Lewis in Poet's Corner

So, another big commemorative event last week was the induction of C. S. Lewis into the select company of British writers honored in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. The actual ceremony was held on the 22nd, that being the fiftieth anniversary of CSL's death. He joins such luminaries as Chaucer, Spenser, and Samuel Johnson, as well as contemporaries like W. H. Auden, John Betjeman, and T. S. Eliot. Of course, Lewis isn't actually buried here: his remains remain where they've been for the past fifty years: in the churchyard alongside his local church in Headington, where he shares a grave with his brother Warnie. Instead, what they did last week as set up a memorial plaque.*


Here's the only picture I cd find of the actual monument. The inscription on it reads in full "I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen. Not only because I can see it but because by it I can see everything else."

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.estatevaults.com/bol/_CSLewis_Poets'_Corner.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.estatevaults.com/bol/archives/spirituality_religion_and_rituals/&h=171&w=304&sz=57&tbnid=jwvD_y4pLCVP-M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=160&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpoet's%2Bcorner%2Bfifty%2Byears%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=poet's+corner+fifty+years&usg=__rBOtqF0spDIUBYjul3r-WXCihII=&docid=yjkhJv_mnq6LVM&sa=X&ei=so-aUvPKMcyHkQfT4IGYAg&ved=0CFYQ9QEwCQ


Similarly, among the flood of articles about the event I haven't found much on the actual ceremony. From earlier reports I know that Lewis biographer Alister McGrath and Lewis scholar Michael Ward (the 'Narnia Code' guy) were to be among the speakers, and I saw one account that quoted from his stepson, Douglas Gresham, in such a way that  made it clear he was there -- so at least one person who actually knew Lewis was present. I hope Walter Hooper, the person most responsible for Lewis's not vanishing from view in the two decades after his death, was there as well.**

And now, of course, I want to know how long before JRRT gets his own memorial there. If there's some kind of fifty-year rule,*** then we might look to seeing him so honored in 2023, ten years from now. I don't know, however, how Anglican you have to be to make it into Westminster Abbey (which is, after all, one of the major edifices of the Church of England) -- would Tolkien's Catholicism stand in the way? It doesn't seem to have done so in the case of Wilde, a deathbed convert -- though Wilde had to wait the better part of a century. I also get the feeling, from how recently some long-dead poets have been so honored, that it requires some kind of advocacy group pushing to put up a monument; it doesn't just happen.


So, I think Tolkien will be there too one day, but I don't know how long till that time comes. We'll see.

--JDR






*the same is true of Auden (a great admirer of Tolkien and Ch. Wms, but who seems to have had little contact or common ground w. CSL), Betjeman (who despised CSL for having ruined his academic career), and Eliot (who for CSL represented everything wrong w. 20th century literature). In any event, as I think I noted in a previous post a year or so ago, Lewis is not the first Inkling to be so honored; fellow Inkling Adam Fox is buried here as well -- but because of his ecclesiastical office, not because he was a minor poet.

**as Aldous Huxley, who died on the same day, has vanished from view; once considered a major novelist, now being remembered only for having written a dystopian novel no one actually reads.

***Then too, there are obviously exceptions which make me doubt the fifty-year rule: Auden (d. 1973, the same year as Tolkien), Betjeman (d. 1984), Eliot (d. 1965), and Ted Hughes (d. 1998). Perhaps these all precede the rule or, as in Hughes case as Poet Laureate, are exempt from it.

Fifty Years On

Interesting past week or so, what with all the anniversaries going on.

Last year I noticed that there wasn't much in the way of commemoration of the Kennedy assassination, which made me wonder if we're finally getting over that national trauma. After all, nobody remembers the Maine. Turns out I was wrong: they were just saving up for the big anniversary this year.

As a historical moment, it's fascinating in that it's well-known (the biggest news story of its time), well-documented (took place before hundreds of eyewitnesses, left behind a mass of forensic evidence, exhaustively researched immediately after the event), and relatively straightforward: Oswald, acting alone, shot Kennedy; Ruby, acting alone, shot Oswald. And yet people just won't believe it.

I've read several insightful comments on-line last week that made a good case for ours being conspiratorial times, and about our unwillingness to accept that someone as obscure as Oswald cd have killed someone as consequential as Kennedy. True enough, but I think they overlooked the element bloody-minded vengeance plays in all this. Since Oswald, the murderer, died within two days of the murder, there's no one left to punish. But for those who believe Oswald was working for someone else, or that another shooter was involved, or even that it wasn't Oswald but a double, the possibility remains that the 'real' killer or the mastermind(s) behind the plot cd still be tracked down and brought to justice.* At this point, I doubt that the conspiracy theories will ever die down, even after everybody involved has long since died from old age.

