Weekly Reader: Chasing Dragons: The True History of the Piasa Including Excerpts from To The Gates of Feng Tu Translated by Laurie Bonner-Nickless and Written by Mark Nickless and Laurie Bonner-Nickless; Fascinating Hidden History About Chinese Exploration of The Missouri-Illinois Area

 

Weekly Reader: Chasing Dragons: The True History of the Piasa Including Excerpts from To The Gates of Feng Tu Translated by Laurie Bonner-Nickless and Written by Mark Nickless and Laurie Bonner-Nickless; Fascinating Hidden History About Chinese Exploration of The Missouri-Illinois Area

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It's amazing how a long awaited discovery could lead to a huge change in the history that we were taught in school. Who would have thought that a journal entry about a strange painting would lead to potential proof that Chinese explorers may have arrived and visited the Midwest decades before Spanish and Italian European explorers found their way to the Americas?

That's exactly what is discussed in Chasing Dragons: The True History of the Piasa Including Excerpts from To The Gates of Feng Tu Translated by Laurie Bonner-Nickless and Written by Mark Nickless and Laurie Bonner-Nickless. This is a fascinating study of a history that has been long hidden but now needs to be brought to light.

The search began when Mark Nickless read an article in his local newspaper, The Jefferson County Leader, that described a painting of two monsters called The Piasa on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River near St. Louis and discovered by Jesuit explorer Jacques Marquette in 1673. The painting's origin was a mystery to Marquette and to the Native Americans who traveled with him. 

Marquette described it as "large as a calf..horns on their heads like those of a deer…red eyes, a beard like a tiger's, a face somewhat like a man's, a body covered in scales and so long a tail that it winds all around the body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a fish's tail. Green, red, and black are the three colors composing the picture." Sounds very draconian doesn't it?

This article stirred a memory inside Nickless who saw a Book Talk on C-SPAN by Gavin Menzies about his book, 1421: The Year China Discovered America, detailing explorers from the Ming Chinese Dynasty that used a massive fleet of ships to map the world including North America. 

According to Menzies's book, the Emperor Zhu Di appointed Zheng He as admiral of his fleet. Zheng He was commanded in 1406 to explore the entire world. With a fleet of two hundred 480 foot long ships.and 90 foot auxiliaries, crewed by 27,000 sailors and soldiers, Zheng He traveled around the world seven times in twenty-eight years. During these voyages, Menzies wrote that Zheng He traveled from the southern tip of Greenland to Antarctica, even voyaging to the Americas in 1420-1421. They mapped the various voyages. Unfortunately, the Ming government issued an edict prohibiting all voyages. The ships were destroyed and all maps, charts, and records were gathered and burned.

Putting these two events together, Nickless and his wife, Laurie Bonner-Nickless, researched the description of The Piasa and realized that Marquette's description matched that of two dragons, two Chinese dragons. Did members of Zheng He's fleet find their way to the Missouri-Illinois area? The Nicklesses suggest that it's possible.

The Nicklesses compared Marquette's description to other literary depictions of Chinese dragons and the details matched perfectly. That particular pictograph style was known to Chinese artists but not by any local Native American tribe. (In fact, Marquette's Native American fellow travelers were as stunned and frightened as he was about the picture) nor did the creatures resemble any told in local myth and legends.  It is also worth noting that in Chinese legends, dragons are depicted as wise and benevolent creatures that represent good fortune and luck and are seen as symbols of the Emperor. The colors green, red, and black are also symbolic of the Chinese emperor.

Okay, one picture may not mean anything. It could be a coincidence, but upon further investigation, it was revealed that banker George M. Doherty discovered jade items in Piasa Creek in the 1880's. In 1924, banker E.W. Payne said that even a superficial examination of the Piasa could tell that they were dragons. 

To add to the mystery, an acquaintance of the Nicklesses who spoke Mandarin Chinese and several Native American languages interpreted the word "Piasa" to mean "little men." Considering many of the men of the local tribes, like the Osage, were over six feet tall, the word may not have been a description of the creatures but of the shorter men who painted them.

Not to mention that petroglyphs have been found in Jefferson County, Missouri which strongly resemble Chinese characters. One appears to spell out "Love is here." (Another is of particular interest to me because it is five miles north of Hillsboro which is near my hometown of De Soto, Missouri).

Another interesting link is Bonner-Nickless' discovery in Luo Mao Deng's writings of a walled city of people with peculiar head dresses that could be a description of the city of Cahokia and its tribe, a tribe that later disappeared leaving behind their legendary mounds. All of this is mostly circumstantial, but certainly paints a picture that Chinese explorers not only may have made their way to Missouri and Illinois but encountered the local natives and were determined to leave their mark.

However, not everyone agreed with the assessment that the Piasa was a dragon or of the Chinese influence. In 1836, Professor John Russell offered a different view of the painting, a view that unfortunately stuck in local consciousness way more than Marquette's original description did. His entries contained much exaggeration and moral teachings for a religious audience. Instead of two wingless dragons, he described a large winged bird that devoured humans. 

