I am choosing to close out the challenge with Sinclair Ross's The Lamp at Noon and Other Stories. I basically started off the challenge with Ross (As for Me and My House was the second book I reviewed last July). While I admired, and to some extent enjoyed, that novel, I didn't come back to this collection because it was by Ross, but because it was particularly short (just about 120 pages plus a solid, though spoilery, Afterward by Margaret Laurence). Thus, I was fairly sure I could read it in the allotted time. To match that aspect of the book, I'll try to keep this review short and to the point.
Some SPOILERS ahead
Basically all the stories are short and have a fairly solid ending (something missing in many of the stories from Gallant's The Moslem Wife). In many cases, the ending is tragic (a crop is completely lost due to the weather, a man freezes to death, a baby dies due to an unrelenting dust storm, fire wipes out an entire stable-full of horses), giving the story an air of finality. In one case, the ending was quite comic. There is quite a nice twist at the end of "The Outlaw." This one didn't do a lot for me at first, as it seemed predictable (young boy rides horse he is not ready to ride -- disaster ensues). In fact, the boy is thrown from the horse into a snowbank, but he doesn't die (he just gets mild frostbite on his ears). While he is scolded by his parents, actually they are secretly proud of him for finally taking the necessary steps towards manhood. I recall Faulkner sometimes used a similar device and probably countless other authors who wrote coming-of-age stories.
One feature of almost all these stories is the isolation of the small farm families and their separation from each other (often living more than a mile away from the nearest neighbour). In at least one case, this isolation and the constant toil has driven a man mad. But really it is the vastness of nature on the Prairies and how the weather could easily wipe out crops, snuffing out the average farmer's hopes, that is the real subject of Ross's tales. In almost all the stories, the wives are not content to lead these limited lives, particularly since the reward is so uncertain.* A few rebel, though none particularly successfully. In one case, it is the young son who brings home a musician (who plays a mean cornet) rather than a useful field hand to help with the crops, but the musician only lasts half a day before he has to be driven back to town. Still, that moment of beauty, hearing the cornet at night, will sustain the boy for a long time, and perhaps lead him to try to find a way to escape farm life. Certainly as an outsider, I can't understand how one would be so driven to work the land, particularly after the many years of poor crops that form the backdrop of most of Ross's stories. Had I been born into a farming community, I expect I would have ultimately found a way to escape into town, just like Violet from Munro's "A Queer Streak" from The Progress of Love. It's enough for me to experience this life vicariously. On the whole, I thought The Lamp at Noon was a really solid, if short, collection, giving quite a bit of insight into life on the Prairies.
* I was in a bit of a rush to get this review posted yesterday. I should have linked to this video of "Ain't It Hell" by Skye Wallace, which is about a woman who ends up in an unhappy marriage as a farmer's wife out on the Prairies.
Friday, June 30, 2017
The Pleasures of Summer Camp
I generally have good memories of summer camp, though there were a few bad moments mixed in. We were fortunate that there was a large nature preserve not far outside out of town, and that's basically where I went to organized camp. One year I did a week of day camp focused on pioneer life and one year it was swamp explorers. On top of all this, I was in Cub Scouts and then Boy Scouts, so I did a lot of camping on weekends and generally went away with the troop for a week at a time. There are some away camps here, but they seem a little more involved, and we aren't quite ready to send our son away on one of them (but maybe next year).
Anyway, Toronto does have a lot of themed day camps, though I would say that they lean towards arts and theatre/music or technology and much less on just being out and about with nature. That said, Harbourfront does have canoeing camp and even a camp focused on learning to sail. I don't think my kids have quite as much interest in nature as I did as a kid, though I'll check in again next summer and see what appeals to them.
I came dangerously close to not getting them into any camp at all, but in the end I signed my son up for two weeks at Harbourfront (he took the last slot in fact) and my daughter for one week at the Design Exchange. What I didn't quite think through is that both of these are relatively close to my workplace, which means I will be responsible to get them to and from camp, which means a solid 3 weeks I can't do any biking at all! Not ideal. I guess it is even more important that I go to the gym to make up for all the missing exercise. Actually I should look into buying a transit pass for July, which I certainly hadn't planned on doing. If they enjoy themselves (and avoid being quite so bored at home -- or at least so vocal about being bored!), then it will have been worth it.
Anyway, Toronto does have a lot of themed day camps, though I would say that they lean towards arts and theatre/music or technology and much less on just being out and about with nature. That said, Harbourfront does have canoeing camp and even a camp focused on learning to sail. I don't think my kids have quite as much interest in nature as I did as a kid, though I'll check in again next summer and see what appeals to them.