As for the event itself, so far as I can work out it's the earliest memory I can actually date.  I was too young to really take it in at the time, being not yet five; all I really remember is my father watching Huntley-Brinkley** and being terribly upset over something really bad that had happened.

And as for Kennedy, I think he'll remain one of those volatile figures historians argue about: more popular with the public than with the historians. Like Jackson or Wilson, the different elements of his character, the goods and bads of his actions, don't add up easily; it's hard to get a unified view of his character and achievements. And the what-ifs will always be there to confuse the issue.

--John R.

current reading (among others): WATSON WAS NOT AN IDIOT by Eddy Webb [2013]


*The same mentality holds with M.L.King's assassination, where King's children later posed with his murderer, James Earl Ray, lending their support to efforts to get him a new trial and locate the mythical 'Raoul' whom Ray claimed was the real killer. Oddly enough, everyone pretty much accepts that Sirhan Sirhan killed Bobby Kennedy.

**that much-watched bit of film of Cronkite breaking the news wd have passed us by totally, since we would have been watching Huntley-Brinkley instead.

A Tolkienian Birthday

Happy birthday to Christopher Tolkien, the first and foremost of all Tolkien Scholars.

--JDR

A Dunsanyian Moment

So, taking off my Tolkien hat (the brown fedora) for a while and putting on my Dunsany scholar one (perhaps an imaginary fez?), I wanted to note three recent bits of interesting news re. my favorite English (well, Irish) lord and his works.

First, I wanted to draw attention to a recent post by Doug Anderson about Dunsany's little clay soldiers. I've known about these for a long time, thanks to the article "Where Do You Get the Clay" [1945], reprinted in the Owlswick Press volume GHOSTS OF THE HEAVISIDE LAYER [1980].* But Doug's piece is much earlier (1932) and, better yet, illustrated. So for the first time I've been able to see what his clay figures look like -- having previously had to imagine them from the mottos Dunsany assigned to each, like

"Even at fifty he could throw a knife that seldom missed the heart"

"He had a perfect sense of the moment at which to declare war"**

"Had he only had ears, there are no heights to which he would not have risen"

Here's the link to Doug's posting:

http://wormwoodiana.blogspot.com/2013/11/lord-dunsanys-clay-caricatures.html



Second, seeing this reminded me of Doug's other recent Dunsany post which I'd been meaning to comment on. Surprisingly little of Dunsany's work has been recorded, the only commercial release for years being a Vincent Price record for Caedmon reading four stories. Luckily, they include two of his very best: "The Hoard of the Gibblelins" and "Chu-bu and Sheemish", plus two Jorkens stories, so someone (I've never been able to find out who) was savvy in choosing which stories to record.  Unfortunately, while Dunsany himself did several readings on the BBC, and wrote quite a few radio plays, two of which are quite good,*** very little of these recordings survives. The family has a tape of Dunsany reading some of his poems, and now Doug has pointed out a recent BBC collection of a number of authors reading their own stories, including Dunsany reading a Jorkens story, "The Pearly Beach".  Not one of his best stories, unfortunately, or even among the better Jorkens stories, but it's fascinating to hear Dunsany's voice, which sounds more like a British officer (which, of course, he was) than the Irish peer I was expecting. A nice little bit of history I'm glad to know about. Here's Doug's post with the details:


http://wormwoodiana.blogspot.com/2013/09/story-readings-by-blackwood-dunsany.html


Third, this seems like a good time to mention that I've recently learned there's a new book out about Dunsany, edited by S. T. Joshi: CRITICAL ESSAYS ON LORD DUNSANY. Apparently this is divided into two parts, the first reprinting contemporary essays and reviews on Dunsany's works, similar to what wd be found in one of the 'Critical Heritage Series' volumes, and the second printing seven modern essays on aspects of Dunsany's work. Whether these new essays are by Joshi or simply collected together by him is unclear from the online description. I hope the latter, since for all his huge contributions to Dunsany bibliography I find Joshi's writings on Dunsany problematic. If I had to sum it up in a single sentence, I'd say Joshi views Dunsany as a failed Lovecraft, whereas I view Lovecraft as a lesser disciple of Dunsany. Be that as it may, I'm certainly looking forward to getting and reading this collection; it'll be good to renew my acquaintance with all the old essays I read years ago, back when working on the Dunsany dissertation, and also to see what if the new essays have any interesting insights into his work.  And, as a Dunsanyian, I'm always glad to see a new book come out on Ld D: there are far too few for a writer of such importance.

