Sally Rooney: 'Normal People' (2018)

Sally Rooney, Normal People (London: Faber & Faber, 2018). Rooney's second novel is even better than her first. 

Again, no dialogic quotation marks. Again, simple character names: Marianne; Denise (Marianne's oddball mother); Alan (Marianne's violent, weirdo brother); Connell Waldron; Lorraine (Connell's mother); Rachel Moran; Eric; Rob; Helen; Gareth; Joanna; Colleen; Niall; Elaine; Peggy; Jamie; Lukas; Yvonne, and others. The most playful name in Normal People must surely be Sadie Darcy-O'Shea's.

The nature of Marianne and Connell's interconnecting relationships to themselves and others provides the main dynamic of the novel, which is again mostly, but not always, set in Ireland, particularly in Dublin and in County Sligo, with interludes "outside Trieste" (page 157) and in Sweden. 

Marianne and Connell: "as if they were acting out an argument in which both sides were equally compelling, and they had chosen their positions more or less at random, only in order to have the discussion out." (page 174)

There are many simple sentences that stick to mind. Such as: "The cherries glow dimly on the trees." (page 179)

There are plenty of arguments, varying in their intensity. 
Helen: "Why do you have to act so weird around her?"
Connell: "How I act with her is my normal personality . . . Maybe I'm just a weird person." (page 214)

Marianne responds to a Facebook feed in her mind: "What did these messages, these advertisements of loss, actually mean to anyone? What was the appropriate etiquette when they appeared on the timeline: to 'like' them supportively? To scroll past in search of something better?" (page 226) Indeed, what is the aim of social media on a daily basis, in the service of communicating with others?

And finally: "Who were you? she thinks, now that there's no one left to answer the question . . . Her mother and brother are at work all day and Marianne has nothing to do but sit in the garden watching insects wriggle through soil." (page 227)

But plenty of stuff does happen, well beyond watching insects. Rooney gets at it all quite well. 

Today's Rune: Signals.  

Sally Rooney: 'Conversations with Friends' (2017)

Finished Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends (London, New York: Hogarth, 2017; originally published by Faber & Faber, 2017) and Normal People (London: Faber & Faber, 2018) back-to-back. At the conclusion of the latter, my mind remained absorbed with it throughout the night. Both novels look closely at -- feel closely -- the intricate workings of social relationships.  

In Conversations with Friends, the main characters are Frances, Bobbi Connolly, Nick and Melissa. Other characters include Philip; Frances' divorced parents; Evelyn; Derek and Marianne. Much of the action takes place in Ireland, but not all of it. 

In the swirl of her intense relationships with Bobbi and Nick, Frances sometimes recoils. "I was a very autonomous and independent person," she tells herself, and her readers, "with an inner life that nobody else had ever touched or perceived." (page 275)

Sometimes Frances seems to be Waiting for Godot. "Gradually the waiting began to feel less like waiting and more like this was simply what life was: the distracting tasks undertaken while the thing you are waiting for continues not to happen . . . Things went on." (page 276)

Bobbi is sharp, "an active listener" (page 289) and engaged thinker/doer: "Who even gets married? said Bobbi. It's sinister [there are no quotation marks to delineate dialogue]. Who wants state apparatuses sustaining their relationship? (page 291) . . . Calling myself your girlfriend would be imposing some prefabricated cultural dynamic on us that's outside our control. You know?" (page 292). 

Exactly! Who, indeed? Rooney makes her writing seem simple, and maybe it is. But as in war, in writing even the simplest things are complex (see Marie and Carl von Clausewitz).

Today's Rune: Journey. 

Raoul Peck: 'The Young Karl Marx' (2017)

Raoul Peck's The Young Karl Marx (2017) spotlights the intellectual rise of Karl Marx and "Fred" Engels in the 1840s. It's a fun, interesting film, perfect for lively and intelligent audiences.

For a brief review of I Am Not Your Negro, Peck's powerful 2016 documentary about James Baldwin, here's a link.

Main characters in The Young Karl Marx include Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Jenny von Westphalen, Mary Burns, Lizzy Burns, Helen "Lenchen" Demeth, Pierre Proudhon and Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin (the anarchists), Wilhelm Weitling, et alia. The actors are uniformly excellent. The international aspects of the film make clear the cosmopolitan nature and universalist appeal of Marx and Engels' ideas. 

