Sybil, or the Two Nations by Benjamin Disraeli (novel #177)

There is a whisper rising in this country that Loyalty is not a phrase. Faith not a delusion, and Popular Liberty something more diffusive and substantial than the profane exercise of the sacred rights of sovereignty by political classes.

 

Sybil, or The Two Nations is a roman à these – a novel with a thesis. I have read that it is an exposé on the deplorable conditions of England’s working class, mid 19^thCentury. In my opinion, that is only half-right. I believe the point is more precisely: the unconscionable condition – a condition the ruling elite is culpable for – of the working class and a call to change.

 

It is also, a Victorian Era romance.

 

At the time of writing, Benjamin Disraeli was a member of Parliament, who would later become Prime Minister.

 

Sybil – is the beautiful, intelligent, and virtuous daughter of a labor organizer. She is an ideal.

 

The Two Nations of the title is best described by one of the novels characters.

 

“Yes,” resumed the younger stranger after a moment’s interval. “Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws.”

 

“THE RICH AND THE POOR.”

 

I may be pressing my rights as a reviewer to once more differ from conventional, and more qualified opinion, but I think The Two Nations is neither subtitle, nor alternate title, but rather the single title is: Sybil, or The Two Nations.

 

I called Sybil the daughter of a labor organizer, but that isn’t quite correct. Walter Gerard is a leader in the Chartist movement. Chartist demands were not merely for labor reform, but also voter and Parliamentary reform. Growing up under his reasoned and eloquent discourse, Sybil has formed a very precise world view.

 

The quick intelligence and the ardent imagination of Sybil had made her comprehend with fervor the two ideas that had been impressed on her young mind; the oppression of her church and degradation of her people.

 

In her own words...

 

The dove and the eagle will not mate; the lion and the lamb will not lie down together; and the conquerors will never rescue the conquered. ~ Sybil

 

But Sybil’s world view will be challenged by circumstance and the person of Charles Egremont, the younger brother of Lord Marney – hence not the heir – but still from a life of privilege.

 

Enjoyment, not ambition seemed the principle of his existence.

 

Charles becomes a member of Parliament, and becomes conscious of the great divide in glorious England.

 

There are seasons in life when solitude is a necessity; and such a one had now descended on the spirit of the brother of Lord Marney.

 

One thing I liked about this novel, was that although Disraeli clearly portrays “the people” as the wronged, and more virtuous party, they are not without their own foibles and prejudices. This is most poignant in Sybil herself.

 

She had seen enough to suspect that the world was a more complicated system than she had preconceived.

 

Disraeli paints a miserable picture of England’s working class. It is disturbing and heartbreaking. He describes the denizens of one particularly squalid labor town…

 

Ask them the name of their sovereign, and they will give you an unmeaning stare; ask them the name of their religion, and they will laugh: who rules them on earth, or who can save them in heaven, are alike mysteries to them.

 

Overall, I enjoyed this novel, and learned a great deal about a historic setting of which I was largely ignorant. Disraeli asserts that this history is indeed somewhat hard to discover.

 

Generally speaking, all the great events have been distorted, most of the important causes concealed, some of the principal characters never appear, and all who figure are so misunderstood and misrepresented, that the result is a complete mystification, and the perusal of the narrative about as profitable to an Englishman as reading the Republic of Plato or the Utopia of More, The pages of Gaudentio di Lucca or the adventures of Peter Wilkins.

 

And while his passion and purpose are commendable, the politics were a bit difficult to comprehend. I’m certain it was more accessible at the time. But still the human elements, and the love story were very entertaining. 

 

My rating: 3 ½ of 5 stars

 

This novel satisfies “a classic by a new to me author” in the Back to the Classics 2021 Challenge.

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Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley (novel #176)

It was those two days more than any other that made me a detective. ~ Easy Rawlins

 

I didn’t enjoy my last two reads; one was DNF, the other 2 Stars. 

