Remarkable Creatures

By Tracy Chevalier

HarperCollins Publishers Limited, 2010, 352 pags, Fiction/Biographical, Fiction/Historical 
ISBN 0007178387, 9780007178384

Before the persistent and modest efforts of the heroine of this story the world had no concept of extinction and therefore could not understand fossils which were explained by myths.

This novel concerns Mary Anning (1799 – 1847), an uneducated, working class resident of Lyme Regis, Dorset, who discovered fossils of pre-historic marine reptiles, such as that ichthyosaur, in the cliffs near the town. Her determination to establish the authenticity of her discoveries caused her to be a major influence on the maturity of marine palaeontology which, within a few years, completely altered the human perspective on the past and on Biblical notions of creation.

Tracy Chevalier positions Mary Anning’s story as an epic with a romantic sub - plot. A humble, strong-willed character successfully pursues an historic mission beyond her station, education and means, despite almost overwhelming defamation and exploitation by those who stand to profit most from her efforts. It does not give too much away to say that in the process of overcoming these obstacles she experiences romantic fulfilment, of the sort she requires, and achieves the respect of her peers, in every sense. This elegant and anachronistic structure gives a 19th century flavour to the novel, redolent of classics by Hardy and George Eliot.

However, Tracy Chevalier’s unique accomplishment is her ability to consistently focus on the physical properties of a universally admired object or curiosity (such as, in this case, a seaside fossil), while, through fiction, expanding the reader’s sense of the object and its place in our culture with the result that we see it no longer as a curiosity but as a comprehensive and beloved part of our every-day existence. While doing so she magnifies not only the importance of the object, but the historical significance of the ordinary lives which have evolved and revolved around it.

Chevalier’s previous books perform this feat with regard to the paintings of Vermeer, the tapestries known as La Dame a la Licorne (now at la Musee National du Moyen Age in Paris) and the Victorian memorial sculptures at Highgate Cemetery. As with her other books, Remarkable Creatures gently and irreversibly enhances our understanding of Mary Anning’s fossil discoveries without being in the slightest didactic or detracting from the inherent value of these now well-known objects of fascination. In engaging us in fiction she inevitably enhances our interest in the facts.

Visit Tracy Chevalier's website

De Profundis: Alexander Haig

December 2 1924 - February 20 2010

"The warning message we sent the Russians was a calculated ambiguity that would be clearly understood. "

De Profundis: Walter Morrison

January 23, 1920 – February 9, 2010

Walter Fredrick Morrison died on February 9 aged 90.

He invented the Frisbee, originally known as the Pluto Platter, out of a desire to make cake tins fly more smoothly when he threw them at people.

The name came from the Frisbie Pie Co., a California bakery whose empty tins he used to toss.

A Single Man

Fade to Black Productions, Tom Ford (Producer, Director & Screenplay), 2010

Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode;
David Scearce (Screenplay), Chris Weitz, Andrew Miano, Robert Salerno, Jason Alisharan (Producers); based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood

The Tom Ford film. “A Single Man” resembles an animated version of a Gucci catalogue. Every frame is like a page from one of those gentlemen’s magazines in which $2,000 shoes and $500 ties are laid out on a finely threaded throw while in the background, in soft focus, a slinky blonde reclines before a fireplace.

I have never seen a university English Department that resembles the first class lounge of Etihad Airways before, but no doubt they do in Ford's world.

I quite enjoyed the film as it is certainly makes a unique contribution to cinema because of its eccentric obsession with the form of the frame rather than what is actually going on inside it. I also enjoyed some of the effects of the script, such as the implication that the character of the boy played by Nicholas Hoult may be more than a mere student significant in the metaphysial schemeof things.  While the script certainly does its bit, this implication is most strongly conveyed by the use of a deliciously fine, off-white boat necked mohair sweater, with just a hint of the texture of feathers about it.

Afterwards I read the reviews to see what the movie industry made of it. Most were sycophantic, pusillanimous paeans of praise. Even “Variety” glossed over a serious review and simply said Tom Ford was a genius.

I had no idea he had such power but it is clear that Hollywood is terrified of upsetting him. The New York Times, which doesn't give a damn, simply dismissed the film, saying it was pretty and dull. It was more than that, as it effectively conveys something of the emotion of significant loss. It may even be great art, as original fashion and design can be, but it is not a great film.

Listen to a National Public Radio interview with Tom Ford about "A Single Man."

Watch the trailer :

Royal Prerogatives: The 10:32 to Kings Cross

The Queen takes the train home from Sandringham.

