Masaryk University Faculty of Education
Department of English Language and Literature
Rewriting in Neil Gaiman´s Graphic Novel Sandman
Bachelor thesis
Šárka Nygrýnová
Brno, April 2009 Supervisor: Mgr. Pavla Buchtová
Hereby I declare that I have worked on my thesis on my own and that no other sources except for those enumerated in bibliography were used.
...... Šárka Nygrýnová
2
I would like to thank Mgr. Pavla Buchtová for her kind guidance and valuable advice she provided to me.
3
Table of contents
Introduction ...... 5
Opening...... 6
1. Postmodernisms...... 7 1.1 The beginning of postmodernisms...... 7 1.2 The history of postmodernisms...... 8 1.3 Basic distinction between modernism and postmodernisms...... 10 1.4 Devices of postmodernisms...... 11 1.4.1 Reading and interpretation...... 11 1.4.2 Intended readership...... 11 1.5 The death of postmodernisms...... 12
2. Rewriting as a postmodern strategy...... 14 2.1 Intertextuality...... 16 2.2 Pastiche, parody, allusion...... 16
3. Neil Gaiman – The Sandman...... 19 3.1 The Story...... 20 3.2 Calliope...... 21 3.2.1 Titles of novels...... 21 3.2.2 References to Greek mythology...... 25 3.3 Dream of a Thousand Cats...... 29 3.4 The Midsummer Night´s Dream...... 32 3.5 Facade...... 35
Conclusion...... 37
Annotation...... 39
List of references...... 40
4
Introduction
Fantasy literature has reached its climax. All over the world, films based of fantasy novels are being made, action role games played, millions of Internet websites established. However, many people consider fantasy literature inferior. This can certainly be true for some representatives who are able to produce a large number of novels of poor quality in a very short time. On the other hand, those could be found who elevated genre of fantasy to a real literary gem. I clearly remember the first time I laid my hands on a novel by Neil Gaiman about six years ago. I was instantly captivated by his masterful narration, his ability to absorb the reader, to convince him or her that the world Mr Gaiman created is real indeed. His imagination knows no limits, it appears. Gaiman finds sources for his novels or short stories everywhere: in the London underground, ordinary family house, or in a graveyard. He retells the long forgotten tales again, he brings back to life ancient gods and lets them die again, he sends Alice behind the mirror to face real horrors, he explores man´s mind to find new fears – in a word, he is a genuine story teller. Nevertheless, skillfull mastery of narration is not the only feature of his vast work that attracted me. Gaiman enriched his novels and short stories with a huge amount of references of all kinds – he pays homage to deceased authors and their works, he finds numerous sources in Old Norse and Greek mythologies, British and American popular songs may appear inconspicuously as titles of chapters or names of books on shelves of Gaiman´s characters. Gaiman keeps teasing brains of his readers, perfectly aware of them expecting no less from him. Graphic novel series Sandman is often regarded Gaiman´s masterpiece. There was one more reason for me to decide for an analysis of Sandman – this Gaiman´s work literally brims over with references to various sources. My goal was to analyse all the references, put them into cathegories and try to explain their meanings for the story.
5
Opening
If a painter created a picture of romanticism it would consist of flowery shapes, the prevailing colour would be crimson, tender mauve and spring green and air of sweet melancholy and never uttered words would be hovering above this piece of art.
A picture of realism, on the other hand, may seem more geometrical like with rectangular and square shapes like skyscrapers or staircases and a watchful onlooker could hear – if he or she were standing very, very still – a soft rumbling of machines and steps of thousands of people. Its colour would be black, gold and raw flesh red.
The third painting is that of modernism – a peculiar one. Odd shapes resembling human bodies and huge figures looking down at from the sky or a high mountain. Three crosses – different types of them, and a barb wire. There are blurred faces of people with astounded look in their eyes. There are little children standing alone. It is disturbing and the onlookers leave this painting in a haste.
And when the visitor finally comes to a big canvas of postmodernism, he would come to halt and stare in disbelief. There is no reassuring symmetry or poetic elegance, no soft undertones or determined lines. It is a blend, a mixture, an anarchy. Repulsive, attractive, outrageous, and tempting. There are all shapes, overlapping, intruding upon each other in a merciless manner, the colours are flashy and glaring like exotic amazonians. The painting is alive, literally changing its form. And no matter how much the confused visitor yearns to gets hold of it, the picture ceases being captured. Finally, the visitor leaves, bad tempered and disgruntled with persistent feeling of something laughing at him behind his back...
6
1. Postmodernisms
1.1 The beginning of postmodernisms
The truth is that the origins of postmodernisms have been subject of passionate debates among scholars for several years. There would be those claiming that postmodernisms appeared for the first time immediately after World War II, many could be found who insist on 1960 (such as Douwe Fokkema) instead and a minor group is formed by those who profess that modernity covers all the period without postmodernity ever appearing. Arguably, postmodernisms began to take a shape right after the war, however, its concept was disputed for many years afterwards until it reached certain conventions – only illusive, though, since the debate on postmodernisms has never really achieved any manifest and unified agreement. After the World War II the mankind was condemned never to be the same as it had been in pre war times. Horrors of war, inhuman treating of minor ethnic groups and predominantly enormous casualties brought a new wind in art and mainly in literature. Modernism started to be abandoned for being too elitist as well as its inclination to “great ideas” which was perceived as particularly repulsive and unlikeable for a society that have just envisaged its virulent and corruptive version. These “great ideas” are tightly connected to modernist desire for order and stability. Klages comments on Lyotard who equates stability with totality which are intended to be maintained in society via “grand narratives” stories that a culture itself tells about its practices and beliefs (168). 1. Furthermore, according to W. Benjamin, modernism became a sort of conformist tradition an attempt had to be made “to wrest [the] traditions away from a conformism that [was] about to overpower it.”(Benjamin quoted in Jařab, 8 9). Generally speaking, the after war values changed in a dramatic manner from the pre war ones. Centralized and authoritarian approach of modernists was not desired any more.
1 An example in America could be the story that democracy is the most rational and ideal form of government and all other forms are harmful and dangerous. There were several other grand narratives in the 20 th century – belief in communism, progress and science etc., an example of an earlier one is in the first place Christianity. (Klages 2006: 169)
7
1.2 The history of postmodernisms
An instant inquiry arises: Why postmodernisms, why to use the plural? Many litereray critics support different points of view of postmodernism, often these concepts contradict in some features. To avoid misunderstanding of which of these concepts we speak, it is more comfortable to employ the term postmodernisms. When we strive to identify first true steps made by postmodernisms in history we encounter a problem for the terms postmodern and postmodernisms were largely applied to different levels of conceptualization, as H. Bertens claims (4), mostly including experimental art and pop art flourishing in 1950s and 1960s. There was an urge to define and specify postmodernisms in detail. A debate on postmodernisms commenced with prominent names like I. Hassan, S.Sontag, L.Fiedler, C. Olson, J. Barth and many others in 1960s. Fundamental principles of postmodernisms were being slowly settled. H. Bertens states that
Sontag, Fiedler, and other critics noted the dawn of the new postmodern culture that rejected what it saw as the elitist and repressive liberal humanist culture of the establishment and its institutions and that opposed eclecticism and radical democracy to establishment elitism and to its repressive tactics. (4)
Postmodernisms refused the embracing world wide eternal meaning on behalf of temporal and provisory one. C. Butler (5) came to the same characteristics:
[Sontag, Hassan and other mid 1960s critics] argued that the work of postmodernists was deliberately less unified, less obviously ‘masterful’, more playful or anarchic, more concerned with the processes of our understanding than with the pleasures of artistic finish or unity, less inclined to hold a narrative together, and certainly more resistant to a certain interpretation, than much of the art that had preceded it.
In other words, postmodernisms were defined for the first time out of modernism – its
8 rejection, opposition and criticism.