"Mary from Tipperary:" her parents emigrated from Tipperary, Ireland, to Manchester (where Mary was born), for work. She becomes Engels' main paramour.

"Happiness requires rebellion." - Jenny Marx.

"Everything is subject to change. Nothing lasts." - Karl Marx.

"All social relations -- slavery, serfdom, salaried work -- are historical and transient. The truth is, current conditions must change." 

"Do we not have all history before us?" -- Pierre Proudhon. 

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune. 

Yann Demange: ''71' (2014)

Yann Demange's second film, White Boy Rick, is set in Detroit in the 1980s. In advance of checking it out, I had the opportunity to see his first film, '71, which is set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during The Troubles.

Starring Jack O'Connell as British soldier Gary Hook, '71 is harrowing and absorbing, with an on-the-ground feel. Riot scenes in the Catholic sector are particularly exciting, followed by various chase scenes. 

The extra winning aspect is that one might be inspired by the film to learn a little more about British and Irish history. 

Sectarian fighting occurs just about everywhere, to varying degrees. 

Though Northern Ireland is no longer embroiled in The Troubles, trouble has, since the turn of the latest century, found plenty of other homes to wreak havoc in. 

In '71, Demange keeps one on edge, as befits the theme. His visceral, sometimes frenetic style feels somewhat akin to that of Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club, Sharp Objects), Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You), Sean Baker (The Florida Project), Jordan Peele (Get Out), Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) and others.

Notate bene: 

David Bowie gets a mention in '71 -- and in Spike Lee's latest film, BlacKkKlansman (2018), too. 

Did you ever wonder what the anagrams in Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK" (1976) stand for? All but the first tie directly into "The Troubles."

"Is this the MPLA
Or is this the UDA
Or is this the IRA
I thought it was the U.K.
Or just another country
Another council tenancy"

MPLA = Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola
UDA =  Ulster Defence Association
IRA = Irish Republican Army
UK = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 
Council tenancy = public housing unit

Today's Rune: Partnership. 

John Gibney's 'A Short History of Ireland, 1500-2000' (2017)

John Gibney's A Short History of Ireland, 1500-2000 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017) provides an overview of modern Irish history and concludes each chapter with a "Where Historians Disagree" section.

After reading this and Thomas Bartlett's Ireland: A History (Cambridge University Press, 2010), one thing's clear: the state of affairs in Ireland at the beginning of the 21st century would seem to be far preferable to those of the 1500s and 1600s.  

Anyone who's delved into Irish history will probably know something of the horrors of Oliver Cromwell's activities in the 1600s, but the preceding Elizabethan period was also quite devastating to the Irish people, lands and ecology. Let's dive in, shall we?

In the 1500s, "Ireland offered scope for the unscrupulous to enrich themselves in ways that undermined any claim by the [English] authorities to be acting as honest and impartial brokers . . ." (page 27)

There was "a rise in the levels of violence employed by the Tudor state . . . increasing use of martial law from the 1550s onward . . . In July 1575 the earl of Essex . . . had six hundred men, women, and children killed on Rathlin Island, the stronghold of the MacDonnells, under a commission of martial law. This was gradually extended across Ireland as the reign of Elizabeth wore on . . . summary execution became a widespread practice, and decapitated heads became a common feature of conflict, whether as trophies of war or grisly receipts for rewards."  (page 27)

And pity anyone who found themselves shipwrecked. "[T]housands of survivors of the Spanish Armada were executed in 1588 by [order of Sir Richard] Bingham on the coasts of Galway, Mayo, and Sligo . . ." (pages 27-28)     

"[I]n June 1602 [Charles Blount] Mountjoy embarked on a scorched-earth campaign whose systematic nature and sheer scale marked it out as distinctive . . . livestock, crops, buildings, and people were simply eradicated across the north of the island." (pages 40-41) 

By the time Gibney reaches the 20th century, one is not at all surprised by the Easter Rising of 1916, the Irish Civil War, the Emergency (World War II period), nor the Troubles, nor by mass emigration in the wake of the Potato Famine in the mid-19th century.   

With the arrival of the 21st century, there is peace at last -- but also a looming Brexit and its attendant fallout. Still, much better than martial law and mass beheadings -- and Ireland finally wins.

Today's Rune: Breakthrough. 

