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)

Thoughts on Footnote 2, Translator's Note and Forward (page vi), Part 2

The Why of Hemingway

In my last post, I talked briefly about Hemingway's travels and books.  I forgot to mention his connection to Cuba (mentioned in S. as the last place V. M. Straka was seen alive).

In 1939, Hemingway took his boat to Cuba, staying at the Hotel Ambos Mundos.  From the accounts I can find on the internet, Cuba became his winter home in the 1940's and 1950's.  Hemingway stayed in Cuba for the last time in 1960 leaving manuscripts and art in a bank vault.

Politically, Hemingway leaned left, often supporting communist and socialist causes.  He covered the Spanish Civil War as a journalist, and while there finished the screenplay for the leftist propaganda film, The Spanish Earth, directed by Jori Ivens when the screenplay was abandoned by his friend John Dos Passos.  Hemingway supported Castro's overthrow of Batista.

I've mentioned John Dos Passos before; by chance he was one of the threads I picked up and followed.  Dos Passos was a friend and contemporary of Hemingway.  In later life, the friendship soured, perhaps in part by Dos Passos changing political views.  Originally left leaning, he went on to campaign for Richard Nixon in his presidential bid.

Dos Passos and Hemingway met in Italy around the time that Hemingway helped with the munitions plant disaster near Milan. Dos Passos, as part of a larger group of writers (Theodore Dreiser, Lester Cohen, Charles R. Walker, Adelaide Walker, Jessie Wakefield, Sherwood Anderson, Anna Rochester, Arnold Johnson, Bruce Crawford, and Boris Israel), went on to cover the Harlan County War, a movement by miners fighting to unionize that became a bloody struggle.  Originally supporting the left in the Spanish Civil War, Dos Passos left Spain after the execution of his friend, the activist Jose Robles. The tactics used by the Stalinists in Spain appear to have completely disillusioned Dos Passos to the communist and socialist movements of the early 20th century.

Dos Passos died in relative obscurity in 1970, but his U.S.A trilogy is considered by some to his greatest work of fiction.  The trilogy comprises of the novels:

• The 42nd Parallel (1930)
• 1919 (1932)
• The Big Money (1936)

Of note is Dos Passos' use of newsreel excerpts, newspaper headlines and short clippings in his trilogy.  Not unlike the footnotes and extras found between the pages of S..  And of course, the number 19 figures prominently in the second title of the trilogy; we all should know by now how important that number is.

So is Straka and his circle in part a meditation on the Lost Generation?  I think it is highly plausible.  Many of the Lost Generation writers were left leaning.  The writing of the period is defined by a sense of futility and disillusionment with the world.  The relationships between the Lost Generation writers were complex and mutable.

But this is the wonder of S.:  wagtails and rabbit holes, references that are found on the internet and literary works, threads and spider webs.  When Doug Dorst posted the fictional review of The Ship of Theseus, an ad for Rose & Blatt publishing caught my eye.  Louise Rosenblatt is known for her transactional theory of literature; that meaning is not found within literature, but found within our interaction with it. No two people will have the same interaction with any given text as their interaction will be defined by the scope and breadth of their personal experiences.  A concept not unlike the concept "parallax view" discussed in the blog The Monkey Dance.  I can't think of a better explanation for S.; it is what you want it to be.  It can be enjoyed simply as a work of fiction, or you change the very nature of the book by exploring all of the avenues hidden within.  We are given the ability to make that choice, and perhaps in this, lies the whole point.

(edited 7/31/14 for grammar and tags added)