Later on, in the 1970s single issues and forces feeding and forming postmodernisms were distinguished. I could state that “golden age” of postmodernisms was the period between 1960 and 1980. Why is the year 1980 regarded the end of bloom of postmodernisms? In this year the concept of postmodernisms was conscientiously established in John Barth´s famous essay “Literature of Replenishment“ (where the author admits some modernist features in postmodernisms and furthermore, examines them to come to the conclusion that they have their place in postmodern literature and thus he alters the concept of postmodernisms – the result was that postmodern polemics against modernism started to fade away), new issues in postmodernisms were discussed, new initiatives emerged that opposed postmodernisms in its non selectivity. In other words, these new literary issues were far more selective than postmodernisms until the arrival of this era. By this I do not intend to claim that postmodern period ended in 1980. There are voices that hold the view that postmodern period endured until our days, only with some modifications and enriched by new ideas and literary devices.
9
1.3 Basic distinction between modernism and postmodernisms
It has already been implied that postmodernisms began as critique of modernism, therefore its literary strategies and ways of writing were not results of any haphazard choice. As D. Fokkema says “[the postmodern writers] were forced to do something different from what modernist had done. Modernism was their negative point of departure.”(24) It is recommended to summarize basic differences between modernism and postmodernisms in order to acquire better understanding of postmodern principles. However, the aim of following enumeration is not to say that the features could be applied to every single modern/postmodern wok of art. They serve only for orientation and overview.
Modernism Postmodernisms
Master Narratives and Suspicion and rejection of Master metanarratives of history, culture Narratives for history and culture; and national identity as accepted local narratives, ironic before WWII . Myths of cultural deconstruction of master narratives: and ethnic origin accepted as counter myths of origin. received. Faith in "Grand Theory" to Rejection of totalizing theories; represent all knowledge and explain pursuit of localizing and contingent everything. theories. Faith in the "real" beyond media, Hyper reality, simulacra seem more language, symbols, and powerful than the "real"; images representations; authenticity of and texts with no prior "original". "originals." The book as sufficient bearer of the Hypermedia as transcendence of the word. physical limits of print media. The library as complete and total The Web as infinitely expandable, system for printed knowledge. inter connected information system. 2
2 Available at http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/pomo.html
10
1.4 Devices of postmodernisms
1.4.1 Reading and interpretation
Postmodernisms in effort to differentiate from modernism abandoned its strategies of precise interpretation. Conversely, postmodern authors embraced the idea of reading being an individual affair limited by no rules (Fokkema, 35) – the interpretation was then considered individual and independent, too. Sometimes readers were even encouraged not to search the text for any meaning at all – the message should find its way into reader´s mind depending on his or her imagination, different level of knowledge (remember modernist ply to expect the reader to have covered all the knowledge possible in order to understand the work of art) and other factors. An example may be found in D. Barthleme´s novel Snow White when the reader is disouraged from “...reading things into things... Leave things alone. It means what it means.” (Barthleme, 107).
1.4.2 Intended readership
Many postmodern writers felt the urge to offer their texts to a wide range of audience (again, compare with modernist tendency to view a reader as somebody equal to a scholar with a wide range of knowledge. This inevitably limited the number of readers were able to understand the texts). To give an example – Eco´s already mentioned The Name of the Rose , Vonnegut´s Slaughterhouse n.5 or Marquez´s One Hundred Years of Solitude or Love in the Time of Cholera certainly were intended for wide public, nonetheless, an attentional and educated reader will not miss their more complex and thought provoking message, but they can well serve as mere entertaining novels.
11
1.5 The death of postmodernisms
Has postmodernisms fulfilled its mission and is it now left to die? We could find several concepts of what has become of postmodernisms in our days:
A. Kirby 3 in his article The Death of Postmodernism and Beyond announces confidently that postmodernisms are but a history today:
Just look out into the cultural market place: buy novels published in the last five years, watch a twenty first century film, listen to the latest music – above all just sit and watch television for a week – and you will hardly catch a glimpse of postmodernism. Similarly, one can go to literary conferences and sit through a dozen papers which make no mention of Theory, of Derrida, Foucault, Baudrillard.[...] The occasional metafictional or self conscious text will appear, to widespread indifference – like Bret Easton Ellis’ Lunar Park4 – but then modernist novels, now long forgotten, were still being written into the 1950s and 60s. The only place where the postmodern is extant is in children’s cartoons like Shrek and The Incredibles. […] This is the level to which postmodernism has sunk; a source of marginal gags in pop culture aimed at the under eights.(Kirby)
Kirby continues by introducing a new term pseudo modernism which he supposes to substitute postmodernisms in the last years of the 20 th and at the beginning of the 21 st century. This pseudo modernism emerged naturally as a consequence of technological development. It is characterized by necessity of the individuals to participate – the easiest way is by voting (TV programme rating is a direct result of number of people watching, many programmes even demand direct voting – reality shows etc.).
In pseudo modernism one phones, clicks, presses, surfs, chooses, moves, downloads.[...] whereas postmodernism favoured the ironic, the knowing and the playful, with their allusions to knowledge, history and ambivalence, pseudo
3 Dr Alan Kirby graduated in English Literature and Philosophy from the University of Exeter. 4 B.E.Ellis is of American nationality, writes novels as well as short stories. Lunar Park is postmodern novel published in 2005 as a meditative ghost story. The character (whose name is similar to author´s name) reflects on his haunting and unsatisfying personal life and literary work.
12 modernism’s typical intellectual states are ignorance, fanaticism and anxiety: Bush, Blair, Bin Laden, Le Pen and their like on one side, and the more numerous but less powerful masses on the other. (Kirby)
Concepts of supermodernism and hypermodernism also emerged to mismatch and oppose postmodernity. Hypermodernity is a type, mode, or stage of society that reflects a deepening or intensification of modernity. Characteristics include a fervent faith in humanity's ability to understand, control, and manipulate every aspect of human experience. 5 Supermodernity is based on a principle of non places if we apply this thesis to the world of today, examples of non places may be shopping centres, railway stations, wellness studios, outskirts of cities etc. the sense of alienation could be very strong here and a fight for finding reassuring safety in familiar places is being enacted. (Harvie).
5 Available at http://www.123exp culture.com/t/03604218703/
13 2. Rewriting as a postmodern strategy
Rewriting can be denominated as probably the oldest technique employed by postmodernisms taken from previous periods – for instance romanticism and realism. First occurrance of rewriting in texts could be traced long before postmodernisms “reinvented” it. Inspiration with former literary works stretches richly into modernism and even further. Matei Calinescu 6 says that “actually, what older literary history saw in terms of ´sources` and ´influences` more recent criticism is likely to recast in the language of rewriting/rereading and transtextualization ... [but] romantic or realist forms of rewriting were often less visible and probably less conscious.” (244). In a word, the technique remains but the term changes.
An inevitable inquiry can emerge: what are the characteristic features of postmodernist texts through which these differ from their predecessors and if they do, to what extent? Calinescu professes that to gain deep understanding of this issue it is essential to understand the notion of the text – namely the view that “the world, and not only the literary work, can be seen as a text.” (245). Derrida (quoted in Broich) implies the same idea: “the whole world is (inter )text and there is no ´reality´ outside textuality.” (251)
This notion naturally causes blurring between “language and reality, fiction and fact, thought and action.” (Calinescu, 245). Where there is no reality, only texts, language, the writers obviously not only can but are obliged, have no other choice but to rewrite, “caught in an infinite textual maze.” (Calinescu, 45). Gerard Genette7 continues: “Any text is a hypertext 8 [...] any writing is rewriting, and literature is always in the second degree.”(ix)
Thus, it could be derived that all the texts are intertextual – in every text there are conscious and subconscious references to other works since no author starts to write as a “tabula rasa” a blank leaf of paper. Every writer brings into his or her text
6 M.Calinescu is a Romanian professor of comparative literature and a literary critic, living in the USA today. 7 G.Genette is a distinguished French literary critic and historian. 8 Hypertext – is a text released from bounds of printed media, it is an organic phenomenon questioning authorship, originality. It respondsto the concept of hypermedia of today – world of linear links, abandoning of hierarchy etc. In other words, hypertext is a text providing links to other texts.