Henry Fielding: 'The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling' (1749), Part VII - Finale

Henry Fielding (1707-1754), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. London: Andrew Millar, 1749.

In which, for now, we end our exploration of Fielding's language, including expressions still employed in the 21st century.

[The novel is divided into eighteen "books" (sections), each with its own chapter numbers starting with "i." References will be made to book number followed by chapter number; parenthetical page numbers correspond to the Modern Library edition published in 1985.]

“Beauty never looks more amiable than in distress.” (XV: ii) (page 785). Compare with Luis Buñuel’s El ángel exterminador / The Exterminating Angel (1962): “Your disarray becomes you.”

“’The Fault is not mine, Madam. It lies in the Dulness [Dullness] of the Age that doth nothing worth talking of. –O la! tho’ now I think on’t, there hath a terrible accident befallen poor Col. Wilcox. – Poor Ned.’” (XV: iii) (page 791)

Mrs. Western: “’Have I not often told you, that Women in a free Country are not to be treated with such arbitrary Power? We are as free as the Men, and I heartily wish I could not say we deserve that Freedom better.’” (XVI: iv) (page 846)

Mrs. Western: “’Lord have Mercy upon all Affairs which are under the Directions of Men. The Head of one Woman is worth a thousand of yours.’” (XVI: v) (page 848)

Mrs. Western: “’Do you think yourself at Liberty to invade the Privacies of Women of Condition, without the least Decency of Notice?’”  (XVI: vii) (page 861)

 “Reverse of Fortune” (XVII: viii) (page 900)

Jenny Jones, assuring Tom Jones that he has not killed Mr. Fitzpatrick in a duel, only wounded him a little: “’Pugh,’ says she, ‘you have pinked a Man in a Duel, that’s all.’” (XVII: ix) (page 911)

“’I tell thee ‘tis all Flimflam. Zoodikers!’”  (XVIII: xii) (page 974).

Today's Rune: Fertility. 

Henry Fielding: 'The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling' (1749), Part VI

Henry Fielding (1707-1754), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. London: Andrew Millar, 1749. 

In which we continue our exploration of Fielding's language, including expressions still employed in the 21st century.

[The novel is divided into eighteen "books" (sections), each with its own chapter numbers starting with "i." References will be made to book number followed by chapter number; parenthetical page numbers correspond to the Modern Library edition published in 1985.]

"'Among my Acquaintance, the silliest Fellows are the worst Husbands; and I will venture to assert, as a Fact, that a Man of Sense rarely behaves very ill to a Wife, who deserves very well.'" (XI: viii) (page 602)

"The Antients [Ancients] may be considered as a rich Common, where every Person . . . hath a free Right to fatten his Muse. Or, to place it in a clearer Light, we Moderns are to the Antients what the Poor are to the Rich, By the Poor here I mean, that large and venerable Body which in English, we call the Mob." (XII: i) (page 620; proper attribution where possible is given for due credit by Fielding to the original author, page 621)

On War: "'What matters the Cause to me, or who gets the Victory, if I am killed? I shall never enjoy any Advantage from it. What are all the ringing of Bells, and Bonfires, to one that is six Foot under Ground? There will be an end of poor Partridge.' 'And an End to poor Partridge,' cries Jones, 'there must be one Time or other.' . . . 'But there is a great Difference between dying in one's Bed a great many Years hence, like a good Christian, with all our Friends crying about us; and being shot To-Day or Tomorrow, like a Mad-Dog; or, perhaps, hacked in twenty Pieces with a Sword, and that too, before we have repented of all our Sins. O Lord have Mercy upon us! To be sure, the Soldiers are a wicked Kind of People . . .'" (XII: iii) (page 629)

". . . Partridge, who at several Times had refreshed himself with several Naps, was more inclined to Eating than to Sleeping, and more to Drinking than to either." (XII: vii) (page 643)

"THEY now discovered a Light at some Distance, to the great Pleasure of Jones, and to the no small Terror of Patridge, who firmly believed himself to be bewitched, and that this Light was a Jack with a Lanthorn, or somewhat more mischievous." 

[Early form of Jack-o-Lantern, then also called will-o'-wisp, a distant cousin, perhaps, to the whip-poor-will in eeriness, one by sight and the other by sound.]  (XII: xii) (page 663)

"An Invocation . . . I shall be read, with Honour, by those who never knew nor saw me, and whom I shall neither know nor see." 