I came dangerously close to not getting them into any camp at all, but in the end I signed my son up for two weeks at Harbourfront (he took the last slot in fact) and my daughter for one week at the Design Exchange. What I didn't quite think through is that both of these are relatively close to my workplace, which means I will be responsible to get them to and from camp, which means a solid 3 weeks I can't do any biking at all! Not ideal. I guess it is even more important that I go to the gym to make up for all the missing exercise. Actually I should look into buying a transit pass for July, which I certainly hadn't planned on doing. If they enjoy themselves (and avoid being quite so bored at home -- or at least so vocal about being bored!), then it will have been worth it.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
10th Canadian Challenge - 35th Review - The Moslem Wife
The short stories in this collection, Mavis Gallant's The Moslem Wife and Other Stories, were actually selected by Mordecai Richler, a fellow Montrealer and an admirer of Gallant. He particularly admired how she stuck to her guns in leaving Montreal for Paris and almost never looking back. Indeed, most of her stories are set in Europe (often though not always involving at least one Canadian or American reflecting the situation "back home"). That said, she occasionally wrote stories set in Montreal or Toronto, and a few of those turn up in this collection. Richler's choices seem representative of her work, and 7 of 11 appear in Gallant's hefty Selected Short Stories (where Gallant did the selecting). Perhaps Richler did err a bit in including one too many stories with a Canadian collection (such as "My Heart is Broken" set in a logging camp in northern Quebec).
On a side note, virtually every story Gallant ever wrote was published in The New Yorker (I think she probably even surpassed Alice Munro). At one point, I had the New Yorker collection on DVD, which sort of makes it redundant to have any Gallant collections in a physical format. I still have it, but it no longer works properly with Windows 8, and I haven't had the time to really dig into this and fix it.
If I had to sum up the European stories in a single phrase it would be Gallant investigates the malaise that has settled over post-war Europe. Most of her characters are scrimping and scrounging and grifting ("When We Were Nearly Young") and some are out-and-out tax cheats (Henri Grippes from "Grippes and Poche"). Very few people find quite what they are looking for on the Continent (unlike many Henry James characters). In some cases, this seems to be because they would be discontented in any situation where they have to buckle down and work (in particular the Fraziers from "The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street" seem to want to coast on their reputation, which would be hard enough if they were from old European stock, but in fact they are Canadians and no one is really impressed by them). In other cases, the various European conflicts end up dividing families (such as the couple in "The Moslem Wife") and disrupting life.
What is somewhat notable is that few of these stories have conventional endings or anything approaching an epiphany. "When We Were Nearly Young" and "My Heart is Broken" are the most conventional in their endings, but most of the others seem to be slices out of a longer life (or a longer novel at any rate). "The Moslem Wife" in particular didn't seem to justify its length (at 44 pages by far the longest story in the collection).
Probably the bleakest story is "The Latehomecomer" which is about a young German soldier who was captured during WWII, and through some mixed up paperwork, ends up staying in France long after all the other prisoners are exchanged. His mother had thought him dead, and his stepfather only grudgingly makes a place for him. Likewise, German society really has no interest in dealing with the human reminders of WWII. The atmosphere of the story is comparable to Joseph Roth's Rebellion, though we expect that the young soldier will ultimately have a somewhat better time of things. This is a fairly successful story, despite the bleak tone.
Gallant has a sly wit on display in at least some of the stories. My favorite example is when a landlord decides to leave hints than a tenant will have to move on in "Overhead in a Balloon." He pretends to analyze the tenant's dreams (this is a bit of a running gag in the story) and he writes: "Dream of badger taking man hostage means a change of residence, for which the dreamer should be prepared."
There is also a fairly amusing cat and mouse game between an author, Henri Grippes, and a tax auditor in "Grippes and Poche." I would say this is my favourite story in the collection, and I was quite intrigued to learn that there are 3 more stories about Henri Grippes in Gallant's Selected Stories. So I can look forward to getting around to those one of these days. As far as The Moslem Wife goes, it seems to be a decent introduction to Gallant's short stories, at least as far as I can tell. If you find her style compelling and her chosen milieu (post-war Europe) of interest, she has 10 or so other short story collections to delve into, as well as two novels (recently reprinted by NYRB Classics).
On a side note, virtually every story Gallant ever wrote was published in The New Yorker (I think she probably even surpassed Alice Munro). At one point, I had the New Yorker collection on DVD, which sort of makes it redundant to have any Gallant collections in a physical format. I still have it, but it no longer works properly with Windows 8, and I haven't had the time to really dig into this and fix it.
If I had to sum up the European stories in a single phrase it would be Gallant investigates the malaise that has settled over post-war Europe. Most of her characters are scrimping and scrounging and grifting ("When We Were Nearly Young") and some are out-and-out tax cheats (Henri Grippes from "Grippes and Poche"). Very few people find quite what they are looking for on the Continent (unlike many Henry James characters). In some cases, this seems to be because they would be discontented in any situation where they have to buckle down and work (in particular the Fraziers from "The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street" seem to want to coast on their reputation, which would be hard enough if they were from old European stock, but in fact they are Canadians and no one is really impressed by them). In other cases, the various European conflicts end up dividing families (such as the couple in "The Moslem Wife") and disrupting life.