She's done it again. The Queen hopped on the 10:32 from Kings Lynn to Kings Cross on Monday after her winter break at Sandringham.

First Capital Connect said her ticket cost 44 pounds 50p.  She would have been given the pensioner's discount of 29.30 had she asked for it.

Next time she'll probably take the bus, which is 10 pounds.

Royal Prerogatives: Archduchess Regina von Habsburg

Princess Regina Helene Elizabeth Margarete of Saxe-Meiningen, Crown Princess of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia

6 January 1925 – 3 February 2010.

Had history taken a different turn, she would have been Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. She was born in Würzburg, Germany, on January 6 1925, the youngest of four daughters of Duke Georg III of Saxe-Meiningen, and his wife, Countess Klara-Marie von Korff genannt Schmissing-Kerssenbrock. Her father joined the Nazi party in 1933 and died in a Russian prisoner-of-war camp. Her brother, Prince Anton Ulrich, was killed in action in 1940. Another brother became a Carthusian monk.

She married Archduke Otto von Habsburg on May 10 1951 at the Eglise des Cordeliers in Nancy (the burial place of several members of the House of Lorraine), with the blessing of Pope Pius XII. Although Otto was the legitimate heir to the Austrian Empire, he was unusual among "pretenders" in electing to ignore his aristocratic title and sit in the European parliament as Dr Otto von Habsburg, Christian Democrat member for North Bavaria. He never claimed the throne of Austria.

The Archduchess was Protectress of the Order of the Starry Cross, an all-female Roman Catholic order founded in the 17th century; Grand Mistress of the Order of Elisabeth, a similar organisation; and an Honorary Lady Grand Cross of the Sovereign Order of Malta. The Archduchess died at Pöcking über Starnberg, Bavaria, where she had lived with her husband since 1953.

 Watch newsreel of the wedding of Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen to Archduke Otto von Habsburg:

Show Business: The Road to Broadway

Dori Berenstein (Director and Producer), 2007.

Alan Cumming, Chris Boneau, Nancy Coyne, William Goldman, Rocco Landesman, Ben Brantley, Charles Isherwood, John Lahr, Patrick Pacheco, Michael Riedel, Jacques le Sourd, Linda Winer.
Jeanine Tesori (Music); Alan S. Deutsch (Photography); Richard Hankin, A.C.E. (Supervising Editor); Dori Berinstein & Richard Hankin (Writers).

This engaging documentary follows four major Broadway shows from conception to opening and the aftermath of the 2004 Tony Awards. As well as providing an obvious source of enjoyment for fans of "the roar of the greasepaint" etc., the film made me realise how many charlatans there are in show business and what a grind it must be to remain focused on the work while having to put up with them. The director of “Caroline or Change” is a case in point, though several other termagants fascinate with the horror of their egocentric self indulgence. Inevitably, behind-the-scenes thrills are provided by internecine conflict. Some of the collaborators HATED each other, and said so, but kept at it, loathing each other, right to the successful end.

Throughout the film, the reviewers of the New York press provide a Furies' chorus, seated at a large dinner table which they enjoy with evident appetite. Their frank exchange of opinions leaves little doubt that they believe their job is to make life as difficult as possible for anyone trying to put a play on Broadway. When some plays (such as "Wicked") succeed despite their condemation, they do not hide their self-righteous indignation, though the New York Post reviewer wastes no time regretting his misjudgements. After he condemns "Avenue Q" as a childish fantasy lacking a discernable audience, the play cleans out the 2004 Tony Awards and becomes one of the biggest Broadway successes ever; but this critic simply changes sides, saying he had liked it all along.

The most horrifying scene involves the critics' discussion of the demise of “Taboo.” Anyone who reads the New York Times will never forget the 2004 theatre critics’ press fracas over Rosi O’Donnell’s competence as a producer, which finished off the play before it had even opened. Although Ms O’Donnell certainly helped by being unable to keep her mouth shut, the critics appear to have desired little more than victory in a negative argument, irrespective of the production’s theatrical merits. Their vitriol, of course, had prematurely fatal consequences for “Taboo,” which they themselves admit with excruciating pomposity was “the play that should have been.”

At the end of the film one of the "Taboo" cast admits with the self-disciplined nonchalance of the professional actor that the failure of the play is hardly a tragedy, considering what else is going on in the world. But, he says, “it’s just that this was my entire life,” and starts to weep.

Watch the trailer of “Showbusiness; The Road to Broadway”