Ephrata Cloister

Scans made from film negatives of Ephrata ("effretta") Cloister in Pennsylvania. The original negatives date to the summer of 1992. The Sisters House centered here dates back to 1743. 

Meeting House (or Meetinghouse, if you prefer) dating to 1741. The tiny windows, steep roof and length all stand out -- quite medieval in appearance. (Through a "Zeke" filter). 

Stairway to Heaven, Ephrata-style.

The remarkable utopian religious community of Ephrata was created by Germans who arrived via Philadelphia. The Sisters and Brothers lived relatively ascetic lives; the Householders surrounding the core area, on the other hand, could marry and have children, ensuring communal survival. The last cloister member died in 2008. It's an amazing place, very peaceful and serene.  

Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, March 26, 1992

[Though earlier I'd donated to Duke letters from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) to me, more recently, in sorting through my files, I came across photocopies of at least some of the letters I wrote to him. Here's another one of them, from when I lived on Spruce Street. For his other letters, please see Wallace Fowlie Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Here's a link to the collection guide.]       

                                    Philadelphia, Pa.

                                    Thursday, March 26^th 1992

Dear Wallace,

I don’t know who’s been busier, me taking classes, or you teaching them, & giving lectures. However, Arthur Rimbaud & Jim Morrison always remain in mind, & where they are involved, I always have extra time & energy. So let me assure you, I’d love to be a reader for you, whatever you desire! 

There is a spectacular book store here, Borders Bookshop, which is two stories high & always full of people, It’s a good place to browse & keep up with literature & criticism.

A few weeks ago, I picked up an excellent history of the Punk Rock movement, England’s Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock and Beyond by Jon Savage (St. Martin’s Press, 1992), which provides additional evidence of Rimbaud’s & other French poets’ influence on rock and punk artists. In addition to translated quotations of Rimbaud, there is for instance the specific example of the band Television, an early band influence at the outbreak of Punk in the mid-1970s.

Richard Meyers and Tom Miller dropped out of school in Virginia, went to New York, and took the names Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine.  They opted for rock because, Hell says, “all the people whose work I was interested in, the self-conscious, twisted aestheticism of the French 19^th century, were not the popular ground for the writing of the time.” (p. 88) They picked elements of fashion as well, which inspired the New York punk scene, which in turn influenced English groups.

I hope you’re fully recovered from your cold. Many people in class are ill, too. Only today did we have a first feel of fresh spring air. The city is a fascinating place for graduate study, but it’s hardly a health spa. . .

Most of my reading of late has been devoted to class-related studies, primarily on European & U.S. 19^th century histories of the aristocracy and officer corps. The latter group is as far from the work of individual poets as one can imagine, and yet it’s still interesting by the very outrageous contrast. I recall Proust’s comments on his military service through the thoughts of Marcel, which in turn reminds me of E. A. Poe’s bittersweet experiences in the Army and at West Point. (Poe lived here for a time; I have yet to visit his house, now a museum, up on Spring Garden).

Then there is Appollinaire [Guillaume Apollinaire], and his strange acceptance of fighting in the Great War. My feelings at the time might have been closer to the Dadaists in Zurich, or even to the wild ravings of Céline and Hasek. [Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Jaroslav Hašek]. The war seems completely insane from the vantage point of 1992. But then, we’ve in many ways, as a society, hardly moved beyond it. The world is still quite full of nationalistic madness.

Still no word on The Doors Complete? Since JFK, there hasn’t been much more comment on The Doors, which is strange really. Critics and indeed many of today’s youth have negative feelings about it because of the drugs & drug use shown. Today’s youth seems to be fixated more on Government-approved cigarettes and alcohol, and yet it was clearly alcohol that did Morrison in, both artistically and physically. That was part of Stone’s mytho-biography as well, for those who wishes to see it. The film was hardly a glorification of drug use.

Most of my friends, including my sisters, found the film inspiring of the artistic process, an expressionistic rendering of Morrison’s losing struggle with the destructive as well as creative forces in his being. He succumbed to flesh & blood weaknesses. But his struggle was not a meaningless one. He, if not as forcefully and heroically as Rimbaud, did share some of Rimbaud’s artistic imperative.

Why indeed hasn’t someone made a mytho-biography of Rimbaud? Perhaps that’s coming in the wake of his centenary. But such a film would have to be miraculously innovative, in order to get at Rimbaud’s poetics. Maybe Werner Herzog could begin such a work, a fractured first look inspired by the poetry alone, not a soap opera of his relationship with Verlaine. Someone should try. Your Rimbaud-Morrison work may inspire someone to try it. Think of that, next time you look out at an audience like the one at Charlottesville. Certainly, if the recent films inspired by W. S. Burroughs and Kafka can be made, a Rimbaud film can at least be attempted.

Well, Wallace, I hope all is well with you & that the semester is proceeding as hoped. Mine is already lurching into its final stretch, & I will be finished in early May. I may come down to North Carolina for a short while. But will spend most of the summer here. I’ll let you know. Let me know if you want me to read your Morrison segment. I look forward to the possibility with great excitement!

