The Spanish Tragedy

Thomas Kyd was a contemporary of Shakespeare or more specifically a playwright who preceded the Bard both chronologically and artistically. Kyd's most famous work was "The Spanish Tragedy," a revenge tragedy which was apparently very successful on the Elizabeth stage. The work has multiple revenge themes including a character named simply revenge, who provides a chorus like function commenting on the action of each act.

The tragic hero the play is Hieronimo who serves at the court of the King of Spain without being of noble blood himself. Hieronimo's son, Horatio is murdered by two of the characters among other things to end his romance with Bel-Imperia, the female lead. Understandably upon discovering the murder and the murderer, Hieronimo vows revenge which he first seeks unsuccessfully through the "system." Undeterred by this obstacle, he proceeds to achieve his goal through the use of a play within in a play.

If the latter sounds familiar, it is, of course, a mechanism that Shakespeare will use in "Hamlet," another, more fully developed revenge tragedy. In fact, a great deal of Kyd's significance in the history of drama is how much of what happens "Hamlet" - the use of ghosts, the play within a play is seen in this earlier play. There has also been speculation, although without any documented evidence, that Kyd was the author of the Ur Hamlet, an earlier version of the play now lost.

Last weekend I listened to a BBC archived broadcast of an interview with noted Shakespearean scholar Jonathan Bate and two other scholars about revenge tragedies from Kyd through Shakespeare. Bate made the point that in the case of "Hamlet," as in much of Shakespeare, the original source material has been given a much more in depth treatment. According to Bate, much of what is considered to be Hamlet's vacillation about revenging the death of his father is his inner debate about the right and wrong of revenge. That's an issue that is of some interest - much of the intellectual/moral world where I have spent a lot of time suggests that revenge is an empty human motivation that doesn't produce the benefits one expects. Reading "The Spanish Tragedy" showed me how revenge can escalate far beyond the original issue, perhaps making its value somewhat questionable. It will now give me an additional perspective on "Hamlet" which I expect to see at least once this fall.

Marling Hall

"Marling Hall" is the third of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels set during World War II. We learn the period covered by this story at the very end when mention is made of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The novel concludes with a detailed depiction of the Christmas festivities at Marling Hall. This all done in the spirit of Christmas that Thirkell captured in "Northbridge Rectory" when she wrote (my words, not her's) that the problem with Christmas is that it separates people who want to be together and brings together people who should always be kept separated.

In this novel Thirkell introduces a new family, the Marlings as well as a number of other new characters. However, the story also serves to re-introduce the Leslie family who were at the heart of "Wild Strawberries." The Leslies have aged with David Leslie back to his old tricks making himself a love interest with little effort of his own. The love story revolves primarily around Lettice Watson (nee Marling) who was widowed at Dunkirk. Thirkell creates another 2/1 dynamic as well as the possibility that there will be no resolution at all.

Most of this familiar to the reader and I would put the novel somewhere in the middle in any rankings of her work. The war time novels do feel somewhat "choppy" as my buddy DT would say, but I will see how I feel about that after reading the last two which should arrive from Amazon in the next day or so. The thing that really stuck out for me in this book came early on with little real impact on the main story. One of the minor characters, Ed Pollett, who is gifted with machines, but apparently of limited mental capacity takes the obligatory physical for military service. The doctor who is apparently even more limited doesn't recognize or doesn't care about Ed's problems and tries to label him as prime military material.

At this point Sir Edmund Pridham intervenes and Ed is spared something that could easily have been the end of him both physically and mentally. One got me about this was not what happened, but how Thirkell describes Ed and those like him. She notes that Sir Edmund "took an immense pride in all country idiots," protecting them against harm because he regards "them on the whole as part of our National Heritage (as indeed they are.)" This is followed by several more paeans to village idiots - the language is incredibly blunt and judgemental, something that would never be accepted today. The bluntness is even more shocking given the understated, almost non-verbal communication used by many of the characters in Thirkell's novels.