[Writing for the ages.] (XIII: i) (page [682]).

Lottery Card, British Museum

A mishmash of phrasings still employed: "This Point being cleared up, they soon found themselves so well pleased with each other . . ."  "'I will give you up'" and "He would have gone on." 

(XIII: xi) (pages 732-733)

" . . . in some Cases, to lie, is not only excusable but commendable . . . though at the Expence of a little Fibbing." (XIII: xii) (page 736)

"A true Knowledge of the World is gained only by Conversation, and the Manners of every Rank must be seen in order to be known." (XIV: i) (page 742)

Today's Rune: Harvest.  

Henry Fielding: 'The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling' (1749), Part V

Thomas Rowlandson, Portsmouth Point (circa 1810). Wiki Commons

Henry Fielding (1707-1754), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. London: Andrew Millar, 1749. 

In which we continue our exploration of Fielding's language, including expressions still employed in the 21st century.

[The novel is divided into eighteen "books" (sections), each with its own chapter numbers starting with "i." References will be made to book number followed by chapter number; parenthetical page numbers correspond to the Modern Library edition published in 1985.]

"Keeping the Coast clear" as in "the coast is clear." (VII: iv) (page 392). A Spanish version of this phrase dates back at least eight hundred years.

On sleeplessness: "he endeavored to close his Eyes, but all in vain; his Spirits were too lively and wakeful to be lulled to Sleep. So having amused, or rather tormented himself with the Thoughts of his Sophia, till it was open Day-light, he called for some Tea . . ."  (VIII: ii) (page 407).

Landlady: "'. . . it frightens me out o'my Wits . . .'" (VIII: ii) (page 408).

Barber/Shaver: "'Festina lente . . .'"  "Make haste slowly," a proverb popularized by Augustus Caesar (63 B.C. - 14 A.D.), from the Greek, σπεῦδε βραδέως. (VIII: iv) (page 414).

Landlady: "thof he was a Bye Blow . . ."  Thof = though (the "gh" is silent nowadays). "Bye Blow" = an outside child, or love child, as courteous people might now say. (VIII: v) (page 417).

Perfect for the Age of Trump: "For tho' the Facts themselves may appear, yet so different will be the  Motives, Circumstances, and Consequences, when a Man tells his own Story, and when his Enemy tells it, that we scarce can recognize the Facts to be one and the same." (VIII: v) (page 420).

"The very same" and "the very same one" -- often used in the HBO series Deadwood. "'Was that the Gentleman that dined with us?' 'The very same,' said the other." (VIII: viii) (page 433).

Thomas Rowlandson, Saloop (1820). Wiki Commons

Social comparison/contrast: "the Follies of either Rank do in reality illustrate each other. For Instance, the Affectation of High-life appears more glaring and ridiculous from the Simplicity of the Low; and against the Rudeness and Barbarity of this latter, strikes with much stronger Ideas of Absurdity, when contrasted with, and opposed to the Politeness which controls the former." (IX: ii) (page 494).

Hardwiring: "Jones could not avoid stealing a sly Peep or two, tho' he took all imaginable Care to avoid giving any Offence." (IX: iii) (page 500).

An amorous occasion: "Spicula et Faces Amoris, so often mentioned in Ovid; or, as they are sometimes called in our own Language, The whole Artillery of Love."  Latin = the darts and torches of love.

Fielding occasionally addresses the reader in ways that are a bit eerie and humorous more than 250 years later. "READER, it is impossible we should know what Sort of Person thou wilt be: For, perhaps, thou may'st be as learned in Human Nature as Shakespear[e] himself was, and perhaps, thou may'st be no wiser than some of his Editors." (X: i) (page [523]).

On the custom of knocking before entering: "It hath been a Custom long established in the polite World, and that upon very solid and substantial Reasons, that a Husband shall never enter his Wife's Apartment without first knocking at the Door. The many excellent Uses of this Custom need scarce be hinted to a Reader who hath any Knowledge of the World . . ." (X: ii) (page 529).

"Saucy Jackanapes" = I still hear (and use) the word "saucy," but rarely "Jackanapes," which dates to the 1400s and means "impudent person" (more or less), someone who is speaking "out of line." (X: v) (page 543).

