Letter from Clapham: Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, July 10, 1991 (Part V - Finale)

[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 Part V of a long one I wrote in longhand from Clapham, London, dated July 10, 1991. Ellipses indicate slight editing (deletion of a few personal details). Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading. 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.]

But of other bands, I can think of Roxy Music in their first ten years -- citing Nietzsche, there is a lyric easy to remember ("even Zarathustra") because of the emphasis Bryan Ferry gives it in his decadent, campy vocal delivery, carefully pronouncing each syllable. It may be [is] the song "Mother of Pearl." 

There is Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. I recall a proclamation at Morrison's memorial in Père Lachaise: "Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds are following you, Jim."

There is the Clash, who we've spoken about before, & Joy Division, a serious & committed cult status band, whose singer Ian Curtis committed suicide (you can hear the desperation in his voice); also, if you're interested in bands clearly influenced by earlier artistes, I can think of the Pretenders, who adopt Oscar Wilde: "We're all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars;" The Jam, who quote Shelley on one album cover, That's Entertainment! There are the Talking Heads, who began as an art band and became very good, until success spoiled their attitude; and the highly original Elvis Costello, who seems well-versed in language. 

I meant to mention earlier that some early David Bowie has clear references to Nietzsche on The Man Who Sold the World, and that Lou Reed studied under Delmore Schwartz, who, I recall your saying, didn't know French and yet translated Rimbaud (badly); there is the Jim Carroll Band, Jim Carroll himself a poet; & William S. Burroughs has at least two albums out, mostly of his own work.

Iggy Pop's Lust for Life refers, on the title track, to Burroughs' writing, and his reflective song "The Passenger" takes one of Morrison's images, of "the city's ripped back sides;" & to complete the connections, Siouxsie & the Banshees do a cover version of this. Iggy, who has been characterized by Ray Manzarek as a latter-day Rimbaud is only like Rimbaud the poet in that he is a man in rebellion; Iggy is a poet and rock musician, a different kind of guy, but not Rimbaud. . . (Manzarek was critical to the Doors' sound, without which Morrison sounds like a madman, as on "Horse Latitudes.")

I've tried to make up for not having written sooner. . . I hope my writing is legible; I have no access to a typewriter at the house I'm lodging at.

[Y] told me that you had lunch together but didn't provide any details. . .

I find that diaries, journals, letters, thoughts all blend together in a staged imaginary dialogue which is really a monologue of endless chatter that continues in dreams and occasional nightmares. It is difficult to converse with anyone here on anything but the most basic level; the English are reticent, and it takes a while for them to loosen up . . . 

If you have time to write, please direct your letter to:

18 1/2 Macaulay Rd
Clapham
London SW4 0QX

I hope all is well with you. Warmly & Respectfully 
                                                    your friend,
                                                           Erik

[FINIS.]

Letter from Clapham: Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, July 10, 1991 (Part IV)

[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 Part IV of a long one I wrote in longhand from Clapham, London, dated July 10, 1991. Ellipses indicate slight editing (deletion of a few personal details). Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading. 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.]

Other bands Rimbaud has influenced --we've talked about Patti Smith, and of course the Doors and Bob Dylan; probably the Velvet Underground, certainly [John Cale and] Lou Reed; indirectly, David Bowie and Iggy Pop. A Dead Kennedys book has a direct quotation from Nietzsche, but not Rimbaud.

There is a current band, which I expect has been influenced so, and that's Siouxsie and the Banshees. I was able to see them here, and was most impressed. This is an understatement. I was "blown away" by their performance. I saw them at the Town & Country, a rock club in an old theatre about the size of Memorial Hall at UNC [Chapel Hill], but with much better fittings and services -- in Kentish Town.

What blew me away was the continuous, relentless precision, the brilliant, glittering originality and dedicated studiousness of their performance, without the usual rock star egos and accompanying sexual flaunting: here is a band that is serious, philosophical, visionary, hardworking, and continuing. They have an almost decadent lustre, a smoky, intelligent lyrical style, and the right attitude toward themselves & toward their audience.

As the show progressed, I drew down from my balcony perch into the swirling mass beneath the stage, drawn by the energy of the band's delivery, the strange textures which included a cowbell and cello, strong guitars, drums and percussion, played upon with collaborative light swaths, an enormous Tantric Hindu icon, a god and goddess in conjugal embrace. I can recall it clearly, feeling like a hoplite in the sixth rank of a phalanx, until pressing & pressed forward as the first rank seemed to fall away crushed between the crowd and the stage, scattering to the sides, filtering back through the crowd, as I sweated and danced like a Bachannal. I could almost feel the crowd's expatiated nihilism forced upwards into a smoking overhead dome as Siouxsie sang Cassandra-like the words to "Cities in Dust," the imagery shimmering like an opium vision --

"Your city lies in dust, my friend
. . . All our cities will rise in dust . . ."

