Mothers
In Literature:
From 
Mildred Pierce 
To
Norman Bates's
Mother...

 

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, so we are going to contemplate a selection of mothers in literature, autobiography and thrillers. Mothers in literature have a tough time of it, from Jocasta and Grendel’s mother onwards. There are many absent mothers and more than a few wicked mothers, especially of the ‘step’ variety. Perhaps the most extreme example is Snow White’s evil step-mother, who not only wants to supplant her step-daughter’s status as the fairest of them all, she wants to eat her heart. So this week we survey a few of the good, the bad and the ugly, while not forgetting that our own mothers are still the most special in the world!

One of the most long-suffering mothers can be found in James M. Cain’s novel "Mildred Pierce." This is the story of a housewife who struggles for her family - which promptly disintegrates, forcing her to take on the socially transgressive (at the time) role of single mother and breadwinner. She then seeks the love of her remaining daughter, who is by turns deeply ungrateful, resentful, and parasitically demanding. It's a great book, and has been adapted twice for film, most recently in an HBO miniseries featuring Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce, and previously in the Oscar-winning cinematic adaptation starring Joan Crawford.

Perversely, while Joan Crawford played a mother who was exploited and unloved by her daughter, her real-life daughter, Christina - disinherited in her mother’s will - wrote the classic "Mommie Dearest," which put on record Crawford’s alcoholism and serial abuse of herself and her brother Christopher. Being one of the first Hollywood tell-all books, it caused a sensation and divided Joan's friends, many of whom supported Christina’s version of events. Faye Dunaway starred in the cinematic adaptation, which Dunaway credited with ruining her career.

In literature, the complexities of mother-child relationships are explored in diverse ways, from the absent (but eerily present) mother in Robert Bloch's “Psycho" to the deeply moving portrait of Sethe in Toni Morrison’s “Beloved." However, perhaps one of the simplest and most perfectly loving mothers is to be found in Louisa May Alcott’s classic “Little Women," in the form of Margaret “Marmee” March. Marmee is the shaping and guiding influence on her daughters, their counsel and protector who allows them to learn their own lessons through their own mistakes. Ultimately she is the perfect loving parent - which is what all mothers I know (and fathers, for that matter) aspire to. Happy Mothers Day!

To Kill A
Mockingbird:
The Finest 
of all
Cinematic
Literary
Adaptations

 

“That film was a work of art." – Harper Lee.

There are good film adaptations, there are bad film adaptations, and then there is To Kill a Mockingbird. This year marks the 50th anniversary of perhaps the finest adaptation of a literary novel to film. Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning book has been translated into more than forty languages, has sold more than thirty million copies, and still sells almost a million a year. Appropriately, the film has proven to be an evergreen classic, not least because of the central performance by Gregory Peck. He said of his performance as Atticus Finch, "I put everything I had into it - all my feelings and everything I'd learned in 46 years of living."

“I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that's what they seemed like…” – Jem Finch (To Kill A Mockingbird)

To Kill A Mockingbird is set in the small town of Maycomb in the Deep South, during the Great Depression. The story is told from the perspective of Scout and Jem Finch, the children of lawyer Atticus Finch. This perspective affords an honest and even humorous look at the irrationality of adult attitudes towards toward race and class, illustrated by their father’s quest for justice for Tom Robinson, an innocent black man accused of rape. The ensuing trial reveals the town's blind prejudice and hypocrisy. This story of good, evil, ignorance, and morality is as powerful today as it was when it was first published.

While Harper Lee expressed that her ambition was to be “the Jane Austen of south Alabama,” To Kill A Mockingbird was her only published novel. The cinematic adaptation that came two years after its publication amplified the classic status of the novel, and is a brilliant and cherished work in its own right. Harper Lee has always expressed her admiration for the film: “I have nothing but gratitude for the people who made the film. I went out and looked at them filming a little of it, and there seemed to be such a general kindness, perhaps even respect, for the material they were working with.”

