From godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu Tue Sep 7 17:01:24 2010 From: godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu (Godshalk, William (godshawl)) Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 20:01:24 -0400 Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Message-ID: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670D7@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * ________________________________________ From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2010 6:34 PM To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Cc: Bruce Redwine Subject: Re: [ilds] Lawrence Durrell: the Mindscape I'd like to get the new edition, but isn't there considerable risk sending cash in the mail, particularly overseas? Bruce On Sep 4, 2010, at 8:26 AM, Richard Pine wrote: > I've discovered to my horror that the (few) remaining copies of my Lawrence > Durrell: the Mindscape are quoted at ?105 sterling by Macmillan. And it's the > same on the internet for new/secondhand copies. > I cannot imagine why anyone would want to pay such a price for the first > edition, when a second, revised and expanded, edition is available direct from > the Durrell School. > Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of the second, revised (paperback) edition > should send 30 euros (20 euros plus 10 euros post and packing) in cash to: > Durrell School of Corfu > PO Box 94 > Corfu 49100 > Greece. > > Unfortunately due to high bank charges for currency conversion and cheque > lodgements, the DSC can only accept cash payment in euros. > > Richard Pine > > > > > _______________________________________________ > ILDS mailing list > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net Tue Sep 7 17:25:43 2010 From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine) Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 17:25:43 -0700 Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins In-Reply-To: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670D7@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> References: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670D7@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> Message-ID: <3BE4409F-8F0C-4EE1-A296-5DE6A24074E9@earthlink.net> Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. BR On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: > "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. > > "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." > > Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? > > > W. L. Godshalk * > Department of English * * > University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * > OH 45221-0069 * * From godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu Tue Sep 7 18:23:40 2010 From: godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu (Godshalk, William (godshawl)) Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 21:23:40 -0400 Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins In-Reply-To: <3BE4409F-8F0C-4EE1-A296-5DE6A24074E9@earthlink.net> References: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670D7@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu>, <3BE4409F-8F0C-4EE1-A296-5DE6A24074E9@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670D8@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu though. The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * ________________________________________ From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Cc: Bruce Redwine Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. BR On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: > "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. > > "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." > > Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? > > > W. L. Godshalk * > Department of English * * > University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * > OH 45221-0069 * * _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net Tue Sep 7 18:45:43 2010 From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine) Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 18:45:43 -0700 Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins In-Reply-To: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670D8@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> References: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670D7@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu>, <3BE4409F-8F0C-4EE1-A296-5DE6A24074E9@earthlink.net> <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670D8@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> Message-ID: <10D028A8-E128-46C2-B905-5E1BFC100A3C@earthlink.net> Well, anyone who's seen the Ionian or the Aegean knows that those waters are really and truly blue, bluer than Dodger blue. So, I'm not inclined, in this instance, to jump to conclusions, as I'm famous for doing. Bruce On Sep 7, 2010, at 6:23 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: > Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu though. > > The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." > > Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. > > O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. > > > W. L. Godshalk * > Department of English * * > University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * > OH 45221-0069 * * > ________________________________________ > From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] > Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM > To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca > Cc: Bruce Redwine > Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins > > Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. > > > BR > > > > On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: > >> "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. >> >> "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." >> >> Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? >> >> >> W. L. Godshalk * >> Department of English * * >> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >> OH 45221-0069 * * From gkoger at mindspring.com Tue Sep 7 19:43:40 2010 From: gkoger at mindspring.com (gkoger at mindspring.com) Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 20:43:40 -0600 (GMT-06:00) Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Message-ID: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests lay primarily in Italy. Grove -----Original Message----- >From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" >Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM >To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" >Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins > >Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu though. > >The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." > >Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. > >O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. > > >W. L. Godshalk * >Department of English * * >University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >OH 45221-0069 * * >________________________________________ >From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] >Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM >To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >Cc: Bruce Redwine >Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins > >Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. > > >BR > > > >On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: > >> "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. >> >> "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." >> >> Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? >> >> >> W. L. Godshalk * >> Department of English * * >> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >> OH 45221-0069 * * > > >_______________________________________________ >ILDS mailing list >ILDS at lists.uvic.ca >https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds > >_______________________________________________ >ILDS mailing list >ILDS at lists.uvic.ca >https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds From Fraser.Wilson at eht.nhs.uk Wed Sep 8 02:27:29 2010 From: Fraser.Wilson at eht.nhs.uk (Wilson, Fraser) Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 10:27:29 +0100 Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really begins References: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: <73EE03F36052BC48BD48C86191489F3B01A7CDFF@eht-mail01p.xeht.nhs.uk> Douglas certainly knew how to describe a boat trip - as in South Wind, below - which can be grabbed online from Project Gutenburg at no cost. His companion, meanwhile, beheld the panorama in all its nightmarish splendour, as it drifted past him. He saw the bluffs of feathery pumice, the lava precipices--frozen cataracts of white, black, blood red, pale grey and sombre brown, smeared over with a vitreous enamel of obsidian or pierced by oily, writhing dykes that blazed with metallic scintillations. Anon came some yawning cleft or an assemblage of dizzy rock-needles, fused into whimsical tints and attitudes, spiky, distorted, over-toppling; then a bold tufa rampart, immaculate in its beauty, stainless as a curtain of silk. And as the boat moved on he looked into horrid dells which the rains had torn out of the loose scoriae. Gaping wounds, they wore the bright hues of corruption. Their flanks were blotched with a livid nitrous efflorescence, with flaring sulphur, unhealthy verdure of pitchstone, streaks of arsenical vermilion; their beds--a frantic maze of boulders. He beheld this crazy stratification, this chaos of incandescent nature, sent in a flame of deep blue sky and sea. It lay there calmly, like some phantasmagoric flower, some monstrous rose that swoons away, with upturned face, in a solar caress. -----Original Message----- From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of gkoger at mindspring.com Sent: 08 September 2010 03:44 To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really begins Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests lay primarily in Italy. Grove -----Original Message----- >From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" >Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM >To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" >Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins > >Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu though. > >The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." > >Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. > >O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. > > >W. L. Godshalk * >Department of English * * >University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >OH 45221-0069 * * >________________________________________ >From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] >Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM >To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >Cc: Bruce Redwine >Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins > >Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. > > >BR > > > >On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: > >> "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. >> >> "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." >> >> Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? >> >> >> W. L. Godshalk * >> Department of English * * >> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >> OH 45221-0069 * * > > >_______________________________________________ >ILDS mailing list >ILDS at lists.uvic.ca >https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds > >_______________________________________________ >ILDS mailing list >ILDS at lists.uvic.ca >https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds From marcpiel at interdesign.fr Wed Sep 8 07:35:14 2010 From: marcpiel at interdesign.fr (Marc Piel) Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:35:14 +0200 Subject: [ilds] Thought some of you might be interested in this Message-ID: <4C879F22.5020704@interdesign.fr> The 100 books that changed the world. http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/greatideas/index_1.html From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net Wed Sep 8 10:22:10 2010 From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine) Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 10:22:10 -0700 Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really begins In-Reply-To: <73EE03F36052BC48BD48C86191489F3B01A7CDFF@eht-mail01p.xeht.nhs.uk> References: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <73EE03F36052BC48BD48C86191489F3B01A7CDFF@eht-mail01p.xeht.nhs.uk> Message-ID: <231CFD7B-E28D-4D2A-A967-640B6A2313BF@earthlink.net> Gotta say no to the C. Morley allusion and go with a reference to N. Douglas, as Grove notes below. Along this line, I always thought Iago's slur, "making the beast with two backs," was original with Shakespeare, but it wasn't ? a note in the Arden Othello says the phrase was proverbial. Still, Shakespeare gets the credit, and Durrell will too. BR On Sep 8, 2010, at 2:27 AM, Wilson, Fraser wrote: > > Douglas certainly knew how to describe a boat trip - as in South Wind, > below - which can be grabbed online from Project Gutenburg at no cost. > > > > His companion, meanwhile, beheld the panorama in all its nightmarish > splendour, as it drifted past him. He saw the bluffs of feathery > pumice, the lava precipices--frozen cataracts of white, black, blood > red, pale grey and sombre brown, smeared over with a vitreous enamel of > obsidian or pierced by oily, writhing dykes that blazed with metallic > scintillations. Anon came some yawning cleft or an assemblage of dizzy > rock-needles, fused into whimsical tints and attitudes, spiky, > distorted, over-toppling; then a bold tufa rampart, immaculate in its > beauty, stainless as a curtain of silk. And as the boat moved on he > looked into horrid dells which the rains had torn out of the loose > scoriae. Gaping wounds, they wore the bright hues of corruption. Their > flanks were blotched with a livid nitrous efflorescence, with flaring > sulphur, unhealthy verdure of pitchstone, streaks of arsenical > vermilion; their beds--a frantic maze of boulders. > > He beheld this crazy stratification, this chaos of incandescent nature, > sent in a flame of deep blue sky and sea. It lay there calmly, like > some phantasmagoric flower, some monstrous rose that swoons away, with > upturned face, in a solar caress. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On > Behalf Of gkoger at mindspring.com > Sent: 08 September 2010 03:44 > To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca > Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really > begins > > Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? > > I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas > and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to > Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas > AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and > otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests > lay primarily in Italy. > > Grove > > -----Original Message----- >> From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" >> Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM >> To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" >> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue > really begins >> >> Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu > though. >> >> The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." >> >> Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. >> >> O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. >> >> >> W. L. Godshalk * >> Department of English * * >> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >> OH 45221-0069 * * >> ________________________________________ >> From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf > Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] >> Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM >> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >> Cc: Bruce Redwine >> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue > really begins >> >> Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the > Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? > I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. >> >> >> BR >> >> >> >> On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: >> >>> "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in > 1922. >>> >>> "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." >>> >>> Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? >>> >>> >>> W. L. Godshalk * >>> Department of English * * >>> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >>> OH 45221-0069 * * >> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100908/e447cbda/attachment.html From godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu Wed Sep 8 12:48:58 2010 From: godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu (Godshalk, William (godshawl)) Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 15:48:58 -0400 Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins In-Reply-To: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net> References: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670DE@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> Very interesting. I wonder if all of these references fit together. Could they? W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * ________________________________________ From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of gkoger at mindspring.com [gkoger at mindspring.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 10:43 PM To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests lay primarily in Italy. Grove -----Original Message----- >From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" >Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM >To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" >Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins > >Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu though. > >The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." > >Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. > >O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. > > >W. L. Godshalk * >Department of English * * >University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >OH 45221-0069 * * >________________________________________ >From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] >Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM >To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >Cc: Bruce Redwine >Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins > >Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. > > >BR > > > >On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: > >> "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. >> >> "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." >> >> Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? >> >> >> W. L. Godshalk * >> Department of English * * >> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >> OH 45221-0069 * * > > >_______________________________________________ >ILDS mailing list >ILDS at lists.uvic.ca >https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds > >_______________________________________________ >ILDS mailing list >ILDS at lists.uvic.ca >https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds From godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu Wed Sep 8 12:54:54 2010 From: godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu (Godshalk, William (godshawl)) Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 15:54:54 -0400 Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really begins In-Reply-To: <231CFD7B-E28D-4D2A-A967-640B6A2313BF@earthlink.net> References: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <73EE03F36052BC48BD48C86191489F3B01A7CDFF@eht-mail01p.xeht.nhs.uk>, <231CFD7B-E28D-4D2A-A967-640B6A2313BF@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670DF@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> 'Elemental and Permanent Things': George Gissing and Norman Douglas in Southern Italy Author: Sharon Ouditt Abstract This essay offers a comparison between George Gissing's By the Ionian Sea and Norman Douglas's Old Calabria, two travelogues, published in the first part of the twentieth century, that construct contrasting images of the regions of Italy south of Naples. Gissing's account is limpid, lucid; a voyage into his own imaginative past and into the heart of Magna Graecia, where 'today' is 'an impertinence'. Douglas's account, on the other hand, is disorderly, capacious and polyvocal: his Calabria is one of 'multiple civilisations' and one which is palpably capable of fostering the 'sunny mischiefs' to which he is inclined. The comparison draws on the biographical, social and cultural contexts in which the two were writing and considers the various means of travel undertaken, the relationship between past and present and that between writer and interlocutor, in the setting of this relatively neglected part of Europe. W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * ________________________________________ From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 1:22 PM To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Cc: Bruce Redwine Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really begins Gotta say no to the C. Morley allusion and go with a reference to N. Douglas, as Grove notes below. Along this line, I always thought Iago's slur, "making the beast with two backs," was original with Shakespeare, but it wasn't ? a note in the Arden Othello says the phrase was proverbial. Still, Shakespeare gets the credit, and Durrell will too. BR On Sep 8, 2010, at 2:27 AM, Wilson, Fraser wrote: Douglas certainly knew how to describe a boat trip - as in South Wind, below - which can be grabbed online from Project Gutenburg at no cost. His companion, meanwhile, beheld the panorama in all its nightmarish splendour, as it drifted past him. He saw the bluffs of feathery pumice, the lava precipices--frozen cataracts of white, black, blood red, pale grey and sombre brown, smeared over with a vitreous enamel of obsidian or pierced by oily, writhing dykes that blazed with metallic scintillations. Anon came some yawning cleft or an assemblage of dizzy rock-needles, fused into whimsical tints and attitudes, spiky, distorted, over-toppling; then a bold tufa rampart, immaculate in its beauty, stainless as a curtain of silk. And as the boat moved on he looked into horrid dells which the rains had torn out of the loose scoriae. Gaping wounds, they wore the bright hues of corruption. Their flanks were blotched with a livid nitrous efflorescence, with flaring sulphur, unhealthy verdure of pitchstone, streaks of arsenical vermilion; their beds--a frantic maze of boulders. He beheld this crazy stratification, this chaos of incandescent nature, sent in a flame of deep blue sky and sea. It lay there calmly, like some phantasmagoric flower, some monstrous rose that swoons away, with upturned face, in a solar caress. -----Original Message----- From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of gkoger at mindspring.com Sent: 08 September 2010 03:44 To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really begins Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests lay primarily in Italy. Grove -----Original Message----- From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" > Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" > Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu though. The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * ________________________________________ From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Cc: Bruce Redwine Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. BR On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * From godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu Wed Sep 8 13:02:57 2010 From: godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu (Godshalk, William (godshawl)) Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 16:02:57 -0400 Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins In-Reply-To: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670DE@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> References: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net>, <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670DE@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> Message-ID: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670E0@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> Gissing? Morley's Gissing is a dog -- apparently named after George Gissing. Still . . . . W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * ________________________________________ From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Godshalk, William (godshawl) [godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu] Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 3:48 PM To: gkoger at mindspring.com; ilds at lists.uvic.ca Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Very interesting. I wonder if all of these references fit together. Could they? W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * ________________________________________ From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of gkoger at mindspring.com [gkoger at mindspring.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 10:43 PM To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests lay primarily in Italy. Grove -----Original Message----- >From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" >Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM >To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" >Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins > >Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu though. > >The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." > >Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. > >O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. > > >W. L. Godshalk * >Department of English * * >University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >OH 45221-0069 * * >________________________________________ >From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] >Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM >To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >Cc: Bruce Redwine >Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins > >Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. > > >BR > > > >On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: > >> "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. >> >> "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." >> >> Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? >> >> >> W. L. Godshalk * >> Department of English * * >> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >> OH 45221-0069 * * > > >_______________________________________________ >ILDS mailing list >ILDS at lists.uvic.ca >https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds > >_______________________________________________ >ILDS mailing list >ILDS at lists.uvic.ca >https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds From godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu Wed Sep 8 15:13:19 2010 From: godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu (Godshalk, William (godshawl)) Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 18:13:19 -0400 Subject: [ilds] Call for Papers Message-ID: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670E4@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> Will the Durrellians be meeting in Louisville this year? 2011 Call for Papers - Reminder (Last Call) The 39th annual Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900 will be held at the University of Louisville, February 24-26. Critical papers may be submitted on any topic that addresses literary works published since 1900, and/or their relationship with other arts and disciplines (film, journalism, opera, music, pop culture, painting, architecture, law, etc). Work by creative writers is also welcome. Visit our new website for complete submission guidelines www.thelouisvilleconference.com Click on ?Call for Papers? Prearranged panels are also welcome. Group Societies are welcome Please forward this email to a colleague who may be interested in the conference. Deadline for submission is September 15, 2010 (postmarked). Please visit, the Conference Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=131421218223 Shari Gater The Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture since 1900 Conference Coordinator Dept. of Classical and Modern Languages University of Louisville Humanities Bldg Rm 332 Louisville, KY 40292 (502) 852-6687 shari.gater at louisville.edu http://www.thelouisvilleconference.com From albigensian at hotmail.com Wed Sep 8 16:30:32 2010 From: albigensian at hotmail.com (Pamela Francis) Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 18:30:32 -0500 Subject: [ilds] Call for Papers In-Reply-To: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670E4@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> References: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670E4@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> Message-ID: I believe the CFP for our panel has been posted on this site--at least I thought I saw it. It is also on the UPENN site---perhaps Charles can repost the cfp ont he listserv-- > From: godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu > To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca > Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 18:13:19 -0400 > Subject: [ilds] Call for Papers > > Will the Durrellians be meeting in Louisville this year? > > > 2011 Call for Papers - Reminder (Last Call) > > The 39th annual Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900 will be held at the University of Louisville, February 24-26. Critical papers may be submitted on any topic that addresses literary works published since 1900, and/or their relationship with other arts and disciplines (film, journalism, opera, music, pop culture, painting, architecture, law, etc). > > Work by creative writers is also welcome. > > Visit our new website for complete submission guidelines www.thelouisvilleconference.com > > Click on ?Call for Papers? Prearranged panels are also welcome. Group Societies are welcome > > Please forward this email to a colleague who may be interested in the conference. > > Deadline for submission is September 15, 2010 (postmarked). > > Please visit, the Conference Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=131421218223 > > > > Shari Gater > > The Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture since 1900 > > Conference Coordinator > > Dept. of Classical and Modern Languages > > University of Louisville > > Humanities Bldg Rm 332 > > Louisville, KY 40292 > > (502) 852-6687 > > shari.gater at louisville.edu > > > > http://www.thelouisvilleconference.com > > _______________________________________________ > ILDS mailing list > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100908/58141d74/attachment.html From dtart at bigpond.net.au Wed Sep 8 23:31:59 2010 From: dtart at bigpond.net.au (Denise Tart & David Green) Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2010 16:31:59 +1000 Subject: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue reallybegins In-Reply-To: <231CFD7B-E28D-4D2A-A967-640B6A2313BF@earthlink.net> References: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net><73EE03F36052BC48BD48C86191489F3B01A7CDFF@eht-mail01p.xeht.nhs.uk> <231CFD7B-E28D-4D2A-A967-640B6A2313BF@earthlink.net> Message-ID: Bruce, I have seen