He made up a legend in which the bird would pounce upon human beings leaving skeletons in its cave until a chief sacrificed himself to end the monster's tyranny. In other words, Russell's description transformed a picture of what appeared to be a benevolent Asian dragon into a fearsome European draconian-like creature courtesy of cultural and religious assumptions about the magical mythical creatures.

It didn't help that the painting had been assaulted by gunfire many times and then the limestone bluff in which the painting was quarried for housing material. So no way of verifying the creature's original appearance. So the location of the original painting was thought lost. 

In 1925, a new version of the Piasa was painted above the Great River Road in Alton copied from a catalog illustration and no doubt inspired by Russell's version of the creature. 

It was this description of the Piasa that carried over into cryptozoological legends and was repeated by various sources (including a YA unexplained phenomena book that I previously read). 

Chasing Dragons is interesting from a historical and academic perspective as it describes the various steps that researchers take to find answers to their questions. It's a mystery or a treasure hunt in which the prize is a greater knowledge and understanding about our world. 

The Nicklesses did extensive research by scouting the area and reading local accounts to learn that the location of the original Piasa painting was in Elsah, Illinois,10.9 miles north of the redone Alton one. Bonner-Nickless located a guidebook from the 19th century of Elsah that clearly had "Piasa Bluffs" marked.

 This actually fits the timing since Elsah was founded in 1847 and structures made from limestone quarried beginning in 1852-1853, the same time that the original Piasa painting was destroyed to become a limestone quarry. This information, combined with a clear copy of "Der Piasa Felsen" or "The Piasa Rock", an 1847 illustration by Henry Lewis, provided the clues that the Nicklesses needed to determine the real subject and location of the Piasa painting.

The Nicklesses' book is an interesting account of how art and culture is changed, altered, interpreted, and sadly sometimes destroyed by those around them. This is particularly telling in the story of what happened to the original Piasa painting and why the history of Chinese explorers and their dragon friend has been largely unexamined.

One reason that Chinese exploration of the Americas in general and the origins of the Piasa specifically are not well known is because of the Ming Dynasty's destruction of information about Zheng He's voyages. Nickless writes, "If not for this unimaginable disaster, Zheng He's costly achievement would have enabled China to dominate the globe. So far no one can be certain why the Ming government did this. It is a mystery. Because of this ill-advised decision, China then vanished as a player from the world stage for half a millennium."

Thankfully, not every item was destroyed. One was a map dated 1428 showing part of North America's East Coast including the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This route would have taken Zheng He's fleet from Lake Michigan to Alton with a portage in the Illinois River which flows to the Mississippi River right where the original Piasa was located. The other possibility is that they made their way to the Caribbean, through the Gulf of Mexico into the Mississippi River. There is a strong Chinese presence in the Caribbean to suggest this. Marquette's description of the Piasa is the final piece of the puzzle that the fleet made it to the Midwest and to the Missouri-Illinois area.

Another reason that the Piasa and its artist/explorers are not more well known can be summarized in two unfortunate words: "Manifest Destiny" and two more words: "James Semple." Semple was an attorney, a Brigadier General in the Blackhawk War, an Illinois Supreme Court judge, confidant of Abraham Lincoln, and eventual U.S. Senator. He was also a true believer in expanding the U.S. territory to the Pacific Coast and the concept of Manifest Destiny.

 Semple took part in American expansion to Oregon and returned to Illinois in 1847 where the Piasa would have been seen by many, particularly on the steamboats which went up and down the Mississippi River every day, and had already appeared in Lewis' painting. With an already inflamed over exaggerated sense of "White Superiority" and fueled by the anti-Chinese immigration rhetoric of the day, the thought of visual evidence that the Chinese arrived in the area before Europeans was something that Semple would not tolerate.

In 1852, Semple purchased a riverfront property which he later named Elsah. He then advertised that if anyone could build a house, they would then get the deed. There was plenty of limestone that was quarried and other materials for the taking. The practically free land and housing was tempting. The people of Elsah got their land and homes. Semple got property, money, and changed history and the original Piasa was no more, painted over, forgotten, repainted, and remade. 

However, the story doesn't end there. Thanks to new historical emphasis on Zheng He's voyages, as well as books and articles like Menzies' and those written by the Nicklesses (including a history conference in Nanjing, China to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the beginning Zheng He's journeys), the history of the Chinese explorers and the remainders of their arrivals are finally being recognized and known to the world.

The Piasa and its creators would have long been buried in history if not for the curiosity, persistence, and research provided by scholars, historians, artists, authors, and particularly a determined couple from Jefferson County, Missouri who asked questions, looked up information, and peered through sources to find answers. Truly, It is a historical journey of draconian proportions.