 

So, I modified my planned schedule, for something fun and “easy” (pun intended), The main character is Easy Rawlins, the hard-boiled detective in Walter Mosley’s mystery-noir series.

 

This novel introduces Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, and the caper that accidentally made him a P.I. Easy is an African-American, WWII veteran, living in Los Angeles county late 1940s. Out of work and desperate to make his mortgage, he takes work from a shady character – a not too many questions type of job, to simply find a girl and report her whereabouts. Easy has no training as a private detective, but he is street-wise, tough, and unattached, so he takes the job. The girl, as you might infer from the title, is a femme-fatale, whose association doesn’t seem to do anyone, including Easy, any good.

 

Easy's character, and this series is considered barrier breaking, with the African American lead – but honestly, it doesn’t read like Mosely is trying to make that point, or force that issue. It’s just good clean fun – well, R-rated at a few points, but quite entertaining.

 

I ready mostly classics, and this probably cannot be considered classic (maybe someday), mostly because it is fairly recent. In spite of the 1940s setting, it was published in 1990. The setting for the Easy Rawlins series, Mosley’s most popular, continues into the late 1960s. I’ll probably read more in the series, especially when I’m in need of something fun and easy.

 

My rating: 3 1/2 of 5 stars

This novel satisfies a book with an article of clothing in the title, for the What’s in a Name? 2021 challenge. I had to come up with an alternate title, after I threw The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists onto the DNF pile.

 

Excerpts:

 

By the time the sun went down I was at peace with myself. I had a name, and address, a hundred dollars, and the next day I’d go ask for my old job back. I had a house and an empty bottle of vodka that had made me feel good.

 

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Journey to the West by Wu Cheng‘en (novel #175)

Journey to the West: The Monkey King’s Amazing Adventures

by Wu Cheng'en

          (translated by Timothy Richard)

Journey to the West is one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels, along with Dream of the Red Chamber, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Water Margin.

 

It is a highly-fictionalized story of Xuanzang, a 7^th Century Buddhist monk, who made a journey from Chang’an China to India, in search of the highest and truest tenets of Buddhism, that he felt had been lost in Chinese Buddhism. It was written in the 16^thCentury during the Ming Dynasty by Wu Cheng’en. My version was translated by Timothy Richard, a Welsh Baptist missionary to China in the late 19^th, early 20^thCentury.

 

It can be taken as a simple adventure story, but can also be interpreted as an allegory for a pilgrim seeking enlightenment. And while it is primarily about Buddhism, it also asserts “the three religions [Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism] are really one.” 

 

As I said, it is highly fictionalized. In this story, Xuanzang is accompanied by a monkey, a pig, another monk, and a horse.

 

As the subtitle suggests, this tale is more about the monkey than Xuanzang. The monkey, Sun Wukon is half-monkey, half-man. He is boastful and powerful in magical combative arts. He can change into just about any form of man or beast, can create hundreds of copies of himself, can grow to 100,000 feet tall, and can travel to Hell or Heaven, or leap across continents. He was imprisoned under a mountain for 500 years, for causing trouble in Heaven. After he is released by Xuanzang, Sun Wukon serves him on his quest.

 

The pig, Zhu Bajie, was also cast out of Heaven and reborn as half-pig. He is magical, but not nearly so powerful as Sun Wukon. He is a hedonist, and serves Xuanzang for penance. The monk Sha is a disciple of Xuanzang, and the horse is actually a dragon turned into a horse to bear the pilgrims burdens.

 

They encounter numerous deities and demons on the 14 year journey of nearly 6,000 miles. The demons try to eat Xuanzang to gain immorality. Sun Wukon fights and subdues them, and in the next chapter, the same thing happens again.

 

You can probably tell I didn’t like it, but I’m glad to have read it for its historical significance. I don’t think I’m qualified to critique though, as I believe much is lost in translation – both literal and cultural translation. Chinese storytelling sometimes employs a technique that doesn’t appeal to my western senses. The narrative of events is often quite abrupt, while the descriptions of persons or objects is excessively ornate.