What is somewhat notable is that few of these stories have conventional endings or anything approaching an epiphany. "When We Were Nearly Young" and "My Heart is Broken" are the most conventional in their endings, but most of the others seem to be slices out of a longer life (or a longer novel at any rate). "The Moslem Wife" in particular didn't seem to justify its length (at 44 pages by far the longest story in the collection).
Probably the bleakest story is "The Latehomecomer" which is about a young German soldier who was captured during WWII, and through some mixed up paperwork, ends up staying in France long after all the other prisoners are exchanged. His mother had thought him dead, and his stepfather only grudgingly makes a place for him. Likewise, German society really has no interest in dealing with the human reminders of WWII. The atmosphere of the story is comparable to Joseph Roth's Rebellion, though we expect that the young soldier will ultimately have a somewhat better time of things. This is a fairly successful story, despite the bleak tone.
Gallant has a sly wit on display in at least some of the stories. My favorite example is when a landlord decides to leave hints than a tenant will have to move on in "Overhead in a Balloon." He pretends to analyze the tenant's dreams (this is a bit of a running gag in the story) and he writes: "Dream of badger taking man hostage means a change of residence, for which the dreamer should be prepared."
There is also a fairly amusing cat and mouse game between an author, Henri Grippes, and a tax auditor in "Grippes and Poche." I would say this is my favourite story in the collection, and I was quite intrigued to learn that there are 3 more stories about Henri Grippes in Gallant's Selected Stories. So I can look forward to getting around to those one of these days. As far as The Moslem Wife goes, it seems to be a decent introduction to Gallant's short stories, at least as far as I can tell. If you find her style compelling and her chosen milieu (post-war Europe) of interest, she has 10 or so other short story collections to delve into, as well as two novels (recently reprinted by NYRB Classics).
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Late June updates
I mentioned already that I scaled back my ambitions to a staged reading of my short plays sometime in September. I sort of dreaded getting in touch with the theatre manager to cancel my tentative booking, but he didn't seem too fussed. Now that that is over, I feel a bit better. I've managed to sign up 3 actors (I need 6) and I have a solid lead on another. Actually I have someone else considering signing on, depending on her schedule in August, so I may not need that many more actors. I might not even need anyone professional working the sound/light booth, but we'll see about that. So this weekend, I want to take some time to actually work on the pieces, the way I said that I would.
I did try several times, but in the end the scalped tickets for U2 never came down into a reasonable range, so I passed on seeing them. That's probably all right, since I was out for so long on Sat. In the meantime, we have picked up tickets for Depeche Mode and the Psychedelic Furs. I may well enjoy the Furs show more, since it is in a small venue (Danforth Music Hall). And I finally am going to catch the Lowest of the Low. I missed a few of their previous reunion shows. They are one of the Toronto-based bands I really liked from the 90s that I never managed to see, so I am looking forward to that. Plus there is the Toronto Jazz Fest coming up, but I haven't booked anything so far.* I'm definitely hoping to see Barenaked Ladies at Nathan Phillips Square this Friday, but the weather does not look like it will cooperate.
I managed to squeeze in two bike rides to work this week, but it was a challenge. The weather has not cooperated at all, raining almost every day. We may finally get a break next week. I was particularly bummed that, for some reason, the Regents Park Aquatic Centre wasn't open for lane swimming this evening, as I had planned to go. However, I have been doing fairly well going to the gym that opened up in Gerrard Square. It's in good condition, and the place isn't too crowded, but it isn't completely empty and spooky either. I am fairly sure I will be able to make it 2-3 times/week, and we'll see how I feel in a few more weeks and if there is any noticeable improvement to my physique. Anyway, at $10/month, I only have to go 2 or 3 times per month to feel it is a good investment, and I think this time around, I'll be able to stick with it.
I'll be heading off to Stratford soon to catch School for Scandal and The Changeling. Interestingly, School for Scandal has been getting good reviews, but The Changeling's have been middling, though Slotkin's review is quite positive. Interestingly, she is the only critic who has been negative about this new version of Euripides' The Bacchae. I was really trying to squeeze it in (mostly to see Mac Fyfe as Dionysus), but I have to say I find her the most persuasive on why the director has made a dreadful hash of things. That said, in the unlikely event they do a transfer to Toronto, I will catch this production, but I am not going to knock myself out trying to get back to Stratford a second time this summer. Then on the remaining weekends in July, I have some Fringe shows to catch (and I am leaning towards going to a burlesque version of Lysistrata) and then Soulpepper on the other days. I will be super busy, but I am looking forward to all these shows. And that doesn't even include the Bard on the Bus tour (Othello this year) or Shakespeare in High Park (though I would only go if my son really wants to see Twelfth Night).
If there is any time left over, I'll look into canoeing the Humber again with the kids, taking them to the blue whale exhibit at ROM and somehow squeezing in a trip to Ottawa. And quilting of course. Something tells me this won't exactly be a restful summer...