Another sly quip about marriage (Fielding was married twice): "many a Woman who shrieks at a Mouse, or a Rat, may be capable of poisoning a Husband; or, what is worse, of driving him to poison himself." (X: ix) (page 559).

Harriet Fitzpatrick to her cousin Sophia: "'What is the Reason, my Dear, that we who have Understandings equal to the wisest and greatest of the other Sex so often make Choice of the silliest Fellows for Companions and Favourites? It raises my Indignation to the highest Pitch, to reflect on the Numbers of Women of Sense who have been undone by Fools.'" (XI: v) (page 586).

Harriet ditto: "'Perhaps all may yet end better than either you or I expect.'" 

More to come in bits, as the novel is nearly 1,000 pages long. 

Today's Rune: Breakthrough.

Henry Fielding: 'The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling' (1749), Part IV

Tom Jones & the Landlord. Rowlandson etching (1792). The Met

Henry Fielding (1707-1754), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. London: Andrew Millar, 1749. 

We now continue exploring Fielding's window into another world and how it reflects back on ours. 

Some things were different in the 1740s then they are in present-day English-speaking countries. Examples follow.

[The novel is divided into eighteen "books" (sections), each with its own chapter numbers starting with "i." References will be made to book number followed by chapter number; parenthetical page numbers correspond to the Modern Library edition published in 1985.]

Suicides were then considered demons or something like that and their bodies treated accordingly.

Sophia has no interest in marrying Mr. Blifil: "'rather than submit to be the Wife of that contemptible Wretch, I would plunge a Dagger into my Heart,'" she says to Mrs. Honour.

Mrs. Honour is aghast at the idea: 

"'O lud, Ma'am . . . I am sure you frighten me out of my Wits now. Let me beseech your La'ship not to suffer such wicked Thoughts to come into your Head. O lud . . . consider -- that to be denied Christian Burial, and to have your Corpse buried in the Highway, and a stake drove through you, as Farmer Halfpenny was served at Ox-Cross, and, to be sure, his Ghost hath walked there ever since; for several People have seen him. To be sure it can be nothing but the Devil which can put such wicked Thoughts into the Head of any body . . .'" (VII: vii) (pages 349-350).

Vagrants and Paupers could be thrown in jail or impressed (drafted by force) into the Royal Navy -- one of the rationales later given for fighting the War of 1812.

Soldiers could lodge at taverns and other public places, or even in homes, without having to receive permission. (Hence the Third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”) 

On the Other Hand: some things probably haven't changed (before or since):  “For when a Lady hath once taken a Resolution to run to a Lover, or to run away from him, all Obstacles are considered as Trifles.” (VII: viii) (page 352).

The Tar's Triumph, or Bawdy House Battery (1749). British Museum.

A Mix of Then and Now: here, I've heard every one of the following words used in today's 21st century world except for "quotha" and (unless as a joke) "forsooth," including, of course, "Trumpery" and the emphatic phrasing, "let me tell you that:" 

"'Hoity! toity!' cries Honour, 'Madam is in her Airs, I protest, Mrs. Honour forsooth! sure Madam . . . Ashamed to walk with me, quotha!'"

"'In the Country indeed one is obliged to take up with all kind of Trumpery, but in Town I visit none but the Women of Quality . . .'" (VII: viii) (page 355).

"'Hussy,' replied the Lady, 'I will make such a saucy Trollop as yourself, know that I am not a proper Subject of your Discourse . . .'"

"Thank Heaven, good Servants need not want Places; and if you turn away all who do not think you handsome, you will want servants very soon, let me tell you that.'"  (VIII: ix) (page 356). 

Today's Rune: Flow. 

   

Henry Fielding: 'The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling' (1749), Part III

Pietro Longhi, Il rinoceronte (1751). 

Henry Fielding (1707-1754), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. London: Andrew Millar, 1749. 

We now toggle back to Fielding's ideas and use of language. 

[The novel is divided into eighteen "books" (sections), each with its own chapter numbers starting with "i." References will be made to book number followed by chapter number; parenthetical page numbers correspond to the Modern Library edition published in 1985. For Part I, here's a magical link. Likewise, a hyperlink to Part II].

"The wise Man gratifies every Appetite and every Passion, while the Fool sacrifices all the rest to pall and satiate one." (VI: iv) (page 282). Obviously not a Puritan, Fielding pokes fun at the latest (in the 1740s) Protestant sectarian fad in England -- the Methodists.

