Digging Deeper into S.: Part 1 - Karstian Strategies

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players.

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.

Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like a snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then, a soldier,

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then, the justice,

In fair round belly, with a good capon lined,

With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws, and modern instances,

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

-William Shakespeare, As You Like It

I'm intending this to be the first in a series of blog posts.  I know my blog has been a pretty random collection of ideas, insights, and research that might be a little intimidating for newcomers who are ready to explore further.  My intent is to keep this mostly spoiler-free in that the conclusions made here have already been discussed either on this blog or elsewhere on the internet.  My hope is that this series can provide a framework that you, the reader can use as a jumping off point to delve into deeper mysteries.

1. There are many layers in S.  The book itself gives us clues to this conclusion.

• Caldeira tells us that Straka dreams in the archaeological strata of history
• Karst & Son, the defunct publishing house of previous Straka novels, is also a reference to geological formations comprised of layers of bedrock and erosion. 
• Throughout the course of the book, several characters are defenestrated.  Defenestration is a favorite technique that Bouchard uses to deal with his enemies, but it is also a metaphor for falling through layers.  In order to reach the ground, one must fall through stories.  
• Filomela herself encourages Jen and Eric to be happy and falling. 
• The book S. is comprised of layers.  The text, the footnotes, the inserts, and the marginal notes between Jen and Eric all add layers to the whole. 
• As Mystimus points out, the target used in archery is a series of layered concentric circles. 

2.  There have been things found in the layers using the clues given to us, as readers. 

• JJ Abrams found The Cry of the Halidon in an airport and it sparked the concept for S.  It's no coincidence then, that the first appearance of S_. with his amnesia bears a striking resemblance to that of the fictional character, Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity.  
• And imagine my surprise when I discovered that some of the locations of the wine vintages identified as part of Vevoda's cellar can also be found in Ludlum's books.  
• The Scarlatti Inheritance, another Ludlum book, contains an incident where a briefcase is stolen from Grand Central Station.  The person who placed it in the locker is subsequently poisoned with a doctored cocktail by an unidentified gentleman. 
• Hemingway also had a valise full of his writings lost or stolen at a train station in France. 
• There seem to be other books layered into S.  I'm pretty confident that I've found a few.  I'm just as confident that my fellow blogger of all thing related to Straka, Mystimus, has found some, too.
• And there appears to be a layer of hidden narratives that correspond to real places and historical events which I talk about here.

Consider then how layers work in literature, history, and places.  Cities are often built on the rubble of older cities; layers in soil can be used an indicator of age, as can fossils.  History is not the chronological progression of unrelated events, but a chain of causality.  Literature doesn't exist in a vacuum; T.S. Eliot borrowed freely from earlier works for his masterpiece, The Waste Land, and I've read of another author who used excerpts from about 50 texts for one passage of one novel. 

Why is it important that S. seems to be a book built on layers? What exactly do those layers comprise of?  Are the characters found within the novel themselves composites; made up of layers of other real and fictional persons?  

These are some of things I've thought about.  Perhaps you will want to think about these things, too.  Also be aware that I've not discussed everything I know or think that I know. Whatever happens, don't be afraid to ask questions, to look for connections and to seek the unknown.  Who knows, you may find something I've missed.  I wish you good fortune and the fairest of winds in your explorations.  Happy sailing! 

Monkey's Marginalia No 16

In which Lewis, perhaps, begins to Looper back around....

1. The Three Richard Whalens

I was able to locate Agnes M. Reeve from one of the classified ads I transcribed.
The transcribed ad:

THE OLDEST WRITERS' SERVICE
Literary Agent, established 35 years. Manuscripts criticized, revised, typed, marketed. Special attention to Book manuscripts. Poetry. Catalogue on request.
AGNES M. REEVE,
Dept. B. Franklin, O.

She really was a literary agent out of Franklin, Ohio, but with her husband, James Knapp Reeve.  Asking the google, it turns out he was an author of a few fiction and non-fiction books, including the book, The Three Richard Whalens.

The connections continue uninterrupted to an author named Richard F. Whalen who wrote a book in the 1990s about the Shakespeare authorship question.


2.  Louise Rosenblatt
Readers may remember that I had found Rosenblatt through another ad in the McKay's Magazine review.  Rosenblatt is best known for her transactional theory of literature.  It occurred to me today in a rare flash of insight that it doesn't just apply to us, as readers of S.  It also applies to the history of literature and the ongoing discussion/distillation surrounding different works that can continue long after their initial publication.