It was indeed a dithyrambic performance, Siouxsie & the Banshees playing the role of urban shaman, forcing the hollowness out of the spectators until they, we, became the performance & the dance. Long afterwards, I felt the afterglow of the experience. I still do. It was rock at its richest, and I feel in a position to judge, after experiencing a strange variety of different performances in a short time.

I feel certain that Siouxsie & the Banshees, besides maintaining a vital thread in rock music, have been and are guided by nineteenth century impulses like French symbolism and twentieth century movements such as the Surrealists, but I have no lyric sheets in hand and no cultural reviews to back me. I think that what has kept them on track is their only modest success; they are too strange, apparently, for mass popularity, unlike the Doors, who despite their strangeness, managed to be too successful in too short a time, which drew Jim Morrison onto the rocks. (I wonder what he would have been doing if he had gotten through that time. Poetry & pictures, or exile to remote places. . .)     

[The experience strongly persists in memory, somehow floating outside of linear time. "Esta es musica / Del otro mundo" = This is music from the other world," -- "El Día de Los Muertos," part of the first encore, after "Trust in Me." 

The night's performance ended with "Cities in Dust." 

Siouxise earlier joked before starting "Dear Prudence," after "Fear of the Unknown:" "Doesn't it make you sick?" 

"Kiss Them for Me" and "Peek-a-Boo" were real cool times, too.

The Town & Country had a capacity of about 2,100. It's now the O₂ Forum Kentish Town, with added capacity.] 

Letter from Clapham: Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, July 10, 1991 (Part III)

[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 Part III of a long one I wrote in longhand from Clapham, London, dated July 10, 1991. Ellipses indicate slight editing (deletion of a few personal details). Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading. 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.]

While I'm thinking about it, I'll be fascinated to read your essay in The Doors Complete. Morrison must have gotten his "aim your arrows at the sun" from the myth of Herakles, perhaps refracted through Nietzsche. I always assumed it had something to do with [his] being a Sagittarian as well.

I'm still struck by "the streets are fields that never die" and "The Crystal Ship" in general.

I heard the original "Alabama Song" in Brecht's Mahagonny Songspiel, with its additional reference to "little dollars" as well as "little girls." I'm hoping to see Baal next week. I recall it as totally twisted early Brecht when I read it some years ago. But I'm spinning off again! You must tell me how your writing is going, if you have time to take a break for a short letter.

I have been sketching out a play that I began five years ago, in disgust over our bombing of Libya -- it began as a political satire set in the Dark Ages, but I'm broadening it out to more universal issues of philosophy -- if I ever actually write it. It's far easier to keep moving, than to take the time to write at length, and with disciplined concentration. I have tried your stated method of early morning writing, but can't drag myself up until having to go to work, which is hardly satisfactory. Nonetheless, like Sisyphus, I continue to attempt it.

I enclose a picture of Great College Street, mentioned by Rimbaud* in his letter of 5 July 1873. (I brought Rimbaud: Complete Works, Selected Letters, and have been reading in it, enjoying it, trying to figure it out).

I looked up "Great Coll." and found it on a map, near Westminster [Abbey], behind the abbey grounds [close to the River Thames]. The walls of the abbey seen in the photo were there in 1873. Part of the street was demolished in the early 1900s. #8 no longer exists as such, only 5 & 10; there is a #8 Little College Street, just off Great College. 

I did some research at the Westminster Archives in the Victoria Library near Victoria Station -- which I, seriously, stumbled upon. They have old town books, maps & census records.

On 1 April 1871, 8 College Street had 12 inhabitants, including William Palmer, Chief Inspector of Police. At 11 Great College St. lived Louis Marie Bellor, a 40 year old Barrister from Paris, with his family, and visiting artistes, Ellen Carlilo, an unmarried artist, & Julia C. D. Byrne, an "authoress."** 

From the census, one can paint a picture of the street life. There was an offshoot, very small, to Great College St., called "Black Dog Alley," for two houses. At 1 Gt. Coll. was a pub, the "King's Arms," and at 14, was the Westminster Female Refuge," with 14 unmarried "inmates," two boarders, two servants, and a headmistress. ["To afford a temporary home to fallen women wishing to reform." Charities Register and Digest (3rd edition). London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1890, page 553.] Up the street, on Smith St., was a free public library, and further up, there were public baths and a wash house. Behind the abbey wall was the Close of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, with a College Garden and Infirmary Garden.