14 experience with previous texts whether he or she desires it or not – this process is unconditioned. We can derive that this particular notion distinguishes rewriting as a postmodern strategy from those kinds of rewriting applied during earlier eras of literature.
A question may arise whether rewriting in literature is a sign of exhaustion and decay of period when nothing remains unsaid, or a means of enriching and variegating of the literature. What Calinecsu suggests is that rewriting is tightly connected with rereading – each generation reads the classics with its own interpretation (234). Rewriting of these classics is driven by the urge of one´s own interpretation. And each generation´s different experience presumes this new interpretation to be divergent. Christian Moraru (Moraru paraphrazed by Smith) agrees by claiming that “people re interpret already established cultural narratives into their inter subjective life performances.”(Smith) Calinescu does not observe rewriting as decadent and festering outgrowth of postmodernisms, on the contrary – this process is viewed as perfectly understandable and, moreover, unavoidable.
Moraru shares Calinescu´s opinion in his book Postmodern Narrative and Cultural Critique in the Age of Cloning . After in depth study of the 20 th century authors like E. L. Doctorow, Robert Coover, Ishmael Reed, Kathy Acker and others Moraru comes to the conclusion that American postmodern writers set new values and notions in those rewritten books and thus formed a new cultural identity, which has brought much contribution and benefit to contemporary field of literature.(xiii)
15 2.1 Intertextuality
Intertextuality could be denoted as one of the markers of rewriting along with pastiche, parody, allusion. The term intertextuality was first coined by Julia Kristeva 9 at the end of 1960s and has been used, transformed and returned to many times ever since. Kristeva was affected by post structuralism. In Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art she explains that every text is only a result of other texts, affected and related to them. Kristeva (Kristeva quoted in Chandler) “declared that every text is from the outset under the jurisdiction of other discourses which impose a universe on it.” (Chandler)
J.E.Porter 10 applies intertextuality to all the texts as well: “Not infrequently, and perhaps ever and always, texts refer to other texts and in fact rely on them in their meaning. All texts are interdependent. We understand the text only insofar we understand its precursors.”(34). Similarly, R. Barthes (Barthes quoted in Chandler) 11 describes the role of the author as mixing, blending and organizing the other texts written before. As a consequence, the texts can never be original and unique.(Chandler)
2.2 Pastiche, parody, allusion
Pastiche is another term that bears a strong resemblance to intertextuality and rewriting. This literary device could be characterized as “a work patched together from excerpts of other writers, or from passages clearly recognizable as imitating others” 12 . I. Hoesterey defines pastiche as a “cultural memory and the merging of horizons past and present.”(xi)
Pastiche could be understood as an imitation of unique literary styles of classic writers
9 Julia Kristeva is a Bulgarian poststructuralist philosopher, critic, novelist, and psychoanalyst, active feminist, living in France, cooperated with R.Barthes. 10 James R. Porter is an American professor at Michigan State University, his professional interest encompasses rhetorics and technological communication. 11 Roland Barthes (1915 1980) was a distinguished French post structuralist literary critic and philosopher. 12 Available at http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=l&p=t&a=m&letter=P
16 (a typical example is Faulkner´s long sentences or Hemingway´s laconic style), piling one on the top of the other for no visible reason. It may be a reference to characters appearing in well known texts, usually depicting them in a different position, placing them in different settings in unusual situations. The reason could be mere playfulness typical of postmodernisms and sometimes ironic imitation but often without ridicule.
A close relation between parody and pastiche could be observed in terms of the above mentioned light hearted imitation. L.Hutcheon (Hutcheon quoted in Felluga) defines the term parody: "Parody [is] often called ironic quotation, pastiche, appropriation, or intertextuality”. Hutcheon uses pastiche as a synonym for parody. However, later on when disscussing the term in more detail she confesses a certain difference as far as parody and pastiche are concerned. Parody does search for differentiation from its model, pastiche is liable to remain within the limits of genre it imitates and works with similarities. Pastiche, Hutcheon says, tends to stay between the boundaries of a genre as its model is, as opposition to parody. It is also more superficial. (38)
Another enlightening outline of the distinction between the terms parody and pastiche was presented by F. Jameson. Parody uses eccentricities of unique styles of distinctive writers and mocks them, ridicules them. Nonetheless, the reader can recognize parody winking at him: The piece of text is not ridiculed without praise and respect at the same time, at least in cases of good parodies. The reader gains the feeling that there is a “normal” language behind what parody ridicules, but in the current state of culture when numerous separated linguistic forms have evolved, each group developing its own private language code, in the state of fragmentation and privatization of literature, nobody believes any longer in ordinary speech and normal language. In such a condition, Jameson claims, parody starts to lose voice. And the stage is clear for pastiche “a blank parody”. Similar to parody, pastiche operates with imitation of unique or odd literary style.
But it is neutral of such mimicry, without parody´s ulterior motive, without the satirical impulse, without laughter, without that still latent feeling that there exists something normal compared to which what is being imitated is rather
17 comic. Pastiche is a blank parody, parody that has lost its sense of humor (194)
As pastiche approximates parody from one side, it approaches plagiarism from the other. However, the distinction is very clear here – plagiarism is a latent, furtive way of borrowing, whereas pastiche is often based on reader´s recognition of the work the text refers to.
Allusion Even though allusion does not fall into category of rewriting it will be explained here as well as it is a figure of speech used very often in the graphic novel Sandman which will be analyzed. It could be characterized as a short reference to another literary work, person, place etc. The reader or hearer has to make the connection. However, an open and visible allusion is a misnomer for a simple reference. 13 “An allusion is a literary device that stimulates ideas, associations, and extra information in the reader's mind with only a word or two .” 14 This implies that allusions incline to be shorter and much often they refer to a name (of a person or work) or place, not long texts or specific writing styles (compare with parody or pastiche). An example could be following: “He was no Lionheart but on the other hand, no coward either.” This single word Lionheart refers to the English king Richard famous for his bravery.
13 Available at http://www.babylon.com/definition/Allusion/English 14 Available at http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/allusion/page
18 3. Neil Gaiman – The Sandman
Neil Gaiman is a British writer whose work comprises novels, short stories, graphic novels and screenplays. His most well known novels are The American Gods , Neverwhere , Stardust , Coraline , Good Omen (co written with Terry Pratchett), and the only graphic novel ever having won the World Fantasy Award in 1991 for a short story – The Sandman .
After being employed at American publishing company DC Comics in 1987 and first attempts as a comic script writer Gaiman decided to commence a series of graphic novels of his own. His choice was to revive an old 1970s Sandman (by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby) but with peremptory alterations – in principle he embraced the idea of a creature taking care of people´s dreams but he vitalized it with a new setting, plot and major figure in the lead. Gaiman explains his interest in The Sandman :
What I find fascinating about The Sandman is the idea of someone who travels in dreams. […] Sandman inhabits the Dream Stream. His method of transportation is walking through dreams. If he´s hungry, he´ll eat in a dream with food in it. If he wants to meet someone, he´ll meet in a dream at a specific time. […] There are a number of inhabitants of the Dream Stream, most of whom are coagulated lumps of dream essence, basic archetypes and such: Cain and Abel, keepers of Mysteries, the first murderer and first victim; possibly the other DC horror hosts (with the exception of Elvira), Eve, the Witching Hour witches, and so forth. [...] Other things as well intrude on dreams: things from darker dimensions, etc. (Bender, 25)
It is quite apparent that Gaiman adhered to the original DC Comics universe, at least at the beginning. Later on, when the unexpected success of The Sandman series came he made more and more his own original detours and his new world differentiated from DC Comics in many aspects.
