M&D - Chapter 18 - This Incompletely Recogniz'd man

[Johnny Marr]

Oh silly me, it's a card game first referred to in the OED in 1732

Can't link to wiki right now ...

On Thursday, March 26, 2015, Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:

> If Pope Joan is a parlour game then it might be a sexually adventurous one
> involving gender swapping - not one that any of the four characters seem
> instinctively suited to ...
>
> On Thursday, March 26, 2015, Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','marrja at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the addendum
>>
>> I've seen Top Girls and know who Pope Joan was meant to be, but I'm still
>> uncertain what her name signifies in the chapter, where 'Pope Joan'
>> seems casually inserted without further comment amidst a litany of gambling
>> terms.
>>
>> On Thursday, March 26, 2015, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Pope Joan: See wikipedia, a long article, a supposed Medieval
>>> Pope.....but here is the section on literary uses:
>>>
>>> In fiction[edit]
>>>
>>> Pope Joan has remained a popular subject for fictional works. Plays
>>> include Ludwig Achim von Arnim's Päpstin Johanna (1813), a fragment by
>>> Bertolt Brecht (in Werke. Bd. 10), and a monodrama, Pausin Johanna by
>>> Cees van der Pluijm (1996). Pope Joan also appears as a character in
>>> Caryl Churchill's 1982 play Top Girls.
>>>
>>> The Greek author Emmanuel Rhoides' 1866 novel The Papess Joanne was
>>> admired by Mark Twain and Alfred Jarry, and freely translated by
>>> Lawrence Durrell as The Curious History of Pope Joan (1954). The
>>> American Donna Woolfolk Cross's 1996 historical romance Pope Joan was
>>> recently made into a German musical as well as the movie described
>>> below. Other novels include Wilhelm Smets's Das Mährchen von der
>>> Päpstin Johanna auf's Neue erörtert (1829), Marjorie Bowen's Black
>>> Magic (1909), Ludwig Gorm's Päpstin Johanna (1912), and Yves Bichet's
>>> La Papesse Jeanne (2005).
>>>
>>> There have been two films based on the story of Pope Joan. Pope Joan
>>> (1972), directed by Michael Anderson, was titled The Devil's Imposter
>>> in the USA. In 2009 it was recut to include more of John Briley's
>>> original script and released as She... who would be Pope. In the same
>>> year another film with the title Pope Joan was released, this one a
>>> German, British, Italian and Spanish production directed by Sönke
>>> Wortmann and produced by Bernd Eichinger, based on Cross's novel.
>>>
>>>
>>> I actually read Durrell's 'free translation" which had wit and a dated
>>> subversiveness in my humble opinion.
>>>
>>> On Thu, Mar 26, 2015 at 12:02 AM, Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > Mason returns to the family bosom, to find his own sisters hostile and
>>> his
>>> > own sons indifferent to him - they barely recognise who he is. Mason
>>> buys
>>> > their peace, and their partial goodwill, with a pair of Toy Ships
>>> bought
>>> > last minute in Tenerife, affording him the opportunity to play with
>>> them
>>> > down by the Stream, "leaving the Women to discuss his character".
>>> >
>>> > William is now five years old, Doctor Isaac is three. William has
>>> taken the
>>> > role of the watchful elder brother, with Isaac "closer to agreeable
>>> > laughter". They're old enough to detect the differences in the Toy
>>> Boats to
>>> > the British ones they've seen in the flesh - they can spot the
>>> difference in
>>> > the rigging, the carvings and the number of Guns they carried. Mason
>>> seizes
>>> > upon this as an opportunity to tell an entertaining story of how the
>>> blue
>>> > Spanish ships, camouflaged against the sea, can sneak attack the French
>>> > boats - only for this sons to shrug out of range when he shapes to
>>> tickle
>>> > them at the end of the anecdote.
>>> >
>>> > Shocking news at the start of July, as Bradley dies after a short
>>> illness.
>>> > We learn that Susannah has predeceased him (five years earlier, it
>>> later
>>> > transpires), as Bradley is to be buried alongside her at
>>> Minchinhampton.
>>> >
>>> > This sudden news would be devestating to any close friend, and a man of
>>> > Mason feels particularly guilty because he senses that Bradley knew
>>> about
>>> > his prior relationship with Susannah and that he still found her
>>> "impossible
>>> > not to gaze at", yet never properly addressed the matter, even when he
>>> and
>>> > Susannah lived next door to and regularly socialised with Mason and
>>> Rebekah.
>>> > The card references continue as Mason recalls how the four of them
>>> played
>>> > plenty of "Cards upon Nights of Cloud or Storm", as well as Piquet and
>>> > various Parlour games (and a reference to the possibly apocryphal Pope
>>> Joan
>>> > that I can't quite contextualise at close to 3 in the morning ...)
>>> >
>>> > "Was he always fated for these terrible unending four-door Farces?
>>> They do
>>> > not always end luckily, as at the Cape, with ev'ryone's Blood
>>> unspill'd".
>>> > TRP will refer to four-door farces again in ATD - the classic farce
>>> set up
>>> > of people moving in and out through rooms and doors and narrowly
>>> missing one
>>> > another. In this situation, it reminds us that Mason is the only
>>> surivivor
>>> > of the foursome, and that he is happy to be back home, closer to his
>>> > children, thawing out the relationship with his Sisters and able to
>>> channel
>>> > Rebekah's spirit in a more manageable environment. His desire to travel
>>> > abroad for any length of time must now be severely diminished.
>>> >
>>> > Mason is embarassed when he turns up for Bradley's funeral only to be
>>> told
>>> > that "Bradley wish'd only the Family near. Any further word will be in
>>> the
>>> > newspapers". A harsh judgement for a close friend who wanted to pay his
>>> > respects - having been in demand by all of London's intellectual
>>> circles
>>> > just a few months before, Maso now finds himself as "Incompletely
>>> > Recogniz'd" by polite society as by his own progeny. He is back to the
>>> > position of the lone unappreciated maverick.
>>> > "some of us are Outlaws, and some Trespassers upon the very World.
>>> > Everywhere stand Monitors advising Mason, that he may not proceed. He
>>> is a
>>> > Warrior who has just lost his Lord".
>>>
>>
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