Chapter 3. Who is this man?

Ch 3. Who is this man?

I've named him Ivan, and I didn't invent him, I discovered him in a 1924 novel called The Price of Things by Elinor Glyn. He was on the first page and crucial to the whole story, which was supposed to be a coming-of-age novel about a young woman. I think Elinor Glyn found him as fascinating as I do:

If one consciously and deliberately desires happiness on this plane," said the Russian, "one must have sufficient strength of will to banish all thought. The moment that one begins to probe the meaning of things, one has opened Pandora's box and it may be many lives before one discovers hope lying at the bottom of it.

What do you mean by thought? How can one not think?" Amaryllis Ardayre's large grey eyes opened in a puzzled way. She was on her honeymoon in Paris at a party at the Russian Embassy, and until now had accepted things and not speculated about them...Honeymoon! Heavens! But perhaps it was because Sir John was dull...

The Russian, on the other hand, was not dull. He was huge and ugly and rough-hewn - his eyes were yellowish-green and slanted upwards and his face was frankly Calmuck. But you knew that you were talking to a personality - to one who had probably a number of unknown possibilities about him...

The Russian was observing this charming English bride criticially..."An agreeable task for a man to undertake her education," and he wished he had time...

(A few minutes later, he goes on to describe a gorgeous woman who the young woman has admired and remarked on, an American who he obviously knows well:)

...her only force is her tenacious will.

Such force is good, though?

Certainly. Even bad force is better than negative force. One must first be strong before one can be serene.

You are strong.

Yes, but not good.

If you are bad how does your theory work that we pay for each action? Since by that you know that it cannot be worthwhile to be bad.

It is not - I am aware of it, but when I am bad, I am bad deliberately, knowing that I must pay.

That seems stupid of you.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I take very severe exercise when I begin to think of things I should not and I become savage when I require happiness..."



Whew. That could make a person pick up a magazine and fan herself. The American woman, in a later scene, appears in his apartment, sitting on his knee and calls him 'darling brute.' A rather advanced novel for 1924. But a good one!
[link to abebooks page]

Fascinating man. I have decided to make him the love interest of this Silk Road novel, a more robust Lord Peter Wimsey for my own Harriet Vane. Which reference makes me realize that you'll understand Ginger better if you know a little about that story as well:

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers:
[link to abebooks page]

"Having been acquitted of one murder in Strong Poison, and been instrumental in the solving of another in Have His Carcase, mystery writer Harriet Vane arrives for the reunion (or gaudy) at her alma mater, the fictitious all-female Shrewsbury College, set at Oxford University. Here she encounters a tangle of poison pen notes, obscene graffiti, and dangerous pranks that she unravels with the help of Lord Peter Wimsey.

As the case develops, Harriet begins to admit to herself that she loves Wimsey, who has been proposing to her ever since they first met (in prison, as she faced the gallows as a suspect in the murder of her former lover).

Throughout the story, Harriet examines her ambivalent feelings about love and marriage, along with her attraction to academia as an intellectual (and emotional) refuge..."

[From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaudy_Night]

Here's another:


"...this plot is merely an excuse for a lot of musings about the life of the mind, the lives of women, and the possibility of combining the two. Sayers shows us a good many academic women (of varying degrees of unhappiness and neurosis), back when this necessarily meant a life of celibacy; she also shows us some who chose to marry and waste their intellectual talents; and finally she treats us to many of Harriet's thoughts on the subject as she searches for a middle course. The winding path of Harriet's musings, and the treatment of her love-affair with Peter Wimsey, account for much of the length of the book."

[From Mystery Guide: http://www.mysteryguide.com/bkSayersNight.html]


[Back to wikipedia]: "In an extraordinarily touching scene at the end of the book, Harriet Vane finally accepts Wimsey's proposal of marriage."

That last scene in Gaudy Night is more than touching, it is memorable and should never be forgotten by romantic people of intelligence. I'll save it for the relevant part of Ginger's journey on the Silk Road.

Now, back to her story.



1 comment:
Jane L. Hyde said...
Hi there! Rebecca Hyde sent me the link to your blog. I especially love your second post, which I read before I read that it's fiction. I love the part about seeing the sky in squares in the city, and the description of the dog in the park. I also love Gaudy Night and all the rest. It's such an old-fashioned and passionate love story. Like Rebecca, I hope you keep this project going! Best wishes.