* I guess I should have paid more attention, but I have been so extremely swamped at work. There were only two ticketed events of interest (to me) -- Bill Frisell (though this conflicted with my neighbour's band and their concert at Lee's Palace) and Jack DeJohnette w/ John Scofield, which is tomorrow night. It turns out the DeJohnette show is sold out, which is a shame. There is a free concert by the Claudia Quintet on Saturday at 7 that I will definitely try to make (and ideally take my son) and then potentially a few free concerts on Sunday up around Yorkville, so I'll see if any of those might work out.
I did try several times, but in the end the scalped tickets for U2 never came down into a reasonable range, so I passed on seeing them. That's probably all right, since I was out for so long on Sat. In the meantime, we have picked up tickets for Depeche Mode and the Psychedelic Furs. I may well enjoy the Furs show more, since it is in a small venue (Danforth Music Hall). And I finally am going to catch the Lowest of the Low. I missed a few of their previous reunion shows. They are one of the Toronto-based bands I really liked from the 90s that I never managed to see, so I am looking forward to that. Plus there is the Toronto Jazz Fest coming up, but I haven't booked anything so far.* I'm definitely hoping to see Barenaked Ladies at Nathan Phillips Square this Friday, but the weather does not look like it will cooperate.
I managed to squeeze in two bike rides to work this week, but it was a challenge. The weather has not cooperated at all, raining almost every day. We may finally get a break next week. I was particularly bummed that, for some reason, the Regents Park Aquatic Centre wasn't open for lane swimming this evening, as I had planned to go. However, I have been doing fairly well going to the gym that opened up in Gerrard Square. It's in good condition, and the place isn't too crowded, but it isn't completely empty and spooky either. I am fairly sure I will be able to make it 2-3 times/week, and we'll see how I feel in a few more weeks and if there is any noticeable improvement to my physique. Anyway, at $10/month, I only have to go 2 or 3 times per month to feel it is a good investment, and I think this time around, I'll be able to stick with it.
I'll be heading off to Stratford soon to catch School for Scandal and The Changeling. Interestingly, School for Scandal has been getting good reviews, but The Changeling's have been middling, though Slotkin's review is quite positive. Interestingly, she is the only critic who has been negative about this new version of Euripides' The Bacchae. I was really trying to squeeze it in (mostly to see Mac Fyfe as Dionysus), but I have to say I find her the most persuasive on why the director has made a dreadful hash of things. That said, in the unlikely event they do a transfer to Toronto, I will catch this production, but I am not going to knock myself out trying to get back to Stratford a second time this summer. Then on the remaining weekends in July, I have some Fringe shows to catch (and I am leaning towards going to a burlesque version of Lysistrata) and then Soulpepper on the other days. I will be super busy, but I am looking forward to all these shows. And that doesn't even include the Bard on the Bus tour (Othello this year) or Shakespeare in High Park (though I would only go if my son really wants to see Twelfth Night).
If there is any time left over, I'll look into canoeing the Humber again with the kids, taking them to the blue whale exhibit at ROM and somehow squeezing in a trip to Ottawa. And quilting of course. Something tells me this won't exactly be a restful summer...
* I guess I should have paid more attention, but I have been so extremely swamped at work. There were only two ticketed events of interest (to me) -- Bill Frisell (though this conflicted with my neighbour's band and their concert at Lee's Palace) and Jack DeJohnette w/ John Scofield, which is tomorrow night. It turns out the DeJohnette show is sold out, which is a shame. There is a free concert by the Claudia Quintet on Saturday at 7 that I will definitely try to make (and ideally take my son) and then potentially a few free concerts on Sunday up around Yorkville, so I'll see if any of those might work out.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
10th Canadian Challenge - 34th Review - Not Wanted on the Voyage
I remember talking about Timothy Findley's Not Wanted on the Voyage with a Canadian friend, and she said that it had been assigned reading in her high school. Now I didn't probe and check whether it was the standard assigned text or just been on a long list of alternative readings. Nonetheless, I thought that was somewhat shocking and fairly daring to promote this to high schoolers (and something that would not happen in the U.S., as the book is extremely critical of organized religion and is fairly preoccupied with feminist theory). After all, there are still occasional protests by parents in Ontario saying that the sex ed curriculum goes too far and is too accepting of homosexuality and transgender identification. Also, there is a fairly graphic molestation scene in the book that would definitely qualify as statutory rape. It is certainly not presented as a positive, but its inclusion in the book is troubling nonetheless.
Before I get too deep into this review, I should note that Findley's novel was actually turned into a musical by the team of Neil Bartram and Brian Hill. It had a special development at Northwestern University in 2010 (some info here) and then a couple of years later it was at the Goodspeed Musicals' 2012 New Works Festival, but it completely vanished after that. I think that's a shame. I thought it was an amazing musical (I saw it at Northwestern), but I can see it having trouble reaching a mass audience, precisely because it is so thoroughly inverts and subverts the story of Noah and the Flood. I think it could probably succeed in a handful of liberal cities, but probably not on Broadway, given current Broadway economics. While I don't really expect it to ever turn up again, I would certainly go if the opportunity arose.
