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rthstewart) wrote2010-03-31 11:33 pm
Grrrr, Argh
I'm trying. I really am. To write that is. I have over 6.000 words of Chapter 19 of TQSiT and I like only about half of it and will use even less. In despair over the last chapter, chapter 18 of TQSiT, and deciding that people would really rather read about Harold and Morgan instead, I started on another chapter of that, which ended up being a really long security report in which Master Roblang the Arms Master and Lady Jina the Hound dissect Morgan's many personality shortcomings. It amused me but there was nothing about the Beaver Jezebel. I know Jezebel is a very pretty and vain little thing, and she combs her fur a lot to make it shiny and she talks very sweet and will eat those Willow saplings in nothing flat if given a chance. She needs a good strong Beaver Buck around the Lodge of course, because life is hard for a little ole Beaver gal out on her own.
Oh, and in the NFFR Give the Pevensies a Friend Spring Challenge, I started writing friends for all of them, and it involved the book Little Women, dissection in biology class, vomit, and the Cambridge library.
So, no update this week and probably, alas, nothing for Harold and Morgan in honor of the US Tax Day, April 15 (maybe Morgan will get an extension for late filing because a goat ate the return).
I have been carrying the following around in the laptop, which is now probably going to be in the story itself and not presented as a fake "intro":
As the birth and life of Narnia’s many beings are different, so too are their deaths. Creatures of the air prefer that their bodies be burned and ashes spread on the winds. Centaurs have long, windy chants, burial mounds, and great celebrations afterwards. Our woodland Beasts likewise wish for burial and solitary Beasts prefer to die as they lived, alone. Red Dwarfs lie on beds of stone; as to Black Dwarfs, I will not speculate. Naiads slowly drain away, only to be reborn elsewhere when they fall to the land as rain; Dyrads die as their Trees do. As to the Fauns and Satyrs, even they are not sure.
Narnians are united in their belief that upon death, each travels to Aslan’s Own Country. How we have come to believe this is long lost, but believe we all do, for it is a story told often, in tree, den, pool, glade, and cave. Every child reared by a parent has heard, "And if you are not good, you shall not pass through the gates to Aslan’s Country.”
How one travels to Aslan’s Country, upon death, is a matter on which there is no unanimity. I do ask whether it really matters as the Narnian who has died has already departed, indeed has already arrived, and the deceased really has nothing to say on the subject.
This brings me to the thesis of this Monograph. The rituals by which we lament and farewell a Narnian, as varied as Narnians themselves, are for those who remain, not for the deceased.
Pliny the Elder’s Botanica and Animalia, Chapter XXIII, Dying and Death, as revised and updated by Hystricopocrates, Physician, Cair Paravel
The reference to the Centaur burial process is courtesy of and borrowed from Ilysia's Singing Paeans to the Stars. So, I'll continue to press on. Really. The will has been lacking.
PS- Thanks to Dublin's Eveline! I did think JJ was Abrams for a moment...
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Narnian burial customsssss! There's something about the listing off of them thus that is both wrenching and distancing, and I shall have to ponder that fact further.
P.S. Will it be acceptable if some of said burial customs possibly crop up in my religion-history doohickey? Ashes cast to the winds and so forth...so lovely, and so Narnian!
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I wonder if I can figure out a way for Jezebel to do the Beaver equivalent of a strip tease?
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And multiple things in progress! Hurrah! I was going to ask about Harold and Morgan, such a lovely not-a-love-story. :)
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Seriously though, have a great Easter, and the rest will come when it's ready.
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The death ceremonies listed above sound so very interesting, and they do seem fitting per species. I think I've seen some of types of rituals written only by either ilysia_039 (the Centaurs) and Elecktrum (the Dwarfs). As for Fauns & Satyrs... perhaps just buried in the woods in a ceremony involving pan flutes? (I've been lurking about NFFR forums and the whole Faun/Satyr thread has been fascinating to read.)
As for Harold, Morgan and taxes..... perhaps the two of them should forego the Lone Islands for a bit and figure out how to take a Census of Narnia and its Crown Territories? :-)
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I remember Elecktrum's Black Dwarf ceremony, which why I leave it unstated in the above. I don't rely on her universe at all, but that particular bit of worldbuilding of hers was so lovely that I thought keeping outsiders ignorant of what happens in her Black Dwarf culture was a way to pay homage to it, without referring to it at all, if that makes sense. It's a mystery!
Census. Oh dear. THAT would be hilarious....