Weekly Reader: The Incomplete Artist (A Detective Ashley Westgard Murder Mystery) by Phillip Wyeth; More Show Less Tell is Needed In This Science Fiction Murder Mystery

 

Weekly Reader: The Incomplete Artist (A Detective Ashley Westgard Murder Mystery) by Phillip Wyeth; More Show Less Tell is Needed In This Science Fiction Murder Mystery

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The more I review books, the more I think that it's true that every action has an equally negative or positive reaction. That sometimes in reviewing one book, its polar opposite will follow close behind.

I previously reviewed Fearghus Academy October Jewels by I.O. Scheffer, a book that combined the fantasy of a magic school, the science fiction of intergalactic travel, the horror of a supernatural mystery, the diverse powers of a superhero story, and the hardships of a Dickensian historical fiction and created a unique imaginative work. The elements shouldn't work but they do and merge beautifully.

Now we have a book where different genres are combined and don't work so well at all. Phillip Wyeth's The Incomplete Artist strives to combine the fears of technology of science fiction and the drawing locked room murder mystery of Agatha Christie. On paper, it should be interesting. I have read Science Fiction and Mysteries that have worked very well together. But in this case, it doesn't. 

Allegedly, the book is set in the near future of 2045 where Artificial Intelligence has taken over every aspect of life including the arts. Detective Ashley "Ash" Westgard attends a gallery of human artists who stand against automation and the rights to be human and express themselves in a human manner. Ash becomes involved with the wealthy and sophisticated Thomas Templeton. Later that night one of the artists, Stanley Bennett is found dead and his canvas destroyed.

The Incomplete Artist is guilty of one of the most basic rules of fiction writing: "Show, don't tell," The book is allegedly set in 2045 but we aren't shown very much of this futuristic world. 

I know, I know there probably wouldn't be much difference between 2022 and 2045. In the grand scheme of things that's 23 years, not a whole lot of time for many huge differences. I mean we laugh at movies like 2001, Blade Runner, the Terminator franchise, and Back to the Future II that showed the years as more well futuristic than we ended up getting. But if you are going to go through the trouble of telling us that we are in a futuristic world, you should go through the trouble of showing us the futuristic world.

While we are told that the world of the Incomplete Artist is bursting with artificial intelligence and technology, we aren't shown this. There are no robots working in the gallery or on the police force (the two main locations of the book). We aren't shown Ash walking around this futuristic setting being spied on by constant surveillance or looking at her information spread out on the Internet. Technology should be omnipresent for people to complain about it, but it really isn't any more present than it is now. The artists should be written as freethinkers fighting against an automated system. Instead, they come across as pretentious technophobes. 

It doesn't help that the science fiction setting is merged with the drawing room murder mystery style of Agatha Christie. A combination of genres can work really well but in this case, it doesn't. 

The trouble is science fiction relies so much on the outer world and the troubles that function in that society. This type os murder mystery is more about the internal. It's a confined space that could be set anywhere so the Science Fiction setting is unnecessary.

In fact it mimics the Agatha Christie style so well that the pace is almost glacial. The murder happens ten chapters in. Instead of getting to know the potential suspects and possible motives, the book is distracted by Ash and Thomas attempting to be a couple. Most of Bennett's connections to the suspects are later revealed in interviews. Another bit of telling rather than showing. It's not that the murderer is easy to guess, it's that the mystery is so plodding that it's hard to care.

The Incomplete Artist lives up to its name. It is incomplete as a science fiction, a mystery, or a decent novel.

Weekly Reader: Dreaming Sophia by Melissa Muldoon; Muldoon's Work Is A Love Letter To Italy Itself And The Various Creative Souls That Lived There

 

Weekly Reader: Dreaming Sophia by Melissa Muldoon; Muldoon's Work Is A Love Letter To Italy Itself And The Various Creative Souls That Lived There

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Melissa Muldoon's Dreaming Sophia is the first of her Italy series, written in 2016. In some ways, it sets the stage for many of the books: a modern woman is drawn to Italy by a mysterious figure, a woman from Italy's Renaissance past and there is a connection between them. An outsider of the series is The Secret Life of Sofonisba Anguissola in that it tells of Anguissola's life with no detours into the present.

Another outsider is Dreaming Sophia. It carries the familiar trope of the modern woman meeting important historical figures from the past' but unlike Eternally Artemisia and Waking Isabella, Dreaming Sophia doesn't stop at just one brilliant figure. Instead Muldoon gives us several that appear before our protagonist to help guide her on her path to embrace a home in Italy.

Sophia, a young woman, is left alone and devastated after the deaths of her parents in a plane crash. Her mother studied in Italy in the 1960's even taking part in rescuing art and architecture from an approaching flood. She became one of Florence's Mud Angels. Also Sophia's mother's passion for Italian cinema like Federico Fellini, Marcello Mastroiani, and the breathtakingly lovely Sophia Loren caused her to name her daughter after the film actress. 