It is pretty difficult to SPOIL the story of the Flood, as it is fairly well known. However, Findley definitely alters or reinterprets the events related in the Bible and he adds quite a few characters not mentioned in Genesis. I'm going to jump around and cover events from the middle and end of the novel, so a SPOILER warning is probably appropriate after all.
SPOILERS
The reader learns fairly early on that there is trouble at the Noyes household. Japeth, the middle son, is moody because his child bride, Emma, won't have marital relations with him (this is an on-going issue/conflict even after the Ark is launched). His skin has also been stained blue permanently, though this is not the root cause of Emma's refusal. Mrs. Noyes is much put upon, though she manages to get through her days in a bit of an alcoholic daze (though this does come to an end after the Ark is launched). She also lavishes attention upon her elderly half-blind cat, Mottyl (who is effectively the narrator for long stretches of the book). Noah, and indeed Yaweh when he makes a personal appearance, is portrayed as a petulant, fairly tyrannous patriarch. And perhaps here Findley does not actually depart that much from the text...
Anyway, Yaweh is impressed by a two-bit conjuring trick where Noah makes a penny in a bottle disappear by covering it with water, which is where Yaweh gets inspiration for the Flood. What's a little off is that Yaweh insists that his two ancient cats accompany Noah on the Ark (it is strongly suggested that Yaweh decides to die -- and not resurrect himself -- after he sets the Flood in motion), but if the very pregnant Mottyl hadn't been snuck aboard the Ark, then cats would have died out as a species. (As a total aside, it boggles my mind that there are still people who believe every word of the Bible is literal truth. I have no idea how they square the fact that people could only have emerged from incest over and over and over again (how many sisters did Cain have anyway?), to say nothing of the inbreeding that would have eventually killed off all the animals on the Ark.*)
One other major twist Findley adds is that Lucifer disguises himself as a 7-foot tall woman (named Lucy!) and marries Ham, the youngest son, so that he can escape the Flood. Findley doesn't seem to be following the path laid down by Milton, i.e. Lucifer is in charge of Hell and only visits Earth from time to time. In this version, after his rebellion, he landed on Earth for good. His powers are much more limited, and he isn't Evil incarnate, just someone who instinctively sides with the underdog and rebels against authority. (Actually, Lucifer seems pretty similar to Satan in the Book of Job.)
MORE SPOILERS
Perhaps not surprisingly, Mrs. Noyes, Lucy, Ham and Emma all rebel in one way or another from Noah's authority and end up locked up below decks. Most of the novel is told from the perspective of people or animals low on the totem poll and oppressed in one way or another. This is probably the most significant way that Findley's departs from Genesis. The first rebellion fails, but a second rebellion partly succeeds, though ultimately it leads to an uneasy detente between the various factions. By this point, the rain has stopped falling, but land has not been discovered, even though a number of doves have been set off to look for land. Mrs. Noyes realizes that she doesn't think she can take another 100+ years of being oppressed by Noah. The novel ends with her praying for rain. I had forgotten just how downbeat the ending actually is.
I've compressed a lot, but I wanted to focus on the main themes of the novel. This is definitely not a novel for anyone who wants to avoid an outright attack on Christianity specifically and patriarchy more generally. But it is a very imaginative retelling of the Flood story with a number of memorable characters, particularly Mottyl, and I do recommend it to readers who like being challenged in their assumptions (or just those that want to give Biblical patriarchs a good kicking).
* Findley actually pokes a bit of fun at those who have no understanding of genetics by indicating that Noah carries a recessive gene that sometimes results in his offspring being born as apes or chimpanzees, sort of a reverse evolution, though Noah practices social Darwinism by killing off these offspring so they have no chance to reproduce.
Before I get too deep into this review, I should note that Findley's novel was actually turned into a musical by the team of Neil Bartram and Brian Hill. It had a special development at Northwestern University in 2010 (some info here) and then a couple of years later it was at the Goodspeed Musicals' 2012 New Works Festival, but it completely vanished after that. I think that's a shame. I thought it was an amazing musical (I saw it at Northwestern), but I can see it having trouble reaching a mass audience, precisely because it is so thoroughly inverts and subverts the story of Noah and the Flood. I think it could probably succeed in a handful of liberal cities, but probably not on Broadway, given current Broadway economics. While I don't really expect it to ever turn up again, I would certainly go if the opportunity arose.
It is pretty difficult to SPOIL the story of the Flood, as it is fairly well known. However, Findley definitely alters or reinterprets the events related in the Bible and he adds quite a few characters not mentioned in Genesis. I'm going to jump around and cover events from the middle and end of the novel, so a SPOILER warning is probably appropriate after all.