references to the beast with two backs in other texts - older than Shakespeare's. it appears to be a late medieval English term but may have translations in other languages. I am sure the French have something equally descriptive? Re Durrell and Douglas I like the idea posted recently regarding 'where the blue really begins' which suggests that Durrell was acknowledging Douglas but moving beyond Italy to Greece. It may have been unconscious, but it is a nice idea anyway. Durrell owed a fair bit to Norman Douglas. Old Calabria and South Wind are great reads. But I have to say that the blue really begins in the Aegean around Rhodes and Crete. David From: Bruce Redwine Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 3:22 AM To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Cc: Bruce Redwine Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue reallybegins Gotta say no to the C. Morley allusion and go with a reference to N. Douglas, as Grove notes below. Along this line, I always thought Iago's slur, "making the beast with two backs," was original with Shakespeare, but it wasn't ? a note in the Arden Othello says the phrase was proverbial. Still, Shakespeare gets the credit, and Durrell will too. BR On Sep 8, 2010, at 2:27 AM, Wilson, Fraser wrote: Douglas certainly knew how to describe a boat trip - as in South Wind, below - which can be grabbed online from Project Gutenburg at no cost. His companion, meanwhile, beheld the panorama in all its nightmarish splendour, as it drifted past him. He saw the bluffs of feathery pumice, the lava precipices--frozen cataracts of white, black, blood red, pale grey and sombre brown, smeared over with a vitreous enamel of obsidian or pierced by oily, writhing dykes that blazed with metallic scintillations. Anon came some yawning cleft or an assemblage of dizzy rock-needles, fused into whimsical tints and attitudes, spiky, distorted, over-toppling; then a bold tufa rampart, immaculate in its beauty, stainless as a curtain of silk. And as the boat moved on he looked into horrid dells which the rains had torn out of the loose scoriae. Gaping wounds, they wore the bright hues of corruption. Their flanks were blotched with a livid nitrous efflorescence, with flaring sulphur, unhealthy verdure of pitchstone, streaks of arsenical vermilion; their beds--a frantic maze of boulders. He beheld this crazy stratification, this chaos of incandescent nature, sent in a flame of deep blue sky and sea. It lay there calmly, like some phantasmagoric flower, some monstrous rose that swoons away, with upturned face, in a solar caress. -----Original Message----- From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of gkoger at mindspring.com Sent: 08 September 2010 03:44 To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really begins Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests lay primarily in Italy. Grove -----Original Message----- From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu though. The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * ________________________________________ From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Cc: Bruce Redwine Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. BR On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100909/6b278adf/attachment.html From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net Thu Sep 9 12:45:25 2010 From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine) Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2010 12:45:25 -0700 Subject: [ilds] Summae litterarum In-Reply-To: References: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net><73EE03F36052BC48BD48C86191489F3B01A7CDFF@eht-mail01p.xeht.nhs.uk> <231CFD7B-E28D-4D2A-A967-640B6A2313BF@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <8E2DDA0A-7DFB-4E2A-9DF7-8FBD55383636@earthlink.net> David, Thanks for picking up on this topic and pointing out Shakespeare's use of proverbial language. Re Prospero's Cell, I'd like to elaborate on Lawrence Durrell's place in the literary history of the Greek isles. In an article, "Beowulf in Literary History," Joseph Harris defines a category of literary works he calls, summae literrarum. His examples are Beowulf and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, of which he says, "Such works are generically synthetic and punctuate or terminate a period, summarizing the literary past and seemingly either to generate no direct progeny or to devour their own by overshadowing them in the course of subsequent literary history" (Pacific Coast Philology, vol. 17 [1982], no. 1-2, p. 16). I'll throw out that a selection of Durrell's Mediterranean island books fits Harris's category of a "literary summa." I'd include in Durrell's summa the following: Prospero's Cell, Reflections on a Marine Venus, Bitter Lemons, and Sicilian Carousel. Yes, another "quartet," and I include Sicily because in Durrell's "mind's eye" it's really Greek, which the history bears out. One of Harris's interesting points is that such works subsume a long tradition. So the fact that we have echoes of other writers (e.g., C. Morley's "where the blue begins") shouldn't bother us. Great works "absorb" their predecessors and come to define the genre by dint of their breadth and excellence. Of course, this opens up the whole issue of plagiarism, but that's another matter. Bruce On Sep 8, 2010, at 11:31 PM, Denise Tart & David Green wrote: > Bruce, > > I have seen references to the beast with two backs in other texts - older than Shakespeare's. it appears to be a late medieval English term but may have translations in other languages. I am sure the French have something equally descriptive? > > Re Durrell and Douglas I like the idea posted recently regarding 'where the blue really begins' which suggests that Durrell was acknowledging Douglas but moving beyond Italy to Greece. It may have been unconscious, but it is a nice idea anyway. Durrell owed a fair bit to Norman Douglas. Old Calabria and South Wind are great reads. But I have to say that the blue really begins in the Aegean around Rhodes and Crete. > > David > > From: Bruce Redwine > Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 3:22 AM > To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca > Cc: Bruce Redwine > Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue reallybegins > > Gotta say no to the C. Morley allusion and go with a reference to N. Douglas, as Grove notes below. Along this line, I always thought Iago's slur, "making the beast with two backs," was original with Shakespeare, but it wasn't ? a note in the Arden Othello says the phrase was proverbial. Still, Shakespeare gets the credit, and Durrell will too. > > > BR > > > > > > On Sep 8, 2010, at 2:27 AM, Wilson, Fraser wrote: > >> >> Douglas certainly knew how to describe a boat trip - as in South Wind, >> below - which can be grabbed online from Project Gutenburg at no cost. >> >> >> >> His companion, meanwhile, beheld the panorama in all its nightmarish >> splendour, as it drifted past him. He saw the bluffs of feathery >> pumice, the lava precipices--frozen cataracts of white, black, blood >> red, pale grey and sombre brown, smeared over with a vitreous enamel of >> obsidian or pierced by oily, writhing dykes that blazed with metallic >> scintillations. Anon came some yawning cleft or an assemblage of dizzy >> rock-needles, fused into whimsical tints and attitudes, spiky, >> distorted, over-toppling; then a bold tufa rampart, immaculate in its >> beauty, stainless as a curtain of silk. And as the boat moved on he >> looked into horrid dells which the rains had torn out of the loose >> scoriae. Gaping wounds, they wore the bright hues of corruption. Their >> flanks were blotched with a livid nitrous efflorescence, with flaring >> sulphur, unhealthy verdure of pitchstone, streaks of arsenical >> vermilion; their beds--a frantic maze of boulders. >> >> He beheld this crazy stratification, this chaos of incandescent nature, >> sent in a flame of deep blue sky and sea. It lay there calmly, like >> some phantasmagoric flower, some monstrous rose that swoons away, with >> upturned face, in a solar caress. >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On >> Behalf Of gkoger at mindspring.com >> Sent: 08 September 2010 03:44 >> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really >> begins >> >> Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? >> >> I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas >> and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to >> Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas >> AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and >> otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests >> lay primarily in Italy. >> >> Grove >> >> -----Original Message----- >>> From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" >>> Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM >>> To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" >>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue >> really begins >>> >>> Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu >> though. >>> >>> The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." >>> >>> Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. >>> >>> O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. >>> >>> >>> W. L. Godshalk * >>> Department of English * * >>> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >>> OH 45221-0069 * * >>> ________________________________________ >>> From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf >> Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] >>> Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM >>> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >>> Cc: Bruce Redwine >>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue >> really begins >>> >>> Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the >> Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? >> I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. >>> >>> >>> BR >>> >>> >>> >>> On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: >>> >>>> "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in >> 1922. >>>> >>>> "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." >>>> >>>> Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? >>>> >>>> >>>> W. L. Godshalk * >>>> Department of English * * >>>> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >>>> OH 45221-0069 * * >>> > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100909/4c33ff21/attachment.html From dtart at bigpond.net.au Thu Sep 9 13:33:48 2010 From: dtart at bigpond.net.au (Denise Tart & David Green) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 06:33:48 +1000 Subject: [ilds] Summae litterarum In-Reply-To: <8E2DDA0A-7DFB-4E2A-9DF7-8FBD55383636@earthlink.net> References: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net><73EE03F36052BC48BD48C86191489F3B01A7CDFF@eht-mail01p.xeht.nhs.uk> <231CFD7B-E28D-4D2A-A967-640B6A2313BF@earthlink.net> <8E2DDA0A-7DFB-4E2A-9DF7-8FBD55383636@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <5C817EBC8A114FD0B035E1DD0CDBE756@DenisePC> Bruce, I quite agree. Shakespeare's style and language do not move much beyond the time of his death and the young of his day were already speaking with a new voice. the court too had changed under the Stuart kings to a sparer and more recognizably modern style (possibly a Scottish influence). Shakespeare was the last of the medieval's. He was Catholic too and at odds with the rising protestantism of his time, so yes I think his work is a literary summa of a vanishing world in the same way that Durrell's island book tend to absorb the silver age prose he admired rather than anticipate a new style. And indeed I would argue that there have been no 'travel' books like his in recent times - that blend of fact, fiction, personal experience, history and spirit of place. but it would hard to classify these books as Prospero's Cell is significantly different from Bitter Lemons. Sicilian Carousel I have not read yet. AS to plagiarism, well to my mind, all writers are guilty of this. their word hoard comes from many sources, often unacknowledged. Get something up on the list about this literary summa concept in relation to the island books. it may draw some keen responses. Cheers David From: Bruce Redwine Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 5:45 AM To: Denise Tart & David Green ; ilds at lists.uvic.ca Cc: Bruce Redwine Subject: Summae litterarum David, Thanks for picking up on this topic and pointing out Shakespeare's use of proverbial language. Re Prospero's Cell, I'd like to elaborate on Lawrence Durrell's place in the literary history of the Greek isles. In an article, "Beowulf in Literary History," Joseph Harris defines a category of literary works he calls, summae literrarum. His examples are Beowulf and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, of which he says, "Such works are generically synthetic and punctuate or terminate a period, summarizing the literary past and seemingly either to generate no direct progeny or to devour their own by overshadowing them in the course of subsequent literary history" (Pacific Coast Philology, vol. 17 [1982], no. 1-2, p. 16). I'll throw out that a selection of Durrell's Mediterranean island books fits Harris's category of a "literary summa." I'd include in Durrell's summa the following: Prospero's Cell, Reflections on a Marine Venus, Bitter Lemons, and Sicilian Carousel. Yes, another "quartet," and I include Sicily because in Durrell's "mind's eye" it's really Greek, which the history bears out. One of Harris's interesting points is that such works subsume a long tradition. So the fact that we have echoes of other writers (e.g., C. Morley's "where the blue begins") shouldn't bother us. Great works "absorb" their predecessors and come to define the genre by dint of their breadth and excellence. Of course, this opens up the whole issue of plagiarism, but that's another matter. Bruce On Sep 8, 2010, at 11:31 PM, Denise Tart & David Green wrote: Bruce, I have seen references to the beast with two backs in other texts - older than Shakespeare's. it appears to be a late medieval English term but may have translations in other languages. I am sure the French have something equally descriptive? Re Durrell and Douglas I like the idea posted recently regarding 'where the blue really begins' which suggests that Durrell was acknowledging Douglas but moving beyond Italy to Greece. It may have been unconscious, but it is a nice idea anyway. Durrell owed a fair bit to Norman Douglas. Old Calabria and South Wind are great reads. But I have to say that the blue really begins in the Aegean around Rhodes and Crete. David From: Bruce Redwine Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 3:22 AM To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Cc: Bruce Redwine Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue reallybegins Gotta say no to the C. Morley allusion and go with a reference to N. Douglas, as Grove notes below. Along this line, I always thought Iago's slur, "making the beast with two backs," was original with Shakespeare, but it wasn't ? a note in the Arden Othello says the phrase was proverbial. Still, Shakespeare gets the credit, and Durrell will too. BR On Sep 8, 2010, at 2:27 AM, Wilson, Fraser wrote: Douglas certainly knew how to describe a boat trip - as in South Wind, below - which can be grabbed online from Project Gutenburg at no cost. His companion, meanwhile, beheld the panorama in all its nightmarish splendour, as it drifted past him. He saw the bluffs of feathery pumice, the lava precipices--frozen cataracts of white, black, blood red, pale grey and sombre brown, smeared over with a vitreous enamel of obsidian or pierced by oily, writhing dykes that blazed with metallic scintillations. Anon came some yawning cleft or an assemblage of dizzy rock-needles, fused into whimsical tints and attitudes, spiky, distorted, over-toppling; then a bold tufa rampart, immaculate in its beauty, stainless as a curtain of silk. And as the boat moved on he looked into horrid dells which the rains had torn out of the loose scoriae. Gaping wounds, they wore the bright hues of corruption. Their flanks were blotched with a livid nitrous efflorescence, with flaring sulphur, unhealthy verdure of pitchstone, streaks of arsenical vermilion; their beds--a frantic maze of boulders. He beheld this crazy stratification, this chaos of incandescent nature, sent in a flame of deep blue sky and sea. It lay there calmly, like some phantasmagoric flower, some monstrous rose that swoons away, with upturned face, in a solar caress. -----Original Message----- From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of gkoger at mindspring.com Sent: 08 September 2010 03:44 To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really begins Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests lay primarily in Italy. Grove -----Original Message----- From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu though. The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * ________________________________________ From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Cc: Bruce Redwine Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. BR On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in 1922. "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? W. L. Godshalk * Department of English * * University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * OH 45221-0069 * * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100910/81635b54/attachment.html From zahlan at earthlink.net Fri Sep 10 07:03:49 2010 From: zahlan at earthlink.net (Anne R Zahlan) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:03:49 -0400 Subject: [ilds] Call for Papers References: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670E4@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu> Message-ID: Pamela: Can't you just send the CFP to the list? A ----- Original Message ----- From: Pamela Francis To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 7:30 PM Subject: Re: [ilds] Call for Papers I believe the CFP for our panel has been posted on this site--at least I thought I saw it. It is also on the UPENN site---perhaps Charles can repost the cfp ont he listserv-- > From: godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu > To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca > Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 18:13:19 -0400 > Subject: [ilds] Call for Papers > > Will the Durrellians be meeting in Louisville this year? > > > 2011 Call for Papers - Reminder (Last Call) > > The 39th annual Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900 will be held at the University of Louisville, February 24-26. Critical papers may be submitted on any topic that addresses literary works published since 1900, and/or their relationship with other arts and disciplines (film, journalism, opera, music, pop culture, painting, architecture, law, etc). > > Work by creative writers is also welcome. > > Visit our new website for complete submission guidelines www.thelouisvilleconference.com > > Click on ?Call for Papers? Prearranged panels are also welcome. Group Societies are welcome > > Please forward this email to a colleague who may be interested in the conference. > > Deadline for submission is September 15, 2010 (postmarked). > > Please visit, the Conference Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=131421218223 > > > > Shari Gater > > The Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture since 1900 > > Conference Coordinator > > Dept. of Classical and Modern Languages > > University of Louisville > > Humanities Bldg Rm 332 > > Louisville, KY 40292 > > (502) 852-6687 > > shari.gater at louisville.edu > > > > http://www.thelouisvilleconference.com > > _______________________________________________ > ILDS mailing list > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100910/aa78d682/attachment.html From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net Fri Sep 10 08:23:42 2010 From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 08:23:42 -0700 Subject: [ilds] Summae litterarum In-Reply-To: <5C817EBC8A114FD0B035E1DD0CDBE756@DenisePC> References: <18757793.1283913820541.