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"... but I really don't see the point."
There was a loud thump as Not-a-Lady Morgan slammed both hands on the table, eyes wide with amazement. "Think about it, Harold! It's the perfect way to distribute funds to those who need it most. The Crown would not wished to be accused of preferential treatment towards one species, after all."
"Preferential treatment?" Across the table, Edmund watched her with a droll expression on his face. "Do you not remember my title? Just. Justice, as in the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness..." He began rattling off the numerous definitions; it had been some time since he was allowed to recite that. Come to think of it, he had said that to Susan the very day he met the Evil Banker that now stood in front of him.
She cut him off, waving her hands excitedly. "Yes, yes. You are the Just King. But only you. The same cannot necessarily be said of the High King or your sisters."
A slight growl could be heard from the far corner of the room. Jalur raised his head up but kept his paws firmly on the ground. His tail twitched slightly as in defense of the other monarchs of Narnia.
Edmund waved a hand toward his Guard. "She's just making a point," he said to the Tiger. He turned his attention back to Narnia's financial advisor. "But wouldn't it be in your (and your House's) interest that we not take a census? You do realize that if the Crown finds the Lone Islands to be on better standing (which I'm sure we will), we may have to remove some of our funding and possibly impose more taxes to balance things out."
She snorted. "Harold. We are Bankers. Let the Houses worry about it later."
"And even if the High King approves to undertake this project, how do you expect us to take count of every citizen in Narnia and the Lone Islands?"
"That's easy enough," she replied with a wave of indifference. "Ask the Crows, of course."
The King blinked. "The Crows?"
"Of course. They'll be wagering on the numbers, so it is in their best interest to come back with an accurate assessment."
He laughed; the Murder would begin the wagers as soon as they heard. He briefly wondered if Kangee was about; the young Crow always had a knack for listening in at the right moments. "That is true. But how do you expect them to count things fairly?"
The Evil Banker shrugged. "How about offering them a special Shiny? Perhaps another of my gowns or bits of my hair? I don't mind a slight trim to the ends."
"There are other issues of concern you know. Classifying for the different races and within one's race. Would any of the Dwarf clans be offended if we don't specify for Red or Black? Would Centaurs identify themselves more as Human or Horse? Will the children of Songbirds be a part of the Mother's household or the Father's?" All these questions were beginning to make Edmund's head spin. "And you know the Otters won't give one straight answers."
"Let's not count the Otters, King Edmund," Jalur piped up from his corner. "I think we should just eat them instead."
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"If you eat all the Otters, Friend, there will be none to chase."
Jalur yawned and stretched himself out, snagging two long claws on Mrs. Furner's carefully mended rugs. "A fair point. I shall leave two mating pairs alive."
"First thing we do is kill all the Otters," Morgan babbled. A frown creased her face and Edmund watched warily for with her distraction would come ... something. Sure enough, she reached for a piece of scrap parchment to begin her census organizational flow chart and nearly upended the inkwell all over the floor. Heedless, she continued. "Or is it lawyers? First thing we do is kill all the lawyers?"
"Not Bankers?" he asked.
"Bankers bury the lawyers."
Edmund thought that sounded ominous.
"Your classification point is a concern, Harold," Morgan mused. She was patting her hair down, looking for the writing quill that had lodged there. "For instance, how would we classify Cheetahs?"
"They are all Felines," Edmund said, plucking the quill out from behind her head and handing it to her.
A low growl, both from woman and Tiger indicated he had erred and send something impolite.
"What?"
"I am a Great Cat," Jalur said smugly. "Lions are Great Cats. I concede that Leopards, small though they are, are Great Cats. Cheetahs are not."
Morgan nodded earnestly. "Cheetahs are very distinct, Harold. Really, you should know this. They have semi-retractable claws and they purr, and do not roar."
"You have been in the Physician's Library again, haven't you?"
"He is brilliant!" Morgan spoke this with a fervent and passionate enthusiasm he really preferred directed at his person, intellect and contracting draftsmanship skills. In this though, Edmund did not feel envy, as the object of her admiration -- the Palace Physician -- was a rodent and a very prickly one at that.
"We have spent a considerable time in his office," Jina the Hound added from her corner. She was licking her paw, not something the Hound normally did in polite company.
"Are you healing well from your close encounter with our good Physician, Jina?" Edmund asked the Hound. She was too well-mannered to complain of the injury for her own part.
"Very well, thank you, King Edmund." She looked up. "Lady Morgan?"
