Jenkins' Ear--The Book

[Steve Maas]

Some time ago I said I'd discuss _Jenkins' Ear: A Narrative Attributed to 
Horace Walpole, Esq._ (Odell Shepard & Willard Shepard, The Macmillan 
Company, New York, 1951).  When M&D approaching its end, I guess it's time 
to fish or cut bait.  I serendipitously stumbled upon the book in a 
fifty-cent bin in 1998 during the first M&D discussion, and finally got 
around to reading it earlier this year.  The book is entertaining in and of 
itself; though I wouldn't call it a "must read," I would go so far as to say 
I might read it again.

Following are excerpts from a review of the book by Clifton Fadiman: "Yes, 
much of _Jenkins' Ear_ is founded on beautifully researched history.  But 
some of it--and this the most entrancing part of an entrancing book--is the 
purest fiction." [...] "Among the many admirable qualities of _Jenkins' Ear_ 
is its miraculous adherence to the tone and style of the eighteenth century, 
at times almost to the point of gentle parody." [...] "Indeed, it is not too 
much to say that if one wishes an introduction, at once delightful and 
sound, to the heart of the English eighteenth century, one can do worse than 
open the pages of this narrative."

The year is 1755, the setting a week at Strawberry Castle, Horace Walpole's 
faux-Gothic estate outside of London.  Walpole’s guests include several of 
his friends, including the actress Kitty Clive, and four members of the 
(fictitious) Club of Jenkins' Ear, formed to ensure that the destitute Capt. 
Jenkins is kept in drink the rest of his life.  Some, at least, of the Club 
members are also based on actual historical figures (e.g., John Byron, 
father of the poet).

Walpole's other guest is the mysterious Reverend Mr. Blandison, who may or 
may not be, but probably is, Bonnie Prince Charlie himself.  (In 1755, 
England was expecting an invasion from France in yet another attempt to 
restore the Stuarts, but the invasion never happened.  According to 
_Jenkins' Ear_, Blandison is convinced by his observations while staying at 
Strawberry Castle that England will not rise to support the effort, and thus 
calls off the invasion.)

_Jenkins’ Ear_ alternates between relating the interactions of these folks, 
and telling the tales of the members of the Club relating their adventures 
around the world during the late War.  One of these tales is Blandison's 
description of the '45 and its aftermath.  The book also includes a "Horn 
Fair" that migrates from London to Strawberry Castle with Blandison at its 
helm.

In _Jenkins' Ear_, as in M&D, the ear itself is a powerful talisman.  Club 
members return to the Rose Tavern, where Jenkins holds court with the Ear, 
"all eager to gaze for the first or the twentieth time at the magnetic Ear 
which once turned the course of their lives and still draws and holds them 
together.  The Ear is smooth and papery now, worn thin be thousands of 
fingers, and, as it were, refined by some vague awareness of its own fame.  
Lying there in the candlelight, it seems to shine with a faint lustre or 
inward glow.  […]  The sight of it sends each one of them back along paths 
of memory which he alone can travel."  The book ends with the Ear in 
Walpole's possession.  No mention of a museum.

_Jenkins' Ear_ includes Blandison’s description of a mural in the grimy old 
Rose Tavern at Temple Bar in London: "The most remarkable thing about that 
room was a huge mural painting, some twenty feet long [...].  It represented 
a field of chivalric battle near the sea, with a number of mounted knights 
in armour and richly emblazoned shields and a fallen knight on the ground 
with his hands upraised as though pleading for mercy.  The painting was dark 
with filth, and the light in the room was dim, yet we could make out that 
here was a relic, at least two centuries old [...]."  This description put 
me in mind of two examples in M&D of old paintings obscured by smoke and 
age: the mounted settler in Hottentot Land at the Cape “And there.  In the 
Shadows, all but painted over,--“ (150) and the "portrait of some Swedish 
Statesman too darken'd with Room-smoke for anyone to be sure who it is any 
more--" in America (272).

If I were a betting man, I'd give good odds that Pynchon read _Jenkins' Ear_ 
in preparation for M&D (although I can't identify a "smoking gun"). At any 
rate, a diligent researcher such as P. would certainly have been aware of 
the book.  Some may argue with my lack of reasoned argument; so be it.

Steve Maas

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