 

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

 

This novel satisfies – classic by a black, indigenous, person-of-color author in the Back to the Classics Challenge 2021

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Ratman’s Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert (novel #174)

You’ve probably never heard of this book, but if I told you it was the basis for the 1971 film Willard, does that ring a bell? Unlike the movie, named for the main character, the novel’s main character is unnamed, though he is later given, and assumes the sobriquet Ratman.

 

As the title suggests, the story is Ratman’s first person narrative, taken from his own journal, or notebook.

 

Ratman is a social misfit, living with his mother somewhere in England. His boss, a pompous and condescending jerk, keeps Ratman on, it seems almost for the joy of tormenting him with the knowledge that the company was founded by Ratman’s father, and sold off after his decease. 

 

Ratman has no friends, until he befriends – wait for it – a colony of rats. One rat in particular, Socrates, is highly intelligent and Ratman finds he is easily trained. Socrates then takes care of training the others. A bit later, Ben, another highly intelligent rat emerges. 

 

And things just get creepy, and awful, and desperate, and…don’t expect Disney to take up the franchise.

 

It’s a riveting read though. Gilbert does a wonderful job of causing the reader to empathize, before Ratman starts making creepy, awful, desperate use of his army of trained rats. 

 

Of course they that live by the….???...rat???…well, that would be a spoiler. 

 

Overall, I liked it…or more precisely found it riveting. It’s a pretty far-fetched tale. I have no problem suspending disbelief for a good story, but there was one thing I found ridiculous. There is plausible explanation for how Ratman discovered the rat’s intelligence and how he trained them. But somehow Ben…learns to READ…on his own. That was a major weakness in the plot for me. 

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

This novel satisfies a classic about an animal, or with an animal in the title, for the Back to the Classics 2021 Challenge, and a title with a possessive noun, for the What’s in a Name? 2021 Challenge.

 

I vaguely remember the movie, which was pretty creepy, and awful, and desperate. But, as far as I can remember, it omitted the reading rat, which may explain why the movie did better than the book. There is a sequel to the movie, titled Ben, but it wasn’t such a great flick. However, Michael Jackson performed and recorded the title song: Ben. Only Michael Jackson could make a hit song about a rat.

 

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The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell (DNF)

Enough! I’m throwing this on the “did not finish” (DNF) pile and moving on.

 

In the preface, Tressell – pen name for Robert Noonan, writes:

 

I designed to show the conditions relating from poverty and unemployment: to expose the futility of the measures taken to deal with them and to indicate what I believe to be the only real remedy, namely – Socialism.

 

I was less than enthused, but I am not afraid of reading opposing world views; I’ve done it before, and even liked a few, so I continued on. I was encouraged, when later in the preface Tressell says:

 

The Philanthropists’ is not a treatise or essay, but a novel. My main object was to write a readable story full of human interest and based on the happenings of everyday life, the subject of Socialism being treated incidentally. 

 

Perfect! I can live with that, and I’ll even read with an open mind. Make your case Mr. Tressell. He also promised a “humorous side” to the story. Even better!

 

250 pages later, very little story, no humor, and nearly endless propaganda based on clichés, anecdotes, and Straw-Man arguments. 

 

I’ve read socialists before – most notably Orwell. But whereas Orwell writes a fascinating story, to subtly profess his ideology, Tressell overtly asserts his ideology, thinly veiled as a story – not at all convincingly or interestingly.

 

So, enough!

 

Out of 177 novels, this in only the fourth DNF.

King Henry IV, Second Part by William Shakespeare

Henry IV, part two is the third play in Shakespeare’s tetralogy or Henriad: four plays regarding the succession from King Richard II – Henry IV – Henry V. Written in the late 16^thcentury, it covers the final days of Henry IV (1413) and the ascension of his son Henry V who reigned from 1413 – 1422.

 

In the previous play, Prince Henry (aka Hal, aka Harry) is chided by the King for being a wastrel, and for his association with Sir John Falstaff – who although a Knight and loyal to Henry is two-faced, craven, and hedonistic. Prince Henry vows to become a better man, but at the outset of part two – the change is not yet apparent. 