Sophia's father, a lawyer, also was fascinated by the country. He nicknamed his daughter, "Bella," Italian for beautiful. He bought property in Sonoma, California because he and his wife were fascinated by the Tuscan style architecture. The two transferred their love of the country so that after their deaths, Sophia holds onto that dream as a way to keep their memory alive.

At first Sophia takes small steps in her dream of living in Italy. She studies the language in university and becomes reacquainted with classic literature like The Divine Comedy. After a time of indecision and sadness, Sophia hears a voice encouraging her to dream. She knows to follow her dream and move to Italy.

During her life in Italy, Sophia receives assistance from various figures. Unlike the other books, she is inspired by several: Eleanora De Medici, Lorenzo "Il Magnifico" de Medici, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo Da Vinci , Lucrezia Borgia, General Giuseppe Garibaldi, Venus, Signor Brunelleschi, Casanova, and La Loren herself. It seems the spirit world all has their sights on this young woman and wants to guide her through all aspects of Italy, its history, its art, its architecture, it's mythology, and its entertainment. They give Sophia the whole picture of the country that she feels a close connection to, a place that she can call home.

The spiritual visits are magical and inspiring but also provide some humor. Sophia gets so used to them that when she visits Rome, she is surprised when she doesn't run into Caravaggio. 

A very metafictional moment involves the glamorous Sophia Loren, both as a spirit and a real woman. When Sophia encounters her in spirit form, she is her younger self when she starred in various films like Two Women and Marriage Italian Style. However, in a later chapter she sees the glamorous actress in the flesh and how she looks currently. (No word on what Loren herself thought of Muldoon inserting her into the book via a strange magical realism, age regression and progression.)

The book isn't as plot heavy as the other three. Sophia studies painting and obtains a rival. She falls in love with Lorenzo, a descendant of the Medici family. Most of the book explores Sophia living in Italy, getting to know every street and city, becoming familiar with the customs, and feeling a sense of belonging. She stays with a family that is very affectionate and curious about her. She begins to see them as a substitute family in absence of her parents. 

One of the best scenes involves her visiting a masquerade ball in Venice. The elaborate costumes, the somewhat sinister masks, the canals give a sense of mystery,magic, and intrigue especially when she encounters a various flirtation man who calls himself Casanova (of course considering her track record of meeting various figures, he might actually be the famous lover and spy.)

What stands out in Dreaming Sophia,, actually in all of Muldoon's books, is the setting. Italy becomes a character itself as the various people and places are lovingly detailed. They show Italy as a place of beauty and passion. For the protagonists in the books, Italy is a home.

Weekly Reader: Waking Isabella by Melissa Muldoon; Muldoon is At It Again With Florentine Tribute To Isabella De Medici

 

Weekly Reader: Waking Isabella by Melissa Muldoon; Muldoon is At It Again With Florentine Tribute To Isabella De Medici

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Melissa Muldoon has given us a slightly fanciful historical fiction novel about portrait artist, Sofronisba Anguissola in The Secret Life of Sofonisba Anguissola. She has given us a journey through the centuries with portrait painter, Artemisia Gentileschi, who inspired her, and who followed in her footsteps with the novel, Eternally Artemisia. Her next volume, Waking Isabella, takes us into the life and legacy of another great woman of the Italian Renaissance. Only this time she is not so much an artist as she is a patron of the arts. In fact she is a member of one of the most famous artistic patron families in the Western world, Isabella de Medici.

Unlike the previous two books, Isabella de Medici is more talked about than shown. In fact, except for the prologue which captures Medici right at a moment of great betrayal and danger, we take no trips to the Renaissance era. Instead we are treated to two stories which use Medici as a connecting device. The first involves Nora, a jewelry designer and documentary filmmaker who is drawn to Italy and Medici herself. While filming, she falls in love with an Italian man named Luca and becomes embroiled in a mystery involving a ghost and a missing painting of Medici.

The other involves Margherita Lancini, a woman in 1941 who assists artist Frederico Donati with hiding some very valuable paintings, including Picasso's Guernica and of course a portrait of Isabella de Medici,the same one that Nora is looking for in the present.

Of the books in Muldoon's series, Waking Isabella is probably the weakest. However, it is the weakest in a very outstanding series so the weakness isn't very much. Like the others we get a brilliant look at a compelling Renaissance woman. Also since Isabella herself was not an artist, this allows the Reader to recognize that many could show their contribution to the art world even if they are not themselves artists. A patron of the arts is just as important as those that sculpt and paint.

We also see how important the Medicis were to Florentine society. Their contribution to the Renaissance was vast. They were friends and patrons of many artists, scientists, philosophers, writers, and political figures. Without the influence and guidance of the Medicis, much of what we know of the European Renaissance would have been lost.

