Literature Archives - Sylvain Reynard

Literature – Les Misérables

July 19, 2011

Dear Everyone,

There is a scene in “Gabriel’s Inferno” in which a male and a female character enter into a discussion about forgiveness and penance. I don’t agree with the view of penance that is presented by the woman and neither does she (it differs from the one presented in the link above). But since the man she is speaking with is distraught, she reasons with him as best she can, taking a much starker, harsher view of penance.

She also mentions forgiveness and she does so by referencing Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables. This work is arguably one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century and if you haven’t read it yet, you should. There are several different stories intertwined in the narrative but my favourite is the story of Jean Valjean, the convict. He steals a loaf of bread to feed the hungry children of his widowed sister. He is arrested for the theft and sentenced to five years in the galleys.

After his release from prison, he steals again. This time, he steals the rich trappings of a Bishop’s house. But when he is arrested and forced to face his victim, something surprising happens. The Bishop declares that the stolen items are gifts and he adds to the items, giving more than Jean had stolen initially. After the gendarmes have departed, leaving Jean alone with the Bishop, the Bishop bids him go in peace. And he declares that he has bought the convict’s soul for God and that he must now go forth and do good.

You’ll have to read the story to see what happens next. (And you can do so for free through Kindle or Nook).

This exchange is, perhaps, one of the most powerful ones in the novel. It’s a mirror image of Jean’s previous experience over the theft of the bread, but with an unexpected outcome. Once again, the law would provide justice and certainly the Bishop was well within the rights that the law provides him to demand that justice be served. But he doesn’t do that. He offers mercy, instead. He gives back the items Jean stole from him and in so doing, forgives him and challenges him to go forth in peace and to be a good man.

Anyone who has ever pondered the subject of forgiveness knows that some wrongs are incredibly difficult to forgive. We’ve all been in situations in which we would rather have justice than offer mercy to the person(s) who wronged us. Some people cling to justice or revenge and spend their entire lives striving for it. I’m not suggesting that we substitute forgiveness for justice or that justice should be jettisoned altogether. I’m simply pointing out that forgiveness and justice can go together not just for the good of the wrongdoer, but also for the victim. Forgiveness and mercy are gifts that only the victim can bestow on the wrongdoer, but they are gifts that bless both the giver and the recipient.

William Shakespeare provides one of the best speeches on mercy through the words of Portia in Act IV, Scene I of The Merchant of Venice,

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway;

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God’s

When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,

Though justice be thy plea, consider this,

That, in the course of justice, none of us

Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much

To mitigate the justice of thy plea;

Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice

Must needs give sentence ‘gainst the merchant there.

There are a number of important lines here. Notice how Shakespeare points out that mercy is “twice blest” and “mighty.” One might wonder if part of the blessing mentioned is the liberation and freedom that comes with forgiving someone, rather than holding tightly to the injury one has from being wronged.

Shakespeare also points out “That, in the course of justice, none of us should see salvation.” The speech as a a whole highlights the painful truth of our own shortcomings as human beings – our need for grace, forgiveness and mercy. Portia’s challenge is for us to remember our needs when we deal with others and to allow mercy to “season” justice. Yes, this is easier to say than to do. But the beauty that is the mercy of the Bishop far outstrips the ugliness of the justice that sends a man to prison for stealing a loaf of bread.

I welcome your comments below.

All the best and thanks for reading,

www.sylvainreynard.com

PS. Thank you for voting for me on the Goodreads Best Break out Author Novels list. “Gabriel’s Inferno” is in first place. (There is still time to vote for your favourites, if you choose).

Literature – The Bible

July 12, 2011

Dear Everyone,

If one wanted to make sense of the references in Dante’s Divine Comedy, the first book to start with would be the Bible. Biblical characters, themes and allusions are woven throughout the three parts of Dante’s great work.

