The Wonder of Canada

            On Wednesday morning I started translating “A la pêche des coeurs" (Fishing for Hearts) by Boris Vian. 

            I finished memorizing “Tennisman” by Serge Gainsbourg and looked for the chords. Finding none I began to work them out myself. 

            Just before 10:00 I logged on for my British Literature tutorial. When Alexandra started talking she was muted. I tried to tell her with my mic but I guess she couldn’t hear anyone else either until someone texted her and she unmuted herself. 

            We looked at the poetry of William Wyatt and Henry Howard the Earl of Surrey. Some poems are more satirical and some are about love combined with politics, while some are exclusively about love. 

            The volta is a philosophical or emotional turn. 

            I keep on having problems with my mic. Maybe before British Literature Part 2 in January I should go out and buy a mic that actually fits my computer. 

            I accidentally started taking the rest of my British tutorial notes in my Canadian Literature notebook. 

            There is a mixing of truth with the speaker posing as the author. I say that there is more of the author in a sonnet than in works like Chaucer’s or More's. The subject matter is more personal. Even in doing translations of poems they are only successful if one finds oneself in them. 

            Identity loss comes from trying to achieve a universal voice. 

            We were split into groups to analyze Surrey’s "Soote Season". I said that the “S” alliterations are relaxing and pleasant. 

            The volta is not always between the octave and the sestet. In this case it is just before the last line. Often one can find it by looking for “but" or "yet". 

            “Care decays, and yet sorrow springs”. I said that the poem presents the musicality of spring separate from his own sorrow. 

            How is time depicted? 

            My ceiling was leaking again and so I called my landlord. He said he’d come by tomorrow. After I hung up I looked a little closer and realized that the ceiling is not leaking but rather the top of the window frame. I suspect the water is coming down through the wall from the gutter. 

            I had crackers and cheddar for lunch. 

            I got caught up on my Canadian Literature notes and my journal. I wrote and posted an answer to this week’s Canadian Literature tutorial discussion question, even though we were told that we didn't have to do it before tutorial this time: 

           

            In Rohinton Mistry’s "Squatter", Sarosh’s dilemma of cultural assimilation is symbolized by the food cycle. He cannot take in the Wonder bread of Canadian culture, nor can he express what is inside of him in a Canadian manner. This lack of expression is comically represented by his inability to defecate without squatting. But Sarosh’s problem results from setting the impossible goal for himself of becoming culturally fully Canadian before arriving in Canada. He mistakes Canada for the melting pot that Nariman describes as being characteristic of the United States rather than the mosaic of multiculturalism that Canada tries to attain. He stands in contrast to Nariman the storyteller, who is comfortable in his own culture while assimilating the tropes of western culture that he chooses to include in his life, such as the music he whistles and the Mercedes that he drives. Sarosh fails to become Canadian because he tries to disconnect from India.

            I sliced another bottom off the round fruit and nut bread loaf and used it again as pizza crust with onion and garlic sauce and old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching Interpol Calling. 

            In this story Willi is a clown who travels with his daughter Lisa in the circus. His ambition is to put Lisa in school once they get to Rome. In order to make more business for the circus he wants to print handbills and buys a printing press at an unusually low price from a man named Keflik. He does not realize that Keflik is wanted for counterfeiting in the United States and that hidden in the press are an almost flawless set of plates of US $100 bills. The bills made from these plates could possibly be detected in the United States but no one in Europe would notice the difference. Keflik forces Willi to print the bills by threatening to hurt Lisa. When they get to Rome Willi looks into enrolling Lisa in a convent school. It is the middle of the term but the mother superior says she will make an exception. She gives Willi a copy of the school’s prospectus. When Keflik finds out he takes the prospectus away and tells Willi that he can’t put Lisa in a school because she is his way of forcing Willi to work for him and she would be safe if put in a school. Meanwhile Duval goes to Rome because the latest batch of counterfeit US money has begun to circulate there. He poses as a buyer of fake bills but Keflik is tipped off that Duval is a cop and Duval is knocked out. Keflik makes a getaway by wearing Duval’s hat but in doing so he leaves his own coat behind. In the coat Duval finds the school prospectus. He interviews the Mother and learns about Willi and Lisa and the circus. Suddenly Duval realizes that the printing press must be travelling with the circus and that explains the wide circulation of the fake money. Duval goes to the circus but when Keflik realizes Interpol is closing in he forces Willi and Lisa to the costume room and sits them at a table while he hides behind some clothing racks with a gun. He tells Willi to sit and put on his makeup when the police arrive. After standing behind and talking to Willi and Lisa and hearing Willi say he doesn’t know Keflik, suddenly Duval pushed Lisa out of the way and charges at the coat racks. He struggles with Keflik and finally knocks him out. The reason that Duval knew where Keflik was hiding was that Willi had written it on the makeup mirror for Duval. 

            Lisa was played by Waveney Lee, who was a teenager throughout most of her acting career. She auditioned for the role of the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan before the first season of Doctor Who but lost out to Carole Ann Ford. 

            The nun was played by Jean Anderson, who trained at RADA and for the first fifteen years of her acting career made a name for herself in theatre. After that she also played a wide range of supporting roles in film and television. She was a regular on two BBC series, “The Brothers” and "Tenko".