In the brief chapters that we are shown Isabella in action, we are given a complex woman. She is filled with brilliant thoughts and a lot of passion. Despite being the Florentine equivalent of a superstar, Isabella is surrounded by enemies some because of her famous name and some by her own actions. One moment has her face to face with her soon to be assasin and she stands up to him with the wit and grace that a woman like her would possess. Isabella's brief chapter makes this Reader long for more of her.

The 1940's story is very well written as we meet Margherita and Frederico. Similar to the characters in Eternally Artemisia, these characters would preserve the arts from the flames of Nazis and Fascists even if they have to die for it. Margherita and Frederico understand that. That is how their bond is developed by sharing and appreciating the arts as well as hiding them from those who would destroy it. Despite the huge age difference, Margherita and Frederico develop a romance based on this shared interest and living in a time where emotions are at the forefront because any moment could be your last. Just like Isabella, they worked to preserve the arts so it can never be destroyed.

What isn't as interesting is the modern story. Nora is a  decent enough protagonist. The Reader gets an inside view on the work it takes to make a documentary by choosing the subject, framing it in an interesting way, finding and interviewing experts on the subject, and editing the film to fit the theme. Sometimes the filmmaker has to do it with very little budget or fanfare when they are completed.

Nora's search for Isabella's painting has some suspenseful moments such as when she thinks that she sees Isabella's ghost. There are also some Nancy Drew like clues where Nora searches for the painting in secret panels and hidden compartments.

What doesn't work as well is Nora's romance with Luca. He has a familial connection with the past stories, but it's not as explored as well as it should be. He also has a secret which eats up a lot of Nora's time when she should be working on her film or studying Isabella. In fact Luca's, past struggles takes a lot of time when he is behaving unnecessarily cryptic about it. When all is revealed, the big secret is extremely underwhelming.

There is one brilliant moment where Nora and Luca meet a pair of the lovers from one of Muldoon's other books. This suggests that the books are in a shared universe in which more than one Renaissance guide is in action to help these mortals find their way in the country shaped like a boot.

While Eternally Artemisia and The Secret Life of Sofonisba Anguissola are much better, Waking Isabella is also a brilliant tribute to the women of the Renaissance and how their legacy can still be felt today.

Weekly Reader: Eternally Artemisia by Melissa Muldoon; Beautiful Historical Fantasy About The Timeless Links Between Art, Romantic Love, and Female Friendship

  Weekly Reader: Eternally Artemisia by Melissa Muldoon; Beautiful Historical Fantasy About The Timeless Links Between Art, Romantic Love, and Female Friendship

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: I have it. I figured out the solution.

Last year's literary themes were biker gangs, motorcycle clubs, and travels by motorcycle, multicultural teen superheroes, post apocalyptic dystopian science fiction and fact, and trips through Heaven and Hell with plenty of religious allegory. It makes sense, except for the travel by motorcycle bit, every one of these subjects in one way or another wanted to face the real life traumatic situations head on. 2020 was a dark year and we were looking for solutions even in fiction. 

This year the themes seem to want to get away from the darkness as much as possible. With Regency Romance and Epic Fantasy (not yet but five yes five Epic Fantasy reviews are on their way) there is an overwhelming urge to escape the darkness that surrounds us. This is also evident in one of the biggest themes that I have encountered this year: science fiction and fantasy featuring time travel and reincarnation starring friends and lovers who encounter each other who meet from different times or travel across oceans of time to find one another once more. 

These types of books offer the strongest escapism. After all, what better way to escape than to a seemingly simpler time or even better various times? (Never mind that those periods had similar problems or worse, as well but whatever, we are reading here!)

I have read Canvas of Time by Amelie Pimont, Rosemary for Remembrance by Nikki Broadwell, and Trapped in Time by Denise Daye all with similar themes. Now we can add Melissa Muldoon's Eternally Artemisia to that list. This book is one part fantasy about a woman discovering that she has shared a long link with Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi, but also one part historical fiction about Gentileschi's life and the legacy that her art has inspired through the years.

For those that don't know, Artemisia Gentileschi was a portrait painter in Renaissance Italy. She was an exception to the rule of many talented but unsung women of her day in that she was taught to paint by her father, Orazio. She was also tutored by Agostinio Tassi. One day, Tassi raped her. Gentileschi was put through a very public and humiliating trial in which her body was observed. Tassi was found guilty and exiled but the damage was done as Gentileschi was seen as a fallen woman and damaged goods. She was also estranged from her father who cared more that Tassi had stolen a painting than the violence inflicted upon his daughter.

 She was then practically sold into marriage to Pierantonio Stiattesi, a fresco painter, for money. The two made their way to Florence where Gentileschi became the only female to be accepted to the Arts Academy in Florence. Even though she gave birth to a daughter, Palmira and two other children, her marriage to Pierantonio ended in a separation because of his jealousy of her talent and his infidelity.

Gentileschi was a student of Caravaggio in that her paintings often revealed shadows, dark colors, and violent scenes. Her two most well known portraits are based on stories of the Bible and many believe reflected her rage about the rape and the trial. The first, Susannah and the Elders, shows a young woman walking and being the subject of gossip by older men. 