But besides the possibility that Rimbaud taught French here to pupils as a tutor, there is the fact that Shelley lived at 17 Gt. Coll., and Keats at No. 25 -- but there are no plaques to any of them.*** I found this information in books only, besides the census info.

I stood by the street and read Rimbaud's letters, in broken French & in translation, evoking a century plus gone by, in a harmless exercise!

If you know of other sites to see, including also the Doors, please let me know. 

I also brought Alcools (great translation), and working from "L'émigrant de Landor Road," found 75 Landor Rd., where Apollinaire stayed with his girlfriend Annie**** -- it's only a twenty minute walk from where I'm staying on Macaulay [Road], but Landor is a seedier street. 

                                              [To be continued.]

 [*All interesting social details, but Rimbaud's former pad on Great College Street is in Camden Town, about 3.3 miles away by foot, and since renamed Royal College Street. There is now, there, a plaque for Rimbaud and Verlaine. Here's a link to an article about it from 2017. 

**Julia C. D Byrne was probably Julia Clara Byrne (1819-1894), author of several books.

***John Keats (1795-1821) did live at this Great College Street. 

****Annie Playden (1880-1967) lived here with her parents. Apollinaire tried to woo her away, a last attempt before she emigrated to the United States. There's a photo of her here.]   

Letter from Clapham: Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, July 10, 1991 (Part II)

[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 Part II of a long one I wrote in longhand from Clapham, London, dated July 10, 1991. Ellipses indicate slight editing (deletion of a few personal details). Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading. 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.]

Unfortunately my notes and my memories are jumbled out of sequence from here on, but there were fragments of a demented rendering of the "Celebration of the Lizard," and a prolonged "Light My Fire," Morrison prancing in front of the audience during the guitar solo, holding out his microphone and letting people scream or shirk back whichever they prefer (he prefers screaming); he dances and stalks the stage during the organ solo, then, resuming his vocals, at one point he chants along with the crashing music, "F*ck-f*ck-f*ck-f*ck!" 

During "Unknown Soldier", scenes of the cross rows at Arlington, Gen'l Westmoreland's blubbering, Jim "Indian dancing" and acting out an execution scene, as if calling out to bite the ends of their guns -- Rimbaud is clearly here there, & everywhere!

Also, this film had a clear effect on Oliver Stone, who mirrors certain scenes and glimpses, such as when members of the Doors emerge from a building one at a time, are asked a question and give an answer. Manzarek comes off a little more pretentious & on a different planet than Morrison. I think The Doors captures them well, though musically they were all tight and complimentary.

During the performance of "Spanish Caravan" in The Doors Are Open, Morrison is absorbed, drenched in sweat, and captured by a low dolly shot which is quite effective, though possibly accidental. 

Morrison's recorded statements are interesting. When asked if the Doors are politicians, he says, "first, we're musicians and writers." He later says, "I think these days in the States you have to be a politician or an assassin to be a superstar;" also, "I'd like to make a celebration of pure unbounded joy . . . I don't think we've really done that yet." He describes the Doors as "gloomy" so far, "like someone not quite at home, not quite relaxed . . . I'd like to do one with a feeling of being totally at home . . ." 

And, with an obvious symbol, there is a shot of a lizard or iguana, which Oliver Stone transferred into The Doors almost identically. 

Despite its numerous faults, mostly its amateur quality, The Doors Are Open was an impressive shorter film, because of its documentary footage of the band, of Jim Morrison's sturm und drang, & of the time.

The Doors is playing Europe & seems to be getting the same kind of mixed reception it got in the U.S., but I haven't seen any full length reviews yet. I think the film is extremely well done, & have no qualms about it at all. I'm looking forward to Stone's film on "the crime of the century."

There is a bust of John F. Kennedy next to the International Students House off Great Portland Street, erected by contributions of £1 each from thousands of Britons, & dedicated to Bobby Kennedy about the time the Doors began playing.

Helen Mirren and Malcolm McDowell, O Lucky Man! (1973)

I won't get into my thoughts about O Lucky Man!, except to say I've seen it twice now & liked it even more the second time. Malcolm McDowell is spectacular. Also, that it was strange and wonderful to see it in London, where nearly the last half of the the film takes place. In fact, the Post Tower is in the background of one scene; now the British Telecom tower, it rises besides Howland Street, from which I called [Y] during my brief stay at the Int'l Students House, and where, I have since discovered, Rimbaud and Verlaine staid [stayed] around 1872 to 1873 (35 Howland Street).* But everything seems to interconnect after you've looked at things a while, in a magical fabric through time, space, and memory.