Gregory Peck’s Academy Award winning performance in particular has proved a defining moment in cinematic history, with Atticus Finch being named the greatest movie hero of the 20th century by the American film Institute. His performance has had a profound impact on other actors and even on lawyers who aspire to the integrity he embodies. However, the approval of Harper Lee was perhaps Peck's greatest accolade, as his performance was based on her father – whom he met in preparation for the role and who was the model for Atticus. Harper Lee said in 1966 during one of the only interviews she ever gave about the book: “You know, Greg is a very youthful man, a very elegant gentleman, a lot of fun. When I saw him at my home I wondered if he'd be quite right for the part. The next time I saw him…the first glimpse I had of him was when he came out of his dressing room in his Atticus suit. It was the most amazing transformation I had ever seen. A middle-aged man came out. He looked bigger, …he didn't have an ounce of makeup, just a 1933-type suit with a collar and a vest and a watch and chain. The minute I saw him I knew everything was going to be all right because he was Atticus.”

Fifty years on, the film of To Kill A Mockingbird continues to have a profound influence on its audience, and serves as an introduction for new generations to Harper Lee’s classic novel. The film seemed to have, as Harper Lee said, “an aura of good feeling” that has not only resonated with audiences, but with those who participated in its making. Harper Lee and Gregory Peck shared a friendship long after the movie was made, and Peck's grandson was named "Harper" in her honor. Peck was also close with Mary Badham, who played his daughter Scout (she always called him Atticus) and Brock Peters, who played Tom Robinson. After Peck’s death, Peters quoted Harper Lee at Peck's eulogy, saying, "Atticus Finch gave him an opportunity to play himself." He concluded the eulogy by stating, "To my friend Gregory Peck, to my friend Atticus Finch, vaya con Dios.”

"Once Upon
A Midnight
Dreary..."
The Raven
And
Edgar Allan
Poe,
The King of
American
Gothic
 
 
 

Set to release this week, “The Raven” is the third major film of this title associated with Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem - by the thinnest of pretexts. The first was made in 1935, and is about a Poe-obsessed madman who has a torture chamber in his basement. The second, from 1963, features a trio of magicians, one of whom is turned into a raven. And now we have a third, starring John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe, who in the last days of his life pursues a serial killer whose murders are inspired by Poe's own stories.

“The Raven” is a story of devotion and the loss of the narrator's beloved Lenore; in his sorrow and darkness, he is visited by a raven. While the poem did not make Poe wealthy - upon its publication in 1845 it earned him the princely sum of $9.00 - it did turn him into a national celebrity. The poem was widely imitated and parodied in its day, and Poe received numerous invitations to speak and perform. President Abraham Lincoln not only read the poem, he had it committed to memory.

Poe’s final days are considerably stranger than fiction. Less than five years after the publication of “The Raven,” Poe was found wandering the streets of Baltimore, delirious, incoherent and wearing clothes that were not his own. Within four days he was dead, at the age of 40. He never recovered coherence, and apart from his mysterious exclamations of “Reynolds,” his last words were allegedly “Lord help my poor soul.” To add to the obscurity, his medical records and death certificate were lost. Poe’s obituary writer and literary executor, Rufus Griswold, hated Poe and sought to destroy his reputation in death, characterizing him as an evil, depraved, drug-addled monster through forged letters and deliberate mischaracterization. Ultimately, Griswold’s distortions and fabrications were discovered, but his portrayal of Poe only added to the public’s fascination with his work.

Aside from a somewhat colorful personal life, Poe was a giant of American literature, who in addition to great poetry wrote gothic short stories and narrative fiction. His only novel, “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket,” influenced both Herman Melville and Jules Verne, the latter of whom wrote a sequel, "An Antarctic Mystery." In his short story "Murders in the Rue Morgue," Poe created in C. Auguste Dupin the first true detective in fiction and the template for Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes - and the army of literary detectives that followed.

Poe’s short stories are probably the most famous of his canon and have been collected, anthologized and adapted many times over the past century-and-a-half. “The Pit and the Pendulum,” "The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” are some of his most famous tales, which maintain power and resonance to this day and are considered classics of American Gothic literature. Many of Poe’s works were ‘adapted’ (in a very liberal sense) by Roger Corman throughout the 1960’s. His adaptatations of “Ligeia" and “Masque of the Red Death" are particularly notable.

