Murvyn Vye

            On Tuesday morning I finished positioning the chords for "Fuir le bonheur de peur qu'il ne se sauve" (I Flee Pleasure for Fear of its Removal) by Serge Gainsbourg. I ran through the song in French and English and made some adjustments to my translation. Tomorrow I'll upload it to Christian's Translations. 

            I weighed 85.4 kilos before breakfast. 

            I worked on my essay about Grendel as a class revolutionary. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 85 kilos at 17:00. 

            At 18:05 I logged on for the Medieval Literature lecture. 

            Alex started us off on female mysticism as presented in the texts we read for class. She asked if we had any comments about any of the texts. 

            I said about half the friends I've known in my life have been mentally ill people and I've known a lot of people like Margery Kemp. 

           The professor wanted to steer away from labelling religious experiences as insanity. But I said that many if not all the religious figures of history like John the Baptist and Paul the apostle were psychotic. I added that there is a lot of male privilege in madness and women just can't get away with it. An anchoress like Julian of Norwich was no threat because she was secluded, but Margery was out and about having her crying fits and telling other people they were sinners. 

            I also think that to not acknowledge religious figures like Margery Kemp as mentally ill does a disservice to all the mentally ill people that have suffered stigmatization through the centuries. Claiming that spiritual visions are distinct from psychotic visions ghettoizes the people of the mad community. 

            We split into three groups and each did mood boards for different texts. They involved finding images and quotes that fit the mood of each text. 

            The first group did Margery Kempe, and her incessant crying figured prominently. 

            I said that if I'd been in the Julian of Norwich group I would have looked for the image of a pregnant Jesus. I said the idea that Christ was a mother because of his suffering was the most interesting thing in any of these texts. 

            Professor Walton talked about Mary Magdalene having perfumed Jesus' feet. Then when she met him after the resurrection he said, "don't touch me". "Don't touch" can mean "don't preach". But she was the one who told everyone that Jesus had risen and so she was apostle to the apostles. 

            Our group did a mood board for the Ancrene Wisse. I thought of images while someone else searched for them. It was difficult to not just show a bunch of things with a red line through them to indicate their prohibition, such as "no men". We came up with a whip, a cell, a woman alone, hands out for alms, a "no men" symbol, and a cat, among other things. I said the instructions boil down to "Wear comfortable shoes and don't self-flagellate without your confessor's permission." To me this creates the possibility that there was a lot of self-flagellation. 

            Margery Kempe was wealthy. There was a dip in female monasteries. There were nine at one point. 

            There was a break, during which I started dinner cooking. 

            On our second paper we will be dealing with more than one text.

            The Ancrene Wisse was early. 

            What you can't do is tied with it having been done. White food is processed and costs more money. No flesh. I said one is giving up oneself when they let someone say what one should eat and when. 

            The Ancrene Wisse was written for men or women, anchorites and anchoresses. They became common when Europe became more populace. The cell was as if one was in one's own coffin built into walls of churches. 

            But the reality was different. There were doors and windows. There was tension between death and life in the ascetic ideal. Anchoresses were rich people and the sparse diet was expensive. They were entertaining in their cell and having sneaky sex. Some were given money as alms that they used to their advantage. Women with social importance. Can't have cattle because it will take you outside. 

            Can have cats, I assume not because the church loved cats but to catch mice. 

            The anchoress served as a postal service and people would drop off mail. The anchoress became more in the middle of things in seclusion than if outside. I said she was a poster person for asceticism. Alex says she likes the Ancrene Wisse, but the original full text. The Benedictine rule was for men but adapted for women. 

            Julian in the original Middle English is poetic and beautiful. 

            Margery is trapped. Her husband is sympathetic. Compare Margery to the trapped woman in Yonec. Great love. Christ as lover. Margery travelled to Jerusalem. In chapter 52, the monk against Margery. 

            Lollards wanted to translate the Bible into English so they were considered a type of heretic. They also wanted to get rid of the pope. Margery was called a lollard. This was terrifying for her. Why wear white when not a virgin? People say pretentious to wear white. 

            She calls herself a creature which suggests innocence and naivety but it is sophisticated to do that. 

