtuous woman and would then be the best possible husband.

Of course there were more damning depictions of the rake throughout the 18th century. In Richardson's Clarissa the rake Lovelace is killed in a duel and in Sir Charles Grandison and Pope's mock-epic Rape of the Lock the rakes are subjected to ricidule before they end up inconsequential. With the extended focus on morality and the rise of the cult of sensibility towards the end of the 18th century the rake had been reformed and rewritten from the personification of the aggressive, conquering masculinity to that of a failed one on the margins of society.

Source: Elaine M. McGirr, Eighteenth-Century Characters: A Guide to the Literature of the Age (Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

Socialler and Socialler

I guess we are all just a barrell of lonely monkeys. I have been challenged by Lady B to write seven things about myself in a post "shorter than the Paleozoic era" (the Lady is a fond student of all things between a rock an a hard place). Assuming the Paleozoic era, like the parsec, is a unit of length rather than time as might be conjectured, I for one will not stand in the way of such contests of dispensing the excretory fluid. Setting the tattered manifest charter of impersonality aside for a second time (those scarred will remember the horrid lapse of standards of February this year) I will boldly endeavour to oblige the gaggle of coquettes in their thirst for brass tax.

1.

I could be compared to a summer's day

Though I am more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Some too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And oft is his gold complection dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

But my eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair I oweth;

Nor shall Death brag I wander'th in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time I groweth:

So long as men can breathe and eyes can see,

So  long lives this and this gives life to me

2. Most Terry Gilliam films presents a fairly accurate description of my mindscape.

Terry G

3. I invented the Spanish question mark and the royalties afforded me anually are partly to blame for the current economic turmoil in Spain.

The other one is copyright infringement

4. I am fascinated by the apparent humanity behind much of the lofty cultural expressions of history. Consider this: although civilisation has gradually become more advanced through the ages our perception of the value of cultural remnants of history has described an oppositely declining trajectory, as has our understanding of the basic functions of humanity behind those remnants. Therefore, discovering the lewdness of Hamlet, the greatest emo of all times, the fact that the English Enlightenment poet Stephen Duck died by ducking in 1756 or that Virgil got his name for not sleeping with ladies (because he was secretly otherwise inclined) delights me to no end.
 

 
5. My latest purchase is La Pucelle d'Orléans by Voltaire. A dirty sexist satire over the life of Joan of Arc, the book was found too licentious by the 18th century French! Since it was outlawed, banned and burned throughout France Voltaire brought it to London whose printers published in great excess and delight. I have found one of these copies from 1774 in a Viennese antiquarian bookstore and it is in the mail as this post is being written. Now all that remains is to learn French and I should be able to look forward to many a hearty, bawdy guffaw.


Juicy Joan,
too frivolous for the French

6. My hobbies are golf, masturbation and strangling animals. Simultaneously.



7. I get the creeps by the following: open drawers, clingfilm, thick ropes, dentists' drills, pictures of VD and jutting my jaw forwards so my lower front teeth get on the outside of my upper front teeth. On the other hand, I have been cut, shot (by myself), bitten by lots of different animals, had surgery in my stomach without anasthetic, cut the inside of my eyelid on rusty barbed wire, climbed a switched on electric fence and bled quite substantial amounts of blood on a wall. However, I am genetically conditioned to cry when animals in distress are rescued or when those two Italians sing and play for Lady and the Tramp in the original movie.

You've read it!

You can't un-read it!

Stay tuned for more verisimilitude!

Look it up.

Sources: pic1, pic3, pic5