I would see anything with John Cusack, so I recommend that you go see "The Raven," and definitely check out the original poem and the rest of Poe’s work. If you don’t make it to the cinema, you might want to seek out the darkest of all movies ever credited as being an adaptation of a Poe story: “The Black Cat,” which naturally has little if anything to do with Poe. Made in 1934, it is a truly strange movie, featuring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi squaring off in a genuinely nightmarish story that features sadism, torture, human sacrifice and...chess. "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"

Nothing
But Flowers:
Celebrating 
Earth Day 
In Books 
About Man 
And The 
Environment 
 

As we celebrate all things environmental during this week leading up to Earth Day, we wanted to offer a selection of environmentally themed titles you might enjoy which will enlighten, inform, or at least entertain you.

The book that is often cited as the launching point for the modern environmental movement is Rachel Carson’s bona fide classic, “Silent Spring,” which took on the use of pesticides and their impact on the environment (and birds in particular). The book found an enormous and hugely receptive reading public, and led President Kennedy to direct his Science Advisory Committee to investigate her claims. Carson’s claims were fully vindicated, and the book was ultimately responsible for banning DDT for agricultural use in the USA. Check out the Adam Curtis video above, which tells the story of DDT and Rachel Carson's remarkable book, and features a man ingesting DDT to demonstrate how safe he believes it is...

Former Vice President Al Gore came back from his loss of the 2000 Presidential election with a book, a film and a Powerpoint presentation on the environment entitled “An Inconvenient Truth.” The book was a global bestseller, the film won an Oscar for Best Documentary, and the entire body of work led to his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize - no mean feat. It was not his first book on the subject, either; when he was a Senator he wrote the bestselling “Earth In The Balance,” which called for a Global Marshall Plan to address global environmental problems. “An Inconvenient Truth” is a powerful book that directly addresses global warming and its implications for the world and the way we live our lives. His sequel, “Our Choice,” offers a plan to solve the climate crisis.

Back to nature, in the literal sense that everything returns to vegetation, flowers and rocks, is a staple of post-apocalypse novels - and the Talking Heads song “Nothing But Flowers."  In his book “The World Without Us,” Alan Weisman approaches this concept from a scientific standpoint. Looking at modern settlements such as Chernobyl and how they decay when abandoned, Weisman applies his findings to New York City, anticipating a path of degradation and collapse. The book is thoroughly riveting and believable, and if there is any solace to take it is that once human life has gone, without the warmth and food that we provide rats and cockroaches do not survive - yay!

Finally, once we are gone and the planet is nothing but kumquats and daisies, if you need a guide to the creature who once occupied this planet, Jon Stewart and The Daily Show writers offer more than one could hope for in “Earth (the book),” including a half-naked Larry King - you have been warned! And remember, Godzilla will not always be there to save us when Smog Monster comes...Happy Earth Day!

"It Was
A Dark And 
Stormy Night..."
A Wrinkle in Time 
At Fifty
 
 
 
 

Fifty years ago, the world first became acquainted with Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe, in Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time.” The book was roundly ignored and rejected by over 26 publishers, and it took the random intervention of a festive tea party and a chance meeting with a friend of publisher Charles Farrar before the book was finally published, and a classic was born.

The story has obviously earned an enormous following and has been in print continuously since 1962, but what marks it as a classic? It is a science fiction book with a young girl as the protagonist, which was unusual for the time. It is also a young girl’s coming of age story, as Meg comes to realize that her father is not all-knowing and all-powerful. Accordingly, it has attracted a strong female following, as it resonates with many young girls who are coming to grips with the world.

If you have not read it, let me give you a sense of the narrative, while strongly encouraging you to go out and get yourself a copy. The main story is the quest of Meg and Charles Wallace Murry and their friend Calvin O’Keefe to find the Murrys’ missing scientist father, who disappeared while researching time travel. Through a "wrinkle" in time, they travel to a distant, dark and forbidding planet with the assistance of the supernatural and somewhat eccentric trio of Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. There they have to save their father from an all-controlling evil super-brain that seeks to spread darkness throughout the universe. The battle between good and evil and the power of love are wonderfully played out in a narrative that after 50 years does not fail to satisfy.