Although much of western literature once included biblical allusions, literature has changed. Today’s fiction is more likely to draw on feature films and comic books than the Bible. Much of what I consider to be the literature of the Bible is unfamiliar to many people. (MIT has an online course that some of you might find interesting)

In this post, I’d like to draw your attention to one book from the Hebrew Bible and one passage from the New Testament, solely for the purpose of enjoying their words. I’m not interested in questions of interpretation with these passages. I’m simply asking readers to approach the texts as pieces of literature and see what they think of them.

Part of the first text is quoted in “Gabriel’s Inferno,” and is taken from the Song of Songs 1: 1-4, 15-16:

“The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth–for thy love is better than wine.

Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; thy name is as ointment poured forth; therefore do the maidens love thee.

Draw me, we will run after thee; the king hath brought me into his chambers; we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will find thy love more fragrant than wine! sincerely do they love thee….

“Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as doves.

Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant; also our couch is leafy.”

Song of Songs 3:1-5

“By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him, but I found him not.

‘I will rise now, and go about the city, in the streets and in the broad ways, I will seek him whom my soul loveth.’ I sought him, but I found him not.

The watchmen that go about the city found me: ‘Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?’

Scarce had I passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, that ye awaken not, nor stir up love, until it please.’”

Song of Songs 4: 1- 7

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil; thy hair is as a flock of goats, that trail down from mount Gilead.

Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes all shaped alike, which are come up from the washing; whereof all are paired, and none faileth among them.

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy mouth is comely; thy temples are like a pomegranate split open behind thy veil.

Thy neck is like the tower of David builded with turrets, whereon there hang a thousand shields, all the armour of the mighty men.

Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies.

Until the day breathe, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

Thou art all fair, my love; and there is no spot in thee.

As a piece of literature, the verses quoted above seem to fall into the category of erotic poetry. There’s a sweetness to the descriptions of the lovers’ interactions, which is coupled with a tremendous desire and an appreciation of physical beauty.

Notice how the voice shifts from the female lover to the male beloved in the last two verses of the first passage, and again in the third passage. The female lover extols the virtues of her beloved and describes her longing for him. In the third passage, the male beloved describes the beauty of his female love. We’re treated to an insight into ancient views of beauty in the analogies he uses for her appearance. (I’ll leave you to your own inferences as to what the mountain and the hill refer to.)

I welcome you to share your thoughts in the comments below.

The second passage I’d like to draw your attention to is the parable of the prodigal son from the Gospel according to St. Luke 15: 11-32. This text is important within the context of “Gabriel’s Inferno” and Dante’s Divine Comedy in that both works explore aspects of forgiveness, love and redemption. Here is the text from the Bible:

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

I don’t think that one needs to be religious in order to be moved by this story. Anyone who has ever disappointed his or her family, or felt alone and abandoned can surely relate to the despair of the prodigal. The prodigal’s longing for his home is another important image, contrasting sharply with his disgust with himself.

The forgiveness and welcome communicated by the father is something that provides hope and inspiration, despite the jealousy and condemnation manifested by the son of constancy.

Sex, love, faith, hope, redemption, sin, virtue …. all of these concepts are presented in the literature of the Bible, providing inspiration for their presentation in other literary works throughout history.

All the best and thanks for reading,

www.sylvainreynard.com

PS. Henri Nouwen has a very interesting meditation on the parable of the prodigal son and Rembrandt’s painting of it.

Jennifer Lane (Author of “With Good Behavior” and “Bad Behavior”) just posted an interview with me and a review of my book on her website.

Literature – John Donne

July 5, 2011

Dear Everyone,

Professor Gabriel Emerson is a professor of literature. He’s a Dante specialist, but like most literature professors he’s widely read in many different languages. (He’s proud of this, of course, but freely admits his deadly sin of pride in addition to the other six.)

[For an excellent article on C.S. Lewis’ use of the Seven Deadly Sins in the seven volumes of The Chronicles of Narnia, click here.]

In the novel “Gabriel’s Inferno,” there is a scene in which Professor Emerson remembers the metaphysical poetry of John Donne, which he studied at Magdalen College, Oxford. (Magdalen was also the college of C.S. Lewis and some say that the stone figures in the cloister quadrangle were the inspiration for the stone figures in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.)