SPOILERS
The reader learns fairly early on that there is trouble at the Noyes household. Japeth, the middle son, is moody because his child bride, Emma, won't have marital relations with him (this is an on-going issue/conflict even after the Ark is launched). His skin has also been stained blue permanently, though this is not the root cause of Emma's refusal. Mrs. Noyes is much put upon, though she manages to get through her days in a bit of an alcoholic daze (though this does come to an end after the Ark is launched). She also lavishes attention upon her elderly half-blind cat, Mottyl (who is effectively the narrator for long stretches of the book). Noah, and indeed Yaweh when he makes a personal appearance, is portrayed as a petulant, fairly tyrannous patriarch. And perhaps here Findley does not actually depart that much from the text...
Anyway, Yaweh is impressed by a two-bit conjuring trick where Noah makes a penny in a bottle disappear by covering it with water, which is where Yaweh gets inspiration for the Flood. What's a little off is that Yaweh insists that his two ancient cats accompany Noah on the Ark (it is strongly suggested that Yaweh decides to die -- and not resurrect himself -- after he sets the Flood in motion), but if the very pregnant Mottyl hadn't been snuck aboard the Ark, then cats would have died out as a species. (As a total aside, it boggles my mind that there are still people who believe every word of the Bible is literal truth. I have no idea how they square the fact that people could only have emerged from incest over and over and over again (how many sisters did Cain have anyway?), to say nothing of the inbreeding that would have eventually killed off all the animals on the Ark.*)
One other major twist Findley adds is that Lucifer disguises himself as a 7-foot tall woman (named Lucy!) and marries Ham, the youngest son, so that he can escape the Flood. Findley doesn't seem to be following the path laid down by Milton, i.e. Lucifer is in charge of Hell and only visits Earth from time to time. In this version, after his rebellion, he landed on Earth for good. His powers are much more limited, and he isn't Evil incarnate, just someone who instinctively sides with the underdog and rebels against authority. (Actually, Lucifer seems pretty similar to Satan in the Book of Job.)
MORE SPOILERS
Perhaps not surprisingly, Mrs. Noyes, Lucy, Ham and Emma all rebel in one way or another from Noah's authority and end up locked up below decks. Most of the novel is told from the perspective of people or animals low on the totem poll and oppressed in one way or another. This is probably the most significant way that Findley's departs from Genesis. The first rebellion fails, but a second rebellion partly succeeds, though ultimately it leads to an uneasy detente between the various factions. By this point, the rain has stopped falling, but land has not been discovered, even though a number of doves have been set off to look for land. Mrs. Noyes realizes that she doesn't think she can take another 100+ years of being oppressed by Noah. The novel ends with her praying for rain. I had forgotten just how downbeat the ending actually is.
I've compressed a lot, but I wanted to focus on the main themes of the novel. This is definitely not a novel for anyone who wants to avoid an outright attack on Christianity specifically and patriarchy more generally. But it is a very imaginative retelling of the Flood story with a number of memorable characters, particularly Mottyl, and I do recommend it to readers who like being challenged in their assumptions (or just those that want to give Biblical patriarchs a good kicking).
* Findley actually pokes a bit of fun at those who have no understanding of genetics by indicating that Noah carries a recessive gene that sometimes results in his offspring being born as apes or chimpanzees, sort of a reverse evolution, though Noah practices social Darwinism by killing off these offspring so they have no chance to reproduce.
Neil Bartram and Brian Hill
Neil Bartram and Brian Hill
More quilt updates (pt. 3)
The quilt is coming along fairly nicely. I was able to integrate a few foxes and polar bears into the design.
You can see the before (rows 4-6 here):
And then the after (rows 5-7 here):
I actually swapped the pink and yellow crosses, then made some other substitutions with the new fabrics (seen below).
I finished sewing the fourth row last night and cut out almost all the material for the 7th row. The current plan is to stitch the rows together when I get the first six pieced together, which should be over the long weekend. That would be just over a third of the top done, and I'll have a much better idea just how hard this will be but also how nice it all looks together. After that, I'll just decide on whether to put on a border and how thick it should be. A lot of work, but starting to feel worth it.
You can see the before (rows 4-6 here):
And then the after (rows 5-7 here):
I actually swapped the pink and yellow crosses, then made some other substitutions with the new fabrics (seen below).
I finished sewing the fourth row last night and cut out almost all the material for the 7th row. The current plan is to stitch the rows together when I get the first six pieced together, which should be over the long weekend. That would be just over a third of the top done, and I'll have a much better idea just how hard this will be but also how nice it all looks together. After that, I'll just decide on whether to put on a border and how thick it should be. A lot of work, but starting to feel worth it.
Monday, June 26, 2017
Starting late and running long
This was more of an issue Sat. but affected me to some degree on Sunday as well. I had a meeting at 10 in the morning but I was running a bit late. I saw from the Transit app that the bus was about 8 minutes away so I started walking up the hill. I ended up waiting at the next stop, and the bus eventually turned up. I was somewhat engrossed in starting on a new book (Mavis Gallant's The Moslem Wife) and I actually missed my stop (no one else got off at Danforth, which is kind of odd, and I had forgotten about walking up one stop).
