(MDMD Le Quatrieme Chapitre) Mad Dogs and Englishmen

[John Bailey]

St-Foux: anyone come up with something from the name? Closest I can think of 
is Fou, ie mad or fool? And the ‘x’ denoting a plural?
Now, St-Foux is (or at least wears the accoutrements of) a member of The 
Order of the Holy Ghost: an order “whose incalculable services have been 
recognized by every historian of medicine.” See-
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07415a.htm

But that seems sort of strange, doesn’t it? I mean, not being a scholar of 
the history of religion by any means, St-Foux certainly doesn’t seem to be a 
medical man, or even a religious warrior, a hospitaller, a crusader. 
Speaking for his country, he isn’t at war with the sciences, and that’s fair 
enough from a Catholic Holy Ghoster. But he does start the fight, doesn’t 
he? And continues it for over an hour. I’m of the opinion that the whole 
“France is not at war with the sciences” and the ensuing scene back in 
France may not be totally true, or at least may be heavily influenced by 
Cherrycoke’s imaginative retelling of the story (and of course, though he 
couldn’t have been there when the French ship arrived home, at least not in 
the usual way…I’m still caught on that unusual way. There some dreaming, 
astral travel-type stuff not too far ahead, which might be relevant. And 
then of course there’s the entire pomo truth-in-the-telling thing which is 
being played around with here.)

Well I might just end the parentheticalisation of that line (of thought) as 
it’s getting right into what I want to explore further, so I won’t sidenote 
it like that. I’m wondering if this chapter isn’t really getting into the 
problems of communication: some foax have already started discussing the 
treatment of Bongo as stereotype, of Smith as a top-down communicator etc.

A few things to add:

The chapter begins with a lie, of sorts: We are given a sublime truth 
(Cherrycoke’s remembrance of the Seahorse battle) and then shown how it is 
refigured for the sensibilities of his audience.
THEN we are given a brief description of an Uncle who can be considered as 
“a collection of family stories”, and whose status as an arms dealer must 
not be questioned for reasons of civility.
THEN we get the exchange between Captain Smith and the astronomers (& the 
Royal Soc. & Navy come in there too) which revolves around a big 
misunderstanding caused by several letters.
THEN we get the flashback, in which Capt. Smith finds himself told ‘not to 
fuck up’ (and I think this kind of speech would come as a surprise to him, 
just as it comes as a surprise to us)
THEN we get Unchleigh and Bongo, both of whom are similarly addressed by a 
Captain who just doesn’t speak their language.
THEN, and most importantly, during the seabattle the two Captains 
communicate through their telescopes (“plainly visible thro’ the Glass”) – 
anyone familiar with how this was done? Semaphore? Frantic waving? Anyways, 
the way I see it, it’s terribly important that this exchange begins with

‘What conversation may have passed between the Post-Captain and the 
Commandant?”

What follows may have occurred. It may not. If so, it is a communication at 
a distance, through a glass, between English and French men. And what we get 
is an English interpretation of what the French man may have tried to 
communicate. Hardly reliable is it. How does one “signal” with an accent? 
“You are leetluh meennow…” Indeed.
Also, the Holy Ghost linked speaking in tongues? A Paraclete? The 
possibility of a message which transcends a medium? We’ve pretty well 
established that this is a major theme throughout P’s books (respeck 
Terrance).


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