3.  The Quincunx with a Maltese falcon thrown in for good measure.  Mix well.

• Thomas Edison is reputed to have a tattoo of a quincunx on his forearm.  
• I found a repeating quincunx pattern at the original memorial to Gavrilo Princip.  Unfortunately, the memorial no longer exists, but a picture from the 1980s clearly shows the pattern. It's the third picture down from the top in the blog post.  In case you need further proof, this site shows a picture of the start of the pattern from the front.  Again, you will need to scroll down to view. 
• The book Ill Met by Moonlight by W. Stanley Moss mentions a few books that Moss had with him. In his possession he had something written by Sir Thomas Browne.  Browne was a polymath from the 17th century and one of his known works is The Garden of Cyrus, or the Quincunciall Lozenge.  According to wikipedia, its pretty dense stuff and deals with a number of topics relating to the number five, including hermeticism.  I took a look at it, and just from the bit of latin that he quotes untranslated, I'm sure this book is not for the faint of heart, even if it so happens that there are five of you. He did, however, write a few other tomes which may be more accessible to readers who may find themselves with a lingering curiosity over Sir Browne.   
• The term MacGuffin was popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, but it has existed as a plot device for much longer.  The Maltese Falcon, is notable for its use of the titular falcon as a MacGuffin.  In relation to S.,  perhaps just as significant is Sam Spade's investigation of the death of his partner, Miles Archer.  The falcon's initial importance is emphasized by this text from the opening of the film: 

In 1539 the Knight Templars of Malta, paid tribute to Charles V of Spain, by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels—but pirates seized the galley carrying this priceless token and the fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a mystery to this day —

• Falcons do have a very real association with the island of Malta.  The Knights of Malta are a religious order with a long history.  They were also known as the Knights Hospitaller, the Hospitallers, Order of Hospitallers, Knights of Saint John and Order of Saint John.  Established during the Crusades, the modern day continuation of the order is found in Rome as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. During their history, they did have an established presence in Malta by paying tribute to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.  The tribute was a single falcon presented to the emperor's representative in Siciliy annually on All Saints day.  
• Another interesting component of the religious order is one of their religious symbols, the Maltese cross. The four arms of the cross are v-shaped with two points on each arm, making for a total of eight points on the cross.  I do wonder if the cross could be a kind of "double quincunx."  Instead of side by side, simply superimpose one quincunx over the other and rotate slightly.  One of the possible patterns would look very much like the Maltese cross. 

(8/21/14 edit for grammar)

Hidden Narratives

This is my drawing of something I found following the clues given in the McKay's review.  You've probably come to the conclusion that it bears a resemblance to the book cover of S.  I will tell you that it can be found at one of the locales discussed in the book or by the blogs and that it exists in the real world.  It is a real object and it can be found in a public space.  And you will know what it is once you find it, but you must know where to look.

(edit #2, 8/13/14, I will note that I used tracing paper to draw the symbol since doing it freehand would have taken me a lot longer.  The symbol above is a fairly accurate representation of the symbol found on the object, but I didn't include the shape of the object itself to obscure its origins further.  I will reiterate that I found it through the Mckay's Magazine review and that it points to a real historical figure.  Research the person and it shouldn't be long before you make the right connections.)

edit:  If you want to discuss, please email me at rabbitholes19@gmail.com.  Any comments with spoilers will be deleted as I don't want to ruin the mystery for those who would prefer to seek out the truth on their own.

The Valise, Rearranged; or More Fun and Games with Anagrams

The valise threads prominently about the narrative of S. as though it is a character itself.  It occurred that perhaps the valise rearranged present some new threads to follow.  But the word "valise" presents a challenge as it doesn't easily rearrange itself to obvious alternatives.  As I was working on this post, I wondered if it could also be a reference to Philip K. Dick (do a little research and you should be able to find the connection on your own, it won't be difficult).
In any case, valise does rearrange to "savile" which is the name of a street in London, Savile Row and the Savile Club, a gentlemen's club, also of London, founded in 1856.   Wikipedia helpfully included a list of notable members.  A few of those members I have discussed in prior blog posts. This list here is not complete, so I strongly urge you to explore the list at wikipedia.

• Remember C.P. Snow?  He is the author of The Light and the Dark, which was the closest I've come to a reference ad for the McKay's Magazine review that included the ad for The Light by Stefan Tate.  Snow was also a member of the Inklings, the literary club of C. S. Lewis and his circle. 
  