I decided to run back to the library, which in the end was a good choice, since I was able to drop off a very large and heavy book. Also, in the book sale cart there was a very nice copy of Szabo's The Door (NYRB Classics) for $1. I was worried about missing my appointment, but I think I got there right on time. I was there to hear some feedback from one of the other writers in Toronto Cold Reads. She basically thought some scenes should be compressed or combined, and also didn't think a couple of the characters stood out. I thought most of her criticisms were good, though she really didn't get the point of The Pitch, and I may not make quite as radical changes to that as she suggested. Anyway, her main advice was that I was rushing too fast into doing a full production and that I should settle for table reads and perhaps a staged reading. This was not easy to take (and at least part of my interest is to get production experience for other projects), but perhaps it is the wisest course. I'm going to talk to a few other actors and get their views, but I am leaning in that direction. (If nothing else, it will cost much less and will actually require less time in rehearsals, so there is that to be said for it.)
I then set off for Fabricland, since they were having a sale. I found the right kind of elastic, so I should be able to finish my son's pajamas this week. I bought a few Christmas prints to supplement the left-overs from my daughter's quilt, plus bought some interesting patterns that could be used as borders or for a quilt with more of a fall feel. This is what they look like after washing.
As a side note, I showed them to my daughter later on and she got a bit jealous, even though her quilt will be done long before any of the other ones, so I agreed to rework the pattern a bit and add in a few pluses of foxes and polar bears. Fortunately, I hadn't gotten completely done with the cutting and sewing. As of today, I have cut nearly all the pieces for the first six rows and sewn 3 and a bit of the 4th row. My current plan is to get the first 6 rows assembled and then start sewing them length-wise. I should be able to get to that by Canada Day. I'm excited but a bit nervous at this undertaking.
I waited quite a while for a Dufferin bus to come by (that I could actually get on), but I finally made it to Dufferin and Queen. I was planning on looking up a few of the galleries in the Scotiabank Photography event, but 1) most events had closed a few weeks back and 2) the map was appallingly bad. I got so frustrated the third or fourth time that a gallery wasn't even on the right side of the street (and Gallery 401 was about 10 km out of place on the map!) that I chucked it in the garbage. I ended up seeing a small gallery in Parkdale and then Gallery 401 and that was about it.
I did like the exhibits in Gallery 401 (and thought briefly about buying a painting with the money I "saved" by not spending it on producing theatre or buying U2 tickets from scalpers). Then I grabbed lunch and went to see Guardians of the Galaxy #2. It was pretty good, though not quite as good as the first in my view. But it ran so long (and all the ads up front didn't help). I was expecting to get done by 5:30, but I didn't get out and to the subway until 6:25!
At this point, I wanted to get to a TCR writers' event, but it started at 7. That meant I had to go directly there, rather than dropping stuff off at home. I made it just a bit after 7, but they decided to hold off even longer, hoping that more women would show up to read the parts. They didn't actually get going until 7:30. Because I had so much stuff with me, I had to go home before heading back out to Lee's Palace, so I had to split at 8:30. That was unfortunate.
Anyway, I hustled and made it to Lee's Palace just after 10. The band I had come to see (Fujahtive) hadn't taken the stage. As it turns out my neighbour is in the band, and quite a few people from the block turned up (10 or so). They played from 10:30 to midnight, and I left after that, even though there was one more reggae band playing after them.
I didn't sleep in that long on Sunday, perhaps because I had a very disturbing dream that I worked in an office that basically looked like a concrete parking garage with all these weird angles. I was complaining about the rain (and the fact that some homeless person was camping out in the cubicle next to mine) but really the problem was going to be getting through the winter. I was definitely off my game, making all these mistakes in a presentation to the region-wide boss and I remember thinking that I was going to have to make another career/location move. A lot of anxieties competing with each other in that dream...
I dawdled just a bit and got caught in the rain on the way home with the groceries, but it wasn't all that bad. Eventually the rain cleared up, and I even managed to mow.
What was even better from a morale perspective is that I went to the Planet Fitness that just opened up in the mall. While I visited gyms in Vancouver, I basically only ever went to swim. I don't think I have gone regularly to a gym since the YMCA in Chicago. It's definitely been too long. I tried to take it easy, since there is nothing more discouraging than straining one's muscles when getting started. But it felt good to be working out on the machines. If only this place had a swimming pool or whirlpool it would be perfect. I'll just have to make it over to the Regents Park Aquatic Centre more often. It actually takes a lot of organization to start going to the gym, but I now have workout attire, new shoes, a new lock and even a new soap dish (since the showers are a bit spartan). I really don't have any more excuses, and I will make a strong effort to go 2-3 times/week, especially since it has been raining so much this June. Last week I only managed to ride my bike to work once, and this week doesn't look much better. There is no point imagining I will ever be thin again (my lifestyle and genes are no help), but I can at least improve my cardio condition and lose some of the extra weight. That is within my reach.