Yet in spite of the blunt, cruel words, there is a caring here for people like Ed that is quite touching. Sir Edmund has no official position in all of this, he is simply a leader in the county and takes personal responsibility for a group that it would be quite easy for him and others to ignore. This just reinforces my belief that there is a lot more depth to Thirkell's work than meets the eye - the stories are not just light hearted satires on the middle and upper classes with too much money and too little to do. I still have a long way to go to finish all of her books, when I do, I plan to read some criticism of her work that I think shares this idea - that the books can be ready at several levels.

Setting the Record Straight

Editor
Civil War News
234 Monarch Hill Road
Tumbridge, Vermont 05077

Dear Sir or Madam:

Scott Boyd’s article (“States Lagging on 150th”) in the June issue of Civil War News calls needed attention to the slow pace at which states are working on the upcoming Civil War Sesquicentennial. There is, however, at least one state whose name needs to be added to those already in the field – New Jersey.

Since the fall of 2008, members of the New Jersey Civil War community have been meeting to plan how our state might observe the 150th anniversary of this watershed event in our nation’s history. Our group has been drawn from roundtables, re-enactor groups, educators and authors (including Civil War News columnist Joe Bilby).

We have named ourselves the New Jersey Civil War 150th Anniversary Committee and are working under the auspices of the New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association. The NJCWHA is a not-for-profit organization with a long record of working in this area. While we are not an official state commission, the committee was endorsed by Governor Jon Corzine at the end of 2008. In his proclamation, the Governor called on all “state and local government agencies, as well as non-profit organizations and educational institutions” to work with the committee on this important anniversary.

The NJCW150 Committee has been working on a website (NJCW150.org) which will be operational early this summer. Initially the website will feature biographies of 150 prominent New Jerseyans from the Civil War era. The subjects of these brief essays include soldiers and civilians, black and white, and men and women giving a sense of New Jersey’s broad participation in these events.

A number of other projects are in various stages of development. These include several possible publications, educational programming, re-enactments and other ways of honoring these brave men and women who made such important contributions to our state and our nation’s history. We hope to collaborate with the appropriate groups in other states as well as publications like Civil War News throughout the course of the sesquicentennial.

Sincerely yours,




John G. Zinn
Chair, New Jersey Civil War 150th Anniversary Committee
Verona, New Jersey

Cheerfulness Breaks In

Finishing "Cheerfulness Breaks In" brings me close to one-third of the way through Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels. In some cases these stories of country life in England before, during and after World War II can be read out of sequence without any real loss. However, that is not the case, in my view, in this one which is basically a continuation of "Summer Half," which centers around life at the Southbridge School.

One of the main characters in that novel is Rose Birkett, daughter of the head master and in my mind one of the most obnoxious characters in English fiction. This novel begins with her wedding, followed mercifully by her departure for South America, appearing only brief thereafter through letters to her parents.

In the last few Thirkell novels that I read, I have noticed a pattern of a series of episodes seemingly without a lot of significance until all the sudden at the end the significance becomes very clear. This novel followed that pattern, but with the significance magnified by the fact that this is the first of her books that takes place after the beginning in World War II. Apparently written in 1940, the time frame of the book appears to cover what has become known as "the phony war." This refers to the period between September of 1939 when England declared war on Germany and the spring of 1940 when the first real fighting broke out. The book ends at the time of Dunkirk with a reference to someone having betrayed the British army - a reference I didn't and don't understand unless it is supposed to mean Neville Chamberlain.

While I wasn't surprised by something significant happening towards the end of the book, I was surprised by the scale and also the abrupt inconclusive ending. Going against my rule of reading series in sequence, I had already read "Northbridge Rectory" which follows this book in the series and also covers a period relatively early in World War II. I thought "Northbridge Rectory" was a really good book about interpersonal relationships, but the war seemed to have little real impact on the story. So while I expected something to happen at the end of "Cheerfulness Breaks In," I assumed the war would still be kept at a distance especially given the period covered. That was not the case, however as two of the main characters marry right before the man is ordered overseas and the book ends with his wife receiving, but not opening a telegram that may have brought terrible news.

Although I have read the next book, I don't recall anything that reveals the outcome of the telegram. I may go back and reread this book both to find out whether the end of the story from the prior book is revealed and also to see if there is anything else of significance that I missed because I read the book out of sequence. One of the few things that has concerned me about Thirkell's novels seemed to be either nothing but happy endings or anything of negative nature being kept "off-stage" as it were. That certainly isn't the case in this book so that I look forward to the remaining World War II books with even more anticipation.