The Hound repeated the query several times, but Morgan was engrossed in her spreadsheet. With a sigh the Hound climbed to her feet and shoved her nose under Morgan's arm. Edmund hid the smirk.
"Oh, yes Jina?"
"To your point about Cheetahs? Regardless of the Physician's views, the High King and his Guard will take ill to any suggestion that Cheetahs are not Great Cats."
"Oh." She waved her arm in his general direction, splattering ink. "Politics. That's your expertise, Harold."
Edmund slammed a hand down on the table. "I am not going to suggest to my brother that his Guard do not qualify as Great Cats."
Morgan looked up, eyes gleaming with seductive challenge. "Do you mean you won't, ever, or do you mean you will only do so with proper inducement?"
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I'm still laughing at the exchange about the Great Cats. As Peter and Dalia would surely object, I bet the Wolves will not like to be classified as Dogs either. What would Lambert and Briony say?
So a further point, perhaps....
Evil Banker Morgan surely deserved her epithet. She may not be accustomed to being social around humans, but she knew exactly how to get her way with this particular one and that was all that mattered. Somewhere in the back of Edmund's head, his imagination just awarded a victorious point in her favor.
"What about the Dogs, Lady Morgan?"
The King pulled his gaze away from his the Banker and turned to his loyal Guard. He could sense his imagination sagging in defeat as his intellect cheered upon this unexpected turn of events. "What about them, Jalur?" he asked a bit forcefully; his imagination was trying to pull his thoughts away from Canines and back on the Evil Banker.
"Surely, the Wolves will not wish to be classified with the Dogs, and the same may be said of the Hounds as well."
"Quite so," Jina put in as she paused from licking her paw. She looked to her charge. "I suggest you discuss this with Lambert and Briony, Lady Morgan. As the High King would not like his guards to not be Great Cats, the Queens' guards would surely take offense to being labeled Dogs as well."
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Every time I see some fascinating article about animals, I keep thinking of your Good Beasts. I just watched this on the BBC site: Wolves teach leadership skills, and was thinking of Jalur and his management of his King.
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(I'm discovering that newly-married life, as wonderful as it is in most ways, leaves very little time for reading fanfic, let alone writing any. Thankfully, I have a daily Metro commute and can access FF.net on my cellphone! So am slowly but surely reading through your stories -- I realised that I'd forgotten the context of TSG Part I, originally read in carefree pre-wedding days, so I went back and read through the whole thing. Considering that I have only just reached Ch. 9 in TQSiT, I should have the sense not to start in on this extra reading matter on your LJ, right? But then, whoever accused me of having sense?)
Anyway, I have actually acquired for myself an LJ account, purely to comment here.
I love the census tidbits. Do, do use them somewhere. I guess your inspiration is from the currently ongoing US census process, but let me offer you additional sources of inspiration. The Indian census started on April 1, and this time around we're counting over a billion people! There are 2.5 million census workers who will fan out all over the country, including urban slums like Dharavi, (crammed with over a million people in just 0.7 square miles), as well as primitive Stone Age tribes scattered over thousands of square miles of militia-infested jungles, who never meet modern civilisation otherwise.
We're also starting a National Population Register, which will get fingerprints and other biometric data of every single Indian above 15. (Yes, this is causing a lot of controversy.) On a side-note, what would be the Narnian equivalent of fingerprints, do you think, as a means of identity and evidence?
Why I really started on the Indian census, though, is because of the whole issue of caste-classification. It's an interesting paradox -- caste is officially non-existent in India, the Constitution forbids any discrimination on its basis. However, the fact remains that so-called backward castes have been downtrodden and oppressed for centuries, so the govt has instituted affirmative action -- mostly by way of reservation for certain castes in jobs and educational institutions. However, the census is not allowed to ask caste questions, so no one really know what is the percentage in population of any of these castes anymore. There's been a huge controversy over the last few months. I thought it was interesting in light of the "preferential treatment" referred to in autumnia's original comment fic. Think of it in Narnian terms -- do some territories/species require additional attention from the monarchy? Then shouldn't we know how many of them there are and where they live? But supposing you weren't allowed to disclose your species/territory in the census, simply because that could be discriminatory? It's a tangled web.
