British Literature - Week 1 - Beowulf and the "Monstrous"

This is the first blog post in a series on British Literature to 1650-- offered at Hudson County Community College for the first time in spring 2019. I had a blast teaching this course at the North Hudson campus, with a largely Latino student population. Of the 15 students in the class, many major in English, but several major in subjects such as Liberal Arts, Early Childhood Education, and Accounting!

Covering such a vast canon of literature is daunting, requiring difficult choices. First on the list -- Beowulf. I refer not to the Angelina Jolie-as-Grendel's-mother movie version -- but the real Beowulf! We spent two weeks on this first English Epic, written in Old English that reads more like German. Beowulf's setting is current-day Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. Before we began our foray into Beowulf, the class learned the roots of the Old English language. English derives from Anglo-Saxon roots, in Denmark, Norway, and Northern Germany.

Yep - our "English" language has Germanic and Scandinavian roots!

In the first third of the epic, the "hero" Beowulf defeats the "monster" Grendel, thereby saving the Danes, the hall of Heorot, and King Hrothgar. Seems pretty straightforward, right? However, like any truly great literature, the layers of meaning make Beowulf almost the opposite of straightforward.

What constitutes the "monstrous" became an overriding question in our class. Grendel kills the lords in Heorot, so he receives the label "monster." But what differentiates Beowulf and Grendel? Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. What makes one a monster and the other a hero? My students made a list of characteristics of heroes and monsters:

Heroes -                                                                           Monsters-
Just                                                                                   Blood thirsty
Courageous                                                                      Vengeful
Selfless                                                                             Selfish
Handsome                                                                        Ugly
Instill hope                                                                       Instill fear
Dynamic                                                                          Static
Forgiving                                                                         Merciless

Great list! But wait a minute. Could Beowulf and Grendel's similarities outweigh their differences?  Let's examine what they have in common:

• both outsiders to the great hall of Heorot; 
• both arrive without warning; 
• both fight without weapons; 
• both seek vengeance; 
• both kill;
• both exhibit greed. 

Hmmm - not so dissimilar now!

Beowulf's author applies an Old English word aglæca to both the hero Beowulf and the monster Grendel. Described as a "difficult and much-debated word" in Wiktionary, how could the same word describe both the hero and the monster? The line dividing the "good" hero and the "evil" monster needs evaluation. What possible characteristics could they have in common? Old English scholars define aglæca in a variety of ways, depending on the context: fierce, monster, fiend, hero, fierce warrior, formidable one.

Alexander Bruce, in "Evil Twins? The Role of the Monsters in Beowulf" argues "the [Beowulf] poet was intentionally exploiting the grammatical flexibility and ambiguity of his language to underscore subtly the point that at times we cannot distinguish between man and monster" (Bruce).

Beowulf is the first in a long line of epics with heroes and monsters. This tradition lives on in epics like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and even Avengers: Infinity Wars. Consider the character Thanos, described as a "super-villain." Does he more closely resemble Grendel, or Beowulf? Thanos embodies characteristics of both heroes and villains, carrying on the great tradition of complex characters who challenge our basic assumptions about good and evil.

Work Cited

Bruce, Alexander M. "Evil Twins? The Role of the Monsters in Beowulf." Medieval Forum. 10 January 2007. 20 May 2019. .

Historical Fiction - Part II - The Characters

In my last post, I wrote about the importance of a good story in historical fiction. The historical novel I recently finished, My Dear Hamilton, is a stellar example of how to weave history and fiction together to create a good story and believable characters. The authors, Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, write that "fiction can go where historians rightly fear to tread." Novelists posit characters' motivations, attitudes, and decisions--an interior life that is unknowable where journals and diaries are non-existent.

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.—Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar.

Truth is stranger than fiction, as Mark Twain wrote in his brilliant play, Pudd'nhead Wilson, and the true parts of My Dear Hamilton are the most unbelievable, as the authors write, "the most outlandish bits are the true ones... battles, duels... scandals, riots, plagues, and mental illnesses." All these are true.

