tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786565.post8339272104065034614..comments2023-12-17T16:13:06.670-05:00Comments on In a Godward direction: With You Anon.Tobias Stanislas Haller BSGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047429477181560685noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786565.post-68451135277345368632011-11-10T18:48:02.669-05:002011-11-10T18:48:02.669-05:00Tobias, unfortunately my paper is long gone. My p...Tobias, unfortunately my paper is long gone. My professor did not want me to write on the subject, and I had a job to convince her to let me go ahead. I believe she thought the paper would be unserious, but I did my research, and I made an A. I showed her.June Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01723016934182800437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786565.post-3523879001937476092011-11-10T18:39:28.128-05:002011-11-10T18:39:28.128-05:00When I was in the RSC production of the revival of...When I was in the RSC production of the revival of Sherlock Holmes, the actor who understudied the lead and I became friends. (He it is who was working on Finnegans Wake, from the other post!) He was also writing a fascinating book on the Holmes stories based on Doyle's Roman Catholic Background and interest in the occult. His thesis, which bears up very well, is that Doyle -- in part for his own amusement, not unlike Hirschrield with his "Nina"s -- concealed all sorts of interesting references to liturgy and the church calendar, and Celtic mythology, into the Holmes stories. I contributed an appendix to the book, which is now in the collection of the Baker Street Irregulars. ("The Second Shelf" by Patrick Horgan). My topic was a liturgical analysis of "The Norwood Builder" as a parody of the liturgy of the Great Vigil of Easter. Great fun, and ever so much more interesting than the SHerlockian silliness! Dig our your paper and I'll try to find mine!Tobias Stanislas Haller BSGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08047429477181560685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786565.post-21191438665737617642011-11-09T21:39:15.875-05:002011-11-09T21:39:15.875-05:00...And don't get me started on the Sherlockian...<i>...And don't get me started on the Sherlockians who hold that Holmes was real....</i><br /><br />I wrote a term paper on that very subject when I was a freshman in college...not taking the side that Holmes was a real person. :-)June Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01723016934182800437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786565.post-15794947513882795032011-11-05T13:14:28.262-05:002011-11-05T13:14:28.262-05:00You are welcome, Susan and Fr J-J. Had the author ...You are welcome, Susan and Fr J-J. Had the author presented this as a work of palpable fiction, like "Inglorious Basterds" and had more fun with it, it might have been more entertaining. The problem with Anon., and as you point out, the Dan Brown work, is the terrible earnestness.<br /><br />I really quite enjoy imaginative alternative historical fiction: as in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon (relatively recent history) or his Baroque Cycle -- but precisely because he warns up front that this is not to be taken seriously, he is then free to have Macarthur or Newton or Samuel Pepys do all sorts of things and have adventures as fictional as those of Sherlock Holmes.<br /><br />And don't get me started on the Sherlockians who hold that Holmes was real and Doyle an unscrupulous literary agent who purloined the good Dr Watson's histories!Tobias Stanislas Haller BSGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08047429477181560685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786565.post-25718667084603912552011-11-05T12:44:33.243-05:002011-11-05T12:44:33.243-05:00Thanks, Tobias. I haven't gone because I doubt...Thanks, Tobias. I haven't gone because I doubted that I could stand to keep my teeth clenched for two hours and ten minutes!<br /><br />It is just so tiresome to see that mere fluffy novelty and the ficto-factism of Anonymous and Dan-Brownism makes for popular and money-making writing (or theater, or painting, or whatever).<br /><br />And I am also always amazed that these very films often treat us to some of the best set dressing (and CGI scenery) in the business—but then, I suppose they have bigger budgets (and are expected to bring in a lot more).John-Julian, OJNnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786565.post-18963141356859625522011-11-04T20:06:09.141-05:002011-11-04T20:06:09.141-05:00Thanks for this, Tobias. Whenever someone restates...Thanks for this, Tobias. Whenever someone restates that fiction that WS didn't, nay, couldn't have written the plays, I am reminded of my friend Alan Nelson, a retired UCB Early English Lit professor, who has always maintained that indeed WS could and did write the plays. He was on KQED radio about 8 years ago when there was a revival of the whole Earl of Oxford myth. The pro-EofO man argued that of course it was true because certain "tenured" professors had said so! Alan, said that that was balderdash, because once you got tenure you could say any stupid thing you wanted, without fear of reprisal!<br />I was leery of going to the movie, and I won't see it until it shows up on Hulu.com. It probably never will, but I won't worry.susan s.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03679099677585214433noreply@blogger.com