[To see the stone figures, click here. Then click in the centre of the Cloister Quadrangle, , and zoom into the row of windows facing you. The figures are hovering over the arches above the ivy.]

John Donne (1572-1631) was an English poet. He secretly married seventeen-year-old Anne More in 1601. Anne’s family was furious and had Donne thrown into prison. Years later, he became a chaplain in the Anglican Church and was widely known as a gifted preacher. In 1621, he was appointed Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, a position that he held until his death. There is a memorial to Donne in St. Paul’s, that survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 with only a little scorching. (Rather like Donne, himself, who survived the scorching of prison and public disapproval over his marriage.)

The poem that Gabriel calls to mind is John Donne’s “The Flea” and it’s an example of a metaphysical poem:

“MARK but this flea, and mark in this,

How little that which thou deniest me is ;

It suck’d me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.

Thou know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;

Yet this enjoys before it woo,

And pamper’d swells with one blood made of two ;

And this, alas ! is more than we would do.

O stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Where we almost, yea, more than married are.

This flea is you and I, and this

Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.

Though parents grudge, and you, we’re met,

And cloister’d in these living walls of jet.

Though use make you apt to kill me,

Let not to that self-murder added be,

And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since

Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?

Wherein could this flea guilty be,

Except in that drop which it suck’d from thee?

Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou

Find’st not thyself nor me the weaker now.

‘Tis true ; then learn how false fears be ;

Just so much honour, when thou yield’st to me,

Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.”

You probably have your own ideas about what the poem is about and whether or not you find it creepy. I welcome your comments below.

The poem is widely considered to contain a conversation between a man and his potential female lover, who is a virgin. She is denying him her virginity, and he is arguing that her virginity is inconsequential, using the flea as a conceit. Within the poem, sex (and its attendant discomfort, risks and ramifications), is considered to be as innocuous as a flea bite.

In fact, the man argues, the mingling of the blood of the two potential lovers in the body of the flea is a kind of intercourse that has occurred already. He holds up this example to persuade the virgin and perhaps to berate her, pointing out that the flea does more than she.

The poem is seductive but the seduction is intellectual and not physical. Yes, the man plays on the woman’s bodily desires, but it is her mind and her conscience that he is arguing with. He does so by downplaying her worries and concerns, attempting to convince her that those impediments are too small to stop them.

In “Gabriel’s Inferno,” The Professor wars with himself as he contemplates the poem and the moral dilemma before him occasioned by the virtuous graduate student, Julianne Mitchell. Like Donne, Gabriel allows himself to use reason to consider the path his bodily desires wish to explore and the exquisite delights that her figure holds for him …

but I won’t spoil the story by telling you what he does next …

Thank you for reading,

www.sylvainreynard.com

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Literature – “Beowulf”

June 28, 2011

Dear Everyone,

There is a scene in “Gabriel’s Inferno” in which Professor Emerson accompanies two young women (one of whom is his sister) to a club in Toronto. As their host, he realizes that he will not be able to indulge himself in his usual sins, at least for an evening. Instead of the hunter, he becomes the protector. Ever the professor of literature, he muses on the fact that he will have to play the part of Beowulf, prepared to slay Grendel and his relatives if they threaten his precious charges.

It’s surprising, perhaps, that someone who is convinced he is irredeemably evil views himself as a Beowulf rather than a Grendel, at least in this scene.

(Whether he is or not is for the readers to judge for themselves.)

Beowulf is the name of a hero and also of an Old English epic poem that dates from around 800 AD. Although the poem is written in Old English, it isn’t set in Britain nor is it about Angles or Saxons. The poem is Scandinavian, combining mythical elements with historical persons, along with references to Christianity. For example, the monster Grendel is described as a descendant of Cain, son of Adam, who slew his brother Abel.

Cain’s story – and what God says and does to him – is interesting in itself. You can read it here from Genesis 4 of the Hebrew Bible.