On a cinematic note, Disney is considering a new movie version of the book. Asked if the previous Disney film adaptation, released in 1993, met her expectations, Madeleine L'Engle confirmed that “yes, I expected it to be bad, and it is.” You be the judge...

So a happy half-century to “A Wrinkle In Time,” a book that still maintains its aura of ‘difference’ - between 2000 and 2009, it could still be found on the American Library Association’s list of 100 most frequently challenged books. Like many classic children’s books, it refuses to patronize or oversimplify the world. And if you like this classic, you should have a look at Madeleine L’Engle’s other work, which includes three sequels!

That Sinking
Feeling...
100 Years of  
The Titanic 
 

 
 

The centenary of the Titanic’s sinking allows us to contemplate the truth of James Cameron’s statement that the 1912 sinking of that great ship has yielded more books than all but two other historical events - the life of Christ and the death of John F. Kennedy. Titanic books are numerous and some of them are very good, and we will touch on a few of those in this week’s blog.

The basics of the story are these:The RMS Titanic - clearly a metaphor for The British Empire, bourgeois capitalism, mankind, progress, or maybe just the largest luxury liner of her day - foundered off the coast of Newfoundland on her maiden voyage, after striking an iceberg. The unsinkable sank, with 1,700 passengers and crew on board, including 37 Italian waiters, and accompanied by a band led by Wallace Hartley playing “Nearer Thy God To Thee.” Meanwhile, the nearby ship Californian somehow missed the unfolding catastrophe and failed to save even a single person.

The definitive account, which to my mind produced the definitive film, was the book by American author Walter Lord, “A Night To Remember.” His interest in the story started when he was young and he traveled on The Titanic’s sister ship, the RMS Olympic. He was amazed that something so large could sink, and that trip was the beginning of a lifelong fascination. Originally published in 1955, Lord’s research extended to interviewing 63 Titanic survivors. His book is a compelling minute-by-minute chronicle of the unfolding drama of the Titanic’s last hours. He pays particular attention to not only the major characters, but also to the appalling treatment of lower class passengers, including denying them access to lifeboats, which led to a higher loss rate of third-class children than first-class men. The book has been translated into many languages, and has not been out of print since publication. Lord himself even served as a consultant on James Cameron’s 1997 film "Titanic." If you only read one book about the disaster, this is the one - and the same can be said of the 1958 British film of the same name.

The Titanic has seen its fair share of fictional work as well, including the well-received children’s novel “Dog on the Titanic,” about a 12 year old, his dog and - you guessed it - their voyage on the Titanic. For young children, two Titanic books by Mary Pope Osborne provide both a great magical fantasy in "Magic Tree House #17: Tonight on the Titanic,” and a great breakdown of the facts about the Titanic for young children in its companion volume, “Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #7: Titanic.” For thriller lovers, Clive Cussler’s “Raise The Titanic!” was a big hit, concerning a rare mineral in the Titanic’s cargo which leads them to…raise the Titanic. Despite the success of the novel, the film of the book unfortunately went the way of the ship. Lew Grade, a major backer of the film, quipped, “Raise the Titanic? It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic.”

To every story there are two sides, and in “Voyage of the Iceberg: the Story of the Iceberg that Sank the Titanic,” that is just what you get. This book is a genuinely fascinating account of the iceberg that sank the Titanic and its journey from Greenland to its date with destiny. The U.S. Senate hearings about the accident are thoroughly examined in Wyn Craig Wade’s “The Titanic: End of A Dream,” and he provides an account rich in first-hand witness reports. For an account which gives further perspective on the ship, her sisters the Olympic and Brittanic, and the White Star Line, Thomas Bonsall’s “Titanic” is worth a look, not least for the rich illustration and photography of the ships.

The Titanic industry received a shot in the arm when in 1985 the wreck of the Titanic was discovered by Robert Ballard. His story of the re-discovery is told with numerous amazing pictures in “Discovery of The Titanic.” Charles Pellegrino’s “Her Name, Titanic” and “Ghosts of the Deep” are both excellent books, and document the re-discovery of the Titanic as well as the night of her sinking with evidence gathered from previously unpublished accounts and records.