3.1 The Story
19
In the graphic novel series The Sandman there are Seven Endless – Destiny, Desire, Destruction, Despair, Delirium, Death and Dream. They are personifications of seven ideas of what it means to be a human and they take care of their realms superior to all gods, speak nothing of people. The main character is Dream who “accumulates names to himself like others make friends Lord Morpheus, Prince of Tales, Oneiromancer, Oneiros, Lord Shaper and many more; but he permits himself few friends“ (Gaiman, The Season of Mists, 12). He lives in a Dream Stream. They are one – Sandman and his realm. He creates things by the vigour of his mind, in the Dream Stream everything is subjected to his will and wish. He is the most often seen as a tall extremely thin man with a fleece of black untidy hair, very pale. The most striking feature are his eyes – they are like holes into the stellar sky, deep and dark. However, nobody could say what his true appearance or language is: Whenever he speaks with somebody he puts on a look of the particular species: with a man he takes a human shape, with a cat a feline form. The same with a language and voice – the words he utters are materialising in the listener´s head in the language the person speaks without him or her even realizing it . As was already mentioned his character was derived from an old DC Comics Sandman who was more of a superhero catching villains by means of his pouch with sand. Gaiman´s Sandman is as distant from this image as he could be – no sign of a superhero in flashy elastic costume but deepest black as if he put on the night itself, his robes ragged and floating, looking literally alive. He wields the poach too, except for this tool he also posesses a helmet made of an old god´s skull he overpowered a long time ago, and a ruby which hides a large amount of Sandman´s power.
3.2 Calliope
20
“Calliope” is the first short story of the third The Sandman issue The Dream Country . Richard Madoc has had no inspiration for writing ever since he wrote his only novel The Cabaret of Dr. Caligari . For this reason he gets hold of one of the nine Muses of Ancient Greece Calliope for a bezoar from an old writer Erasmus Fry who had captured her many years ago and had been raping her in order to get inspiration. Madoc continues in Fry´s strategy, soon gains inspiration needed and writes many books and becomes a celebrity. After four years of imprisonment Calliope pleads for rescue and three mythological creatures Mothers of Camenae come to visit her. They refuse to help her from her imprisonment but probably send a message to Calliope´s former husband Morpheus (Sandman). Finally, Morpheus arrives and condemns Madoc to never ending stream of ideas until he finally releases Calliope. Then Madoc is left with no idea or thought at all – a wreck of a man.
3.2.1 Titles of novels
There are several titles of novels appearing in the story, the majority of them written by Richard Madoc and one of them by Erasmus Fry. Many of them were borrowed or refer to another pieces of art:
The Cabaret of Dr. Caligari is a name of a novel that appears at the very beginning of “Calliope” as the first and only novel of Richard Madoc. This may well be an allusion to a German horror film The Cabaret of Dr. Caligari from 1919. Dr Caligari is a hypnotist controlling a somnambulist who has been asleep for 23 years and makes him kill people at his command. This may be a reference to the whole The Sandman series – dealing with the power of sleep and connection between the sleep and reality – the idea that there is a blurred and vague border between dreaming and reality appears many times in the series.
Here Comes a Candle is a name of Erasmus Fry´s (the man who captured Calliope) bestseller. The name of this novel is another example of allusion and could come from a line
21 from a famous nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons : "Oranges and lemons", say the bells of St. Clement's "You owe me five farthings", say the bells of St. Martin's "When will you pay me?" say the bells of Old Bailey "When I grow rich", say the bells of Shoreditch "When will that be?" say the bells of Stepney "I do not know", says the great bell of Bow Here comes a candle to light you to bed And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
Chop chop chop chop the last man's head! 15
The origin of this rhyme is uncertain, however, it appears that the inspiration for the poem were executions performed in London – usually after nine in the morning when the bells started to ring. Here comes a candle to light you to bed could have a spiritual meaning – the flickering flame of the candle could be a parallel with a fading prisoner´s life. In “Calliope” this book was the most precious one the dying author Erasmus Fry held on to the most – as he did to his fainting life. His last wish before his death was to republish this famous book of his, then he committed a suicide. Regarding the misfortunate end of Erasmus Fry Gaiman, in my opinion, made a little joke at the beginning of the story. Richard Madoc comes to Fry with a bezoar to exchange it for the Muse. As it reveals, Fry owns several bezoars for no visible reason. Bezoars are rare objects found in stomachs of animals, namely cats who devour their hairs. Sometimes this phenomenon occurs in cases of young mentally unbalanced women who suck and swallow their hair and thus the bezoar is formed after many years of this activity. In history bezoars were celebrated as antidotes to any poison. Gaiman´s placement of bezoar in the story could be a mere irony since Erasmus Fry commits a suicide using poison – the only thing he was probably afraid of and possibly the reason for his gathering bezoars.
The Spirit Who Had Half of Everything is a name of a novel Richard Madoc writes after abusing Calliope. It is a reference to a chapter from James Branch Cabell´s famous work
15 Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A696125
22 Figures of Earth . (Bender, 69).
Eagle Stones is another instance of allusion. In “Calliope” it is name of a novel Richard Madoc wrote and which became an instant bestseller. Eagle stones were precious stones believed to possess magic power and were used for medical purposes. They were believed to be found in eagles´ nests brought there to help the labour. Therefore people considered them to rouse the labour if needed. Furthermore, among other powers of eagle stones gift of soberness, nobility and wealth could be also credited. (Fernie, 341 346) This may be the explanation of its appearing in the The Sandman story. Richard Madoc was first just a fading starlet not able to continue his career on his own. After acquiring the living Eagle Stone – Calliope – he becomes rich and successful. It is worth noticing that Gaiman uses images of birds in another The Sandman stories quite often – eagle stones are possibly another example of this feature. The foremost example is Morpheus´s faithful servant and (as the reader discloses later) a friend raven Mathew who was once a man and after his death he did not pass over to the realm of Sandman´s older sister Death but entered the Dreaming instead. A Game of You , the fifth The Sandman issue, concerns with cuckoos and the fact that they are hatched in nests of other birds and happily sponge upon their hosts. In the same book one of the main characters is a parrot which is later on revealed as a traitor. In the sixth issue there is short story named the Parliament of Rooks in which a mystery is dissolved why the rooks always elect a speaker and after his speech they murder him. And finally, when Sandman dies in the last issue, The Wake, he is taken to the realm of the Death by a boat shaped as a swan.
...And the Madness of Crowds is the last work of Richard Madoc in the story. A film with the same name is based on this novel in the story. It is very probable that its title comes from a popular work Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay. The novel is a history of folly of the humankind and Mackay himself says that “men, it has been well said, think in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly and one by one!” 16 This could be approached as a parallel to the way how Sandman, the key character of the story, regards the humanity – he sees them as flock of sheep, he never cares for individuals, never distinguishes them. He considers them vain and shallow.
16 Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds
23
Erasmus Fry is a name which belongs to a character appearing only for a short while in the story – an elderly writer who seized the Muse Calliope and held her captive for many decades so that he could use her as inspiration for his novels. He is revealed to be a liar when he passes her to another writer Madoc in exchange for a bezoar. There is a strong possibility that the first name might be a reference to Erasmus Roterodamus. It was a theologian and humanist and among several other works he also translated some part of the Holy Bible into Greek language (and Latin). This interest in Ancient Greece of his could be the reason for Gaiman using his name, although in a slightly ironic manner – Erasmus Fry himself certainly has some knowledge of Ancient Greece (thus he is able to capture Calliope) but instead of scholar interest he exploits what has been left of the old Greek glory in the most aggressive way – humiliating and abusing for his own purpose. Concerning the surname Fry Gaiman may be refering to a Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye who is an author of one of the most distinguished volume of essays called Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays in which among other issues he also discusses myths and archetypes. These two subjects of his analysis lead to Gaiman´s character Fry who had a good knowledge of Greek mythology as well. The titles of novels in “Calliope” can be in terms of literary devices identified as allusions in most cases. Their disclosure is not essential for understanding the short story but they frequently bear some information about the particular character. In my opinion, Gaiman included them for those readers, who are keen on discovering tiny literary specialities.