Similarly, with your whole question of "are the cheetahs Great Cats?" Suppose biology says one thing and convention says another? In caste terms -- Dalits or outcastes have been the worst treated, and so get the most preferential treatment from the state. However, over the years, some Dalits have converted from Hinduism (which started the caste system) to Christianity and Buddhism which promised them freedom from caste. Accordingly, the state decided that converts wouldn't have Dalit status. But now many Christian communities have also started implementing caste in their social conventions -- so converts have the worst of both worlds. So now they are actually clamouring for "outcaste" status, so that they can avail of govt reservations and grants. So should they be classified as what religion, govt or they themselves claim they are?
(There's more, but LJ says this comment is too long, so will write another.)
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And the Quit India movement's founder Mahatma Gandhi attempted to remove caste divisions by calling outcastes as "Harijans" or "Sons of God" in an attempt to remove the stigma. However, that term itself is considered derogatory now, with Dalit or Scheduled Caste being the politically correct term...kind of like the different terms used for African-Americans over the years in the US.
Anyway, given the huge variety of issues you tackle in your stories, I couldn't resist providing more food for thought in the form of the Indian census and caste system -- and how they could relate to both Narnia and Spare Oom.
Absolutely loving your world...will head back to ch. 9 now!
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I've not gotten into colonialism in a big way (yet) for India and its impact upon the Pevensies and their Narnian view of colonial oppression are for Part 3. I had no idea you were Indian by culture/background. I have another reader, Renata, who has been helping me and eeep! I am so excited! Another brain to pick!
Btw, Narnian ideas of colonialism get completely turned on their head in TQSiT, with the Calormene-Americans being anti-colonial in contrast to the Narnian/British. Also, I do dance about this a bit in the hints of how the Four chose to deal with the Lone Islands. I've been meaning for some time to change parts of Chapter 1 of TQSiT to reflect the fact that Edmund and Lucy really aren't all that happy with how Caspian dealt with the Lone Islands and that his precipitous acts might just make it worse.
The Lone Islands Edmund/Morgan story is where I really intended to explore notions of colonialism and juxtapose that on to the British experience. Edmund even reflects on the irony that High King Peter might be joining the Quit India movement -- which is not actually far fetched at all in this verse where they all do have anti-colonial views, for all that they were monarchs -- though I'm still toying with Susan there. This is, in fact, the whole point in introducing Evil Banker Morgan in BRD. The Pevensies might have marched into the Lone Islands and, based on their own British imperial backgrounds, started rearranging things to their satisfaction, thinking they were doing the right thing, white man's burden and all that. Morgan is the one who puts the brakes on it in BRD with a, don't be stupid or you are going to have a HUGE problem on your hands. In other words, yes, I've thought about it (a bit) and intended to deal with a lot more, for how can you not deal with the death of colonialsm in a Spare Oom story? This is a huge thematic element of the TSG vision -- that imperial, colonial England is dying and something (ideally) more multi-cultural will rise from its ashes and the Pevensies, by virtue of their own color blindness are very well suited to lead this change.
I see, by the way, that Gandhi's assassination has a really profound effect upon Edmund and in anticipation of that is one reason why I introduced a Hindu and a Muslim into the House of Russell in Part 1.
OK Stopping now. but please, don't stop your insights. They are invaluable and thank you so much.
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History is another matter altogether; more a hobby, so I'm not promising to be an expert if you do want to pick my brains. Stuff like the freedom struggle, however, is basic knowledge, so will do my best. To start with, your timelines mesh almost perfectly if you intend to use India's liberation and Gandhiji's assassination in your story.
Of course, the Quit India movement which you reference was launched in August 1942, so was not yet in existence at the time Edmund made his comment to Peter. But the bigger picture will work out perfectly: India won freedom in August 1947, and Gandhiji was assassinated in January 1949, just months before the Pevensies themselves are killed.
Interestingly, Quit India was closely linked with WWII. The movement was started in the context of rifts within the leadership of the freedom struggle over whether to support the British in the war or not, since the Governor-General Lord Linlithgow had unilaterally brought India into the war without any consultation with local leaders. Some supported the British in hopes that the British would support their own aspirations in return. Others went with the "my enemy's enemy is my friend concept" and actively supported the Axis powers, with Subhash Chandra Bose actually forming the Indian National Army with the support of the Japanese. Gandhiji himself would not support the British declaration of war, as he was a pacifist, but at the height of the Battle of Britain, he expressed his support for the fight against fascism and for the British War effort, stating that he did not seek to raise a free India from the ashes of Britain.
It was in this context that the British sent the Cripps Commission to India in March 1942 to negotiate with the Indian leaders a deal to obtain total co-operation during the war, in return for progressive devolution and distribution of power from the crown and the Viceroy to an elected Indian legislature.