I decided to run back to the library, which in the end was a good choice, since I was able to drop off a very large and heavy book. Also, in the book sale cart there was a very nice copy of Szabo's The Door (NYRB Classics) for $1. I was worried about missing my appointment, but I think I got there right on time. I was there to hear some feedback from one of the other writers in Toronto Cold Reads. She basically thought some scenes should be compressed or combined, and also didn't think a couple of the characters stood out. I thought most of her criticisms were good, though she really didn't get the point of The Pitch, and I may not make quite as radical changes to that as she suggested. Anyway, her main advice was that I was rushing too fast into doing a full production and that I should settle for table reads and perhaps a staged reading. This was not easy to take (and at least part of my interest is to get production experience for other projects), but perhaps it is the wisest course. I'm going to talk to a few other actors and get their views, but I am leaning in that direction. (If nothing else, it will cost much less and will actually require less time in rehearsals, so there is that to be said for it.)
I then set off for Fabricland, since they were having a sale. I found the right kind of elastic, so I should be able to finish my son's pajamas this week. I bought a few Christmas prints to supplement the left-overs from my daughter's quilt, plus bought some interesting patterns that could be used as borders or for a quilt with more of a fall feel. This is what they look like after washing.
As a side note, I showed them to my daughter later on and she got a bit jealous, even though her quilt will be done long before any of the other ones, so I agreed to rework the pattern a bit and add in a few pluses of foxes and polar bears. Fortunately, I hadn't gotten completely done with the cutting and sewing. As of today, I have cut nearly all the pieces for the first six rows and sewn 3 and a bit of the 4th row. My current plan is to get the first 6 rows assembled and then start sewing them length-wise. I should be able to get to that by Canada Day. I'm excited but a bit nervous at this undertaking.
I waited quite a while for a Dufferin bus to come by (that I could actually get on), but I finally made it to Dufferin and Queen. I was planning on looking up a few of the galleries in the Scotiabank Photography event, but 1) most events had closed a few weeks back and 2) the map was appallingly bad. I got so frustrated the third or fourth time that a gallery wasn't even on the right side of the street (and Gallery 401 was about 10 km out of place on the map!) that I chucked it in the garbage. I ended up seeing a small gallery in Parkdale and then Gallery 401 and that was about it.
I did like the exhibits in Gallery 401 (and thought briefly about buying a painting with the money I "saved" by not spending it on producing theatre or buying U2 tickets from scalpers). Then I grabbed lunch and went to see Guardians of the Galaxy #2. It was pretty good, though not quite as good as the first in my view. But it ran so long (and all the ads up front didn't help). I was expecting to get done by 5:30, but I didn't get out and to the subway until 6:25!
At this point, I wanted to get to a TCR writers' event, but it started at 7. That meant I had to go directly there, rather than dropping stuff off at home. I made it just a bit after 7, but they decided to hold off even longer, hoping that more women would show up to read the parts. They didn't actually get going until 7:30. Because I had so much stuff with me, I had to go home before heading back out to Lee's Palace, so I had to split at 8:30. That was unfortunate.
Anyway, I hustled and made it to Lee's Palace just after 10. The band I had come to see (Fujahtive) hadn't taken the stage. As it turns out my neighbour is in the band, and quite a few people from the block turned up (10 or so). They played from 10:30 to midnight, and I left after that, even though there was one more reggae band playing after them.
I didn't sleep in that long on Sunday, perhaps because I had a very disturbing dream that I worked in an office that basically looked like a concrete parking garage with all these weird angles. I was complaining about the rain (and the fact that some homeless person was camping out in the cubicle next to mine) but really the problem was going to be getting through the winter. I was definitely off my game, making all these mistakes in a presentation to the region-wide boss and I remember thinking that I was going to have to make another career/location move. A lot of anxieties competing with each other in that dream...
I dawdled just a bit and got caught in the rain on the way home with the groceries, but it wasn't all that bad. Eventually the rain cleared up, and I even managed to mow.
What was even better from a morale perspective is that I went to the Planet Fitness that just opened up in the mall. While I visited gyms in Vancouver, I basically only ever went to swim. I don't think I have gone regularly to a gym since the YMCA in Chicago. It's definitely been too long. I tried to take it easy, since there is nothing more discouraging than straining one's muscles when getting started. But it felt good to be working out on the machines. If only this place had a swimming pool or whirlpool it would be perfect. I'll just have to make it over to the Regents Park Aquatic Centre more often. It actually takes a lot of organization to start going to the gym, but I now have workout attire, new shoes, a new lock and even a new soap dish (since the showers are a bit spartan). I really don't have any more excuses, and I will make a strong effort to go 2-3 times/week, especially since it has been raining so much this June. Last week I only managed to ride my bike to work once, and this week doesn't look much better. There is no point imagining I will ever be thin again (my lifestyle and genes are no help), but I can at least improve my cardio condition and lose some of the extra weight. That is within my reach.
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