3.2.2 References to Greek mythology
24
Calliope, Orpheus and Morpheus Calliope was the oldest of the nine Muses of the Ancient Greece, goddesses of art, literature and philosophy. She is also known for being Homer´s Muse and therefore inspiration for Illiad and Odyssey. Her domain was poetry and eloquence, that is why her emblems were writing tablet or sometimes a scroll. Along with her fellows she dwelt on the mount Helicon. She is said to give a birth to her two children – the bard Orpheus and Linus. Why did Gaiman introduce such a heroine and make her a martyr? The explanation may be as follows: the Muse Calliope in his story originates in times which would never come back, from the age when mankind viewed the world around them in a pure and respectful way. By abusing Calliope Gaiman lets the whole world of Ancient Greece be abused, ridiculed and exploited. He shows what kinds of opinions prevail nowadays – quick and ruthless world with no regards to their origins. This dominance is arrogant and merciless – the old world is stamped into the ground for being weak and having lost most of its former glory and might. It is a clash of the new, aggressive, and effective on one side and traditional, conservative and slow moving on the other one. However, Gaiman remains an optimist – the ancient forces still have some strength left to defy and even protect themselves. In Greek mythology, Orpehus was a son of the Muse Calliope and in all probability the god of light, medicine and songs Apollo. Nonetheless, Gaiman altered this part of the myth: in The Sandman stories Orpheus´s father is not Apollo but Morpheus (one of Sandman´s names). The Reason for Gaiman´s decision to present Sandman as Orpheus´s father could be merely the inviting similarity between names Orpheus and Morpheus. A logical consideration emerges – a son as a part of his father could gain a part of his father´s name, too. Let us now have a look at another possible reason of Gaiman´s alteration of the original myth: An interesting point might be the fact that Morpheus is indeed a part of Greek mythology as a god of dreams, the one who shapes dreams and also creatures that inhabit the dreaming. 17 Putting aside several differences between Sandman and Greece interpretation of Morpheus, this description has much in common with Gaiman´s concept of Morpheus (although Gaiman places Morpheus high above all gods and
17 Available at http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/morpheus.html
25 makes him superior to all world as a part of mighty Seven Endless. This conception does not correspond with Greek tradition where Morpheus is a lesser god with no real significance.). Moreover, in Greek mythology, Morpheus´s brothers are Hypnos, the god of sleep, and other lesser deities such as Phantasos or Phobetorand. All four siblings are called Oneiroi 18 (and again, a remarkable similarity between Gaiman´s and Greek concepts could be observed – Morpheus is sometimes called Oneiros or Oneiromancer). According to the tradition they are winged demons and their homeland lies on the westernmost shores of the Ocean very close to Hades. Connection to Hades and sinister appearance evoking Netherland aura around Oneiroi may well be another connection between Orpheus and Morpehus besides the similarity between their names. In the legend, Orpheus descended into Hades to bring his dead wife Euridice back to the world of living. However, in earlier versions of the myth Orpheus arguably played an utterly different role. He might have been an underworld creature with no romantic aspect of his story which seems to be attached later. (Guthrie, 29). Thus, Orpheus and Morpheus could share a very similar if not the same origin in the Greek mythology.
Mothers of the Camenae are the three women a maid, a mother and a crone implored by Calliope and finally coming to hear her pleads. Nevertheless, they refuse to help her. An intriguing confusion of terms occurs here: Camenae were originally Greek water deities of fountains and wells but they were gradually identified with Muses. When uttering her prayer Calliope pronounces their names also: Mneme, Melete and Aiode . These are names of the three original Muses before their number was enlarged to nine. Therefore Calliope probably calls them Mothers of Muses supposing Camenae are accepted as predecessors of the nine Muses (and since Calliope is a Muse herself, even hers, too). However, the matter is not as simple as that – in other The Sandman stories these three women are often called Hecate 19 . Hecate was a Greek goddess of crossroads, most often depicted as a creature with one woman body and three heads (or three separated women bodies). Sometimes she can be found with a head of a dog, snake, and horse as
18 Available at http://www.pantheon.org/articles/o/oneiroi.html 19 Her name probably means “distant one“.
26 well. 20 For being a goddess of crossroads she is usually credited with a gift of foresight. She was said to be able to see the past, present and the future. 21 Another aspect of this deity is her pleasure in walking alone under the moon with a torch – sometimes she is considered also a moon goddess (Kerényi, 35). Another interesting fact is her contact with Hades. She was understood to see out the souls of the dead on their last journey to Hades. The domain of Hecate was also Netherworld. Worth noticing is the principle of trinity 22 which is the key to understanding why Hecate tends to be depicted in most cases as a woman with three heads and another time as three women. However, no matter if they are part of one body or separated, they share the same mind, knowledge, and opinions. In a word, they are one. What remains uncovered is another riddle: the Gaiman´s own image of the three women. He not only presents a picture of Hecate as a trinity – three women who are one – but pushes the matter further and endowing them with archetypical visages of a maid, mother and crone, which could be found in a basic witchcraft lore as metaphors for past, present and future. Still the riddle seems unsolved: The image of three women could be very often found in Greek mythology. Hecate is one of the most well known and influential deities of all, with the only exception: Moirai . Similar to Hecate , even Moirai is a trinity goddess of night. Moreover, among her unusual abilites we can also count gift of fortune telling. Moirai in her usual form of three women weavers was holding a thread – a fate of every living thing on Earth. They were dreaded and feared by many (including Zeus, the highest of gods of Olymp), for it was only their decision or caprice how long the threat of all should be. It is an intriguing fact that in other The Sandman issues the Mothers of Camenae are, similar to Moirai , holding threads. Therefore we could deduce that Gaiman´s Mothers of Camanae are synthesis of Moirai , Hecate and withcraft lore images of maid, mother and crone, consisting of prominent features of all these three phenomena: From Hecate their name and foresight, from witchcraft lore their visage of maid, mother and crone, and from Moirai their competence to decide about the lives of all things. All these three trinity deities have a tight connection to the Underworld or Hades. It could be concluded that this might be the reason for Gaiman´s interest in Mothers of
20 Available at http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hecate.html 21 Available at http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess myths/greek_goddess_hecate.htm 22 In Czech „trojjediný“
27 Camanae – the contact with Hades. Along with Orpheus and Morpheus she would be the third being in tight connection with forces of the Underworld. Then the principles reappearing in the story all the time are trinity (three mythological concepts ending as one in Gaiman´s image of the Mothers of Camenae ) and the characters´s being in touch with Hades. In my opinion, it may imply that all this was Gaiman´s intention. To sum up what has been discovered: there are three creatures from Greek mythology occuring or being mentioned in “Calliope” – Orpheus, Morpheus, and Mothers of Camanae – who are in a certain way in contact with Hades, the Netherworld. Is this the key to decoding Gaiman´s story “Calliope”? Are all the roads leading the Hades? And if so, for what reason? I would suggest that the clue is Hades. In Greek mythology Hades was a place where spirits of the dead came after their life finished, but those, who committed deeds that incensed the gods were taken there too to atone their offences. Hades was a terrifying and eerie place where nobody is keen on walking into if he had another choice. In “Calliope”, the emerging of Hades whenever we look, is a bad omen. The hidden connection between the characters in “Calliope” and Hades might usher and indicate the climax of the whole The Sandman story (all ten issues of graphic novels) after the fashion of Greek tragedies – the death of the main character Sandman and, more importantly, its inevitability from the very beginning of the story. His death is not an outgrowth of a misfortunate accident or a mere coincidence, it is a natural development of the story, even though the reader does not know at first. Sandman, or Morpheus, belongs to Hades, he is intended by Gaiman to descend into Hades and never to return despite the fact that Morpheus is one of The Endless who are most unlikely to die ever. At the end of “Calliope” when Morpheus and the Muse are standing together and the time to say farewell comes, she observes, that: “You have changed, Oneiros. In the old days, you would have left me to rot forever, without turning a hair....“ (Gaiman, The Dream Country, 23). Nonetheless, it is too late for Morpheus to change, the Mothers of Camenae have already weaved the thread of his life to its soon end.
