The National Library of Canada...

[fajrdrako]

I spent most of the afternoon doing research in the National Library of Canada. I've been there before, but not for many years. I used to go when I was an undergraduate at Carleton University, and I remember they made me jump through hoops to get the authorization to go in. I was left thinking it was an elitist place that probably wouldn't let me in.

But, encouraged yesterday by maaseru and John, I went today and got a card without much hassle, using my passport as identification. I then spent time reading a book that has always fascinated me, L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal. I have read it before, but really don't remember as much as I might; the only printed version, a three-volume set from 1891, is difficult to find, and is fragile. It is more than 19,000 lines of Anglo-Norman verse, and so is difficult to read quickly.

I knew the National Library had a copy, because I'd got it once on Interlibrary Loan through the Public Library. (But they wouldn't let me take it home. The nerve.) When I asked for it this morning the library expressed doubt. "We don't usually handle that kind of material," she said. "We're mandated to carry Canadian history, you know." I couldn't tell whether she was dissing my unpatriotic study of European history, or apologizing for the library's insufficiencies. I refrained from saying, "How chauvinistic of you." They did, of course, have the book.

Because it is fragile, I had to read it in room 25, wearing white gloves (which they provided), and use of pens is not allowed. Luckily, I'd put a good pencil into my bag this morning, somewhat by accident rather than good planning.

I luxuriated in the place. I'm used to the Ottawa Public Library - a good place, don't get me wrong, but it's crowded with books and people and the air conditioning seldom seems quite right and the librarians are always busy. In the National Library, there is a hush. The air conditioning is perfect - and that's important, since it was (maaseru tells me) 40-something degrees Celsius outdoors today, or 106^o Fahrenheit. But in this cool, not-too-bright, not-to-dim room with its high ceilings and a view of the Ottawa River through its floor-to-ceilng windows with vertical blinds, I felt as if I was in an ivory tower. The table I was working at was maybe 10' by 15', and I had it all to myself. There was a space of about 10' between each table and the next, and no more than three or four people working in the whole huge room at any one time. Everything seemed fresh and clean and spacious and artistic.

I loved it. I worked until my eyes started to blur and my brain balked at understanding Anglo-Norman and the muscles of my pencil-wielding hand started to ache.

The good part? My card is valid for a whole year.

Makes me feel, if only temporarily, like the real scholar I want to be.

I took some pictures when I was leaving, just for the fun of it.

First,

The statue outside the National Library. It is called "The Secret Bench of Knowledge", and is by Toronto artist Lea Vivot.
Besides being a lovely statue, it has a delightful history.

~ ~ ~


A fountain in the garden to the left of the main doors.

~ ~ ~


"The Secret Bench of Knowledge" as seen from the garden,
with the entrance to the National Library to the left of the picture.
The person sitting on the bench is real, not part of the sculpture -
she was waiting for someone to pick her up.

Comments

[msilverstar]

I love that book! UC Berkeley let me take it out for weeks at a time. A large part of my senior thesis was based on it.

Huh, I just realized that my thesis was on medieval fandom! Once I found out that right after the Chanson de Roland, the most popular boy's names were Roland and Oliver, I was on a roll. My thesis was on the feedback loop between secular literature and secular culture, esp. including William Marshall and Le Chevalier de la Charette (Chretien's Lancelot). William's life imitated art and the stories imitated his life...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Reposting due to a few egregious typos - sorry!

I love that book!

Egad, so do I! And you're the first other person I've met who has read it, though I've known people who have read parts of it. (And may have read the whole thing since I last discussed it with them, I don't know.) Yes, I was able to take it out from the library of King's College when I was studying there - that was wonderful. Much easier there than here.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is a senior thesis? Is that a thesis you have to write to get a B.A.? Or does it mean something else? I thought 'senior' meant last year of high school in the U.S., but I would be surprised if they had you writing about an Anglo-Norman biographical poem in high school.

Once I found out that right after the Chanson de Roland, the most popular boy's names were Roland and Oliver, I was on a roll.

How wonderful! I believe I knew that already - an idea of infinite pleasure. I remember once noticing young males in northern Italy in the 14th century with names like "Arturo" and "Pandragone" because of the popularity of the Arthurian legends. I love it when that happens! Or even just tracing the history of names... the man I am researching, Aimery de Lusignan, was the son of a woman named Burgundia... and then he named his daughter Burgundia. It's such fun to see patterns like that.

