Donar

            On Thursday morning I finished working out the chords for the bridge of “Privé" by Serge Gainsbourg and started on the chorus. 

            At about 10:45 I logged onto Blackboard for my Introduction to Canadian Literature tutorial.

            Kelly reminded us that our short essay is due in one week. 

            We talked about Postmodernism in which there is not just one truth and meaning becomes unstable. I was thinking that it must be anti religion then. 

            We looked at Robert Kroetsch’s "Stone Hammer Poem". The poem is fragmented with more than one observation. He changes his mind in mid statement. He uses enjambment. 

            She quoted the paragraph that I’d written on the poem without naming me. 

            The poem is self aware. He talks about writing the poem in the poem. 

            I had a comment about his use of the question mark before the question but when Kelly called on me my mic didn't work. I discovered that my jack wasn't pushed in all the way. 

            I raised my hand again and said that the “?" in front of "? Did he curse" seems to represent “why”. She said that doesn't explain "?What happened". I said that it makes sense to ask "Why what happened?" She said that wouldn't be grammatically correct, but neither is putting the question mark first or some of the other things he writes in the poem. 

            I said that “himmel” from the line “Gott in himmel” (God in heaven) rhymes with “hammer” and he could be alluding to Thor’s hammer. She didn’t think Thor was a German god but I assured her he was. Looking it up later I see that the German equivalent to Thor was Donar but he had the same attributes, including the hammer. 

            We looked at Pauline Johnson’s poem “A Cry From An Indian Wife”. She is much more sympathetic to the white perspective than a modern Indigenous writer would be. 

            I pointed out that she had to be diplomatic since most of her audience was of European descent. Also she was of mixed heritage. 

            Kelly hadn’t known that. 

            She used to do one woman shows in which she would play an Indigenous woman for part of the performance and a white woman for the other half. 

            She repeats the word “white” several times in the poem. 

            I asked if her references to war related to a specific conflict. Someone said it was the Northwest Resistance of 1885. 

            For lunch I had chips and a cold pork patty with salsa and a blueberry bottom yogourt. 

            In the afternoon I went to Freshco where I bought four bags of black grapes, a half pint of raspberries, cheddar, three bags of skim milk, cream cheese, sour cream, raspberry skyr and two containers of Greek yogourt.

            I got caught up on my journal. 

            I worked on finishing my required reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. 

            I had a small potato, two chicken drumsticks and some gravy for dinner while watching The Count of Monte Cristo. 

            This story begins in Paris in 1934. France’s first steam locomotive was about to make its first trip. A newspaper clerk named Roland comes to warn the count that the train is going to be sabotaged. He is about to say who is behind the plot when he is shot. He gives the count a note before he dies that reads, “The explosion of the first French steam locomotive on its trial run at 5:00.” The count and Carlo ride to save the train and are attacked by gunmen along the way. They cross swords with them on horseback until the shooters ride away. The count and Carlo are too late. They help the victims as best as they can. Upon hearing the news Premier Gerard sends for the newspaper owner who opposes the railroad, the Duke of Cordot. Gerard and his wife Elise beg Cordot to help to save the railroad but Cordot tells Gerard that he and the railroad are finished. As Cordot leaves the count arrives and advises Gerard to admit that he was wrong about the railroad while the count works on saving it. The count shows up the next morning at the Paris Stock Exchange and as everyone is selling their railroad stock he spends millions of francs buying as many shares as possible. His investment stops the fall of the stock. The bell rings for the close of the day. That night Duval the prefect of police arrives to arrest the count for the murder of Roland. The count shows Duval the note that Roland gave him and a copy of Cordot’s newspaper. The wording in the news report is exactly the same as on Roland’s note. The count says that if Cordot knew ahead of time that the train would be blown up then he must be the guilty one. Duval is not convinced and insists on arresting the count. The count gives the signal to Jacopo and Carlo to overwhelm the police and tie them up. The count asks Gerard to go and tell Cordot that in the morning he is going to produce to the chamber of deputees the two assassins that he says that Cordot hired to sabotage the train. Cordot goes to where his hired killers are hiding and accuses them of betraying him. The count, the premier and the prefect of police have followed Cordot. The count asks Cordot to explain how his newspaper published a full account of the train disaster before the count left the scene. Cordot says that he got the information by telegraph. The count says that the explosion destroyed the only telegraph semaphore within kilometres of the wreck and it would have been impossible to use it. Cordot draws a pistol and tries to get away but he is disarmed. Duval asks the count why he hadn’t mentioned the semaphore sooner. The count says because he made up the story of its destruction just now. 

            The train in the story is fictional, since France never started any major rail projects until 1842.

            Elise was played by Adrienne Marden, who at seventeen was in the original Broadway production of The Women. The moved to Hollywood in 1943 and played regular supporting roles in film and later television. In 1966 she formed the Players Production Company.