So most of the events as depicted in My Dear Hamilton are based on historical facts. The characters, especially Eliza, Alexander, and Eliza's sister Angelica, also ring true. We believe their words; we understand their reactions; and we grow to care about them. Well-rounded characters with rich interior lives who make mistakes, change their minds, and sometimes rise to meet the challenges confronting them, appear to us like people we know. They are like the people we are.

Knowing that Alexander Hamilton cheated on his wife with a woman named Maria Reynolds is a fact of history, but depicting the revelation of this betrayal, and following Eliza's reactions, causes the reader to sympathize with Eliza and excoriate Alexander. The reader is allowed to hear Eliza's thoughts when her husband admits to adultery. Alexander keeps talking and asking for forgiveness, but Eliza is off in her own world, wondering if Maria Reynolds is beautiful, wondering what they did together in bed, wondering if he ever really loved her. Eliza does not grant him the forgiveness he seeks, but meets his pleas with silence.

This is fiction--we don't know how Eliza reacted to this news of her husband's infidelity. But it feels real; it has veracity; and we are drawn in to care. Eliza does not come to forgive her husband until they both almost die from yellow fever. That conforms to personal experience as well. I wonder how many reconciliations there were after 9/11. When we are faced with our own mortality, we focus on what's really important, and we want to be close to those we love.

From My Dear Hamilton -- as Eliza decides to forgive her husband:
"But first, I forgave my husband because I was a Christian, because I loved him, and because I must never allow Maria Reynolds to define us" (Dray and Kamoie 342).

One of the most important ingredients in a good historical novel is believable characters we come to love (or hate)! Is this someone I could imagine sitting down with for a cup of tea? If they pass this test, to me they are believable characters and I, too, can predict their moves. I'm either gratified to be right, pleasingly shocked to be surprised, or aghast that the characters I knew could disappoint me. Either way, I feel like I know them, and I want to learn as much as possible about them. I'm hooked!

Historical Fiction - Part I - The Story

I'm reading My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. Well, devouring, inhaling, and imbibing are better verbs to describe my voracious appetite for this morsel of fiction--an ideal historical novel. I'm nearing the end, so I'm putting off reading it because I don't want to finish the book. You know that place where you slow down to avoid ending the pleasure of reading? That's where I'm at now. So I thought I'd blog about it, instead of finishing the book.

What makes a good historical novel? Why is one novel better than another? I read a lot of novels, probably 2-4 a month. Reading is a way for me to relax, escape, laugh, cry, and revel in the human condition. It's why I love teaching literature. Whether it's Beowulf or Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, when a writer brings to life a character, real or fictional, I want to know all about him or her. And when a writer uses the English language to describe the human condition in curious, creative, and confounding ways, I'm hooked!

A good historical novel does at least three things well:

Tell a good story-
It all comes down to the story. In historical fiction, the basic architecture of the story is set, although there is not always detailed information about historical figures. For instance, my historical novel is about the daughter of Olaudah Equiano, Joanna Vassa. Not much is known about Joanna, so most of my novel is more fictional than historical. But for a character like Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, there are several sources and books to consult.

Like a memoir, a historical novelist must make critical decisions about what to include, and what to exclude. Most people who read My Dear Hamilton will know parts of their story, and Hamilton's untimely demise. So how does a writer keep readers interested when they already know the ending? This is not unlike the challenge Sophocles faced when writing tragedies like Antigone. The audience knew Antigone would die, but how that came about, what clues led to later revelations, how the denouement was revealed, all these factors encompass the plot.

In the Prologue to My Dear Hamilton, Eliza (the novel is in first person from Eliza's perspective-- a brilliant choice) refers to her husband Alexander as, "My husband. My hero. My betrayer." At the outset readers know Eliza will be betrayed. We don't know how (unless we remember the history really well), we don't know when, and we don't know with whom... but an expectation is set up, and we want to read the story to find out the bitter details. The reader is poised to commiserate with Eliza and excoriate Alexander right from the first page. However, I grew to like and admire both of them as I read the book.