100 years on, the tragedy of the incident remains, along with the compelling story of human fallibility, technology’s vulnerability in the face of the might of nature, and the catalog of mistakes, oversights and unanticipated consequences that contributed to the magnitude of the catastrophe. There are a wealth of books to choose from to satiate every level of interest, and if on this centenary you find yourself going down to see James Cameron’s movie (now in 3-D), there is a book for that too: “James Cameron’s Titanic.” Like Cameron himself said, the Titanic has been the subject of more books...

Mirror, Mirror...
The Grimm Story 
Of Snow White:  
Nothing For 75 Years  
Then Two Movies
Show Up At Once... 
 
 

As Hollywood has frequently insisted, you cannot have too much of a good thing, or for that matter too much of any thing. Over the past century Snow White has been adapted, alluded to and re-imagined in many other media. Hollywood, though, had apparently decided that a certain Walter E. Disney might have had the last word in major motion picture adaptations, way back in 1937. However, much as Robin Hood apparently deserved two treatments in one year (the Kevin Costner one and er… the other one back in 1991), Hollywood in its infinite originality has decided to unleash “Mirror, Mirror” and “Snow White and the Huntsman” to an unsuspecting public this year.

This week we have decided to have a closer look at “Snow White,” starting with the Brothers Grimm version. In their version, a Queen gives birth to the beautiful Snow White and promptly dies. The King marries a beautiful but vain wife whose magic mirror confirms her supreme beauty until it breaks the bad news that she has been surpassed by her step-daughter. Not one used to competition, the Queen tells a huntsman to head out to the woods and improve her rating by eliminating Snow White. The story gets a lot more gruesome at this point, moving from the Queen believing she is eating her slain step-daughter’s lungs and liver, to her poisoning Snow White, rendering her comatose in a glass coffin. The story culminates with the wicked Queen being forced to wear burning hot iron shoes until she drops dead. And then everybody else lives, er…happily ever after.

Since the Brothers Grimm version was published in nineteenth century, the story has evolved - a Broadway play in 1912 gave the Seven Dwarfs names for the first time, but ultimately Disney’s version lost all of the sadism and was generally rendered far more child friendly. The two new cinematic versions coming this year appear to be taking different approaches; “Mirror, Mirror” is aiming at broad comedy, whereas “Snow White and the Huntsman” returns to the more gruesome aspects of the original and cross-fertilizes with other myths - the evil queen is informed by the mirror that she needs to consume Snow White’s heart to attain immortality. Snow White the warrior enlists eight dwarves to assist in a rebellion…

Aside from the various children’s versions, in the modern era there have been far darker adaptations from a wide variety of notable authors: Neil Gaiman with his short story “Snow Glass, Apples” (in his collection "Smoke and Mirrors"), and Angela Carter with her short story “Snow Child” (from her collection "The Bloody Chamber"). In 2003, Gregory Maguire, who had revisited the American classic “The Wizard of Oz” with his equally classic revisionist version of the story, “Wicked,” set his sights on Snow White with his book "Mirror, Mirror" (unrelated to the new movie). This time he decided to set the story during the Renaissance at the time of Borgias for a very different and far more adult version of the story.

Ultimately there is much to choose from with this story. A Disney version will hold the attention of the youngest of children, and the Brothers Grimm account will always be the classic everyone should read to understand what a great folk story is. As for the cinema, you clearly have choices. But despite the might of Hollywood in the 21st century, my favorite is Betty Boop with her light hearted pre-Disney version, complete with some mean Cab Calloway on the soundtrack!

A Clockwork Orange
50 Years on: 
Anthony Burgess, 
Prince Philip,
A Brain Tumor 
And Stanley Kubrick 
 
 

Anthony Burgess’s satirical dystopian classic, "A Clockwork Orange," turns 50 this year. It is a novel that has garnered a variety of reactions; initially regarded as a "nasty little shocker," it was ultimately ranked as one of Modern Library's greatest English-language novels of the twentieth century. Burgess himself felt cursed by the book, especially after Stanley Kubrick’s film catapulted it to a level of fame and notoriety that eclipsed all of his other achievements. Burgess wryly commented that when he died, newspaper headlines would read “Clockwork Orange Man Dies.” He was not far wrong.

If Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (The Queen of England’s husband and consort) had not chosen to speak to Burgess’s first wife, Lynne, on an official visit to the British protectorate of Brunei (where Burgess was teaching), it is quite conceivable that the novel would never have been written. According to Burgess, his wife said something obscene to The Duke of Edinburgh, to which he took offense. When Burgess later collapsed while teaching, he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Given 12 months to live, he was repatriated to England, where he furiously set about writing as many novels as possible to provide for his wife after his anticipated passing. He completed five, the final being “A Clockwork Orange.” However, after extensive tests back in London it became apparent that he was in fact not suffering from any illness at all. Burgess subsequently speculated that the original mis-diagnosis may have been intentional.

The story of “A Clockwork Orange” unfolds in three parts: Alex and his violent nighttime sprees culminating in murder; Alex’s betrayal, incarceration and ‘treatment;’ and finally, Alex’s release. The novel is ultimately a satire on free will and morality, with a rather perverse take on high culture, which Burgess does not see as a reflection of higher morality - in Alex’s case it only intensifies the need to commit violence. Burgess also created a youth slang based on his knowledge of Russian - ‘nadsat’ - which has leant the novel a certain timelessness. While initial reactions to the book were mixed, it gained enough of a reputation for The Rolling Stones to have contemplated appearing in a filmed version in the 1960’s. However, it was the brilliant Stanley Kubrick who took the book and turned it into a phenomenon, much to Burgess’s chagrin. Kubrick had been given a copy of “A Clockwork Orange” by Terry Southern while working on his planned Napoleon film. When Napoleon fell through, Kubrick turned to the book and started work on what would become the most quickly produced feature of his later work. The resulting film was stylized, influential, and hugely controversial - and Burgess hated it.

"Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange…That's what it says on the posters! What am I supposed to think of that?''-- Anthony Burgess

Burgess was enlisted by the publicity-shy Kubrick to promote the film of the book, despite the fact that Burgess’s own script for the film had been rejected. Burgess described his association with the film as being one of the banes of his life - his book went from literary footnote to international fame overnight. Worse still, Kubrick adapted the American, edited version of the novel (the 21st chapter was cut), which Burgess also deplored. By sleight of hand, Kubrick somehow put Burgess on the road to defend the controversy of his interpretation while he stayed at home back in England.

Burgess later wrote of his book, “It became known as the raw material for a film which seemed to glorify sex and violence. The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me till I die.” So as a mark of respect to this brilliant author, it might serve us all well to re-appraise Burgess’s book on its fiftieth anniversary, and attempt to put Kubrick’s film to one side while we do it.

Oscar Wilde: 
Irishman, 
Wit,
Literary Genius 
And Martyr
 
 

"Somehow or other I'll be famous, and if not famous, I'll be notorious." - Oscar Wilde

This week, in recognition of St. Patrick’s Day at Thrift Books, we are celebrating Irish literature, and the writer we have chosen is the poet, playwright, novelist and legendary wit, Mr. Oscar Wilde. Wilde’s biography is fairly well known - his aestheticism, his flamboyance and razor sharp wit, his genius as a dramatist, and his fall at the height of his fame.The book that has become the standard text on Wilde is Richard Ellmann’s magnificent volume, “Oscar Wilde,” which captures all the complexity of the man - his legendary wit and charm as well as the exuberance which ultimately led to his downfall. The book is a masterpiece in its own right, and also provided the basis for the film Wilde.

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful." - "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

Wilde’s only novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," is a wonderfully dark tale of a beautiful innocent - Gray - who is befriended by and has his portrait painted by Basil Hallward. Hallward’s friendship leads to Grays introduction to Basil’s friend Lord Henry Wotton. Wotton opens Gray’s eyes to a secret debauched hedonistic life where he can exploit his beauty and corrupt others as his morality slips into the abyss. Gray retains his beautiful, youthful appearance and his societal status as an upstanding gentleman, but the portrait by Hallward reveals the physical corruption and depravity that has consumed Gray. The novel is eminently quotable and tells a tale which maybe reveals more of Wilde’s own psychology.

