[ilds] Melissa Artemis

[Kennedy Gammage]

Something that bothered me was the pronunciation of Iolanthe - didn't he
make a point of calling her "ee-OH-lanth" instead of "ee-oh-LANTH-ee"? Is
that how it's pronounced in Gilbert & Sullivan?

Thanks - Ken

On Mon, May 11, 2015 at 3:58 PM, James Gifford <james.d.gifford at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> For Melissa, Gracie, Ruth, &c. I've long thought Durrell had a previous
> model in mind from before Nancy.  I don't think I'd see Melissa as
> representing an ideal when you set her in contrast to Clea, nor Gracie in
> contrast to the Nancy figure in The Black Book, nor ultimately Iolanthe in
> contrast to Benedicta by the end of Revolt of Aphrodite. Ruth, the
> predecessor to all Durrell's waifs, is set in contrast to Pamela in /Pied
> Piper of Lovers/ (Pamela being based closely on George Wilkinson's wife).
> She dies, and the successor in /Panic Spring/ is Francis, who in many ways
> in Nancy.
>
> I can't say who Ruth is based on...  But she was important enough to bring
> back over and over, even if she wasn't the idealized female.
>
> Best,
> James
>
> On 2015-05-08 10:25 AM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
>
>> David and Sumantra,
>>
>> My theory, which is in no way original, is that Justine and Clea are
>> based primarily on real prototypes (Eve Cohen and Claude-Marie
>> Vincendon) but that Melissa is fictional, or shall we say, a
>> “projection” or “screen” in the Freudian sense.  Eve and Claude get
>> dedications /(Justine/ and /Mountolive),/ Melissa gets poems and a
>> burial in the “tepid sand of the black estuary” /(Justine)./  I’m
>> tempted to say Melissa represents the kind of woman Durrell would like
>> to have as a “helpmeet” (loving and pliant) but also the type he tends
>> to abuse physically and mentally.  Nancy Myers, wife no. 1, is a kind of
>> “Melissa.”  Of course, none of these fictional characters correspond
>> exactly to actual people.  The Justine/Eve correspondence seems obvious,
>> but as Ray Morrison once remarked, Eve Cohen Durrell, whom he met, was
>> not the type of person to have a copy of Schopenhauer on her reading
>> shelves, as Justine does.
>>
>> Bruce
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  On May 7, 2015, at 3:50 PM, Denise Tart & David Green
>>> <dtart at bigpond.net.au <mailto:dtart at bigpond.net.au>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Sumantra,
>>> perhaps, in fact, Durrell cared more for Melissa and Clea than for
>>> Justine. If poetry is the higher form, Justine only makes prose.
>>> maybe the poems on Justine have been lost. What is your theory?
>>> By the way, I enjoy Durrell's poetry, much of it, especially his
>>> visceral responses to landscape/place. I get a bit lost in all the
>>> classical allusion stuff.
>>> Durrell likes to see people organically attached to both landscape and
>>> history, the rind of the ear goes much further than Melissa's brain.
>>> the small forevers go back in time
>>> to ancient times and the sea edge where Anthony and Cleopatra walked.
>>> David Whitewine
>>> 16 William Street
>>> Marrickville NSW 2204
>>> +61 2 9564 6165
>>> 0412 707 625
>>>
>>> *From:* Sumantra Nag <mailto:sumantranag at gmail.com>
>>> *Sent:* Friday, May 08, 2015 3:24 AM
>>> *To:* ilds at lists.uvic.ca <mailto:ilds at lists.uvic.ca>
>>> *Cc:* James Gifford <mailto:james.d.gifford at gmail.com> ; Bruce Redwine
>>> <mailto:bredwine1968 at earthlink.net> ; James Gifford
>>> <mailto:gifford at fdu.edu>
>>> *Subject:* Re: [ilds] ILDS Digest, Vol 97, Issue 6
>>>
>>> BY THE LAKE
>>> 'How many several small forevers
>>> Whispered in the rind of the ear
>>> Melissa, by this Mediterranean sea-edge,
>>> Captured and told?
>>> How many additions to the total silence?'
>>> I know the ILDS discussion forum is not prone to discussing Durrell's
>>> poetry in terms of detailed context.
>>> But lines such as these from his poetry surely have an organic link
>>> with the Alexandria Quartet, and attempts to address these lines might
>>> be rewarding in its own way.
>>> Durrell has mentioned Melissa more than once in his poems and Clea at
>>> least once,  but never Justine.
>>> Sumantra
>>> Sent from my Samsung Tab
>>> On 7 May 2015 21:35, "Sumantra Nag" <sumantranag at gmail.com
>>> <mailto:sumantranag at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> "The heart must be very old to feel so young."
>>>> Do you think Lawrence Durrell has got something here?
>>>> Sumantra
>>>> Sent from my Asus Zenfone
>>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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