            The arch bishop says she's a heretic. She tries to hide her nervousness. If she has faith she should be relaxed. She tells the archbishop a filthy story about a priest being mocked by a shitting bear. One wouldn't think she'd been frightened before. This sounds bipolar to me for her to be frightened one day and fearless the next. 

            Margery respected Julian. Julian pictures sin differently. It is not the fault of the trapped servant. She uses simple language and risky positions, such as universal salvation and maybe no hell. She's unworking the prohibitions. 

            At the end I asked Professor Walton what the circumstances beyond her control are that determine us not being able to do this class in person. She seemed very uncomfortable with the question. She said she couldn't really talk about it. It has something to do with a health issue, with a person above her at the university and with an unavailable room. She had suggested in an earlier email that maybe later we could have classes in person but now said she doesn't think that will happen. 

            I had a potato with gravy and one regular and one small porkchop while watching episode 32 of the Beverly Hillbillies. 

            The Clampetts go downtown and park in front of the bank so Jed can take out some money for groceries for Granny, school supplies for Jethro, and food for Elly's critters. Jed decides they need enough for a month or two and so he'll take out $10. Granny says she won't be able to sleep a wink with that much money in the house. Just then a convertible backs into them. It dents the old truck's front bumper but Jethro bends it back into place. The middle-aged couple in the car, James and Mabel Johnson are apologetic but everything is fine and James and Jed go into the bank together. Jed comes out and the Clampetts drive away but James emerges in shock and tells his wife that Jed is worth $35 million and they'll sue him for a bundle. 

            The next scene must be a few days later and it's in court. The Clampetts are there but don't understand why. The judge says Jed is being sued for $100,000. Mabel enters the courtroom on crutches and James arrives in bandages while being pushed by a nurse in a wheelchair. The Clampetts are concerned and get up to go and comfort the Johnsons but they are told to go back to their seats. James goes on the witness stand and tells a story about the Clampetts speeding up behind them while drinking moonshine, shooting guns, and hollering. But the Clampetts still don't know it's about them he's talking. They are wondering who would have done such a thing. Jed offers the Clampetts' help along with that of Duke the bloodhound in tracking down whoever hurt the Johnsons. Suddenly the judge realizes that the Clampetts have no idea that they are the accused in this case. When they are told that they are the culprits they become confrontational and end up in a court holding cell. They are let out and told they have an hour for lunch before court resumes and that the judge will suspend their $100 fines. Granny says, "There he goes spending our money!" The Clampetts go home and come back with a picnic and set a table in the courtroom. The judge comes in and orders the food taken away. Jed warns him that Granny gets ornery when she's hungry but the judge says it's her own fault for being late. Granny tells him not to tell her about being late when he shows up at work in his nightgown. Jed takes the stand and is questioned, then told to step down, but he refuses. He says he won't step down until he's said a few things. The judge allows him to speak. Jed says he wants to give the $100,000 to the Johnsons. The judge asks if he admits injuring the Johnsons and Jed says no but James deserves the money or more if he needs it. The judge asks why he feels that way. Jed says during the recess he saw Mr. Johnson with his daughter, a beautiful young woman with red hair who said to him "How's it goin Daddy?" Jed says he saw James bravely get up from his wheelchair to hug and kiss her. Then he told her that when he gets the money he'll take her to Mexico to watch the ponies run. On hearing this, Mabel gets up and starts hitting James as he gets up from his wheelchair and tries to get away. The case against the Clampetts is dismissed but the Johnsons are charged with perjury. 

            James was played by Murvyn Vye, who went to Yale University and his Broadway debut was in Hamlet in 1936. He was the first actor to play Jigger Craigin in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" in 1945. This was a big success and led to Hollywood offers. In his first film in 1947 he co-starred in "Golden Earrings". He played Bugs Morane in Al Capone. 

            I searched for bedbugs and found one on the top of the old exit door at the head of my bed. I didn't recognize it at first when I was poking around with a toothpick and it fell from the door. It fell in such a way that I'm not sure if it wasn't already dead or nearly so and just barely stuck to the door when I knocked it down. But when I looked below I couldn't find it either on my bed or the floor.