Writing Update

Like my reading goals, my 2009 writing goals were fairly simple - finish the five New Jersey base ball team histories well before the May deadline and then get the Lloyd letters out to potential publishers by Labor Day. Interestingly I am well ahead of schedule on both goals, but things are no longer that simple. One of Carol's friends said something like "Life is what gets in the way of the plans you make" and there is certainly some truth to that in this case.

I sent my five pioneer project histories off in February long before they were due in May. Then at the end of beginning of June, I got an e-mail from Peter Morris suggesting that I might want to take the introductory material from one of the histories and expand it into a full length chapter. After reviewing what I had, this made a lot of sense, of course, it also meant one more round of edits and revisions to all five team histories. It didn't take too long, however and all the material was e-mailed out last week so that should be pretty much done, although there is always the possibility of more edits.

On the Lloyd letters, I have been pleasantly surprised that editing these letters of a 33rd NJ sergeant has gone much more quickly than I would have thought. Barring something unforeseen, I think another week or so should have this manuscript ready to be sent out - certainly no later than July 1st. So if nothing else had come up, I would be finished with my 2009 writing goals almost two months ahead of time. My original plan had then been to take the fall off from any writing projects both to take a break and to think intentionally about what comes next. That, however, is where life got in the way not just once, but twice.

The first change happened when I heard that proposals were being requested for editing a book about Ebbets Field which would be part of a McFarland & Co. series on historic ballparks. Paul and I discussed this, decided to submit a proposal and recruited a good team of contributors. The proposal is now in the hands of McFarland so at this point all we can do is wait. The second thing is something I have written about before regarding a book on early base ball in New Jersey. This had been of interest for some time, but a conversation at the SABR 19th Century committee conference in Cooperstown and another book on early base ball convinced me that I have a call to write such a book.

This book will be a lot different than the team histories I have done for the Pioneer Project, but a lot of the research I did for that project can be easily transferred to the new book. I already have an outline in mind and plan to at least try to work on this simultaneously with the Ebbets Field book if that happens. In the latter project I will only be writing one chapter so while it will be plenty of work, it will be a different kind of work. I could actually get started on the New Jersey base ball book now, but since I won't be taking the fall off, I am going to at least take a break as soon as the Lloyd letters are in the mail. At least that's the plan, hopefully life won't get in the way again!

Reading Update - June

My new year's resolution for 2009 reading was fairly simple, keep track of the books that I read over the course of the year. Since the task was simple, I have managed to do so without much difficulty for almost the first six months of the year. With less than two weeks left in the first half of the year, I have finished 25 books. I am currently reading three books at present and it is highly likely that I will finish all of them by June 30th giving me almost 30 for the first six months. If I maintain that pace it would work out to close to 60 for the year. Since I have never done this before, I have no basis for comparison, but I think I would be satisfied if I hit that number.

Obviously it would be easy to build up the numbers by intentionally choosing books that were short, easy to read or both. Thus far, I have avoided that temptation, basically reading what I want to read. Something that I am very pleased about is that I have done a good job of reading the books I have purchased this year rather than allowing them to lie around gathering dust.

Two of the books I am currently reading fall into that category - Jonathan Bate's "Soul of Age" - his biography of Shakespeare's ideas and the latest in the Angela Thirkell canon - "Cheerfulness Breaks In." Once I finish the latter work, I just have to read "Marling Hall," another Thirkell novel and I think I will have read everything I bought this year. "Cheerfulness Breaks In" was written in 1940 about life in the fictional county of Barsetshire during 1939 - the first year of World War II - the part sometimes known as the "phony war." Many of the characters in this book appeared in some of the earlier novels, confirming my thought that they need to be read in sequence.

The third book currently underway is part of an effort to read myself through my own library - this time with David Halberstam's last book, "The Coldest Winter" about the Korean War. I bought that book not that long ago, but it has been on the shelf for sometime so I am glad I am working my way through it. Actually work isn't really a fair word, Halberstam was such a good writer that his books read like fiction. Reading this book while thinking about my own writing has made me try to understand something of how he does ,what he does. Part of it, I think, goes back to his experience as a newspaper reporter which helped him write in a more reader friendly style. I can't draw any other conclusions as of yet, but it is certainly something I will think about some more.

