[ilds] Ray, Patrick, Bruce and others

[James Gifford]

Hey Bill,

My copy is 967 pages and 160 MB, so a bit big.  If anyone is interested, 
email me direct.  As for Middleton, here's Richtofen's bits below...  Ahem.

For curiosity's sake, I'll note that Durrell edited the Thomas story 
noted by Richtofen, and the final version of the text has only appeared 
in /Delta/ (not in Thomas' collected works...).  There's an article on 
that somewhere out in the ether.

Best,
James

-----------

It was also The Black Book's London, city of the English Death. This is 
a significant intersection, for like Ulysses and like "The Waste Land", 
Durrell's book referred back in time, specifically to a 1604 pamphlet by 
Thomas Middleton, also entitled The Black Book. From this satire, 
Durrell had taken not only the title, but, quoting whole [105] passages 
without altering them, he also used "Lawrence Lucifer" as one of the 
names for his 'ego-protagonist'. Lucifer was the anti-hero of 
Middleton's account, which describes his satanic visit to London's sinks 
of corruption, its brothels, gaming dens, houses of usury and drink. But 
whereas the literary tradition which Durrell played on, those ambiguous 
pamphlets that leeringly held up to blame the habits of the Elizabethan 
and Jacobean underworld, has receded into specialists' libraries and 
vestigial appearances in dramatic performances, Dylan Thomas in the 
"Prologue to an Adventure" tapped one of the great streams of popular 
English culture. Durrell's correlation, influenced certainly by Eliot's 
famous juxtapositions in "The Waste Land", was essentially a private 
affair (since he could not expect anyone to know, or even to know of, 
Middleton's booklet). But Dylan Thomas's plan revealed greater ambition, 
comparable indeed with the Ulysses undertaking. It was an alluring 
challenge, and yet it was also a burden which Dylan Thomas was unable or 
unwilling to carry beyond an initial burst of interest .... (p. 106, vol 2)



On 01/11/10 4:25 PM, Godshalk, William (godshawl) wrote:
> How long is the dissertation? Can you email it as a document? May we request a copy?
>
>
> W. L. Godshalk *
> Department of English    *           *
> University of Cincinnati*   * Stellar Disorder  *
> OH 45221-0069 *  *