Scroll, moly flowers – When Erasmus Fry seizes Calliope he uses moly flower and burns her scroll so that she is forced to succumb. In Greek mythology (it appears in Homer´s Odyssey ), moly flower had a magic power. A person wielding it would be protected against enchantments. As far as the scroll is concerned – it is said to be an
28 emblem of Clio, another Greek Muse whose domain was history. Calliope was a Muse of poetry and her emblem was a writing tablet. However, sometimes she was portrayed with a scroll and a writing tablet. That is where Gaiman´s idea could perhaps come from. Erasmus fry by getting hold of her emblem and shielding himself against her natural magic which should protect her is able to capture her. References to Greek mythology are, along with the titles of novels, predominantly allusions. Gaiman worked often with names of Greek deities and their basic charateristics but he applies them to his own work with large modifications. As for the Orpheus´s tale: The name of a Greek bard Orpheus is mentioned only twice in “Calliope”, so here it could be denoted as an allusion. However, in the sixth The Sandman issue Fables and Reflections the whole tale of Orpheus and Euridice is retold in a traditional way with modifications only in terms of Orpheus´s father (in Greek mythology Apollo, in Gaiman Morpheus). I would suggest that what in “Calliope” was merely an allusion, later in Fables and Reflections developed into intertextuality.
3.3 Dream of a Thousand Cats
The second short story in The Dream Country begins in ahouse where a young couple is going to bed leaving their little kitten alone. Soon a grown cat appears and invites the kitten to a big night evening at a cemetery. There is a cat having a speech to tens of other cats. She speaks about her former life in a family and how she left them when they killed her kittens. Desperate and angry she prayed to the king of cats to unfold why cats are subordinate to people. In her dream she met a skeletal raven who showed her a way to the cave where the Lord of Dreams (Sandman) dwelled. She overcame many obstacles and arrived in front of him – an enormous black cat who the reader recognizes as a feline form of Sandman. He reveals her the truth – a long time ago, the rulers of the world were cats and they bred people for hunting and entertainment. Then a human prophet arose and told people that when enough of them dream they could
29 dream a world with people as sovereigns and cats as mere pets. This really happened after some time. The prophetic cat has a message: All cats should dream about the world with cat rulers and it can come true. The kitten returns home, dreams of it and believes it will come to pass.
Cats have ever occupied an important position on mythologies of different cultures. In particular, they were popular in ancient Egypt where a cult of a goddess Bast was wide spread. Bast was originally a deity of sun and light, later after Greek influence in Egypt also of moon and secrets. If we seek an answer to a question why Gaiman chose cats as the only characters of his next story Bast can be one plausible clue. She appears in several other The Sandman issues as a Morpheus´s friend and possible later lover. That is why Gaiman could perhaps want to use the suject of cats again in more detail. “The cats are dreams of carrion kind“ (Gaiman, The Dream Country, 20) is a phrase used twice in the story, both times by the prophetic cat herself. Cats are often believed to possess supernatural abilites – to stand on the edge between the waking and dreaming world, and living world and the Underworld. Cats are symbols of pride, independence, sensuality, and femininity. Their lives on the border of two worlds and the fact that they may be able to walk arbitrarily in each of them could be the second reason (along with their occurance in mythology) for being chosen by Gaiman as prominent and ultimate heroes of the second story in The Dream Country – they belong both to our world and the dream country as well. In my opinion, they only highlight Gaiman´s interest in mythology and its dark and sinister side the Underworld.
As the prophetic cat explains to the night cat meeting, after a long time wandering the she arrives at a huge gate guarded by three mythological creatures: wyvern 23 , gryphon 24 ,and hippogriff 25 . This is a Gate of Ivory. The Gates of Ivory and Horn are the entrances into Sandman´s palace in the very heart of the Dream Stream. Sandman describes them in the first The Sandman issue Preludes and Nocturnes :
From there one charts a course nightward until one reaches the Gates of Horn
23 Wyvern is a mythological creature very similar to dragon, two legged and winged 24 Gryphon, or sometimes called griffin, in a mythological creature with a head of an eagle and body of a lion. It if often seen also with eagle wings. 25 Hippogriff is a mythological creature with eagle wings, forelegs ,and head, hind legs of a horse
30 and Ivory. I carved them myself, when the world was younger, and order was needed. I hasten to the Gates. The dreams that pass through the gates of Ivory are lies, figments and deceptions. The other admits the truth. No one guards the horned gate anymore.(Gaiman, Preludes and Nocturnes, 11)
After such an explanation the reader does not need to ask why he sees only one of the Gates – the second one may lie anywhere else but is no longer guarded – nobody cares for true dreams since people have given up belief that dreams could mean something for them...
It is clear that the conception of two gates of dreams was taken from Greek mythology as well. In Odyssey Homer mentioned these two gates for the first time and they were reused several times afterwards. Penelope is waiting for Odysseus and dreaming about him coming back to her. However, she recognizes the dream as a fake one and explains that there are two gates through which the dream gods like Morpheus and other Oneiroi send dreams to visit people in their dreaming: the Gate of Ivory letting out deceptive dreams, and the Gate of Horn, the dreams of which bring a truthful message to the receiver. 26
Although Homer (and later authors like Ovid and Hesiod) speak about both Gates they never mentioned any beasts guarding them. This seems to be purely Gaiman´s invention.
Examples of allusions are visible in “Dream of a Thousand Cats” from glimpses of Egyptian and mainly Greek mythology. I suggest the reference to Gates of horn and ivory should be considered an example of intertextuality for the formulation Sandman uses when he describes the gates is very similar to the one by Homer.
26 Available at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/171188/dream/38749/Dreams as a source of divination
31 3.4. The Midsummer Night´s Dream
An important note has to be made at this point – “The Midsummer Night´s Dream” is not the the first and last place when Gaiman´s character Sandman encounters William Shakespeare. Gaiman´s interest in this great playwright is apparent in many more places of all the ten The Sandman issues. Sandman and Shakespeare meet for the first time in the short story “Men of Good Fortunes“ in The Sandman volume number two where Sandman overhears a pub dialogue between Shakespeare and his friend Marlowe with Shakespeare expressing his dream to become as excellent playwright as Marlowe. He says: “I would give anything to have your gift. Or more than anything to give man dreams that would live on long after I am dead.“ (Gaiman, The Doll´s House, 12). Sandman invites Shakespeare to speak in privacy and offers him such a gift. In return he demands two greatest plays by Shakespeare celebrating dreams.(Gaiman, The Doll´s House, 13). Through supernatural means, he will become a greater playwright than Marlowe, because Marlowe writes only from his own perspective. Shakespeare will now be granted the ability not just to write plays, but also to embody the dreams of mankind. (Castaldo). In “The Midsummer Night´s Dream” as the third story in The Dream Country on Midsummer Eve Shakespeare and his theatre company are heading for a place where they are going to play Shakespeare´s new play The Midsummer Night´s Dream for the first time. Sandman is waiting for them on the hill near Wendel´s Mound 27 and invites the king and queen or Faerie Auberon and Titania with their servant hobgoblin Puck and other fairy creatures to watch the opening night performance. There are scenes taking place on the stage, among the audience and at the backstage. After the play the fairies return back to their realm, satisfied with the play. The actors wake up from as if a disturbing dream and they find a pouch full of gold they were given by Auberon at night, only the gold has turned into dried leaves. Gaiman´s use of intertextuality is especially visible in this short story. We can see parts of the original Shakespeare´s play – Gaiman puts original Shakespeare´s words in the mouths of characters of this short story, the reader is able to recognize the very lines he or she knows from the play. Gaiman took the Shakespeare´s play with no changes in the text but he confronts it with its characters: Some characters from the
27 An unspecified place arguably in England
32 play are actually watching it, commenting on it, and in Puck´s case interfering with it as well. He mingled the untouched Shakespearean text with the Shakespearean world – these two worlds are encountering and even clashing. The reader of Shakespeare knows Puck from The Midsummer Night´s Dream but here in Gaiman´s version Puck becomes a participant of another story about him – the same could be applied to other characters like Auberon and Titania. Gaiman virtually enlarged the original play since it stays the same as far as the text is concerned but he vitalized the characters with new aspects of their personality – Shakespearean story gains a new dimension.
