[ilds] Ray, Patrick, Bruce and others

[Bruce Redwine]

James,

A 967 page dissertation!  What's the title?  Any comment on those "whole passages" that Durrell took from Middleton's BB "without altering them?"


Bruce



On Nov 1, 2010, at 5:20 PM, James Gifford wrote:

> 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 *  *

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