John Carter, redux

I love it when many things come together unexpectedly and in ways you could never imagine. After posting on Merrill Moore and his poem “No Envy, John Carter” last week, what do I come across today? The recently released James Agee: Selected Poems (American Poets Project), and within it the incomplete satire John Carter. But to make things more than coincidental, look at the influences mentioned and alluded to in just the first two stanzas:

Like Byron, I’ll begin at the beginning.
         Unlike that better bard, my lad’s a new one,
Expert in charm, supremely so in sinning,
         Nevertheless he differs from Don Juan
In ways enough to set your brain to spinning.
         For how he differs, read the books ensuing:
For this time’s being and this being’s place
Are both beginning and in medias res.

In medias New York State stands the Homestead;
         In medias that, in medias modest gloom,
In a large room: in medias that, a bed:
         In medias which a man and wife consume
The night with pleasure: for they’re three weeks wed,
         And the bride’s trained at last: in medias whom
George Carter labors lovingly: deception
Is not my aim: you’re in at the conception.

Sad to say, the poem doesn’t improve from there. In the four dozen stanzas of this fragment, we never meet John Carter but do get to learn how Leonard Dash lost his virginity. Judging from his experience, I don’t envy Dash’s dreams either.

In addition to the coincidence of the poem’s name, I loved the confluence of Byron and Sterne, especially after commenting on both in discussions on Pushkin. Later in the poem, it is noted that “My poem thus far is heavily digression, / Some critical, some moral, some just dirty” just before going on yet another digression. Let us now praise failed attempts…

Eugene Onegin discussion: Pushkin and Byron

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by J.M.W. Turner
Picture source

I had written a long post on Lord Byron’s influence on Pushkin, as well as Pushkin creating something beyond Byron. As I was re-reading it, I realized only people working on graduate degrees related to this would care. Hell, even I didn’t care by the time I reached the end. So I’ll paraphrase it and try to at least discuss part of the novel.

With Byron’s influence waning, it is easy to forget the standing Byron had during his day. His writing hit notes that resonated perfectly for his time and Pushkin could probably identify (to some extent) with Byron’s life (or at least the persona) and characters. Byron doesn’t exert the same influence as he once did, obviously, but neither does Goethe’s Werther, but each captured and influenced their time. That Pushkin would esteem one of Europe’s leading writers is understandable. I can’t find it now, but I remember reading that Pushkin took pride in sleeping with one of Byron’s lovers. This tale may have been from Pushkin’s alleged journals, making the story questionable (but still fitting).

The romanticism usually associated with Byron comes through in Eugene Onegin, not just in particular characters but in works referenced in the novel. The melancholy and world-weariness of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage reflects the character of Onegin. Unlike Byron, who noted it was difficult to separate Harold and the author, Pushkin first separates Onegin from the author through the use of a narrator/character very different from Pushkin. In another sense, he also “divides” himself through two characters, Onegin and the poet Lensky. Still, the influence in using a Byronic hero stands out in Pushkin’s work. Not to mention he specifically mentions Childe Harold several times throughout the work.

Eugene Onegin seems to follow closer to Byron’s Don Juan (at least to me). Don Juan goes beyond the romanticism of Byron’s earlier work, adding much satire and irony. Pushkin denied that Eugene Onegin had anything in common with Don Juan, even though the mock heroics of both feel similar at times. Since both are a combination of several types of literature and show similar influences, they should feel comparable at times. Not to mention that Pushkin mentioned he had started a work “in the genre of Don Juan. It is interesting to note that Child Harolde is mentioned many times throughout Onegin while Don Juan has only one reference. But that mention is important. It occurs when Tatyana explores Onegin’s library after the duel, reading books (including Don Juan and other works by Byron) that Onegin would not share with her, causing her to understand “the creature / for whom her passion has been planned”. To drive home the point, it doesn’t hurt that Byron’s portrait is on the wall of the library, too. On top of the direct addresses to Byron’s works, Pushkin also indirectly addresses or alludes to them many times throughout the novel.

Which is not to say Pushkin focuses solely on Byron or was only influenced by him. Literary references and allusions are everywhere throughout the work, starting with the opening lines (an ironic reference to a fable). Having recently read Tristram Shandy, it is easy to see shades of Sterne, from the digressions (also similar to Byron and other works), to empty chapters (for various reasons), and placing the introduction at the end of the seventh chapter. Playfulness can take many forms, but Sterne’s tone and style seem apparent throughout the novel. With all of these references and allusions, Pushkin assumes a high level of literary knowledge in his readership.

I’ll mercifully end this post now. So much for being short…