Take good care of yourself.

                                                      As Ever

                                                           Erik

Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, July 4, 1992

[Though earlier I'd donated to Duke letters from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) to me, more recently, in sorting through my files, I came across photocopies of at least some of the letters I wrote to him. Here's one of them, from when I lived on Spruce Street. For his other letters, please see Wallace Fowlie Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Here's a link to the collection guide.]

                                  July 4th 1992
                                   Philadelphia

Dear Wallace,

It has been a long time since I've heard from you, and I hope all's well with you. I will call you after sending this letter to make sure you are all right.

My first semester in the Ph.D program went very well. I have only to write one paper this summer, and am working here through temporary agencies through August at least. The fall semester doesn't begin until September.  

With about ten other people, I am working as a general and music editor for a new magazine called Quo Moto [Quo Modo] Quarterly. The first issue is scheduled to come out in the fall. I'm writing an article about the Ephrata Cloister in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.  I am also working on a short story. I should finish both of these this summer.

[Deleted paragraph].

If you can, please let me know how you are, how your spring semester went, and what your plans are. I am anxious to hear from you!

                                                     As Ever,
                                                         Erik

P.S. I'm listening to Édith Piaf  

Philadelphia: 1992

[Diary excerpt.]  

This entry -- Free Library of Philadelphia, Saturday, January 11th, 1992.

I'm writing from the grand Free Library, which has the look & feel of a cavernous Carnegie structure, like a Duke East Campus library made bigger. I will be able to check books out as soon as I get a Temple ID, which will be when the checks I ordered come from the bank . . .

So far much time has been spent taking care of business, connecting phone line, electricity, rent, signing up for classes, building up food supplies, etc. 

I like it here so far. Except for right around Center City's heart, Philadelphia is not a bustling city. It has been cold, but what's struck me most are the number of people living on the street. There are the ubiquitous mentally ill roaming around & muttering, but there are also a lot of apparently otherwise healthy people, strung along every block. It is depressing because it is cold and often wet. I am faced with a moral dilemma every time I walk by someone asking for change. I have to make a quick judgment based on intuition & my own disposition, whether to give a few spare coins. It's not a sweeping moral philosophy at work, but a one at a time provisional choice, a little moral choice to be made constantly. Whet impresses me also is the steam rising from the gutter grills at night, the shadows reflected by buildings & people & colored lights. Many people sleep right on top of the grills to warm up by steam/ It is a Dickensian, even medieval or Biblical sight, the number of poor beggars.

I am quickly getting to know Center City simply by walking a lot. I found an organic store with the Velvet Underground in the background, much smaller than one such as Well Spring in North Carolina; and a corner grocery run by Cambodians, very friendly people, on Carmac and Spruce, right across the street.

The Temple Center City Campus has nightly movies, $1.50 for Temple students, at the very long-running "Cinematheque." I saw two excellent films, She Must Be Seeing Things (1987, Director Sheila McLaughlin) and Lina Wertmüller's All Screwed Up (1974-1976).  The McLaughlin film [is] about two women lovers & their relationship through jealous times, balancing having & being (in a Frommian lens); low budget but imaginative. All Screwed Up is, not surpisingly, akin to Fellini, touching on many bases without clearly resolving the main plot lines.

I have no TV now, so will be seeing a lot of films at the Cinematheque.

So far I am slowly recovering from the New Year flu or whatever it was. My only mishap since has been to burn my hand on a hot pot handle. 

Notes: Spring Recess will be March 6th through 15th.

Book reading: Roadside America, with a promise for a "powerful novena of childlike confidence," whatever that means. . . 

Letter from Wallace Fowlie, July 10, 1992

Letter from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) at Chapel Hill, to Erik France at Philadelphia, July 10, 1992.

Dear Erik,

It is so good to hear from you! I had wondered how the first semester in the Ph.D. program had gone. I take it that you are pleased with the situation in Philadelphia -- and writing one more paper this summer.

Already you are helping to edit a new magazine: Quo Moto [Modo] Quarterly. "Ephrata Cloister" is a striking name. What is it exactly? Are you also working on a short story?

And Liz too is working on her master's paper. Spruce Street will remain your address through December.

My spring semester (Proust) went well. I do have less stamina and resigned at the end of the semester. Dean White replied saying my Dante course for the fall is advertised and they have enrolled 120 students for it . . . So, I said I would try it again. The 2 weeks before Commencement and the 2 weeks after it were heavy for me, It is easier to teach than to say goodby[e] to seniors and talk with their parents.

I am working on a long paper (40 pages) to be part of a big book to be published next year by the French teachers at U.Va. It's to be called: The Unfinished Revolution. (I am still not sure which revolution the editors have in mind!)

I finished the Morrison book. It's being considered by The Duke Press.

The main event for me was, in early December, a trip to U.Va. to give the newest version of my talk on Rimbaud and Jim Morrison. Five hundred students and faculty turned up! You see, Erik, Jim still brings them in!

. . . this is a poor substitute for a visit with you and Liz who have helped me and always cheered me up. I do miss you.