I wonder if, in the mid-9th century or whenever it was, there were suddenly a bunch of kids named Beowulf and Grendel?

My thesis was on the feedback loop between secular literature and secular culture

Oh wow. It might be presumptuous of me to ask this, but may I read your thesis? It sounds fascinating. Was this in history or literature or both?

Chretien's Lancelot

I have never read Chretien and I really believe I should. He's smack in the middle of my time and consorted with people I am working on. I should read it soon. I am currently rereading the Lais of Marie de France.

William's life imitated art

It certainly did! He was practically sans peur et sans reproche, and made into the model of the preux chevalier. He's all the more endearing (I think) because sometimes his personal non-typical point of view appears in the text, or his sense of humour. I do like William - even though I've just been reading about him bitterly fighting the guys I'm researching. Have you read the book Georges Duby wrote about him?

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I've got the paperback of Chrétien's romances. The editor's a former St As prof of French, and takes the view that Le Chevalier de la Charette (the Lancelot story) is a spoof. Helen Nicholson relates his Grail romance (the first on the subject) to Outremer politics, and says it's an allegory of Philip of Flander's abortive career in Outremer. The maimed king is, of course, Baldwin IV.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Helen Nicholson relates his Grail romance (the first on the subject) to Outremer politics, and says it's an allegory of Philip of Flander's abortive career in Outremer.

Oh, how cool!

Is there an edition you'd recommend? is the paperback in English or French?

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

The paperback's in English: it's the D D R Owen translation (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?r=1&r=1&EAN=9780460873895).
Helen's comments on Perceval are here (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nigel.nicholson/hn/CrusadeFAQs/T_and_G feed.html): she talks about the political allegory in the Grail legends.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

My boy is called after 2 of his uncles (his mother's half-brother, the King of Germany, and her full brother, the Bishop of Passau). I suspect his parents had older children that died, as (given the family pattern of the eldest being named for the paternal grandfather) the eldest should have been a Renier, not a William (the father's name). As it was, the name Renier was used for the youngest boy, born c. 1162.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Names did get switched and reused - which is one of the reasons it has been difficult to sort out the Hughs and Geoffreys of the Lusignan family. I love looking at the patterns, though.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

As the parents married c. 1133, one would expect more older ones. Neither William nor Conrad seem to have been born pre-1140-ish, given that no-one mentions them until the late '50s-early '60s at the earliest.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Funny how some people (like William, or indeed Richard) get all the long-term hype, and others, after a brief flowering of songs about them, get chucked on the scrapheap…

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I consider it my mission in life to do something about this.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Ditto!
It just appalls me how Conrad has been treated in particular.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Real Scholar, indeed. Outward trappings to reflect the inner truth!

The white cotton gloves... gad, to be able to handle a book that actually needs this, such a joy it must have been. Think of all the other hands that have held it. The ones who read it... what colors were their eyes?

I smile. I love such stuff.

I gently disagree with your caption: the person sitting on the bench is real, but she is not "not part of the sculpture," mia kara -- as soon as she sat, she became part of the sculpture. Was that not part of the entire intention of the art? hm

Hearing about being inside a wonderful library on a steaming-hot day was as refreshing for me, I think, as it must have been for you to have been there.

By the way: do you know that your digital camera can take pictures of the book's pages? There is a setting it has (I assume this; maybe it does not have it) called "macro." Macro allows you to hold the lens closer than usual without getting you any distortion. Think about it. Leaves from the book as screensavers....

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, truthfully, I suspect not many other people have read this book in the past 5 years, possibly even the past century. Not many people try to read Anglo-Norman, and not many people are as obsessed with the 12th century as I am. There's a similar book at the Carleton U library, where I suspect I am the only person who has ever read it. Well... fine by me.

It isn't fragile because it's been read a lot, but because it's old and paper gets brittle and the glue in bindings falls apart.

I don't know what colours the eyes of the other readers were, but I'd love to know the eye colour of the Lusignan brothers I am researching.

Well, yes, she was part of the sculpture but not a part the artist put there. I was myself part of the sculpture when I sat there, a little while later.

My camera lacks settings. My camera is an ignoramus of the camera world, which is what happens when you buy the cheapest model Costco has. One day, when I have a little money, I will get a better camera. I did fantasize a little about having the ability to do that. Some day, maybe!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I suspect I am the only person who has ever read it. Well... fine by me.

Indeed. I love the very image of such a thing.