• A large number of notable composers.
• Leo Abse
• William Alwyn
• Richard Arnell
• Malcolm Arnold
• Arthur Benjamin
• Edward Elgar, well known for his Enigma Variations 

• J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan and The Little White Bird.
• Max Beerbohm, known for his parodies and caricatures.  One of his better known works is Zuleika Dobson. 
• Humphrey Berkley, politician and reformer.  Also known for sending out several prank letters to high ranking members of society. 
• Sidney Bernstein, media baron, known for founding Granada TV. 
• Malcolm Bradbury, historian and author. 
• John Browne, former chief executive of BP Oil. 
• Charlie Chaplin was an honorary member, briefly. 
• Erskine Childers, author of what is considered the first spy novel, The Riddle of the Sands. 
• Sidney Colvin, art and literary critic.  He was close friends with Edward Fitzgerald, translator of The Rubayat of Omar Khayyam. 
• Mandell Creighton, historian and married to suffragette, Louise Creighton. 
• Bernard Crick, political theorist, who created the Orwell Lecture Series and later, the Orwell Prize.  His first wife Joyce Crick, was the translator for Thomas Mann and Sigmund Freud. 
• Valentine Dyall, character actor.  In a parody on BBC radio, he played "the man in gray" due to an unfortunate incident at a cut rate dry cleaner. 
• John Le Carre, spy novelist.
• H. G. Wells, science fiction author.
• W. B. Yeats, poet. 

Straka Obituary Transcription from Jen Heyward's Tumblr Blog

V. M. Straka
The writer V. M. Straka died last Wednesday in Havana Cuba according to authorities.  A prolific and controversial novelist, he published eighteen novels, most notably Miracle at Braxenholm (1911), The Santana March (1922), and Wineblood's Mine (1939), and most infamously Washington & Greene, which was banned in the United States and the United Kingdom shortly after publication in 1929 because of its seditious themes and its slanderous attacks on public figures.

It is almost universally agreed that "V. M. Straka" was a pseudonym, and no verifiable facts about the writer's life have ever come to light.  (Theories about his identity have abounded for decades.  Just last month, the biographer of the late Canadian adventurer C. F. J. Wallingford claimed that his subject led a double life as the gadfly novelist.)  Straka shunned all contact with the public; he gave no interviews or lectures, and appears to have had no friendships or even contact with others in his profession.  His longtime publisher, Karst & Son, has never provided any biographical details.

Most critics believe that Straka's best-known books were successful more their leftist outrages than for their literary quality.  Proof of this can be found in his final two books - the impenetrable Coriolis and the saccharine Winged Shoes of Emido[sic]Alves in which the writer largely dispensed with his dogmatic political stances and attempted to win readers with more conventionally pleasing themes.  Both with ignominious failures, critically and comercially[sic], and it was well understood that Straka's most successful and most interesting years were behind him.

Police in Havana say Straka was the victim of a violent attack in the hotel room in which he was staying.  Fittingly, he had registered there under a pseudonym.

It is, of course, impossible to discuss what sort of man Straka was without knowing which man Straka was.  Still, a writer's work is a likely indicator of his temperament and tendencies; in Straka's case, one might reasonably conclude that he was a thoroughly disagreeable, socially inept, inconsiderate of anyone's needs but his own, strident in his poorly-informed opinions, and given to unhealthy habits and associations - in short, the sort of man whose demise will grieve only the handful of readers who remain interested in consuming his stories - not anyone whose life had in any way intersected with his.

It is unknown whether Straka left a family or a literary executor.  Karst & Son has issued any comments on the death.

(photo of obit can be found here.)

Monkey's Marginalia No 15

1.  Unpopular Ford models & the McKay's review

Edsel B. Grimshaw is a direct reference to 3 (or 4) unpopular Ford Models.

• Ford Edsel-models falling under the Edsel marque (1958-1960)
• Ford Model B (1904-1906, 1932-34)
• Ford Pinto (1971-1980) The reference to the Pinto comes from Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co.

The Ford Motor Co. was obviously established by Henry Ford, who used the assembly lines and fair wages for his own employees to make the automobile affordable for the middle class.  He also used most of his vast personal wealth to create the Ford Foundation.  As with several historical figures, sometimes their works are a mixed bag; Ford was also known for his anti-union activities, and as the author of some anti-semitic pamphlets. 

Also of note is the Mercury(!) brand or marque sold under the Ford Motor Co. umbrella.  The Pinto was sold as the rebadged Mercury Bobcat in Canada and the U.S. 

2.  Possible design for the obsidian pieces? 

3.  Arquimedes des Sobreiro is a corkscrew...

The Greek Archimedes invented a form of water pump called the Archimedes screw.  Sobreiro means cork tree.   Playing around with the words a little, I got corkscrew and water tree (a plant found in Australia). 

4.  The first two words (not titles) of the last 4 sections of the book rearrange to say "there is a man shrouded in the territory."