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net><73EE03F36052BC48BD48C86191489F3B01A7CDFF@eht-mail01p.xeht.nhs.uk> <231CFD7B-E28D-4D2A-A967-640B6A2313BF@earthlink.net> <8E2DDA0A-7DFB-4E2A-9DF7-8FBD55383636@earthlink.net> <5C817EBC8A114FD0B035E1DD0CDBE756@DenisePC> Message-ID: David, Yes. Although disparate in obvious ways, it might be useful to treat the four books on the Greek isles as a unit. Namely, ignore the differences in plot and concentrate on what they have in common: Durrell's treatment of place and history. What you'll end up with is a portrait of Durrell the man himself as he progresses through time and land/seascapes. Sounds rather vague but could prove interesting. Bruce On Sep 9, 2010, at 1:33 PM, Denise Tart & David Green wrote: > Bruce, I quite agree. Shakespeare's style and language do not move much beyond the time of his death and the young of his day were already speaking with a new voice. the court too had changed under the Stuart kings to a sparer and more recognizably modern style (possibly a Scottish influence). Shakespeare was the last of the medieval's. He was Catholic too and at odds with the rising protestantism of his time, so yes I think his work is a literary summa of a vanishing world in the same way that Durrell's island book tend to absorb the silver age prose he admired rather than anticipate a new style. And indeed I would argue that there have been no 'travel' books like his in recent times - that blend of fact, fiction, personal experience, history and spirit of place. but it would hard to classify these books as Prospero's Cell is significantly different from Bitter Lemons. Sicilian Carousel I have not read yet. AS to plagiarism, well to my mind, all writers are guilty of this. their word hoard comes from many sources, often unacknowledged. Get something up on the list about this literary summa concept in relation to the island books. it may draw some keen responses. > > Cheers > > David > > From: Bruce Redwine > Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 5:45 AM > To: Denise Tart & David Green ; ilds at lists.uvic.ca > Cc: Bruce Redwine > Subject: Summae litterarum > > David, > > Thanks for picking up on this topic and pointing out Shakespeare's use of proverbial language. Re Prospero's Cell, I'd like to elaborate on Lawrence Durrell's place in the literary history of the Greek isles. In an article, "Beowulf in Literary History," Joseph Harris defines a category of literary works he calls, summae literrarum. His examples are Beowulf and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, of which he says, "Such works are generically synthetic and punctuate or terminate a period, summarizing the literary past and seemingly either to generate no direct progeny or to devour their own by overshadowing them in the course of subsequent literary history" (Pacific Coast Philology, vol. 17 [1982], no. 1-2, p. 16). > > I'll throw out that a selection of Durrell's Mediterranean island books fits Harris's category of a "literary summa." I'd include in Durrell's summa the following: Prospero's Cell, Reflections on a Marine Venus, Bitter Lemons, and Sicilian Carousel. Yes, another "quartet," and I include Sicily because in Durrell's "mind's eye" it's really Greek, which the history bears out. One of Harris's interesting points is that such works subsume a long tradition. So the fact that we have echoes of other writers (e.g., C. Morley's "where the blue begins") shouldn't bother us. Great works "absorb" their predecessors and come to define the genre by dint of their breadth and excellence. Of course, this opens up the whole issue of plagiarism, but that's another matter. > > > Bruce > > > > On Sep 8, 2010, at 11:31 PM, Denise Tart & David Green wrote: > >> Bruce, >> >> I have seen references to the beast with two backs in other texts - older than Shakespeare's. it appears to be a late medieval English term but may have translations in other languages. I am sure the French have something equally descriptive? >> >> Re Durrell and Douglas I like the idea posted recently regarding 'where the blue really begins' which suggests that Durrell was acknowledging Douglas but moving beyond Italy to Greece. It may have been unconscious, but it is a nice idea anyway. Durrell owed a fair bit to Norman Douglas. Old Calabria and South Wind are great reads. But I have to say that the blue really begins in the Aegean around Rhodes and Crete. >> >> David >> >> From: Bruce Redwine >> Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 3:22 AM >> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >> Cc: Bruce Redwine >> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue reallybegins >> >> Gotta say no to the C. Morley allusion and go with a reference to N. Douglas, as Grove notes below. Along this line, I always thought Iago's slur, "making the beast with two backs," was original with Shakespeare, but it wasn't ? a note in the Arden Othello says the phrase was proverbial. Still, Shakespeare gets the credit, and Durrell will too. >> >> >> BR >> >> >> >> >> >> On Sep 8, 2010, at 2:27 AM, Wilson, Fraser wrote: >> >>> >>> Douglas certainly knew how to describe a boat trip - as in South Wind, >>> below - which can be grabbed online from Project Gutenburg at no cost. >>> >>> >>> >>> His companion, meanwhile, beheld the panorama in all its nightmarish >>> splendour, as it drifted past him. He saw the bluffs of feathery >>> pumice, the lava precipices--frozen cataracts of white, black, blood >>> red, pale grey and sombre brown, smeared over with a vitreous enamel of >>> obsidian or pierced by oily, writhing dykes that blazed with metallic >>> scintillations. Anon came some yawning cleft or an assemblage of dizzy >>> rock-needles, fused into whimsical tints and attitudes, spiky, >>> distorted, over-toppling; then a bold tufa rampart, immaculate in its >>> beauty, stainless as a curtain of silk. And as the boat moved on he >>> looked into horrid dells which the rains had torn out of the loose >>> scoriae. Gaping wounds, they wore the bright hues of corruption. Their >>> flanks were blotched with a livid nitrous efflorescence, with flaring >>> sulphur, unhealthy verdure of pitchstone, streaks of arsenical >>> vermilion; their beds--a frantic maze of boulders. >>> >>> He beheld this crazy stratification, this chaos of incandescent nature, >>> sent in a flame of deep blue sky and sea. It lay there calmly, like >>> some phantasmagoric flower, some monstrous rose that swoons away, with >>> upturned face, in a solar caress. >>> >>> >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On >>> Behalf Of gkoger at mindspring.com >>> Sent: 08 September 2010 03:44 >>> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really >>> begins >>> >>> Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? >>> >>> I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas >>> and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to >>> Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas >>> AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and >>> otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests >>> lay primarily in Italy. >>> >>> Grove >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" >>>> Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM >>>> To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" >>>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue >>> really begins >>>> >>>> Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu >>> though. >>>> >>>> The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." >>>> >>>> Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. >>>> >>>> O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. >>>> >>>> >>>> W. L. Godshalk * >>>> Department of English * * >>>> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >>>> OH 45221-0069 * * >>>> ________________________________________ >>>> From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf >>> Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] >>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM >>>> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >>>> Cc: Bruce Redwine >>>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue >>> really begins >>>> >>>> Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the >>> Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? >>> I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. >>>> >>>> >>>> BR >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: >>>> >>>>> "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in >>> 1922. >>>>> >>>>> "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." >>>>> >>>>> Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? >>>>> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100910/a1efd8b3/attachment.html From gkoger at mindspring.com Fri Sep 10 09:41:48 2010 From: gkoger at mindspring.com (gkoger at mindspring.com) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:41:48 -0600 (GMT-06:00) Subject: [ilds] Summae litterarum Message-ID: <5523972.1284136908635.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100910/2209bff0/attachment.html From albigensian at hotmail.com Fri Sep 10 13:49:17 2010 From: albigensian at hotmail.com (Pamela Francis) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:49:17 -0500 Subject: [ilds] Durrell at Louisville Message-ID: Greetings--please find below the call for papers for the ILDS panel to be held at the Louisville Conference for Literature and Culture since 1900, to be held in Louisville, Kentucky, February 24-26, 2011. The Lawrence Durrell Society has sponsored panels at this conference for a number of years. In addition to stimulating presentations, the conference also provides a venue for the interesting (and occasionally late night!) conversations Durrellians are so fond of. Please consider submitting an abstract, but even if you don't care to present, please consider joining us for what is always an enjoyable time. If you have questions about the conference itself or the Durrellian aspect of it, please contact me at this email address, or francis at nsula.edu. Several of us are old hands at L'ville, and we would love to see some new ones! -- Call for Papers Landscape and Vision in Late Modernism Panel sponsored by the International Lawrence Durrell Society Louisville Conference for Literature and Culture since 1900 February 24-26, 2011 ??only there, in the silences of the painter or the writer can reality be reordered, reworked and made to show its significant side.? (Lawrence Durrell, Justine) ----?Vision is exorcism.? (Clea) If we can agree that literature is the product of perception, then vision is necessarily implicated in the creative process. At the same time, a singular perspective requires that a work of art take place in a particular location, be that place real or imaginative. The intersection of a particular perspective and a specific landscape often produces what is variously called a sense of place, a cultural landscape, or, genius loci. The International Lawrence Durrell Society invites papers addressing aspects of landscape and perception in late modernist texts for presentation at the Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900. The Society?s readers take a broad view on the three areas of interest solicited here, late modernism, landscape, and perspective, but topics that connect to Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990) and his wide-ranging circle of colleagues and friends are especially welcome. Possible landscapes to address include but are not limited to: The linguistic landscape The landscape of dreams The political landscape Peripheral or metropolitan landscapes Imaginary, re-imagined or re-imaged landscapes Intellectual/artistic/literary landscapes Of equal importance is the observer/writer and how he or she perceives the viewed area. A few possible perspectives or ways of seeing include: The Flaneur and/or Voyeur Memory The Subversive or subverting narrative Historical/political/social/gendered positionality Ambiguity/ hybridity/exile (e.g., emotional, psychological, political) Please send an abstract (approx. 