Here's the link to Amazon's entry on the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Dunsany-Studies-Supernatural-Literature/dp/0810892340/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1384903594&sr=8-4


--John R.
current reading: IRON TEARS (notes and sources), SARTOR RESARTUS (just begun)
current audiobook: MASTERPIECES OF THE IMAGINATIVE MIND: LITERATURE'S MOST FANTASTIC WORKS by Eric Rabkin (vol 1)


*I see from where I signed it on the inside front cover that I got my copy on Friday May 2nd 1986

**an invaluable skill when playing the notorious strategy game DIPLOMACY

***Half of his late collection PLAYS FOR EARTH AND AIR, the 'Air' part, are scripts for his radio plays. Most of these are (bad) adaptations of earlier short stories, but the collection is worthwhile for containing two new radio plays that are quite effective: "Atmospherics", about a man who realizes he's sharing a railway carriage with an escaped homicidal maniac, and especially "Time's Joke", a little lost gem which is better read than synopsized. 

G. K. Chesterton takes a dive

So, about an hour ago I got up from where I was sitting in the living room and precipitated one of those Times When Things Don't Go According To Plan.

In brief, I got up, my book* overbalanced, knocking over my cup of tea (this being me, and sitting down, there's more likely than not to be a cup of tea nearby). Which unfortunately fell onto the tiles in front of the fireplace and shattered into about twenty pieces. And which, also unfortunately, had tea in it at the time. The good news is that

(a) it turns out to have been a good decision that we got tea-colored carpet when the new stuff was put in a few months back.

(b) similarly, choosing the stain-resistant kind was also a good call.

(c) luckiest of all, Mr. Feanor, who was sleeping between my rocker and the fire, wasn't hit by the falling mug nor splashed by the (still-warm, but no longer hot) tea. He was alarmed, but he's unusual for a cat in that he accepts apologies and understands that some things happen by accident.**

So, goodbye Chesterton mug. It's not as spectacular a dissolution as that which befell my Wile-E Coyote cup (drove off with that one on top of the car, and made it three blocks before it slid off), but it'll do. And its demise is not wholly unexpected: it's had a forking crack in it even since shortly after I got it and I figured it was just a matter of time before the crack widened and started seeping tea, at which point I'd have to retire it.  Still, the mug was a souvenir of one of my research trips to Wheaton (in October 2009), so I have fond memories of it associated with that.

Now let's just hope that no similar fate befalls my Poe cup,*** which I've had since Marquette days (e.g., before May 1989): my favorite of all my cups and the one I'd be sorriest to lose.

--John R.
current book: IRON TEARS
current audiobook: just finished THE LIFE OF JOHNSON, just started weird Eric Rabkin lecture series.



*IRON TEARS, a brief history of the American Revolution from the 'meanwhile, back in Britain' point of view.
**he's actually come back now and is stretched out sleeping beside me in the same spot.
***from QPBC

The Return of the Cat Report

So, it's been a while since I've written up one of my cat reports about how the cats up for adopted at the Purrfect Pals cat room near SouthCenter are doing. I've been going in for my Wednesday morning volunteer shift but not writing up the resultant notes. 

Short version: we've had a lot of adoptions in the past month or so: Barney (a little fiesty black kitten), Kailani (a beautiful friendly white pastel cat), Chartreuse (who despite her name isn't green but a bright calico), Spanx (who'd been adopted a few years ago and returned because her owner had to suddenly move to Hong Kong), Amy and Alisha (our bonded pair of half-grown kittens, both torbies), and little Latasha (a playful white-and-black kitten). Not bad, after a slow month before that and several cats, disappointingly enough, returned to the main clinic either for health reasons (e.g. un-lucky Lindy) or to be re-assigned to other adoptions rooms like the one in Kirkland (like Rhoda).

So, here's last week's write-up:

[The Cat Report: W.11/13-13]
With the adoption of Chartreuse, Annette's trip up to the clinic, and the new kittens' arrival on hold, we had eight cats this morning -- increased to nine when Annette returned to us around noon.

Started out the morning with walks: RUNA (who enjoys the one-on-one time more than the actual walking) and MR. CHAN got walks this morning, and Runa got an additional short one at the end of my shift. Both of them did well, though his walk was shortened when he became upset over some noise in the store (very loud creaking from carts as employees moved stuff around) -- made up for this once we got back in the cat-room with a dedicated petting session just for him, which he thoroughly enjoyed. He certainly is quite the purrbox..  ZOE didn't get a walk but got much attention instead, especially with the string game. She's obviously an old hand at it; the kittens paw at one end but she always hooks a claw in the other so it can't get away. By late morning Zoe and Runa and Charlie Chan had claimed the tops of three cat stands near the door and had luxurious snoozes, occasionally interrupted by some petting or (for Runa and especially Zoe) a quick game.