But in any event, that resolution has been well kept and while it may sound simple, it is the first time that I have ever done it. In my next post, I will do a similar check in on my writing goals for 2009 and see how things stand in that arena.

Exorcising The Demons

These days I am at some level a Mets fan because they are the National League team in New York - the spiritual descendants of my beloved Brooklyn Dodgers. Like the Dodgers, blue is one of their primary colors and now with the new Citi Field, the Jackie Robinson rotunda and other things reminiscent of the Dodgers, the connection is even stronger.

There is another level, however, which the connection to the Dodgers is just plain depressing - some of the things that have been happening on the field. The way the Mets have collapsed in the heat of the pennant race the last two years is all too similar to classic Dodger collapses of which the 1951 disaster (pictured above left) is probably the best/worst example. While no where near as important, the just awful way the Mets lost to the Yankees (it had to be the Yankees) on Friday night on Luis Castillo's error brought back too many painful memories of past Dodger debacles.

While I know many Brooklyn fans gave up on the Dodgers after their move to California, I remained a devoted Dodger fan for many years thereafter. It wasn't easy following a team 3000 miles away especially in the days before cable television, ESPN and other expanded sports programing. Even though they had moved so far away there were still some similarities in the on the field problems of the Dodgers. While not as well known as the 1951 calamity, 1962 was not a lot a different. I wasn't a baseball fan in 1951 (finally something I was too young to remember), but I remember 1962 all too well which was eerily similar to Branca/Thompson debacle. The Dodgers blew a seemingly safe lead the last week of the season, led the third playoff game 4-2 going to the bottom of the ninth only to lose when among other things, Stan Williams walked in the eventual winning run.

As noted 1962 isn't as well remembered as 1951 and, I think, one of the reasons for that is because in 1963 the Dodgers exorcised that demon as well all of the demons from prior horror stories forever. Once again in 1963, the Dodgers led the pennant race into September, this time beat off a challenge from the Giants only to be threatened by a Cardinal team that won 19 straight games going into late September. Even though the Dodgers had won 12 of their last 19 their lead was down to a single game before a three game series in St. Louis. As in prior years the newspapers and fans were talking about how the Dodgers would choke and lose the pennant at the very end of the race. But this time, the Dodgers swept the Cardinals and won the pennant by six games.

That was important, but by itself was not enough to exorcise the demons of the 1962 and beyond. Waiting in the World Series were the hated and feared New York Yankees, winners of the last two series. As today, there were more Yankee fans than Dodger fans including one particular obnoxious Yankee fan at Wayne High School, who regularly belittled the Dodgers and their star pitcher Sandy Koufax. While we Dodger fans believed in Koufax, he, and these Dodgers, had never faced the Yankees in the World Series. Any doubts we may have had ended quickly when Koufax set a new World Series record striking out 15 Yankees in the first game of the Series at Yankee Stadium. The next day at school, the obnoxious Yankee fan opened his locker to find a full length picture of Sandy Koufax staring him in the face.

It got even better after that as the Dodgers went on to sweep the Yankees in four straight games including another Koufax gem in the last game. It wasn't the Dodgers first World Championship, but because of the way it happened, it had more far reaching effects than the first two. The Sporting News described it best with the comment that the Dodgers had banished the choke up label forever. And that is true, 1963 is a dividing line in the history of the Dodgers, today no one thinks of the Dodgers of a team that always falls short, that breaks down or collapses under pressure. That's not to say that there haven't been bumps along the way. I have this vague recollection of the Dodgers being upset in a World Series a few years later by some obscure team who's name I forget. Anyway the Mets took care of that bunch a few years later in another World Series, but I digress.

Although the last thing I should be thinking about at this point is another book, I think there is a real story here. How the disaster of 1962 and all those prior disasters were ultimately redeemed in just one season - winning the 1963 pennant race and sweeping the Yankees in the Series. The Mets are in a similar situation today, they need to exorcise the demons of the past two plus years. The bad news is that they have to do it themselves, no one can do it for them. However, that is also the good news - they can do it by themselves!