the time is out of joint...

[ewein2412]

ellen_kushner, who takes very very good care of me, sent me this piece of absolute Arthurian CLASS which I would surely have missed otherwise.  I dreamed about the darned thing all last night.  As sovaysays, I seem to be inhabiting the wrong timeline.

Comments

eeble eeble

[mhari.livejournal.com]

*flails* Why have I never heard of this?

Re: eeble eeble

[ewein2412]

*my* initial reaction went something like this:

Oh good, they've made a movie of that missing play. Wait a minute, how did I miss it when they FOUND that play in the first place? Wait a minute, there is no missing play, I made that up myself in high school. Oh. Come to think of it, Mordred's "I will my father's name drag through the mire" speech isn't ACTUALLY part of my cultural literacy, is it. Come to think of it, it isn't part of ANYONE'S cultural literacy.

Oh. I get it. She's making it up.

Darn.

Re: eeble eeble

[mhari.livejournal.com]

...I'm totally confused now, you realize.

Re: eeble eeble

[ewein2412]

it only exists in papersky's brain. (and ours, too, now, of course)

[sovay]

it only exists in papersky's brain. (and ours, too, now, of course)

But I want someone to stage a production . . .

[ewein2412]

I know.

though I reckon the RSC cast would be different to the film cast?

Re: eeble eeble

[ewein2412]

or are you telling me "I will my father's name drag through the mire" is part of your cultural literacy? (it wouldn't surprise me... maybe you know the whole speech ...? *blinks hopefully*)

ahhh, I'm just messing with your brain.

Re: eeble eeble

[mhari.livejournal.com]

I don't know! It sounded vaguely familiar! And I am enough aware of how many things I ought to know and don't that I generally assume it's me. XD

It's not nice to prank the undereducated, e wein. :~(

Re: eeble eeble

[ewein2412]

I meant no insult! I think a LOT of people (including myself) are fooled by it... that's the beauty of it.

And I DID think I knew that speech, I swear.

Re: eeble eeble

[mhari.livejournal.com]

I know. <3 I'm just embarrassed.

I will have to hit up Lucien for a copy, whenever I get to sleep tonight (this morning).

Re: eeble eeble

[ewein2412]

well, you know, if you find out how the speech goes, please share...

geez, go to sleep already, woman.

Re: eeble eeble

[mhari.livejournal.com]

Then again, I seem to be operating in a different reality from everyone today, so who knows.

Re: eeble eeble

[tiboribi.livejournal.com]

Is it Edmund who had a speech about how since he was a bastard he must therefore act all evil? That is a speech, somewhere in Shakespeare, isn't it? I feel for sure like I've read it (or seen it).

Re: eeble eeble

[ewein2412]

yes indeedy, it starts:

"Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
my services are bound."

Re: eeble eeble

[tiboribi.livejournal.com]

Which, of course, you quoted at the beginning of The Winter Prince. When I first saw Lear it was too amazing of a production to react strongly to recognizing the quote from the beginning of the book. (Not, however, too amazing that I didn't internally shriek at figuring out where Red Shift's Tom's a cold thing had come from.)

Re: eeble eeble

[ewein2412]

I love that it's the perfect quote for TWP but it's not obviously the beginning of Edmund's rant.

unfortunately it's anachronistic. that bugs me, a little. I haven't done that in the other books.

Now God stand up for bastards!

Re: eeble eeble

[tiboribi.livejournal.com]

But it's Shakespeare, and it's not in the actual mouth of one of your characters, so I think it would be okay

I read somewhere recently something about Constantine or Justinian (or maybe even Alexander) being saluted with basil, and I thought about you and your concern about no anachronisms. It's the Justinianic plague that was going through in The Sunbird, isn't it?

Re: eeble eeble

[ewein2412]

yes, it's the justinianic plague.

I don't know about saluting emperors with basil. As far as I know, people wear it for good luck in Yemen. It is really pulling teeth to find out anything about ancient Sabaean culture, so I have settled for using modern South Arabia as a guideline when I need a cultural reference. (I often do the same for ethiopia... and indeed, for dark age Britain)

Re: eeble eeble

[tiboribi.livejournal.com]

The problem with constant reading of random things is I honestly have no idea if I read it in a novel, or in the book about the woman who cooked her way through a Julia Child cookbook, or the New York Times. Or even dreamt it up, although I remember it more clearly than I generally remember dreams.

According to Wikipedia, basil grew where Constantine found the Holy Cross. So, maybe I mixed a whole bunch of things up in my head.