Thomas Gainsborough, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews (1750).  

Upon "kicking" or "kissing ass" -- Fielding's take from the 1740s. Little has changed in this regard, despite the passage of 268+ years.

For instance, in 1984, George Herbert Walker Bush was asked, regarding a debate with Geraldine Ferraro the night before,

"Vice President Bush, did you say: 

'I kicked a little ass last night'? " . . . 

Q: Your quote, correct me if I'm wrong, is: "I kicked ass last night." 

[Bush]: "Very close -- I think that's it." 

(Source: Dale Russakoff, "Bush's 'Kick' Makes Waves," Washington Post, October 14, 1984. Link to article here). 

By now, we're far more familiar with Bush, Senior's antics regarding grabbing buttocks, rather than his kicking them. But I digress. Back to the 1740s.

'Allusions to this Part are . . . often made for the sake of the Jest. And here, I believe, the Wit is generally misunderstood.  In Reality, it lies in desiring another to kiss your Ass for having just threatened to kick his: For I have observed very accurately, that no one ever desires you to kick that which belongs to himself, nor offers to kiss this Part in another.

It may likewise seem surprising, that in the many thousand kind Invitations of this Sort, which every one who hath conversed with Country Gentlemen, must have heard, no one, I believe, hath ever seen a single Instance where the Desire hath been complied with. A great Instance of their Want of Politeness: For in Town, nothing can be more common than for the finest Gentlemen to perform this Ceremony every Day to their Superiors, without having that Favour once requested by them.'  (VI: ix) (page 303).

Finally, for this post, another expression still used in the 21st century: "a fine Kettle of Fish." (VI: x) (page 305).  I heard someone say this not too long ago, in fact. How about you?

Today's Rune: Signals. 

Henry Fielding: 'The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling' (1749), Part II

William Hogarth, Enraged Musician. (1743) Tate, London. 

Henry Fielding (1707-1754), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. London: Andrew Millar, 1749. 

We now continue exploring Fielding's ideas and use of language. 

[The novel is divided into eighteen "books" (sections), each with its own chapter numbers starting with "i." References will be made to book number followed by chapter number; parenthetical page numbers correspond to the Modern Library edition published in 1985. For Part I, here's a magical link.]  

On not being able to completely mask one's love for another, even when trying to, for the sake of diplomacy, in mixed company, unless among very unobservant people:

Notwithstanding the nicest Guard which Sophia endeavored to set on her Behaviour, she could not avoid letting some Appearances now and then slip forth: For Love may again be likened to a Disease in this, that when it is denied a Vent in one Part, it will certainly break out in another. What her Lips therefore concealed, her Eyes, her Blushes, and many little involuntary Actions, betrayed. (V: ii) (pages 218-219). 

At one point, Tom Jones stumbles onto his tutor Mr. Square with his old flame Molly. 

"Fitness," says Square in their defense, "is governed by the Nature of Things, and not by Customs, Forms, or municipal Laws. Nothing is, indeed, unfit which is not unnatural." (V: v) (page 232).

Jean-Étienne Liotard, La Belle Chocolatière (circa 1744). Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.

Alcohol and human nature:

To say Truth, nothing is more erroneous than the common Observation, That Men who are ill-natured and quarrelsome when they are drunk, are very worthy Persons when they are sober: For Drink, in reality, doth not reverse Nature, or create Passions in Men, which did not exist in them before. It takes away the Guard of Reason, and consequently forces us to produce those Symptoms, which many, when sober, have Art enough to conceal. It heightens and inflames our Passions (generally indeed that Passion which is uppermost in our Mind) so that the angry Temper, the amorous, and all other Dispositions of Men, are in their Cups heightened and exposed.  (V: ix) (page 253). 

After a lengthy discussion about types of Love, Fielding reaches out directly to anyone reading him (including his critics), in a saucy manner:

Examine your Heart, my good Reader, and resolve whether you do believe these matters with me. If you do, you may now proceed to their Exemplification in the following Pages; if you do not, you have, I assure you, already read more than you have understood; and it would be wiser to pursue your Business, or your Pleasures (such as they are) than to throw away any more of your Time in reading what you can neither taste not comprehend. (VI: i) (page 271).