When these talks failed, the Quit India movement was launched. One day after the call for massive civil disobedience, the British, who were already alarmed by the advance of the Japanese to the India-Burma border, responded by arresting Gandhiji. All top freedom struggle leaders were arrested (among 100,000 arrests nationwide) and held for over three years, until the war was over.
So as TQSiT correctly shows, there were plenty of linkages between anti-colonialism and the War, not just in Tashbaan, but also in Terebinthia.
(LJ is cutting me off again, so I'll put some stories of Gandhiji in the Pevensies' London in the next comment.)
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Incidentally, Gandhiji visited London in 1931, when Edmund would have been just a year old. (Although Peter would have been 4, and it must have been something of a spectacle, so perhaps he might have seen it!) I'm sure there were serious things discussed on that visit, but what every Indian schoolchild remembers is the story of how Gandhiji met King George wearing his traditional loincloth or dhoti, and when asked why he did not wear anything more, said, "The King wore enough for both of us!"
I'm not sure if that's an apocryphal quote, but it is true that news reports of the time seemed obsessed with Gandhiji's wardrobe. (Winston Churchill of course called him a half-naked fakir.)
Let me just give you the American linkages, since you are after all writing a Washington story: When asked if he wouldn't wear trousers, tailcoat and top hat for his visit to Buckingham Palace, Gandhiji said: "Would a poor man in the United States change his dress to see President Hoover?" (which I suppose appealed to the fact that the Americans, unlike the British did not have the reverence for a monarch and so would understand his position). In the same year, while there was talk that Gandhiji might visit the US, TIME magazine reports that the Boston mayor promised him a royal reception. However, the city's Superintendent of Police added: "We shall insist that Gandhi be suitably clothed. We can't let any man appear in the streets of Boston in very much less than a one-piece bathing suit."
Anyway, most of this stuff is available in these contemporary articles found with a quick Google search:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19311104&id=-J0xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=czsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5229,4348632
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742602,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741418,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741901,00.html
And all this is not just irrelevent fashion history in India. Khadi, or homespun cotton, which Gandhiji made a political tool with his spinning wheel and loincloth, is still a political symbol in modern India. Just last week, I was interviewing Gandhiji's granddaughter at an event to revive traditional textiles in an effort to "be Indian, buy Indian" and fight globalisation's impacts. So you see, history and current affairs, daily work and the world of fanfic, have all collided delightfully for me this week!
(I'm sure all this is far more than you ever wanted to know, but once I started, I couldn't stop! Sorry!)
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Don't Worry
I also thought I would leave a thank you gift for all the great fic you've given us; this icon was made at Lady Willa's insitance, just for you. I totally fail @ lj, this is the only way I could figure out to give it to you.
Hope you like it!
Re: Don't Worry
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We also understand about Real Life. Most of us have to deal with it too. So if there's a couple weeks, or a couple months, or even a year between updates, most of us are willing to forgive and forget. (Especially those of us who waited three years for JK Rowling to put out Order of the Phoenix.....)
I'll read anything you write. You've got a great style, and it's nice not to be treated like an idiot by the author, nor to be treated like a child. That's why I enjoy your stories so much, because you write them with the assumption that your readers are adults (or at least reasonably mature) and would like some actual emotional involvement with the characters.
So yes, the last chapter of TQSiT was heart breaking, but it was real, and while most of us read to escape reality (reading fantasy especially), it's nice for it to have a sense of realism as well to ground things.
And who knows what might happen in the next two weeks regarding Harold and Morgan and their taxes. And trying to take a census of Narnia would be absolutely brilliant. Especially seeing whatever classifications might come up: "Are you a Talking Beast? Are you a Mixed Creature (IE centaur, faun, satyr, mermaid, etc.)? Are you a spirit-creature (IE naiad, dryad, etc.)?" And then of course all the sub-categories: "If you selected Talking Beast, please specify which Beast you are." Though perhaps maybe it would just be better to let them write in their entry (or have someone else write in an entry for them) instead of having check boxes. Otherwise people might feel unfairly "classified". I could see the Physician heading all of this up....
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An speaking of census, see above comment fic. A Narnia census would be this WEIRD combination of numbers and counting (a highly sensual experience for Evil Banker Morgan to be sure -- Edmund will be thrilled) and biological taxonomy. The physician finally has an ally in Evil Banker Morgan and will not let off on nuances of cladistics and linnaean classification (well, it's Narnian equivalent).
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