For the five kittens or kitten-cats (LaTasha, Bently, Spidge, and The Sisters), I brought in a cardboard box and a paper bag, but I needn't have bothered: they found plenty of games of their own all morning long. Not much to report other than that all five will play together in various combinations, though some more than others. Sometimes the older cats will join in as well, esp. Runa. Bently is the shyest of the lot. Last week LaTasha had claimed the cagetops and run back and forth like a wild thing with great glee, sometimes tromping on little Spidge, who'd burrowed his way under a blanket up there. Today she was quieter and he was going after Amy. I think he's trying to assert his dominance over her. As one of the two male cats in the room, it seems like he's decided he needs to start with one minion and see where things go from there. In any case, Amy learned the sad lesson that if you're going to hide in a box, it's really important not to leave your tail sticking out where anybody could take a nip out of it.

Unfortunately, something happened that got several of the cats upset. I was cleaning out a cage at the time, when suddenly there was lots of hissing and cats running about, including two jumping/falling down from the cage tops and knocking stuff down on other cats' heads. As best as I cd figure out, a large German Shepherd outside the room must have got too close; somebody panicked, and set off a chain reaction. Anyway, no harm done, but Bently and Amy were really frightened and hid for the next hour or so; LaTasha was scared but quickly got over it. Amy squeezed herself below the rondel as her hiding place. Once I'd made sure everybody was alright Bently disappeared. I eventually found him in The Sisters' double cage, where he'd made himself at home. 

Everyone loved their spoonful of wet catfood. Little Spidge had eaten his food dish down to the last few crumbs. 

Last week we had an unusually long string of visitors. This time we were more back to normal. One visitor said she'd adopted her cat from here about a year ago, named Wicked (doesn't ring a bell, I'm afraid). Hope the sad saga of Pumpkin comes to a happy ending. Still, it's good to know that just within the last month Barney, Kailani, Spanx, and Chartreuse all found new homes. Hope it'll be Runa's turn soon.

A little after noon ANNETTE returned, glad to be out of her cat-carrier and back in a familiar place, it seemed to me. Didn't have the heart to put her in her cage right away, so gave them a long time out than I usually would have. In fact, it was nearer 1.30 than one by the time I finally put the last cat back in her cage. 

Health concerns: little Bently had thrown up in his food dish. Other than that, everybody seemed to be okay.

[The Cat Report: W.11/20-13]

With only five cats, it's a pretty empty cat room today. Which suited them just fine: plenty of room to spread out and no crowding. I don't think we've ever had more cat-stands than cats before.

Yay for Latasha's adoption, and Alisha & Amy. Very sorry to hear Charlie Chan has gone back up to the main shelter -- he was doing so well last week. It is nice to see Annette again, and to see her well. And of course looking forward to the three kittens.

Right now out of a total of five cats we have four black cats (Runa, Annette, Spidge, Bentley), with one white-and-black cat (Zoe). Once the kitten arrive, tomorrow we'll have four black cats and four black-and-white cats. And to think that just a few weeks ago it was mostly calicos of one stripe or another.

Since I had plenty of time, I planned to give all five cats walks. But it didn't turn out that way. Runa had her walk, which I think she didn't really enjoy but insisted on as her right. She always knows exactly where the cat room is and can head back to it double-quick when she has a mind to.  Then came Zoe, who did okay but became anxious and started vocalizing with loud cries of distress (RWW! RWW! RWW!). Finally little Spidge was too nervous to enjoy his time outside, instead deciding to climb me with his sharp little claws; think he wanted to perch on my shoulders. After which I decided to waive the walks for our two shyer cats, Annette and little Bentley. 

Next came some serious petting sessions: massaging their backs, get a lot of that loose fur off, and spending time with each cat. The older cats, Annette and Zoe (and also Runa) were especially pleased by this one-on-one attention and purred extravagantly. The two kittens also got attention, but while they liked it they were more interested in tearing about playing and exploring. 

After that came the games: had all five of them playing the string game with a long piece of yarn. They also all voted the feather game a winner. The new automated toy interested the kittens, esp. Spidge (or was it Bentley?). At different times I both covered it with a cat-blanket (which went down v. well indeed) and put it up on the cage-top (where one of the little black kittens played with it till it stopped and then lay down on top of it.  I also confirmed my suspicion that Zoe would like the gopher game: she does, v. much.