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!" - "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Wilde’s wit was never sharper than when in the service of his theatrical comedies, including “An Ideal Husband” and "The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.” The artifice of the plots and brilliance of the language serve to satirize Victorian society and its social conventions and obligations. Wilde’s flourishes, especially in “Earnest,” serve to show both his rapier-like wit and his mocking view of London society: "I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square."

Ironically, the society that Wilde satirized turned on him at the peak of his success with “The Importance of Being Earnest.” The Marquis of Queensberry sought to disrupt the play’s opening night, which marked the beginning of a dispute with Wilde over his relationship with Queensberry’s son, Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde was unwisely advised to sue Queensberry for libel after he publicly accusing Wilde of homosexuality (which at that time was a crime). Queensberry brought forth witnesses and Wilde withdrew his suit, but Queensberry turned his evidence over to Scotland Yard. Wilde’s prosecution, bankruptcy, imprisonment, exile and early death (at the age of 46) occurred in the five short years following the premier of “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

While Wilde’s last years were beset by ill health and poverty, his wit never deserted him. Even in his last weeks he quipped, "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go." Wilde’s legacy, including his writing, his life and his martyrdom, burns more brightly than ever more than a century after his death. So This St. Patrick’s Day, raise a glass to the brilliant writer and great Irishman, Oscar Wilde.

Cyrano de Bergerac: 
Of Birth, Myth   
Plagiarism, Panache 
And 
Steve Martin

March 6th is the birthday of Hercule-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac- a French dramatist and duelist- whose work you have probably never read or even heard of- “The States and Empires of the Moon” anybody? A romantic science fiction novel featuring four-legged moon creatures and guns that not only shoot but also cook wild-fowl? Ringing no bells? Not entirely surprising. Cyrano de Bergerac’s best known work is in fact his life as told by other writers, most especially the poet Edmond Rostand whose play, “Cyrano de Bergerac” is much celebrated and still performed.

“Cyrano de Bergerac” is a wonderful and affecting play, telling the tale Cyrano’s love for the beautiful Roxanne, his insecurity because of his appearance and his courtship on behalf of the slow-witted Christian who has captured Roxane’s heart through Cyrano’s words.

In writing the play Rostand was nothing if not meticulous, his research extended to individuals who appear even fleetingly in the play- if he says they were there you know they were there. However, when it comes to the details of what really happened in Cyrano’s life, we head into the kingdom of another fictional creation with an ample proboscis; "Pinocchio”.

Christian and Roxane were real enough they were Baron Christian of Neuvillette and Catherine de Cyrano – Cyrano’s cousin. However, their romance, Cyrano’s part in it, Christian’s death and the rest… well that was totally made up. Where would such a plot come from? You might well ask. A US District Court Judge provided the answer in deciding that Rostand was a plagiarist and that he had stolen the plot from a largely unknown privately published volume; "The Merchant Prince of Cornville". The author, Samuel Gross, was a Chicago property developer and his other literary works were... well there were none. Despite Rostand’s denial – he claimed unsurprisingly that he had never heard of it- the judge ruled that Cyrano should be banned from production in the USA in perpetuity. Mercifully this was overturned 15 years later. And so the play – that gave the English speaking world the word, ‘panache’ was restored to the stage, and ultimately the screen in the America.

So, happy birthday Cyrano de Bergerac- a duelist with a large nose, who may have been mortally injured by a falling beam and who did write science fiction that was read by Moliere and Edgar Allen Poe. Your life may have been brief- dead at 36- but the fictionalized version of it has inspired and amused generations, in the countless stage performances and the cinematic versions of the Oscar winning Jose Ferrer or the great Gerard Depardieu or in Steve Martin’s inspired adaptation as C.D. Bales. That is quite a lot to inspire and not too many people can say that of their life.