Yesterday, a returning old student took me to Pyewacket and then to Howard's End at the Varsity. A very beautiful film. Vanessa Redgrave is radiant -- and the young actress (from Room with a View) is fine. I fell in love with her all over again.

Stay well, Erik.  love to you and Liz -- 
Wallace

Letter from Wallace Fowlie, February 29, 1992

Letter from Wallace Fowlie (1908-1998) at Chapel Hill, to me at Philadelphia, February 29, 1992.

Dear Erik, It was so good to hear from you in Philadelphia and to know all is going well.

I am enjoying my two sections on Proust more and more. Second quiz much better than the first. (They are on to me.)

Am just back from two days at the Univ. of Virginia -- where I gave my talk on R. and J. M. Thursday night to 300. (Morrison still brings them in). Lived in the Colonned [Collonade] Club -- a house designed by Jefferson. What a magnificent campus! The Univ. Press of Va. is interested in working at my ms. (I had it typed by Debbi Ferettino of the French Dept.) If they are willing to consider it, they may ask you to serve as a reader. I know very few people able to judge both parts. Denomind[?], my friend there, could check the Rimbaud section, and you the Morrison. You may not like it. Don't hesitate to say so. (I will love you still, but may not suggest as a reader of the next book[)] (which will never be written!)

I agree with you about JFK, a remarkable film. Stone is a heroic figure. Yes The Doors and JFK are related. 

For 10 days I was plagued by a head cold -- cut classes one day -- but all I could do was teach and prepare the next class -- and see no one. Our spring break comes March 16. I am glad to have Liz's address. She was so good to offer help. I hope to see both of you soon. . . No word on The Doors Complete. 

Thanks so much, Erik, for your interest in these literary matters. Through these past few years you have kept me informed on matters I  should know about. Believe me, the  interest in Morrison is still very strong in Virginia!

Frank Lentricchia took me to lunch at Tripps last Sunday. His piece on the Trappist monastery appeared in Harper's. 

When things quiet down, I will try to find Flight from Eden.

Love,
Wallace   

Invitation to Wallace Fowlie Lecture on His Art Collection, October 11, 1992

"Cover: Jean Cocteau (French, 1889-1963): à Wallace Fowlie avec l'amitié de Jean Cocteau 1956." 

DUKE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF ART

and the

FRIENDS OF THE ART MUSEUM

Cordially invite you to attend a special lecture

by

Dr. Wallace Fowlie

James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of Romance Languages

Duke University

Collecting Drawings of Cocteau, Picasso, Matisse,

and Henry Miller

Sunday, October 11 [1992], 3:00 p.m., North Gallery

and a reception celebrating the opening

of

A SCHOLAR COLLECTS: 20th-CENTURY WORKS ON PAPER

FROM

THE COLLECTION OF WALLACE FOWLIE

4-6 P.M.

R.S.V.P. 

A Letter To My Parents Who Were About To See The Waterloo Battlefield (1992)

Luckily, my parents, who were about to see the Waterloo battlefield in Belgium during a visit to Europe in 1992, kept this letter that I sent to them from Philadelphia. 

The letter, dated August 30, 1992, includes observations about the Waterloo campaign of June 1815, including a comparison with the Second Battle of Bull Run aka Manassas in 1862. 

Front of the letter, which is really a writing-card. 

Paper artifact from Brussels. 

Philadelphia: Quo Modo, Spring 1993

Quo Modo, or QM, was a Philadelphia-based journal that I worked on with a slew of other people in late 1992 and early 1993. Dan Kay was in charge of layout: he came up with the above imagery, and the table of contents page visible below.  For the Spring 1993 edition, the primary staff consisted of Peter Wilson, Erik D. France, Wendy Rosenfeld and Dan Kay. Others that helped out in various ways: Shara Gordon, Taso Mouhteros, John Martin, Brian Campbell, Nga Mai, Steven Ducownay, Janet Hoefling, Rich Wiener, Jonathan Apothaker, Dirk Peterson and Margaret Cooper.

Some of the showcased writers: River Algiers, Hillary Esta Field, Robert Spivek, Leonard Gontarek, Sarah Dunn, Otis Zachary, Brent Askari, Kristan Hickey and Vance Lemkuhl.

This was produced in the last days before the internet truly took hold. For those who remember, the words "1200 baud" must still register somewhere in your conciousness. Not to put too fine a point on it, but communications were slower then.

Café Diva: 12th and Spruce, Center City Philadelphia

The original Café Diva was at 12th and Spruce, Center City Philadelphia -- right across from my garret apartment. Talk, chess, readings, musings and occasional fillings-in found me here. I loved the area, and urban living. Nga (Nga like "National Golf Association," as she put it) Mai, way cool proprietor and "serial entrepreneur," moved Diva over to 140 S. 20th Street, Rittenhouse Square, across the park from the Free Library branch where I saw Queimada / Burn (1969) and  La battaglia di Algeri / The Battle of Algiers (1966), two great films that have stuck with me over the years.