The plot is fast-moving, even with some details about battles, political wrangling, friends becoming enemies and enemies becoming friends. The political background is critically important, but the heart of the novel is the love between Eliza and Alexander, their children, parents, and siblings. It's a novel about how to live with a "great" man, and how to be a "great" spouse. And so much more!

I'm going to go back and finish the book now!

In my next post, I'll write about creating believable and lovable characters, and in the final post, about world building.

Life is Everywhere

The point is, stories are all around us. Plots are all around us. Motivations for our characters' lives surround us daily. All we need to do is open our eyes and see the stories coming to life. One of my favorite short story writers, Jeffrey Archer, found many of his short stories in the newspaper! He would read an article and find inspiration for a short story.

Our own lives, of course, are great fodder for stories. Our feelings are not as unique as we would like to think! Our feelings of elation, confusion, grief, pride, discouragement, have all been felt by others, and by extrapolation, our characters will have similar feelings.

I mentioned in my last post that death is everywhere. But life is everywhere, too! My sons were working in my backyard digging a shallow, rectangular hole for a back patio (God bless them!). As they were digging, my oldest son noticed a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. He watched as the butterfly ate away a piece of the chrysalis and emerged. The Monarch butterfly stayed close-by on the fence. After a few hours, it spread its wings. But by the end of the day it was still there--new life, or life in a new form.

 

The analogy of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly is often used in writing, the transforming experience of changing from one form of being to another; the necessity of withdrawal from the world to instigate change; a symbol of resurrection and hope.

Indeed, just as death is all around us, so is life. When our stories face the ubiquity of death and life, they will live.

Death is Everywhere

I'm an optimist! The title and first sentence may seem incongruous--they're not. I'm an optimist even though I know death is everywhere. I'm also a Christian, which shapes my world view and perspective toward death.

As writers, if we don't acknowledge the ubiquity of death, we avoid a significant aspect of life. People die around us daily; we read about shootings, or car accidents, or floods in the paper or on Facebook; we see stories on the news of tragic deaths both here and abroad. Sometimes the deaths are closer to home--a parent, spouse, child, or friend. These deaths affect us deeply, changing us, shaping us.

The death of a loved one is like an amputation. Gerald Sittser writes in A Grace Disguised that "catastrophic loss is like undergoing an amputation of our identity. It is not like the literal amputation of a limb. Rather it is more like the amputation of the self from the self" (Sittser 70). These losses affect us deeply and profoundly and our lives are not the same. Death amputates a part of us; it alters our gait. We need to learn to live with the amputation; we learn to walk with a new gait--one that absorbs the loss.

Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and their 9 children

My point here is that as write stories, or novels, or poems, if we don't write about how our characters' losses through death have shaped their lives, we may be missing a crucial component of their character.

In the two novels I've written (am writing), each contains a woman dying in childbirth. Don't analyze me! Scores of women die in childbirth, even today--even in America. Centuries ago it was common for women to die in childbirth. Queen Victoria had 9 children, and during her first pregnancy her closest advisors put a plan for succession in place... in case she died in childbirth. She didn't die in childbirth, and in fact her husband Prince Albert predeceased her by 40 years. After Prince Albert's death, Queen Victoria went into mourning, and she wore black for the rest of her life. Her husband's death shaped the rest of her own life.


As you create characters, or write historical fiction, include in their personal histories and backstories the deaths that shaped them. This will add depth, complexity, and veracity to your writing.

Stories Are Everywhere

Walking to work today I greeted or interacted with six people. My walk is only three blocks long! I like living in the neighborhood where I work and attend church. Once I got to the office I'm working in today, I realized how each person I greeted or talked to has a story. Some I know; some I don't. But every person has a story; and every story is potential for a short story, a poem, a character, or a novel.

First, I greeted an Egyptian man who is always out and about in the neighborhood. His sons attended our after-school program and his older son hung out with one of my sons. Then I saw an older woman from our church. Her son recently died of throat cancer and she is still grieving. She has a story to tell. In the next block I came across a former student. She took my speech class over a year ago and is still pursuing her Associate's Degree.