Here is how Grendel is described in Beowulf:

Grendel this monster grim was called,

march-riever mighty, in moorland living,

in fen and fastness; fief of the giants

the hapless wight a while had kept

since the Creator his exile doomed.

On kin of Cain was the killing avenged

by sovran God for slaughtered Abel.

Ill fared his feud, and far was he driven,

for the slaughter’s sake, from sight of men.

Of Cain awoke all that woful breed,

Etins and elves and evil-spirits,

as well as the giants that warred with God

weary while: but their wage was paid them!

Notice that the offspring of Cain (who was a human being) include elves, evil spirits, and Etins, which are a kind of giant.

In the poem, Grendel threatens the warriors of Hrothgar, King of the Danes. None of Hrothgar’s men seem to be able to kill the monster, so Beowulf, who is a Geat, rises to the challenge. His act is both courageous and honourable as he is repaying a service to Hrothgar, who aided his father.

Grendel does not fare very well in his confrontation with Beowulf. There’s also an interesting bit about Beowulf’s magical sword (and it’s lack of magical effect). Beowulf also battles Grendel’s mother, who takes up her son’s revenge. (This narrative twist provides all kinds of fodder for discussion, Freudian and otherwise.) The third part of the poem describes Beowulf’s battle with a dragon.

Interestingly enough, J.R.R. Tolkien had a lively interest in Beowulf. He wrote at least two essays on the subject, which you can find included in this volume. You can also find a short piece comparing Tolkien’s characters with Beowulf here and here. (Is an Ent an Etin?)

To read the full text of Beowulf, click here.

All the best and thanks for reading,

www.sylvainreynard.com

PS. If you’re looking for a place to discuss “Gabriel’s Inferno,” you can always do so on Goodreads or on Facebook or Twitter. Links to reviews of the novel have been posted on my website.

ETA: I was contacted by a very kind reader who is translating Beowulf into modern English. Like me, he admires Seamus Heaney’s translation. You can follow Gareth Jones’ translation and commentary here.

Literature – “The Lord of the Rings”

June 21, 2011

Dear Everyone,

Friendship is one of the relationships that figures prominently in “Gabriel’s Inferno.” Julia and Rachel are friends, Paul and Julia are friends, Professor Emerson appears to be friends with Katherine Picton, the villains of the story (seen and unseen) used to be friends with some of the other characters …

Friendship is a kind of love, but it’s a love that is asexual and chaste. Friendship reminds us that human beings can love each other deeply without that love being sexual or romantic.

In my story, Julia muses about what she is willing to do for the man who stole her heart when she was young. An analogy is drawn in her mind to the friendship between Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins in J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy The Lord of the Rings.

If you’re searching western literature for examples of friendship, there are many examples to choose from. But there’s something about the friendship between Sam and Frodo that typifies what a great friendship can be. While Frodo is usually considered to be the hero of the trilogy, it is Sam who is the shining example of a good friend. He is loyal and constant. He shows tremendous fortitude and courage. His character qualities are tested and tried over and over again, but Sam’s commitment to his friend persists, despite conflict and fatigue and the inevitable personality changes that Frodo experiences as the ring-bearer. On several occasions, Sam could have abandoned his friend to finish the quest alone. But he didn’t.

There are many reasons to read Tolkien’s Rings trilogy. One of them should be because it provides a thought-provoking presentation of true friendship. Another would be because it unashamedly presents goodness and evil in stark terms. Few novels in the twenty-first century do that. Nevertheless, the trilogy also presents the way good creatures can be seduced and lured into evil.

(It’s possible that there are a hobbit and elf or two in my story. See if you can pick them out)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been honoured to be nominated on Goodreads list of Best Break Out Authors Novels. If you have a moment, you can vote for your favourites here.

All the best and thanks for reading,

SR.

www.sylvainreynard.com

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PS. If you see a review of my work somewhere and you’d like to tell me about it, please email me here. Thank you. I should also mention that I endeavour to reply to every email, although sometimes it takes me a few days.

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