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landofnowhereThe Nine Tailors, Dorothy Sayers. Making my way through this, slowly. Interesting rereading this with more of a perspective on Peter Wimsey Just got to the bit where they find the emeralds -- and though I knew it was coming, their confusion makes a lot of sense. In a typical Wimsey mystery, the motive for murder is financial interest, so the red herring of "he must have been killed in the fight over the emeralds" makes a lot of sense. (And of course, this is a hint that it isn't a murder!)
The Lady's Not For Burning, Christopher Fry. Readaloud. I knew of this play mainly through Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean. It's written in the 20th century, and set at a point in time that is supposedly 1400, but isn't really -- witch-hunts in England came later, and also, at one point in the play we get to hear bell-ringing practice (!) in the background, and I'm not sure what that would mean in 1400, before change ringing or full-circle ringing was a thing, so I'm much happier to imagine that this is a modern sort of change-ringing practice.
Anyway. The play is poetic and existentialist and all that, but also funny! The main plot is a romance between a suspected witch on the run from the mob and a soldier with PTSD and a death wish. But I'm not going to tell you about any of that, I'm going to tell you about Hebble Tyson, the character I read, who is my favorite! Tyson is the mayor of the town, and behaves in the usual pompous grouchy bureaucrat jerk way, only he's humanized by the details of his character -- he's clearly having a bad day, between having a cold, and the strangers coming to town, and the sensory overload (I mentioned bell-ringing practice, but there's also someone tuning his fiddle to the bells), really just the general overload, and his secretary's being swept away by the plot and *won't do anything*, and really he *just can't even*, and no one is even listening to him. When the protagonists show up on his doorstep, his first response, in the words of the classic unix/ssh error message, is "You don't exist, go away." Of course they don't right away, everything has to spiral out of control first, until he stalks off to his study, puts up a Do Not Disturb sign, and gets his happy ending alone with his books. Not at all a nice person, and yet very relatable.
Some quotes:
"I'm not bewildered, I assure you I'm not bewildered."
"I have heard very little of what you have said, Chaplain, being concerned as I am with a certain Thought."
"I wish to be alone with my convictions. Good night."
(Unrelatedly: I'm also curious what this play's influence on Good Omens is, given that it uses "Devize" as a last name.)
The Lady's Not For Burning, Christopher Fry. Readaloud. I knew of this play mainly through Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean. It's written in the 20th century, and set at a point in time that is supposedly 1400, but isn't really -- witch-hunts in England came later, and also, at one point in the play we get to hear bell-ringing practice (!) in the background, and I'm not sure what that would mean in 1400, before change ringing or full-circle ringing was a thing, so I'm much happier to imagine that this is a modern sort of change-ringing practice.
Anyway. The play is poetic and existentialist and all that, but also funny! The main plot is a romance between a suspected witch on the run from the mob and a soldier with PTSD and a death wish. But I'm not going to tell you about any of that, I'm going to tell you about Hebble Tyson, the character I read, who is my favorite! Tyson is the mayor of the town, and behaves in the usual pompous grouchy bureaucrat jerk way, only he's humanized by the details of his character -- he's clearly having a bad day, between having a cold, and the strangers coming to town, and the sensory overload (I mentioned bell-ringing practice, but there's also someone tuning his fiddle to the bells), really just the general overload, and his secretary's being swept away by the plot and *won't do anything*, and really he *just can't even*, and no one is even listening to him. When the protagonists show up on his doorstep, his first response, in the words of the classic unix/ssh error message, is "You don't exist, go away." Of course they don't right away, everything has to spiral out of control first, until he stalks off to his study, puts up a Do Not Disturb sign, and gets his happy ending alone with his books. Not at all a nice person, and yet very relatable.
Some quotes:
"I'm not bewildered, I assure you I'm not bewildered."
"I have heard very little of what you have said, Chaplain, being concerned as I am with a certain Thought."
"I wish to be alone with my convictions. Good night."
(Unrelatedly: I'm also curious what this play's influence on Good Omens is, given that it uses "Devize" as a last name.)
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Date: 21 Jun 2021 03:03 (UTC)But I suspect to the rest of the world, the limerick may be the biggest claim to fame of the town.
There was a young man from Devizes
Whose ears were of two different sizes
The one that was small
Was of no use at all
But the other won several prizes
Although I've been told that "ears" is the bowdlerized version.