Before I reached Dunkin Donuts I came upon a homeless man whom I've talked to a bit. I gave him some change and wondered how he ended up homeless on the streets of Jersey City. I'm sure there is a long, fascinating, somewhat tragic story there. While waiting for my bagel, I saw another former student. This young Pakistani woman told me about her struggles in this country. She is now finishing her degree at NJIT. I know a few of her stories, but I'm sure her life is worthy of a book!

As I left Dunkin Donuts to walk the remaining block, another homeless man asked me for money, which I gave him. When he said he needed a hug, I told him "I don't hug strangers," which isn't 100% true, but I shook his hand instead. Again, I can only imagine the stories he could tell--about his own life, and others' lives.

If you're an aspiring writer, just look around you every day. Talk to people. Engage. There are stories all around us!

Grief Described

How can one describe grief? It is universal, yet individual. It comes to every person, yet its manifestation is unique, not only for each person, but for each grief observed. Grief can overtake us, diminish us, expand us, and show us both the limits and breadth of our humanity. Many poets, playwrights, songwriters, and novelists have attempted to describe grief--to greater or lesser success. 

The best book on grief I have ever read is non-fiction, by Gerald L. Sittser--A Grace Disguised. The title alone is powerful. Sittser lost his mother, wife, and one daughter in a car accident he survived. The drunk driver who hit his car robbed him of three generations of women instantaneously. I cannot fathom that kind of grief. But his description of what he went through brought healing to me after my own sweet dad died in 1996. I have recommended his book to many others, and bought several copies to give to those in the throes of grief. I remember one passage in particular--he writes an analogy about the necessity to go through the darkness (the grief) to get to the light (the healing).  Read along here as he describes his dream:

I dreamed of a setting sun. I was frantically running west, trying desperately to catch it and remain in its fiery warmth and light. But I was losing the race. The sun was beating me to the horizon and was soon gone. I suddenly found myself in the twilight. Exhausted, I stopped running and glanced with foreboding over my shoulder to the east. I saw a vast darkness closing in on me. I was terrified by that darkness. I wanted to keep running after the sun, though I knew that it was futile, for it had already proven itself faster than I was. So I lost all hope, collapsed to the ground, and fell into despair...  my sister, Diane, told me that the quickest way for anyone to reach the sun and the light of day is not to run west, chasing after the setting sun, but to head east, plunging into the darkness until one comes to the sunrise.  (Sittser 33)

What a powerful image. I continue to dwell on that as I grieve the losses in my life. A friend of his mentioned a poem by John Donne in which he describes east and west as opposites which come together if one is followed far enough. In case you're curious, here is the poem by John Donne:

Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness

By John Donne

Since I am coming to that holy room,

         Where, with thy choir of saints for evermore,

I shall be made thy music; as I come

         I tune the instrument here at the door,

         And what I must do then, think here before.

Whilst my physicians by their love are grown

         Cosmographers, and I their map, who lie

Flat on this bed, that by them may be shown

         That this is my south-west discovery,

      Per fretum febris, by these straits to die,

I joy, that in these straits I see my west;

         For, though their currents yield return to none,

What shall my west hurt me? As west and east

         In all flat maps (and I am one) are one,

         So death doth touch the resurrection.

Is the Pacific Sea my home? Or are

         The eastern riches? Is Jerusalem?

Anyan, and Magellan, and Gibraltar,

         All straits, and none but straits, are ways to them,

         Whether where Japhet dwelt, or Cham, or Shem.

We think that Paradise and Calvary,

         Christ's cross, and Adam's tree, stood in one place;

Look, Lord, and find both Adams met in me;

         As the first Adam's sweat surrounds my face,

         May the last Adam's blood my soul embrace.

So, in his purple wrapp'd, receive me, Lord;

         By these his thorns, give me his other crown;

And as to others' souls I preach'd thy word,

         Be this my text, my sermon to mine own:

"Therefore that he may raise, the Lord throws down."

Stay turned for more on describing grief in my next blog post. Please share with me an especially apt description of grief you have read, or written!