Her most famous painting is Judith Beheading Holofernes. This painting depicts Judith and her handmaid, Abra, holding the king down right as the Biblical heroine goes in for the kill. The blood around Holofernes' horrified visage and the looks of determination on the two women's faces speaks volumes.

For a straight historical fiction on Gentileschi's amazing life look no further than The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland which tells of her life from beginning, middle, and end. (It can be found as #7 in this Historical Fiction Novel list.) For a tale that is more wide reaching that is more than about Gentileschi herself, but is also about her legacy and how those who are drawn to her story are drawn to each other, then Muldoon's is the book for you. 

I am saying this because while Gentileschi is frequently discussed, her actual life experiences only cover a third of Eternally Artemisia. Instead it is her art and spirit that are shown through various lifetimes from the Bible, to the Renaissance, to the 1930's, to modern day, to the distant future.

The book begins with an introduction from Biblical days when Judith and Abra are standing over the drunk and sleeping Holofernes. They both are ready to commit violence in vengeance over the death of Judith's husband and many Israelites. The bond between Judith and Abra is clearly felt beyond mistress and servant as the two are forever united in this bloody moment which will be immortalized in art.

The moment between Judith and Abra is emphasized and recalled in the present with the experiences of Maddelena AKA Maddie, an art therapist. Maddie travels to Italy to get in touch with her roots and get some artistic inspiration. She flourishes in the Tuscan landscape by creating a circle of creative women that inspire and encourage one another and becomes romantically involved with Matteo, one of a very old established Italian family. Maddie falls in love not only with Matteo but the whole Florentine landscape like she knew him or had been there before. 

She also has a fascinating "woman-crush" on Gentileschi and begins to see Gentileschi's life through her eyes. She also gets visited by Gentileschi's spirit who advises her to take a real close look at the portrait of Judith Beheading Holofernes, and tell her what she sees. Maddie sees that Judith has Gentileschi's face and that Abra has her own. Yes, Gentileschi replies, she and Maddie have been friends practically sisters for centuries. Not only that but Maddie has shared multiple lives with Matteo. The rest of the book focuses on those other lives.

Like I said, since the book travels through time, Gentileschi's actual personal life is given a surprising short shrift. Only her time in Florence, her unhappy marriage, and the patronage of the Medicis towards her art are discussed. She also makes some equally talented friends in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger and Galileo Galilei. 

It is through these talented friends that Gentileschi encounters this version of Maddie and Matteo. In the Renaissance, Matteo is an astronomer fascinated by the studies of Galileo and Copernicus.

Maddie is a courtesan who is looking to soak up the local arts and cultural scenes. She even models for various paintings including (of course) Judith Beheading Holofernes.

The chapters are some of the best parts in the book because of the intricate plot and characters that are woven throughout. For those hoping that Tassi should get some retribution, it comes swift and clever. Gentileschi and Maddie give Gentileschi's rapist vengeance that hits him right where he deserves...right in the reputation.

Muldoon also gives much attention to how Maddie, Matteo, and Gentileschi flourish in their Renaissance environment. These are three people who are excited for the opportunities that the Renaissance provides for artists and scientists, particularly under the protectorate of Cosimo de Medici. Medici encourages great ideas even if, like Galileo's, they counter the church. They are allowed to flourish,  educate, and encourage others.  Unfortunately, that protection only lasts as long as Cosimo does. After he dies, the Archduchess and her priests go on a cleansing to get rid of ideas that they find offensive so the artists, scientists, and thinkers scatter. The Power Trio of Gentileschi, Matteo, and Maddie are separated only to reunite next time.

The second best section is in the 1930's which intersects the fictional incarnations of Maddie and Gentileschi with a real life pair. According to Muldoon's notes at the end, the 20th century version of Maddie is based on Elsa Schiaparelli, a fashion designer who was known for her eccentric styles such as elaborate embellishments on clothing and unusual accessories like shoe shaped hats. She was also known for her antifascist stance which she openly spoke against Hitler and Mussolini (in contrast to her frequent rival, Coco Chanel who cozied up to the Nazis. Their rivalry is played out in the juicy historical fiction, The Last Collection by Jeanne Mackin.).

 Gentileschi's counterpart, called Luciana, is based on Anna Banti who was the first to gather information on Gentileschi and write about her. Through Banti, we now know  Gentileschi's name. Without her preservation of her art and research into her life, Gentileschi might have been one of those women hidden by history that Virginia Woolf spoke about. It is wonderful that Muldoon paid tribute not only to the artist, but the woman who gave her a second posthumous life. Like all researchers, Luciana protects her research with her life. When Mussolini comes in, she makes sure when she leaves that her research either comes with or is expertly hidden.