 

This is probably my least favorite thus far, of the historical plays. I liked Henry IV part one very much, but in part two, the various acts seem disconnected. Prince Henry begins to see Falstaff for the scoundrel that he is, there is the putting down of the rebellion, and the death of the King even as he learns the rebellion is ended. There is a good deal of comic relief – perhaps more than most of Shakespeare’s historical plays – but it didn’t really work for me.

 

There is a touching scene between the dying King and his successor.

 

King Henry: …God knows, my son,

By what by-paths and indirect crook’d ways

I met this crown; and I myself know well

How Troublesome it sat upon my head:

To thee it shall descend with better quiet,

 

and…

 

How I came by the crown, O God forgive;

And grant it may with thee in true peace live!

 

And the response:

Prince Henry: My gracious liege,

You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;

Then plain and right must my possession be:

Which I with more than with a common pain

‘Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain

 

Shorthly thereafter, one official inquires of another

 

Chief Justice: How doth the King?

Earl of Warwick: Exceedingly well; his cares are now all ended.

 

Henry makes a good start, and appears to be the man a king should be. The audience is given an epilogue by an unnamed dancer…that there is more of this tale yet to tell…which of course will be the play: King Henry V.

 

Modern day colloquialisms from Henry IV part two

Falstaff asks Pistol: What wind blew you hither, Pistol?

Pistol: Not the ill wind which blows no man to good.

Modern rendering: It’s an ill wind that blows no good

 

Later Falstaff asks Pistol: What, Is the old king dead?

Pistol: As a nail in the door

Modern rendering: as dead as a door nail

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Herzog by Saul Bellow (novel #173)

If I am out of my mind, it’s all right with me, thought Moses Herzog ~ opening line

 

At first, I thought Herzog was clearly not out of his mind. He is lucid, intelligent, and philosophical, but over time I began to wonder about him even as he wonders about himself.

 

Was he a clever man or an idiot?

 

Moses Herzog is a middle-aged Jewish man, author, professor, and philosopher. He has suffered two failed marriages: the first to Daisy – just sad; the second to the manipulative and vindictive Madelaine who seems intent on ruining him socially and professionally.

 

But then – as noted – Herzog may be mad. He is certainly not a reliable narrator, and this novel is very nearly one long monologue of his thoughts and words.

 

And his letters. Herzog writes LOTS of letters; he seldom sends them. They are to famous persons: President Eisenhower, Martin Luther King, Churchill, Nehru, Spinoza – oh yeah – some not even alive. Others are to family, friends, doctors, local politicians. All reflect Herzog’s discontent, and I’d say his fixing of blame on anyone and everyone but himself.

 

I liked Herzog at first; I thought he was the victim. Indeed, in spite of his unreliability, it is clear that Madelaine was pretty awful. But Herzog was his own worst enemy, and engages in far too much navel gazing.

 

But I, a learned specialist in the intellectual history, handicapped by emotional confusion…Resisting the argument that scientific thought has put into disorder all considerations based on value…Convinced that the extent of universal space does not destroy human value, that the realm of facts and that of values are not eternally separated.

 

Blech!

 

One rather insignificant discourse he had with a friend. The friend with emotional problems of his own, recounts how devastated he was by the death of his pet monkey. Herzog muses:

 

A man could do worse than to love his monkey...

 

Maybe it wasn’t insignificant. Herzog had done worse. I still have some sympathy for the fellow. He has a couple crises, including homicidal thoughts, and later arrest, but in the end, perhaps the navel gazing did some good. He seems to find some balance. He quits writing letters, takes responsibility for his life, and under the watchful eye of a loving brother – the reader thinks there may be some hope for Herzog yet.

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've read one other work by Saul Bellow [The Adventures of Augie March] which I enjoyed. This one, not as much. 

This novel satisfies a 20^thCentury classic for the Back to the Classics 2021 Challenge.

 

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