300 words) as a Word attachment to Pamela J. Francis, at francis at nsula.edu by Sept. 28, 2010. Please include your name and institutional affiliation, as well as contact information on the attached document. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100910/0af84ea5/attachment.html From albigensian at hotmail.com Fri Sep 10 14:04:58 2010 From: albigensian at hotmail.com (Pamela Francis) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:04:58 -0500 Subject: [ilds] Call for Papers In-Reply-To: References: <94B18F18BF859846A11A82A6166B6C4201C632F670E4@UCMAILBE2.ad.uc.edu>, , Message-ID: Hi, Anne--I sent this to the listserv back on Sept. 2 and it was posted, but I have also just sent it again, AND I sent it as an attachment to the Board. Let me know when you get it-- From: zahlan at earthlink.net To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:03:49 -0400 Subject: Re: [ilds] Call for Papers Pamela: Can't you just send the CFP to the list? A ----- Original Message ----- From: Pamela Francis To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 7:30 PM Subject: Re: [ilds] Call for Papers I believe the CFP for our panel has been posted on this site--at least I thought I saw it. It is also on the UPENN site---perhaps Charles can repost the cfp ont he listserv-- > From: godshawl at ucmail.uc.edu > To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca > Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 18:13:19 -0400 > Subject: [ilds] Call for Papers > > Will the Durrellians be meeting in Louisville this year? > > > 2011 Call for Papers - Reminder (Last Call) > > The 39th annual Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900 will be held at the University of Louisville, February 24-26. Critical papers may be submitted on any topic that addresses literary works published since 1900, and/or their relationship with other arts and disciplines (film, journalism, opera, music, pop culture, painting, architecture, law, etc). > > Work by creative writers is also welcome. > > Visit our new website for complete submission guidelines www.thelouisvilleconference.com > > Click on ?Call for Papers? Prearranged panels are also welcome. Group Societies are welcome > > Please forward this email to a colleague who may be interested in the conference. > > Deadline for submission is September 15, 2010 (postmarked). > > Please visit, the Conference Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=131421218223 > > > > Shari Gater > > The Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture since 1900 > > Conference Coordinator > > Dept. of Classical and Modern Languages > > University of Louisville > > Humanities Bldg Rm 332 > > Louisville, KY 40292 > > (502) 852-6687 > > shari.gater at louisville.edu > > > > http://www.thelouisvilleconference.com > > _______________________________________________ > ILDS mailing list > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds _______________________________________________ ILDS mailing list ILDS at lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100910/780c80c6/attachment.html From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net Fri Sep 10 14:34:43 2010 From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:34:43 -0700 Subject: [ilds] Summae litterarum In-Reply-To: <5523972.1284136908635.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net> References: <5523972.1284136908635.JavaMail.root@elwamui-darkeyed.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: Yes. I've read only parts of Greek Islands, and it didn't strike me as interesting. But why not? No need to get hung up on formulae. BR Sent from my iPhone On Sep 10, 2010, at 9:41 AM, gkoger at mindspring.com wrote: > Bruce et al., > > > > It may throw the concept off, but I'd suggest we consider /The Greek Islands/ as well. It too is an interesting (and I'd argue largely successful) mix of history, personal experience, etc. > > > > Grove > > -----Original Message----- > From: Bruce Redwine > Sent: Sep 10, 2010 9:23 AM > To: Denise Tart & David Green , ilds at lists.uvic.ca > Cc: Bruce Redwine , rwhedges at hotmail.com > Subject: Re: [ilds] Summae litterarum > > David, > > Yes. Although disparate in obvious ways, it might be useful to treat the four books on the Greek isles as a unit. Namely, ignore the differences in plot and concentrate on what they have in common: Durrell's treatment of place and history. What you'll end up with is a portrait of Durrell the man himself as he progresses through time and land/seascapes. Sounds rather vague but could prove interesting. > > > Bruce > > > > On Sep 9, 2010, at 1:33 PM, Denise Tart & David Green wrote: > >> Bruce, I quite agree. Shakespeare's style and language do not move much beyond the time of his death and the young of his day were already speaking with a new voice. the court too had changed under the Stuart kings to a sparer and more recognizably modern style (possibly a Scottish influence). Shakespeare was the last of the medieval's. He was Catholic too and at odds with the rising protestantism of his time, so yes I think his work is a literary summa of a vanishing world in the same way that Durrell's island book tend to absorb the silver age prose he admired rather than anticipate a new style. And indeed I would argue that there have been no 'travel' books like his in recent times - that blend of fact, fiction, personal experience, history and spirit of place. but it would hard to classify these books as Prospero's Cell is significantly different from Bitter Lemons. Sicilian Carousel I have not read yet. AS to plagiarism, well to my mind, all writers are guilty of this. their word hoard comes from many sources, often unacknowledged. Get something up on the list about this literary summa concept in relation to the island books. it may draw some keen responses. >> >> Cheers >> >> David >> >> From: Bruce Redwine >> Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 5:45 AM >> To: Denise Tart & David Green ; ilds at lists.uvic.ca >> Cc: Bruce Redwine >> Subject: Summae litterarum >> >> David, >> >> Thanks for picking up on this topic and pointing out Shakespeare's use of proverbial language. Re Prospero's Cell, I'd like to elaborate on Lawrence Durrell's place in the literary history of the Greek isles. In an article, "Beowulf in Literary History," Joseph Harris defines a category of literary works he calls, summae literrarum. His examples are Beowulf and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, of which he says, "Such works are generically synthetic and punctuate or terminate a period, summarizing the literary past and seemingly either to generate no direct progeny or to devour their own by overshadowing them in the course of subsequent literary history" (Pacific Coast Philology, vol. 17 [1982], no. 1-2, p. 16). >> >> I'll throw out that a selection of Durrell's Mediterranean island books fits Harris's category of a "literary summa." I'd include in Durrell's summa the following: Prospero's Cell, Reflections on a Marine Venus, Bitter Lemons, and Sicilian Carousel. Yes, another "quartet," and I include Sicily because in Durrell's "mind's eye" it's really Greek, which the history bears out. One of Harris's interesting points is that such works subsume a long tradition. So the fact that we have echoes of other writers (e.g., C. Morley's "where the blue begins") shouldn't bother us. Great works "absorb" their predecessors and come to define the genre by dint of their breadth and excellence. Of course, this opens up the whole issue of plagiarism, but that's another matter. >> >> >> Bruce >> >> >> >> On Sep 8, 2010, at 11:31 PM, Denise Tart & David Green wrote: >> >>> Bruce, >>> >>> I have seen references to the beast with two backs in other texts - older than Shakespeare's. it appears to be a late medieval English term but may have translations in other languages. I am sure the French have something equally descriptive? >>> >>> Re Durrell and Douglas I like the idea posted recently regarding 'where the blue really begins' which suggests that Durrell was acknowledging Douglas but moving beyond Italy to Greece. It may have been unconscious, but it is a nice idea anyway. Durrell owed a fair bit to Norman Douglas. Old Calabria and South Wind are great reads. But I have to say that the blue really begins in the Aegean around Rhodes and Crete. >>> >>> David >>> >>> From: Bruce Redwine >>> Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 3:22 AM >>> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >>> Cc: Bruce Redwine >>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue reallybegins >>> >>> Gotta say no to the C. Morley allusion and go with a reference to N. Douglas, as Grove notes below. Along this line, I always thought Iago's slur, "making the beast with two backs," was original with Shakespeare, but it wasn't ? a note in the Arden Othello says the phrase was proverbial. Still, Shakespeare gets the credit, and Durrell will too. >>> >>> >>> BR >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On Sep 8, 2010, at 2:27 AM, Wilson, Fraser wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Douglas certainly knew how to describe a boat trip - as in South Wind, >>>> below - which can be grabbed online from Project Gutenburg at no cost. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> His companion, meanwhile, beheld the panorama in all its nightmarish >>>> splendour, as it drifted past him. He saw the bluffs of feathery >>>> pumice, the lava precipices--frozen cataracts of white, black, blood >>>> red, pale grey and sombre brown, smeared over with a vitreous enamel of >>>> obsidian or pierced by oily, writhing dykes that blazed with metallic >>>> scintillations. Anon came some yawning cleft or an assemblage of dizzy >>>> rock-needles, fused into whimsical tints and attitudes, spiky, >>>> distorted, over-toppling; then a bold tufa rampart, immaculate in its >>>> beauty, stainless as a curtain of silk. And as the boat moved on he >>>> looked into horrid dells which the rains had torn out of the loose >>>> scoriae. Gaping wounds, they wore the bright hues of corruption. Their >>>> flanks were blotched with a livid nitrous efflorescence, with flaring >>>> sulphur, unhealthy verdure of pitchstone, streaks of arsenical >>>> vermilion; their beds--a frantic maze of boulders. >>>> >>>> He beheld this crazy stratification, this chaos of incandescent nature, >>>> sent in a flame of deep blue sky and sea. It lay there calmly, like >>>> some phantasmagoric flower, some monstrous rose that swoons away, with >>>> upturned face, in a solar caress. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [mailto:ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On >>>> Behalf Of gkoger at mindspring.com >>>> Sent: 08 September 2010 03:44 >>>> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >>>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu theblue really >>>> begins >>>> >>>> Gissing? As in George Gissing, who wrote /By the Ionian Sea/? >>>> >>>> I've always assumed that Durrell's line is a reference to Norman Douglas >>>> and his /Old Calabria/, in which Douglas devotes several pages to >>>> Gissing, by the way. In doing so Durrell acknowledges a debt to Douglas >>>> AND announces that he is moving beyond him, geographically and >>>> otherwise. Douglas devoted one short book to Greece but his interests >>>> lay primarily in Italy. >>>> >>>> Grove >>>> >>>> -----Original Message----- >>>>> From: "Godshalk, William (godshawl)" >>>> >>>>> Sent: Sep 7, 2010 7:23 PM >>>> >>>>> To: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" >>>> >>>>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue >>>> really begins >>>>> >>>> >>>>> Well, there are plenty of references to ships, islands, etc. No Corfu >>>> though. >>>>> >>>> >>>>> The book ends with: "clear immortal blue." >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> Did Larry read it? I leave it to you. >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> O, yes, the chief character is a man called Gissing. >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> W. L. Godshalk * >>>> >>>>> Department of English * * >>>> >>>>> University of Cincinnati* * Stellar Disorder * >>>> >>>>> OH 45221-0069 * * >>>> >>>>> ________________________________________ >>>> >>>>> From: ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca [ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf >>>> Of Bruce Redwine [bredwine1968 at earthlink.net] >>>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:25 PM >>>> >>>>> To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca >>>> >>>>> Cc: Bruce Redwine >>>> >>>>> Subject: Re: [ilds] Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue >>>> really begins >>>>> >>>> >>>>> Does Morely's book have related subject matter, i.e., the Ionian or the >>>> Aegean? The next question: any evidence that LD knew of this title? >>>> I'm inclined to think it's a coincidence. >>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> BR >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:01 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>>>> "Where the Blue Begins" is a book by Christopher Morley published in >>>> 1922. >>>>> >>>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>>>> "Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins." >>>> >>>>> >>>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>>>> Is Durrell's "really" a reply and a correction? >>>> >>>>> >>>>>> > > > _______________________________________________ > ILDS mailing list > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20100910/10fc26c2/attachment.html From sumantranag at gmail.com Sat Sep 11 00:25:11 2010 From: sumantranag at gmail.com (Sumantra Nag) Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:55:11 +0530 Subject: [ilds] ILDS Digest, Vol 42, Issue 8_the blue really begins in the Aegean References: Message-ID: <622552A9FE1E40BA82A7C7ADCE291E0F@abc> "But I have to say that the blue really begins in the Aegean around Rhodes and Crete." My wife, my younger son and I visited Crete for a week in 2007 from India and we can say that the intense blue of the sea certainly struck us on all the shores of the island which we visited, and made seabathing all the more attractive at each different beach! The glistening blue of the Aegean is noticeable if compared for instance with the Mediterranean off the southern coast of Spain where we were two years earlier in 2005. While in Crete, we travelled by catamaran to Santorini for a day and although you can't see the sea well enough on this short journey, the sight of the caldera at Santorini also brings the blue into prominence. Yes the Aegean is magically blue. It is a long time since I read South Wind. I remember the characters more than the descriptions of landscape, and the extract given by Wilson, Frazer is captivating ("...He saw the bluffs of feathery pumice, the lava precipices--frozen cataracts of white, black, blood red, pale grey and sombre brown, smeared over with a vitreous enamel of obsidian or pierced by oily, writhing dykes that blazed with metallic scintillations.") I recall the Duke (?) on the island in South Wind who creates "ancient" sculpture for gullible Americans. He speaks about a sage like teacher of his who advised him about life by saying (roughly).... 'Don't delve too deep into the past for it will make you derivative; don't delve too deep into yourself because it will make you introspective. But delve deep into the living world and forge your own links with it. Then you will be unassailable.' I'm sure someone can give the correct text from South Wind! Best wishes Sumantra --------------------------------------------------- >> Re Durrell and Douglas I like the idea posted recently regarding 'where >> the blue really begins' which suggests that Durrell was acknowledging >> Douglas but moving beyond Italy to Greece. It may have been unconscious, >> but it is a nice idea anyway. Durrell owed a fair bit to Norman Douglas. >> Old Calabria and South Wind are great reads. But I have to say that the >> blue really begins in the Aegean around Rhodes and Crete. >> >> David From gkoger at mindspring.com Sat Sep 11 09:01:13 2010 From: gkoger at mindspring.com (gkoger at mindspring.com) Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2010 10:01:13 -0600 (GMT-06:00) Subject: [ilds] ILDS Digest, Vol 42, Issue 8_the blue really begins in the Aegean Message-ID: <18769689.1284220874102.JavaMail.root@elwamui-muscovy.atl.sa.earthlink.net> The speech appears in chapter 13 of South Wind. It's the Count, and he's repeating advice from an "old teacher": "'He said: delve deeply; not too deeply into the past, for it may make you derivative; nor yet into yourself--it will make you introspective. Delve into the living world and strive to bind yourself to its movement by a chain of your own welding. Once that contact is established, you are unassailable. Externalize yourself!'" "Externalize yourself" may well have been Douglas's lifelong philosophy. One could do worse . . . Grove -----Original Message----- From: Sumantra Nag >'Don't delve too deep into the past for it will make you derivative; don't >delve too deep into yourself because it will make you introspective. But >delve deep into the living world and forge your own links with it. Then you >will be unassailable.' > >I'm sure someone can give the correct text from South Wind! > >Best wishes > >Sumantra From bredwine1968 at earthlink.net Sat Sep 11 11:28:46 2010 From: bredwine1968 at earthlink.net (Bruce Redwine) Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2010 11:28:46 -0700 Subject: [ilds] ILDS Digest, Vol 42, Issue 8_the blue really begins in the Aegean In-Reply-To: <18769689.1284220874102.JavaMail.root@elwamui-muscovy.atl.sa.earthlink.net> References: <18769689.1284220874102.JavaMail.root@elwamui-muscovy.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: Very Zen. But foreign to LD, I think, with his Proustian love of the past. BR Sent from my iPhone On Sep 11, 2010, at 9:01 AM, gkoger at mindspring.com wrote: > The speech appears in chapter 13 of South Wind. It's the Count, and he's repeating advice from an "old teacher": > > "'He said: delve deeply; not too deeply into the past, for it may make you derivative; nor yet into yourself--it will make you introspective. Delve into the living world and strive to bind yourself to its movement by a chain of your own welding. Once that contact is established, you are unassailable. Externalize yourself!'" > > "Externalize yourself" may well have been Douglas's lifelong philosophy. One could do worse . . . > > Grove > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Sumantra Nag > > >> 'Don't delve too deep into the past for it will make you derivative; don't >> delve too deep into yourself because it will make you introspective. But >> delve deep into the living world and forge your own links with it. Then you >> will be unassailable.' >> >> I'm sure someone can give the correct text from South Wind! >> >> Best wishes >> >> Sumantra > > > > _______________________________________________ > ILDS mailing list > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds From sumantranag at gmail.com Sun Sep 12 22:55:54 2010 From: sumantranag at gmail.com (Sumantra Nag) Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:25:54 +0530 Subject: [ilds] ILDS Digest, Vol 42, Issue 10_South Wind References: Message-ID: <14E83E5515D74629933DA7D05B6E58D0@abc> My thanks to Grove for sending on the correct text from South Wind. Sumantra > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2010 11:28:46 -0700 > From: Bruce Redwine > Subject: Re: [ilds] ILDS Digest, Vol 42, Issue 8_the blue really > begins in the Aegean > To: "gkoger at mindspring.com" , > "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" > Cc: "ilds at lists.uvic.ca" > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Very Zen. But foreign to LD, I think, with his Proustian love of the > past. > > BR > Sent from my iPhone > > On Sep 11, 2010, at 9:01 AM, gkoger at mindspring.com wrote: > >> The speech appears in chapter 13 of South Wind. It's the Count, and he's >> repeating advice from an "old teacher": >> >> "'He said: delve deeply; not too deeply into the past, for it may make >> you derivative; nor yet into yourself--it will make you introspective. >> Delve into the living world and strive to bind yourself to its movement >> by a chain of your own welding. Once that contact is established, you are >> unassailable. Externalize yourself!'" >> >> "Externalize yourself" may well have been Douglas's lifelong philosophy. >> One could do worse . . . >> >> Grove