As the Schiaparelli stand-in, Maddie also shines as does her husband, the latest Matteo. One of the more interesting moments when she is told that someone is interested in her pantsuit and is looking to revitalize her look for her Hollywood image. Into her shop strolls Katharine Hepburn. This moment links the arts of painting, fashion, and cinema in one continuous cycle. Maddie is naturally incensed when the strict fascist rule deprives women of many of their rights including running their own business. The more Maddie and Matteo remain in Italy the more dangerous their life becomes, particularly when they are at a party that is also attended by Mussolini and Maddie literally finds herself dancing with the devil. 

There is a brief epilogue where Maddie, called Lena, is in the future and arrives at a space station named Artemisia (of course) and meets another astronaut named Matt (also of course.) Like many books that explore reincarnation, bodies may die but souls remain and the things that capture our souls: art, history, literature, science, memories, families, friendships, and all of those things are what are preserved and continue.

Weekly Reader: The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations by Toni Morrison; The Best Words From The Celebrated Late Author

Weekly Reader: The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations by Toni Morrison; The Best Words From The Celebrated Late Author




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with more than 20 letters in the title (57)


When Toni Morrison died in 2019, she left behind a tremendous legacy as one of the best authors of the 20th and 21st century. Her novels such as, The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, Sula, Jazz, and especially her masterpiece, Beloved are brilliant works with strong themes of racial and gender issues. When one reads a work by Toni Morrison, they are entering the world of a master storyteller.

With apologies to Emily Dickinson, Morrison's book, The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations is her letter to the world. It is a collection of her non-fiction essays, speeches, and other works. Published the same year as her death, it is almost set up as Morrison's farewell letter so she can express her views and have the final word.

The book has plenty of great works that express Morrison's views on various topics including race, gender, art, and other issues. The best are:


Part 1: The Foreigner's Home


"The Foreigner's Home"-The majority of the works in Part 1, feature Morrison at her most biting. In many of her essays, Morrison captured a word in its various meanings. In "The Foreigner's Home," she used the term "globalism" in all of its various definitions. She recognized the term as a means for the redistribution of wealth, but she also saw it as a code for forcing Western values and ideals onto other countries and ignoring these other countries' uniqueness. She also noted the globalized view of distorting what is public and destroying what is private.

She cited a book called The Radiance of the King which demonstrates that distorted view of globalism. In the book, a white man is ready to meet the king of an African village. He is possessed with the whole White Man's Burden ideal. It is only after he is humbled and stripped of his conferred dominance, that he is able to achieve Enlightenment and appear before the king.

"Moral Inhabitants"-Morrison took on American History in her works. She often looked at the world from the point of view of people who were considered "the Other" from the white male majority. In this essay, she cited how the writings from the past reflected how many figures really felt about black people, Native Americans, and immigrants. She dryly recounted a statistic from Colonial times which listed slaves right between rice and tar. The statistic also noted how many died, or were drawn back for exportation. (" 'Died', 'drawn back,-strange, violent words that could never be used to describe rice, tar, or turpentine," Morrison wrote)

If that wasn't uncomfortable enough, the quotes from noted historical figures can be an eye opening experience. Morrison used actual quotes from the likes of Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Franklin, and William Byrd to reflect their views on those considered "The Other." Byrd's journal entries noted the number of times slaves were whipped. Benjamin Franklin said "Why increase the Sons of Africa by planting them in America, where we have so fair an opportunity by excluding all Blacks and Tawneys, of increasing the lovely White and Red?"

In a time when people want to deify people from the past, it is important to remember their views no matter how negative that they may be. Being clear and honest about the past recognizes the enemy of hatred and helps people in the present challenge that hatred.


"The Habit of Art"-This essay can be summarized into three words: "Art is fierce." Morrison cited several examples in which people used their art to protest and challenge the world view around them.

Two examples in particular stand out.
One took place during the dictatorship in Haiti in which the government declared that it was illegal for anyone to retrieve and bury anyone killed by the Tonton Mascoutes. They were only to be gathered by a government garbage truck. Fed up, a teacher organized the performance of a certain play that was performed night after night. The Mascoutes assumed that they were just performing a mindless amateur theatrical failing to realize that the performance was heavy in significance. The play was Antigone, which was about a woman who risked execution to bury her deceased brother against her uncle, the king's regulations.

Another example involved a conversation that Morrison had with a writer from North Africa. She begged for Morrison's aid because in her home country, female writers were being shot in the streets because they were considered a threat to the regime. Both examples showed how art can be considered dangerous, but can also be used to fight against oppressive ideals and to tell the truth. Many artists consider those ideals worth facing arrest and dying for.


"Harlem On My Mind: Contesting Memory-Meditations on Museums, Culture, and Integration"- Morrison also wrote about the struggles of the artist in society closer to home. In this essay, she wrote about an exhibit during the 1960's at the Metropolitan Museum of New York called Harlem on My Mind. This exhibit was supposed to be reflective of the art and culture of Harlem, featuring photographs, murals, slides etc of Harlem's mostly black residents.