My campus library has a book sale every spring; last year, for one dollar, I bought an unabridged Webster's dictionary, 1960 ... which I recognized as the dictionary that had sat on the pedestel in the main library hall 25 years ago, when I was an undergraduate here. O, the thoguhts it brought to mind!

Well, yes, she was part of the sculpture but not a part the artist put there. I was myself part of the sculpture when I sat there, a little while later.

Hmmm... performance art. Think of a video camera trained on this bench all day. (If people can sell eight-hour videos of a fishbowl, well...!)

My camera lacks settings... One day, when I have a little money, I will get a better camera...

Costco, hm? What I have here that compares -- Best Buy. What would you say to a Canon 5-pixel with zoom lens and settings, for $180 US? I know, still a lot of money. Want me to look into it for you? Remember the Wolverine phone: there could be a great deal out there somewhere, eh?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

An eight-hour video of a fishbowl sounds like a screensaver. I do have a video of a fire burning in a fireplace - it's fun to play. Especially in December.

I'm not going to buy a camera at any price until I've paid off all my debts!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I browse DVD sets but know I need to put that off indefinitely, no matter how attractive the price. Nice to think about, tho'.

Back in the early 1990s, I somehow ran across a program (I think it was on one of the transponders on one of Canada's two ANIK television satellites) showing odd stuff from local cable-TV channels around the world. One from Germany had a film clip for insomniacs, which played all night long: it was a handful of actors dressed up to look like sheep, playing leap-frog with each other from left to right across the screen... nonstop... and it was strangely addictive....

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal is downloadable for free as a pdf in 3 vols at Gallica (http://gallica.bnf.fr/). I have it on computer, and can send on disc if you want to have it to play with at home!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

My goodness yes, it would be wonderful to have it on my computer. It would be heaven. Much as I like the National Gallery - it would be great to be able to read it at home. I poked at the site but couldn't figure out how to do a search for it - am I being slow there? (Fascinating site, though.) I don't suppose they also have an Anglo-Norman dictionary for some of the more elusive words? I can usually read it easily enough just by reading phonetically, but sometimes I think, "Suppose I guess wrong?" I know Paul Meyer guessed wrong a few times!

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

To search Gallica, go to "Recherche", enter your search terms, then click, and it comes up with a list. You click on the item you want, and "télécharger" means "Download". It can be slow, though. I can send you the pdfs on a CD-ROM.

For Anglo-Norman/Old French, I use The Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub (http://www.anglo-norman.net/), which has a dictionary for look-ups.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I found it! And yes, I had to guess at "télécharger"; it was odd to think that I'm more familiar and comfortable with 'age of chivalry' French than 'computer age' French. But it's all a matter of what I've practised.

Thank you for the Anglo-Norman dictionary link! It looks like exactly what I need for those times I either can't guess a word, or misinterpret enough to find that three or four lines of the verse are opaque, and I'm left thinking, "What are they doing? and why?"

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I have put the books on CD for you, and will post!

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

when you mentioned feeling like a real scholar I was reminded of Harriet's musings in Gaudy Night, where she wonders if she should have chosen the academic way and not the crime writer one.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I can relate to that question. Sometimes I really wonder how and why I got away from academia and I miss it terribly. Other times I think my reasons for it (i.e., wanting to be able to pay the rent and eat) were good ones. It is a path not travelled that I now regret. I think a good part of my reason was the fear I wasn't good enough, and I think now that I would have been - it was poor health rather than incapacity for the work that derailed me. Or someting.

In any case, the world of the scholar still tempts me.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

yes, I can also relate. For me bad health is preventing me from even trying. I cannot even manage my master's thesis. When I read Harriet's thought I felt so much recognition.

But as for the path not traveled, I hope the path you did do brought it's own pleasures with it?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I cannot even manage my master's thesis.

Yeah. I managed that one, though I had to delay it by six months due to illness. Frustrating, especially when I look back. At the time it was a matter of taking one day at a time; but I think now, that on recovery, I should have done everything I could to get back into a doctoral programme. I suppose the question is: if I feel that way, what's stopping me now? Answer: money. The sense that I've been away from it for too long. Sheer funk.

I hope the path you did do brought it's own pleasures with it?

Oh, yes, it's been fun working in theatre, and I'm not really complaining about my life. It isn't what I would have chosen ideally, but it's been fun, certainly, with good friends and lots of stimulating ideas to play with. Not to mention having history books to read. But if anyone seems suited by temperament and interest to be an academic, it's me. I was once proud of my undersanding of the 12th century. Now I have... less to be proud of.