Things calmed down a bit near the end of the morning. Annette stayed out more than usual (settling on the mid-level of her favorite cat-stand, rather than down on its bottom rung) and was rewarded by being given a sealed bag of catnip and being invited to do whatever she wanted with it. She was one buzzed kitty by the time she stopped. Little Bentley is still a little hissy towards Spidge, but she's learning to trust me I think -- she used my shoulder as an in-between perch when coming down from the cagetops and enjoyed being petted while she was up there and I was reaching up from below. Runa moved one of the little beds up there so much I moved it down into her cage, where she seemed pleased with it. 

One warning: little Spidge stole my pen at one point and proceeded to settled down like it was prey that needed gnawing. I took it away and gave him a cheaper one, which he soon abandoned. 

No health problems noted. Two small dogs did come up at one point: Runa and Spidge watched them but without alarm. We had a few casual visitors but none serious about adopting; just enjoying seeing cats being cats.

I do note that the cats have gotten clever. When I finally put them back in their cages, several of them (e.g., Annette, Runa)  immediately use their dirt boxes, and if I have time I open those cages again to scoop that out. Which gives those cats a chance to slip back out again for a little while. Today one of them (Runa I think, but it may have been Annette) simply pretended to use her box in order to make that dash and get a few extra minutes' freedom. Clever girl.

Runa has very much established herself as the boss cat of the room.

--JDR

The Survey

So, I continue to unearth items from the old TSR days in my slow progress through the Box Room. These range from the no-longer-of-use-to-anyone (a unopened box of business cards from Sheridan Springs Road) to still-interesting. in a historical kind of way.

One of the more intriguing of the latter is a plastic bag full of print-outs that turn out to be a hundred or so blank copies of a survey, all neatly hole-punched for placing in a binder but all blank. I remember the management at TSR had a great aversion to surveys, since the results inevitably contradicted their pre-formed opinions about our audience.* Nonetheless, I did do the occasional quiet surveys among the staff in the R-and-D department at TSR, to satisfy my curiosity about gaming habits among my co-workers, such as one in which I asked folks which rules they did and didn't use in their ADandD game.**

I forget the context for the survey I've just re-discovered, which is geared more towards habits among gaming groups: probably I printed this up to hand out at a GenCon seminar (circa 1994, '95, or '96). But if that's the case, I don't know why they weren't ever distributed. In any case, I think some of the questions still highly relevant, so I thought I'd share. Here's the Survey:

SURVEY BEGINS

SURVEY

What was the first role-playing game you ever played?

What is your favorite role-playing game?            Why?

What role-playing game do you play most often?            How often do you play?

Do you ever use modules, or do you make up your own adventures?

Do you ever run the same adventure more than once (i.e., with different groups)?

What's your favorite module of all time?            Why?

Last favorite?            Why?

Have you ever bought the rules to a game because you read and liked one of its modules?

Are there any games you regularly buy just to read, not to play?

How much influence does cover art have on whether or not you buy (or play) a game product?

Outside of a tournament, how often do you run or play a game using pregenerated characters from a module?

What is your campaign's most useful "home rule"?

Does your regular gaming group stay with one game system (e.g., AD&D), or does it "graze", continually moving from one game to another?

Within your group's favorite system, do you rotate between various settings (for example, AD&D's Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, & Planescape; GURPS' Supers, Space, & Horror; Call of Cthulhu's 1920s setting, Cthulhu by Gaslight, Cthulhu Now), or do you stay in the same game "world"?

How does your group usually integrate new characters into an ongoing campaign?

Are they usually 1st-level/unskilled/beginners, or a compatible level with the rest of the party?

How often does the whole group roll up new characters?

How many people are in your regular gaming group?

What's the usual male/female ratio in groups you've played with?

What's the racial mix of your regular gaming group?

How often do you play a character of the opposite sex?

How often do you play a character of a different race (e.g., Caucasian)?

Have you ever played in an all-male or all-female group?

Was it noticeably different from your regular campaign?

How?

Is there more than one GM in your gaming group?            If so, does this affect the quality of play?            Do the various GMs take turns running the same campaign?

When was the last time your group invited someone who'd never played a role-playing game before to join in?

SURVEY ENDS

--John R.
current reading: IRON TEARS

*as in one DUNGEON magazine survey, which showed that the average DandD player was the age of a college student or recent graduate therefrom, whereas management was gearing product lines towards an imagined audience of ten year olds

**two rules nobody, but nobody used were encumbrance and weapon speed factor.