Today's Rune: Movement. 

Henry Fielding: 'The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling' (1749), Part I

Marriage a-la-Mode 2: The Tête à Tête by William Hogarth (1743)  (Wiki Commons)

Henry Fielding (1707-1754), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. London: Andrew Millar, 1749. 

A discarded library copy provided me with the inspiration to read this lengthy novel with an eye for the language. As for plot, it's a rawer, more sprawling harbinger of future works, such as the novels of Jane Austen (1775-1817). The Modern Library version clocks in at 982 pages. 

I'm mostly interested in Fielding's usage of the English language, and how it relates to the 21st century, rather than the plot itself, which is fairly ludicrous. Fielding roams freely among all classes of society, and writes about women with almost as much ease as he writes about men.

What follows are some things that I find particularly interesting and noteworthy. 

The novel is divided into eighteen "books" (sections), each with its own chapter numbers starting with "i." References will be made to book number followed by chapter number; parenthetical page numbers correspond to the Modern Library edition published in 1985.  

Fun beginnings: Rascal, Wanton Husseys, Wretch, Trollops, Wenches, Villain (I: vii) (page 57). 

On Jealousy, one of the most terrible of emotions: "But it is with Jealousy, as with the Gout. When such Distempers are in the Blood, there is never any Security against their breaking out; and that often on the slightest Occasions, and when least suspected." (II: iii) (page 83). 

In between Fielding's time and now, the rules of capitalization (upper case lettering) became more standardized, though with the internet and texting, we may have moved back to Fielding's time again, as far as more random spelling, punctuation and use of capital letters goes.

". . . you may know a Man by his Companions . . . by attending to the Conversation at a great Man's Table, you may satisfy yourself of his Religion, his Politics, his Taste, and indeed of his entire Disposition: For tho' a few odd Fellows will utter their own Sentiments in all Places, yet much the greater Part of Mankind have enough of the Courtier to accommodate their Conversation to the Taste and inclination of their Superiors." (II: vi) (page 98).

In modern times, too, it's relatively easy to figure out a person's worldview and inclinations, simply by hanging out or otherwise interacting with them for a while; but, too, most sophisticated people will tailor their conversation to their audience. One can be more candid with a close peer than with a distant boss.

". . . I hope my Friends will pardon me, when I declare I know none of them without a Fault; and I should be sorry if I could imagine I had any Friend who could not see mine. Forgiveness . . . we give and demand in Turn. It is an Exercise of Friendship, and, perhaps, none of the least pleasant. . . There is, perhaps, no surer Mark of Folly, than an attempt to correct the natural Infirmities of those we love. The finest Composition of human Nature, as well as the finest China, may have a Flaw in it; and this, I am afraid, in either Case, is equally incurable; though, nevertheless, the Pattern may remain of the highest Value." (II: vii) (page 107).

As for doctors, things seem not to have changed much at all since the 1740s, besides a few major intervening scientific and procedural breakthroughs that provide them with more effective tools, if they are savvy enough to use them well.

Two doctors are debating what's wrong with a patient: "each delivered the Reasons for their several Opinions. These were of such equal Force, that they served both to confirm either Doctor in his own Sentiments, and made not the least Impression on his Adversary." Fielding continues: "To say the Truth, every Physician, almost, hath his favourite Disease, to which he ascribes all the Victories obtained over human Nature. The Gout, Rheumatism, the Stone, the Gravel, and the Consumption, have all their several Patrons in the Faculty; and none more than the nervous Fever, or the Fever on the Spirits . . . The Reader may, perhaps, be surprized, that instead of endeavoring to revive the Patient, the learned Gentlemen should fall immediately into a Dispute on the Occasion of his Death . . ."  (II: ix) (pages 112-113).

Next, there's a fight between Tom Jones and Master Blifil, when they are boys. Word gets out.

"When the Story became public many People differed . . . in judging the Conduct of the two Lads on the Occasion. Master Blifil was generally called a sneaking Rascal, a poor-spirited Wretch; with other Epithets of the like Kind; whilst Tom was honoured with the Appellations of a brave Lad, a jolly Dog, and an honest Fellow."  (III: v) (page 133).

"'La!' says I, . . . 'A Penny for your Thoughts . . .'" (IV: xiv) (page 207).

Today's Rune: Initiation.