Gaiman also puts a question of truth and originality of the plot of Shakespeare´s play. The original deal between Sandman and Shakespeare was that Sandman gives the playwright talents and he will get two plays in return: in other words, the plot of The Midsummer Night´s Dream is supposed to be of entirely Shakespeare´s invention. And letting Gaiman´s story aside, in our reality this opinion strongly prevails among all today´s literary historians and critics: “There is no known source for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream . As with Love's Labour's Lost , and The Tempest , A Midsummer Night's Dream seems to have been entirely a product of Shakespeare's own imagination.” (Mabillard, 1.par). However, later in Gaiman´s “The Midsummer Night´s Dream” as Titania is watching the play interestedly, she points out that “in the old tale there was a love potion that left the goddess rutting with an ass.“ (Gaiman, The Dream Country, 11). Here, I daresay, Gaiman implies that the story cannot be an original play and it is merely a copy of an old legend. This places the reader before an inquiry: How much of the play is a Shakespeare´s talent and to what extent does it describe and depict some sort of archetypical myth of the whole mankind. Could it be a tale stored deep in the unconsciousness of the humanity, a story which expresses subconscious dreams of all the people? That is what Shakespeare yearned for, to “create dreams to spur the minds of men“ (Gaiman, The Doll´s House, 13). And indeed, Sandman himself reveals a little more of this matter: “Will is a willing vehicle for great stories. Through him they will live for an age of men, and his words will echo down through the time.“(Gaiman, The Doll´s House, 19). Sandman´s words imply that Shakespeare is largely only a medium for evoking the dream already hidden in minds of the humankind and putting it in words by means of his talent enhanced by Sandman. 28
28 A striking similarity between this concept and thoughts of psychologist Jung could be observed.
33 Is this dream engraved into mortal minds truthful? Auberon strongly disagrees: “But this diversion, although pleasant, is not true. Things never happened thus.“ (Gaiman, The Dream Country, 21). However, Sandman replies: “Oh, but it is true. Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.“(ibid). Gaiman suggests that truth is not of any importance since it will be forgotten sooner or later. But the great stories 29 are subconscioussly stored and inherited and believed in. The times of Greek gods is over, the same holds for fairy creatures but still they are not forgotten – the tales of Greek mythology survived in other literary works. Similarly, the legends of fairies are alive in Shakespearean (and of course, other) texts. The question of truth is not bearing any importance – what matters are surviving dreams. Gaiman works with myths and legends (and Shakespeare is without a question a world wide legend) in his own way. He tears down some parts of them, leaves several bits, mingles them with other references and builds them again on bases of the postmodern society. He looks for new values 30 , he applies myths and legends to everyday life. Shakespeare paid a high price for being granted his desired dream – he neglected his personal life. The same tale is told in our lives as well – we sacrifice many things for the prusuit of our dreams. Dreams could be dangerous and harmful is we get too absorbed in them, this is Gaiman´s message.
29 And here we can find where Gaiman averted from postmodernism and its rejection of „grand narratives“. 30 This is the primary principle of rereading – the old stories read again, rewritten according to each generation´s experience.
34
3.5 Facade
In this story Gaiman wanted to show the reverse side of superheroes and their seemingly perfect life. We come into a shady room with a number of empfy facial masks and a big shape of a woman sitting miserably on the sofa. She is Urania Blackwell, a famous Element Girl able to turn herself into any element or its compounds at will, and due to her repulsive appearance a society outcast. Whenever Urania needs to go out she puts on her silicon mask that fall down after some time. When meeting her old friend who does not know Urania´s superabilities, the mask drops out and Urania suffers from a hysterical fit and flees to the safety or her own flat. She wants to commit a suicide but this is impossible due to her superabilities. Finally Death of the Endless (a sister of Sandman) comes by and helps Urania to ask the Egyptian god Ra from whom Urania gained her superabilites, to kill her. Since Ra is a god of sun, Urania looks into the sun and dies.
Urania Blackwell short, follows his example but after becoming a superheroine she changes from a soft and beautiful woman into a muscular and unattractive hulk. 33 This is the sequence where her comic character was abandoned and laid forgotten until Gaiman ressurected her as a heroine only to kill her for good.
Gaiman´s intention is quite clear – he wants to portray a superhero from DC Comics world from which Sandman comes, too, but make him or her human without hiding behind heroic deeds and unconvincing confidence. An attractive woman turning into a freak would in the original comic mean a short contemplation but quick set off to face the dangers. Gaiman reveals the price necessary to be paid. He even does not shrink from such a burning topic as suicide is. Moreover, he pushes further and finishes the short story with a sort of a perverted happy ending – heroine´s successful death. Undoubtedly, he created a much more mature point of view of the original DC Comic characters – beginning with Sandman as the main hero, borrowing others like the Three
31 DC Comics is an American comic literature publishing company. The most famous characters produced by this complany are Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman etc. 32 Orb of Ra was an Egyptian mysterious atifact endowing its holder with special powers and abilities. 33 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Element_Girl&oldid=270348387
35 witches 34 , and in “Facade” Urania – every time he accepts some primary features and nearly always builds his story on the events known to readers from previous accounts of that particular character. On the other hand, he omitts many other features to create a distictive and to a large extent authentic characters. This is a clear example of a pastiche – borrowing the characters from their original setting and making them live in another world and face another situations.
Gaiman´s personification of Death is remarkable indeed: A short thin pale girlish looking young woman with a fleece of black hair (her apperanace is, save her height, very similar to Sandman´s). With her ever smiling and good natured, pragmatic and most likeable personality she surpasses all the traditional images of Death: “When the last living thing dies, my job will be finished. I´ll put the chairs on the tables, turn out the lights and lock the universe behind me when I leave.“ (Gaiman, The Dream Country, 20). Around her neck she is wearing a chainlet with an unusual sign – Ankh. This symbol comes from Ancient Egypt and among many other theories it is predominantly belived to be a symbol of life.
Ra is in the story the Egyptian god whose pyramid Urania entered in order to become a superheroine. He was a god of sun and his daughter was a goddess Bast – the connection between the two stories (“Dream of a Thousand Cats” and “Facade”) is thus created – via mythology.
Again, even in the fourth and last short story of The Sandman issue The Dream Country due to the sign Ankh and appearance of Ra Gaiman´s interest in mythologies is clearly visible. Thus, myths could be said to serve as a meeting point of all the four stories The Dream Country consists of.
34 And later he developed his own concept of them – see The Dream Country : “Calliope”: Hecate/ Moirai etc.
36
Conclusion
The in depth analysis and categorization of The Dream Country brought following conclusions:
Gaiman uses large variety of rewriting: All four short stories The Dream Country comprises are perpetual stream of references which can be further divided.