[*sometimes this is rendered 34 or 34-35 Howland Street.]

                              [To be continued.]    

Letter from Clapham: Erik Donald France to Wallace Fowlie, July 10, 1991 (Part I)

[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 Part I of a long one I wrote in longhand from Clapham, London, dated July 10, 1991. Ellipses indicate slight editing (deletion of a few personal details). Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading. 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.]

                                          Clapham, London
                                          July 10, 1991 Wed.

Dear Wallace,

I've been here six weeks and after a sharp program of work and culture, it's time for reflection. Please don't think my slowness in writing you is a sign of laziness! I've been keeping myself very busy and intensely concentrated.

Besides work, which has offered its own set of challenges, I've committed myself to a regimen of culture & exploration -- to the point where I might fancifully justify it as a derangement of the senses! fueled by simple enthusiasm, often with Italian or English beer in hand, by listening, watching, reading, speculating, imagining, soaking, smelling &, most import of all, sleeping -- until at times I have gained moments of lucidity which are like moments of blissful comprehension & glimpses into a sparkling metaphysics. 

I'm afraid this sounds like blubbering nonsense, because I cannot describe it adequately.   

Heretofore mostly provincial, I've seen operas, and I've seen more plays of all types and sizes in weeks than I've seen in the same number of years. The ones that stirred me deeply were Euripides' The Trojan Women and Underground Man, adapted from Notes from Underground. The first theatre (Finborough) had thirty people, the second (Ecology Café), only nine. Both were intimate and fantastic; the Finborough smelled strongly of incense and encouraged dramatic acting. I sat in the front row and was spat on by the actors in moments of impassioned soliloquy.

But before I go spinning off, though, let me tell you about things perhaps more pertinent to your present work. I watched two specials on TV, besides the initial reports from Yugoslavia, and they are both worth mentioning -- The Doors Are Open and O Lucky Man!

The first, running between [an] hour and ninety minutes, and with abysmally low quality sound recording, centered around the Doors live in North London at the Round House [Roundhouse] (now derelict, but still standing).  The show was in 1968 -- during the time of the assassins -- a year that I'm sure will stand in history as much as 1870; narration, short interviews and brief statements are jumbled up with Round House footage and documentary footage of violent incidents of the year, crowd confrontation scenes in city streets, etc.

The narrator's introduction characterizes Morrison, who is seen clearly as the group's guiding principal [or principle], as "poet, prophet, and politician." We're shown the Doors performing "Five to One: and "The Music's Over," mixed with the riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. 

I scribbled down some of Morrison's ad lib doggerel, mostly during "When the Music's Over --"

                        Something's wrong / something's not quite right
                        Touch me baby / up tonight
                        All my life's a bright delusion
                        All my life's a torn circus
                        All my mind tumbling down

and, while proclaiming "We're gettin' tired of hanging around..." he pantomimes being himself hanged, while John Densmore is seen drumming intensely (cut to violent street action).

"Save us! Jesus!" (cut to riot in Britain) (to National Guard in gas masks with rifles, M16s and smoke grenade launchers, panicked and undisciplined, harassing protesters in a car) (to LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, Wallace) (back to Morrison): "When the Music's over, turn out the light, etc.!"

It is clumsy but effective editing, given the drama of confrontation and violence -- until soon the flow of the film begins to speed out of control, hastening, looping crazily back to "Five to One," a matador gored by a bull (as in a Goya painting), cuts of children with painted faces in a park, the Kennedy funeral procession, quick cuts to cars crashing, etc. 

                                             [To be continued.]   

[The Finborough Theatre is still going strong. Link here. Rachel Weisz acted here in the early 1990s. Cast of The Women of Troy: David Hobbs, Kristen Milward, Margaret Robertson, Alison Skilbeck, Kate Thorne. Also Christopher and David Harrison, Lee Hucker, Mark Kelly. "A new translation by Don Taylor. Directed by Richard Osborne." Jacqui Trousdale, design. Kim Nichols, lighting. Trevor Allen, music. Address: 118 Finborough Road SW 10. 

Not sure about the ensuing history of the Ecology Café.

Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, London NW1. Built in 1847. Renovated by 2005. Capacity, 1,700-3,300 (seated/standing). Patti Smith and Bob Dylan have performed there since the renovation.]