[ilds] Ray, Patrick, Bruce and others

[Bruce Redwine]

James,

Quibbles?


BR



On Nov 1, 2010, at 3:10 PM, James Gifford wrote:

> I should add, Richtofen's dissertation is extremely fine work, though I 
> do disagree with some points akin to Bruce's quibbles.  As for Durrell's 
> "essentially conservative" nature, I've argued against that rather strongly:
> 
> http://inscribe.iupress.org/doi/abs/10.2979/JML.2010.33.4.57
> 
> I signed an agreement not to post a copy to a listserv, but I'm free to 
> share with colleagues for academic purposes...
> 
> Cheers,
> James
> 
> On 01/11/10 11:46 AM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
>> Bill and Charles,
>> 
>> I'm not one to make fun of family names — you live with what you've got
>> — but Patrick von Richtofen's does cause me to pause and recall "The Red
>> Baron." Could this mean something? I won't speculate. Anyway, I have
>> /DL,/ vol. IV, no. 2 (in red cover, no less), which contains von
>> Richtofen's "Lawrence Durrell, Prince of Denmark." I see that Charles is
>> much quicker to the draw than I am and has already provided the relevant
>> passages.
>> 
>> Von Richthofen identifies Middleton's /Blacke Book/ as a source for
>> Durrell's /Black Book/ and makes an interesting comment about Lucifer
>> and the preeminent sin of pride — the very first and most important of
>> the Seven Deadlies, the one that subsumes all the others — and its
>> relevance to LD himself. I think he's right. Durrell's book reeks of
>> pride, his own, his literary presumptuousness, sin or not. I question,
>> however, the observation about "Durrell's essentially conservative
>> literary and historical outlook" re the Elizabethans. My very limited
>> sense of Durrell's love of the Elizabethans is that he admired the
>> openness and wildness of that society — /_not_/ that 16th century
>> England is a mirror for 20th century English vices. There I think he's
>> wrong. I don't see Durrell ever turning his nose at a brothel. Godshalk
>> and Pine can best weigh in on this subject.
>> 
>> 
>> Bruce
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Nov 1, 2010, at 11:04 AM, Charles Sligh wrote:
>> 
>>> On 11/1/10 1:39 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote:
>>> 
>>>>        Ray Morrison got his information from  Deus Loci 4 (1980) 3-11, in an essay by Patrick von  Richtofen.
>>> 
>>> Happy to oblige, Bill. See attached pdf, for which I have scanned only
>>> those pages making reference to Middleton & Durrell.
>>> 
>>> The remainder of Richtofen's piece treats /Tropic of Cancer/ and the
>>> /Hamlet/ letters, but not Middleton's /Blacke Booke/. This seems an
>>> opportunity missed.
>>> 
>>> In my opinion, you have plenty of work to do on /The Black Book/ and
>>> /The Blacke Booke/, Bill. You know Shakespeare, Middleton,
>>> Elizabethiana, &c. better than anyone else with a working knowledge of
>>> Durrell. Go for it.
>>> 
>>> My appreciation to the late Carol Peirce and Virginia Carruthers who
>>> gifted me the full run of the Old Style /Deus Loci/.
>>> 
>>> Charles
>>>