Why Earthly Powers is a Christmas read

'Tis the season to be reading and again on this blog, we talk about Christmas in literature. You may remember that I once suggested to have is Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess among the books to read for Christmastime. For various reasons, which you can read about in the link above. Well, today, The Anthony Burgess Foundation published a blog post about the Genesis of the novel and more specifically about how the legend of St Nicholas, the story of the miracle of resurrecting three children murdered by a cannibalistic butcher (one of my favourite saint's legend by the way, which I often blogged about in French) became the key to understand the novel's main themes. It is not the only reason I consider Earthly Powers a seasonal read, but it's one of the main reasons. In any case, I strongly suggest that you read the post, it shows a much darker side tothe prototype to Santa Claus and givessome really fascinating information about Burgess' creative process.

Earthly Powers as a Christmas read

As Christmas is coming, I am giving you a few suggestions to fit Yuletide 'Tis the season to be reading and all that. I don't know if you have noticed, but it is one of the many traditions of Vraie Fiction. Today's suggestion is Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess. He is of course my favourite writer, as long-time followers of this bog know. Not that the novel set around Christmas exclusively or indeed all that much, in fact it covers most of the XXth century, but there are some key elements related to the season: it is at Christmastime that the homosexual narrator goes to confession and ends up renouncing his Catholic faith, he makes his coming out to his mother at the same time and one of the stories of the legend of Saint Nicholas (where the saint resurrects three children that had been murdered by a butcher) is used to illustrate the nature of free will and the problem of evil. Deep stuff. Also it is maybe Burgess' greatest novel, so now's a good time as any to give it a go. Or ask Santa to put it under your Christmas tree.

Anthony Burgess in Montreal

I found this in a newsagent on Mont-Royal Avenue. You can see here the French translations of Earthly Powers and Beard's Roman Women by Anthony Burgess. Two great novels by my favourite writer. In a trivial newsagent with lots of magazines, a whole lot of crime books and bestsellers, there were these two great, these two amazing novels. I have even been unable to find Beard's Roman Women in original English so far. A book that contributed to the development of my love for Italy. Anyway, I find it reassuring to see these books in such an unlikely place. I love my city a bit more.

A bull of excommunication

"I wonder what his archbishship is after. Perhaps he's delivering a bull of excommunication. In a gaudy gift wrapper of course."

-Earthly Powers, Anthony Burgess

This was pronounced by the lover of Kenneth Toomey in the novel, on the morning of his eighty-first birthday. More about the context of the first chapter here. I was flicking through the pages of Earthly Powers and I thought this would be how I'd love to officially, formally severe any kind of link I have with the Catholic Church. Not requesting an act of apostasy or whatever document one has to request and pay for. A good old bull of excommunication.I guess it is fairly rare nowadays and I may not have been impious publicly enough. But that is being kicked off in style.

Earthly Powers, the beer

This is a quick post that is sort of Easter related (as I had promised here). My readership knows of my admiration for Earthly Powers, the novel, now there is a beer of the same name, the official beer of the Anthony Burgess Foundation. Brewed by Brentwood Brewery. I drank it at the Foundation, tired after a long train journey, then went straight to the hotel. It is a great bitter. Unfortunately I was too tired to try Chockwork Orange as well, I wanted to stay sober for the play. So why is it Easter related? Well, the novel is about the XXth century seen through the eyes of an homosexual writer, lapsed Catholic, and his friendship with a priest, who will become pope. And on the label of the beer, you can see a crucifix that also looks like a totem or some African statue. This is in itself very Burgessian, mixing the sacred and the blasphemous. I wish I could drink this one on Easter.

Saint Nicholas' Day

Today is Saint Nicholas's Day. Saint Nicholas is of course the prototype of Santa Claus, or his old name, before he became a chubby, jolly old man. In some countries, it is just as big as Christmas, and very similar too. But for me, it reminds me of this story associated with Saint Nicholas, the story of the three boys killed by the butcher, often called The Legend of Saint Nicholas. I blogged about it before. It reminds me that there is a dark side to Christmas. I wanted to write my own take on the legend, with my own take on the character of the Père Fouettard and his origins (a bit like I did for Jack O'Lantern). but I lack energy and time this year. So it will have to wait until next year.

Two little anecdotes about the legend and the saint: Anthony Burgess used this very tale in Earthly Powers, where he imagined a future for the three boys growing up. It is very pessimistic, even cynical, yet it is a fair portrait of miracles in a world where men are condemned to be free (Burgess thought little of miracles, even resurrections). And on the other side of the artistic spectre, my brother bought me last Christmas the Dutch horror movie Saint, also based on Saint Nicholas and his day, which is celebrated in Holland. It is by far one of the dumbest, cliché filled horror movie I ever watched.

The incipit of Earthly Powers

"It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."

-Earthly Powers, Anthony Burgess

The incipit is the first line of a text. This is the first line of Earthly Powers, not my favourite but maybe the best novel of Anthony Burgess. It is certainly a great book. And what an starting sentence. The teenager I was, who had only read A Clockwork Orange from Burgess, was shocked when I first read this line, in the public library of Chicoutimi. With The Picture of Dorian Gray, the novel of Burgess destroyed and buried any feelings of homophobia I had then. In any case, it's a great read. And since I am short of great unknown lines and intend to blog a bit more about Burgess and literature, I thought I would blog the incipit of Earthly Powers here tonight.

A gruesome Santa Claus story

This post is an English version of this one in French. So, in case you don't know, it is Saint Nicholas's Day today. He is now better known as Santa Claus, but once upon a time he was a Catholic bishop who became saint, and like any good saint he performed miracles. One of them has been transformed into the Légende de Saint Nicolas, which you can find here with an English translation below. I always loved that story, because it was such a scary one, but also because in the end, Good overcomes even the most malevolent forces. One day my (then) future niece was visiting my parents-in-law, she asked me to tell her scary stories. I told her this one, which she claimed did not scare her one bit, but the next morning she admitted to my then fiancée now wife that she had nightmares about "that butcher story". She still asked me for more scary stories as soon as I got up, which confirmed my belief that children love to be scared.

On a side note, the story was also used by Anthony Burgess in Earthly Powers.