GORMENGHAST In POP CULTURE: THE CURE

Ooo! Mood night! 

For fans of both the book & movie GORMENGHAST, & of THE CURE:

Did you know THE CURE wrote their song ‘THE DROWNING MAN’ about LADY FUCHSIA?!

(Lyrics below). Some band members were fans of the book. I heard that leader Robert Smith said he cries when he reads it because he knows what happens to her.

Here's links to movie & book, if you're a curious Cure fan; or a swoony new fan of Dracula Jonathan Rhys Meyers- or generally want to see fantastic BBC character acting: go watch, & come back for videos & lyrics.

JRM is considerably skinnier here: he put on 25 lbs of muscle later when he got tired of being cast as teenagers. I'll stake anything that he had fun doing this one, though.

FULL MOVIE: Gormenghast, BBC miniseries 2000

buy book, w/100+ drawings by author: abebooks.com

Also ‘ALL CATS ARE GREY’ by THE CURE
on the same album, also said to be inspired by Gormenghast- I'm guessing the lyrics speak for our sad, tragic villain Steerpike as he hides, trapped, below in the castle "amongst the stones" and the flood. (Lyrics later.)

THE DROWNING MAN, Storyline

                                         (with SPOILERS):  

Is this song about suicide? Not necessarily. Our beloved Fuchsia in the book seems to decide against suicide- then ironically dies by accident: perched on the windowsill (not intending to jump), Fuchsia “starting at the violent sound” of a knock at the door, falls into the floodwater. The author mercifully has her knocked unconscious first.

YES!!

AND SO THIS IS HOW I'VE READ ULYSSES

Pretty me, reading Ulysses
hahaha! It's not Marilyn, it's...
MADONNA!

THIS the FOLLOW-UP to my previous post:
"Reading Ulysses: Guided Or Unguided?", so it might help if you want to read that first.

Every REFERENCE in this post is listed at bottom of that first post "Guided or Unguided."

INTRODUCTION

James Joyce's Ulysses intimidated me. I wanted to prepare myself before I began it. I wanted to research and find out ahead of time, for example: Which edition? Read it cold, or buy guidebooks to explain it? -especially on the first-time read. Which guidebooks? etc.

In the first post "Guided or Unguided" I researched and learned the many options readers have, for "how" to read Ulysses.
By now I'm halfway through the last chapter! Yes! Here I tell you which of those options I chose, "how" I read Ulysses after all.

So you can go read "Guided" where I research my options; or break the suspense now and keep reading to see what I chose!

Reading Ulysses: Guided or Unguided?

cover of Poets and Writers. Photo by Eve Arnold 1954
           publisher: Abrams Books, Eve Arnold's photos of Marilyn:  website link

Marilyn kept Ulysses in her car
to dip into for ex. while
waiting for Eve Arnold,
her photographer

BACKSTORY:

How will I go about reading Ulysses?

The way that Marilyn Monroe did, perhaps? I think yes, I will. More about her, further on.

Follow-up: I did decide how I will go about it, and wrote a follow-up post to tell you my decisions:
"And So This is How I Read Ulysses"- this time with Madonna!

So, I am about to tackle Ulysses after all these years; I have a friend who thinks it's one of the most enjoyable books ever, but even as a great reader I felt no shame at knowing I never planned to even attempt it. It wasn't until I became a fan of 1000-page books, and filled a bookshelf with them- stacked, not standing- that it ever entered my head to try.

Here I am hard at googling..
or somebody is..

Will I use my usual method of reading things? Above all I am analytical, and like to understand what I read. I research everything. Nothing escapes my academic approach- the arts included- even the scorned teen series Twilight (which I venture to admit reveals an interesting side).