Gaiman employs chiefly allusions – to begin with the least significant ones: titles of novels or unusual names of his characters (especially in “Calliope”) could be considered mere jokes or “literary savouries” he occasionally throws to his most attentional readers – typical examples are a name of a character Erasmus Fry (consisting of Erasmus Rotterodamus and Northrop Frye ) or a title of a novel The Cabaret of Doctor Caligari (based on a German horror film of the same title). Doubtlessly, not many readers would be able to recognize and therefore appreciate them.
Larger and more considerable allusions are Gaiman´s frequent borrowings from Greek (and partly Egyptian) mythology. He often refers to gods, heroes and important locations of Ancient Greece especially connected to its dark and sinister side: themes like dreams and nightmares, night and twilight, and predominantly, Hades or Underworld appear covertly or openly throughout the whole issue The Dream Country .
Another and arguably even more significant references hidden in The Dream Country are whole characters Gaiman borrowed from diverse sources – mainly from DC Comics universe. A borrowing of a superheroine Urania Blackwell serves as a typical instance of a pastiche – direct reference to other text with their characters in different setting and roles.. Another example of pastiche in is without a question the main character Sandman whose predecessor bearing the same name but completely divergent personality played lesser role in early DC Comics universe as well.
As the most prominent example of intertextuality borrowing of the whole story The Midsummer Night´s Dream by William Shakespeare could be denoted.
To sum up the reasons of all above mentioned examples of allusions, pastiche, and
37 intertextuality: Use of some allusions and pastiches could be solely playfulness of postmodernisms, their reasons do not have to carry any deeper meaning or intention for the story itself although they, of course, sometimes do. However, another borrowings were with a high probability employed for some purposes and they do bear cryptical meaning which is very important to conceive Gaiman´s message of the stories. We cannot claim that understanding of them is essential for grasping this message. Nonetheless, they are necessary if a reader strives to live out real and deep literary experience.
38
Anotace
Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá analýzou souboru čtyř povídek grafického románu Krajina Snů od Neila Gaimana z hlediska intertextuality, aluzí a pastiší.
První část práce objasňuje některé otázky postmodernismů, především jejich vznik a původ, odlišnosti od modernismu, základní rysy a charakteristiky. Druhá část se potom soustředí výhradně na vysvětlení a definování literárních prostředků intertextuality, pastiše, parodie a aluze. Třetí část si klade za úkol analyzovat konkrétní příklady těchto literárních prostředků v povídkách a také se snaží jednotlivé příklady vysvětlit z hlediska jejich významu pro dané literarání dílo.
Annotation
The thesis deals with an analysis of a graphic novel issue The Dream Country by Neil Gaiman from the point of intertextuality and allusions.
The first part of the thesis enlightens postmodernisms in terms of origin and history, differences from modernism, and the basic characteristics. The second part focuses predominantly on explanation and definition of literary devices intertextuality, pastiche, parody, and allusion. The third part aims to analyse particular examples of these literary devices within the short stories, and moreover, it endeavours to find their meanings for the given literary work.
39
List of references
Barthelme, Donald. Snow White . New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1996.
Bender, Hy. The Sandman Companion . New York: Vertigo, 1999.
Bertens, Hans. “The Debate on Postmodernism.” International Postmodernism. Theory and Literary Practice . Ed. Bertens, Hans, Douwe Fokkema. Amsterdam: John Benjaminss Publishing Company, 1997.
Broich, Ulrich. “Intertextuality.” International Postmodernism. Theory and Literary Practice . Ed. Bertens, Hans, Douwe Fokkema. Amsterdam: John Benjaminss Publishing Company, 1997.
Butler, Christopher. Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Calinescu, Matei. “Rewriting.”International Postmodernism. Theory and Literary Practice . Ed. Bertens, Hans, Douwe Fokkema. Amsterdam: John Benjaminss Publishing Company, 1997.
Fernie, William T. Precious Stones For Curative Wear, Other Remedial Uses And Likewise the Nobler Metals. (1997 ed.) Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing Co., 1997.
Fokkema, Douwe. “The Semiotics of Literary Postmodernism.”International Postmodernism. Theory and Literary Practice . Ed. Bertens, Hans, Douwe Fokkema. Amsterdam: John Benjaminss Publishing Company, 1997.
Gaiman, Neil. Preludes and Nocturnes . New York: Vertigo, 1989.
Gaiman, Neil. The Doll´s House . New York: Vertigo, 1990
40 Gaiman, Neil. The Dream Country . New York: Vertigo, 1992.
Gaiman, Neil. The Season of Mists . New York: Vertigo, 1992.
Genette, Gerard. Palimpsests . Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
Guthrie, W.K.C. Orpheus and Greek Religion . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
Hoesterey, Ingeborg. Pastiche: Cultural Memory in Art, Film, Literature . Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Parody: The Teachings of Twentieth Century Art Forms . Champaign Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001.
Jameson, Frederick. “Postmodernism and Consumer Society.” Film Theory: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies . Ed. Simpson, Philip, Andrew Utterson, K.J.Stepherdson. London: Routledge, 2004.
Jařab, Josef. “How Can We Act (Write and Read) Before We Understand?” [Mis]understanding Postmodernism and Fiction of Politics, Politics of Fiction. Ed. Sweeney, Matthew, Michal Peprník. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2003.
Kerényi, Karl. Mytologie Řeků I. Příběhy bohů a lidí . Praha: Oikoymenh, 1996.
Klages, Mary. Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed. London, New York: Continuum, 2006.
Moraru, Christian. Rewriting: Postmodern Narrative and Cultural Critique in the Age of Cloning . New York: State Univerity of New York Press, 2001.
Porter, James E. Intertextuality and the Discourse Community . London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (Taylor & Francis Group), 1986.
41
Internet documents
Castaldo, Annalisa. “The Construction of Shakespeare in The Sandman” . Project Muse . 31 April 2004. 7 April 2009.
Felluga, Dino.”Hutcheon II: on parody.” Introduction to Postmodernism . July 2002. 7 April 2009.
Harvie, David. “Non places: Introduction to an antropology to supermodernity.”bnet . Autumn 1996. 7 April 2009
Chandler, Daniel. “Semiotics for Beginners.” aber.ac . October 2003. 7 April 2009.
Irvine, Martin. “The Postmodernism, Postmodernism, Postmodernity: Approaches to Po Mo.”Georgetown . 2004 2009. 7 April 2009
Kirby, Alan. “The Death of Postmodernism and Beyond.” Philosophy Now . Mar/Apr 2009. 7 April 2009 < http://www.philosophynow.org/issue58/58kirby.htm >
Mabillard, Amanda. "Sources: A Midsummer Night's Dream". Shakespeare Online . 2000. 7 April 2009.< http://www.shakespeare online.com >
Smith, Jeremiah. “Christian Moraru´s Rewriting: Postmodern narratives and Cultural Critiques in the Age of Cloning.” Reconstruction.eserver. 7 April 2009
42
Other Internet sources
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia . 27 Mar 2009, 22:53 UTC. 13 Apr 2009
“Element Girl.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia . 13 Feb 2009. 7Apr 2009
“Oranges and Lemons” The Nursery Rhyme . 7 April 2009.< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A696125 >
Allusions in Prose and Poetr y. Ed. Bill Willis. 2009. 7 April 2009.
Babylon . 2007. 7 April 2009. < http://www.babylon.com/definition/Allusion/English >
Encyclopædia Britannica . 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 7 April 2009
Encyclopedia Mythica . 2004. 13 May 2004 < http://www.pantheon.org/ >
Hecate, Greek Goddess of Crossroads . 2008. 7 April 2009.
Humanities Web: Literary Terms . 5 March 2008. 7 April 2009.
Society and Culture Research Guide. 2009. 7 April 2009 < http://www.123exp culture.com/t/03604218703/ >
43