During an era of great political change, this exhibition met with a lot of controversy, particularly from the black community. They protested the lack of representation either on the committee or in the exhibit. They felt that they were not being represented properly and felt that their artists should speak for themselves and not through someone else's interpretation.

Morrison also recognized how artists of color struggled to be recognized as artists and not just representatives of their ethnic group. She recognized that great strides have been made of recognizing different artists and voices, but more strides needed to be done.


"The Novel Lecture on Literature"-Morrison's speech for accepting the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 is certainly her most famous non-fiction work. It has been antholgized and quoted many times. (I personally have several copies of it in my literature collections.) The reason is because it reflects how important language is to not only writers but to anyone.

She began her speech telling a story about three young people holding a bird and confronting a wise blind elderly storyteller with the question of whether the bird was alive or dead. The storyteller said, "I don't know if the bird is alive or dead, but I know the bird is in your hands. It is in your hands."

The bird could symbolize anything to anybody, the future, youth, leadership. But to Morrison, a celebrated and award winning author, the bird symbolized language. In her speech, Morrison recognized the power language has, not just as a means for communication but as something that could create unity or destruction. Oppressive language could be as destructive as any weapon and convey a sense of mastery that does not encourage separate thoughts or ideas. Language can also bring things and people to life, by associating things with words and empowering others. The words allow people and things to live on even after they are physically gone. The word remains.

Like the storyteller, Morrison challenges her Listeners and Readers to recognize the power that language holds and that we give it that power by our words. The bird is in our hands. What are we going to do with it?


"Cinderella's Stepsisters"-Besides racial issues, Morrison also wrote about gender conflicts. In this brief, but interesting essay, Morrison used Cinderella's stepsisters as a metaphor for women turning on other women.

Sometimes women of different ideologies, personalities, ethnicities, etc. attack each other rather than aid one another. Perhaps they see other women as competition. Perhaps they themselves are oppressed by dominating forces and attack other women perhaps to take out their own frustrations or for themselves to feel superior. Morrison asked that women do not participate "in the oppression of (their) sisters."




Interlude: Black Matters


"Black Matters"-This part features questions about race and gender in literature. Morrison discusses how early American literature was created by people who mixed their old world culture and valuesz with their new surroundings to create a distinctly American style. With early African-Americans, that also came from what Morrison called Africanism, being seen as the Other and being forcibly removed from their homes instead of voluntarily. With the exception of a few published authors and slave narratives, much of the 18th and 19th century views of black people came from the words of white authors.

Morrison cited The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as an example. While many Readers saw Jim and Huck's journey as a voyage for their freedom, particularly Jim's, Morrison saw Jim's journey in less idealistic terms. She believed that Mark Twain and Huck could only understand Jim's plight through their own perspective. Because of that, Jim is seen less of a complete character, but almost as a plot device what he represents to Huck not who he is on his own. She finds Huck and Tom's mockery of Jim to be unconscionable and reflective of him as a device not a character.

This essay shows how American Literature evolved with the times and how different creators can be used to capture those voices to create a complete picture about what it means to be an American.


"Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature"-It means something when an author who is considered "canon literature," questions that term. In her talent for words and language, Morrison considered calling this essay "canon fodder." She was interested in the double meaning, because the term cannon fodder referred to soldiers, usually from poor or ethnic backgrounds, who were sent to the front lines to die without their sacrifices recognized. The other meaning is canon, the works that are considered the shape of literature, the classics. "When the two words faced each other, the image became the shape of the canon wielded on (or by) the body of law. The book of power announcing an officially recognized set of texts," she said. Morrison recognized how hard it can be for canon literature to be opened to include female writers and writers of color.

Morrison broke down many of the arguments others have had about African-American art such as "African-American art exists but it is inferior." She challenges these assumptions and recognizes how African-American artists and writers use their sociology, culture, history, and struggles to convey their works and how the presence of African-Americans reshaped the American canon.

Morrison analyzed the opening lines of her own works and how she drew from her culture and experiences to convey her literature. For example the opening line from The Bluest Eye is "Quiet as it's kept there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941." Morrison said that this line comes from a familiar phrase urging the listener to keep a secret. She aimed for that cultural intimacy from her own background to draw the Reader into this story of violence and incest. The reference to marigolds suggests a child's way of interpreting the world around her. The narrator recognizes the violent acts towards her friend and uses a superstition that she hears from others to find meaning. This opening line from The Bluest Eye illustrates how an African-American author used her own culture and experiences to shape contemporary literature.


"Gertrude Stein and the Difference She Makes"-One of the best tributes are the ones that one artist pays to another. This essay demonstrates Morrison's tribute to Gertrude Stein, the author who was identified with the Modernist movement.

Morrison particularly analyzes Stein's book Three Lives which tells about three women, Good Anna, Melanctha, and Gentle Lena. Morrison was particularly intrigued by Stein's characterization of Melanctha, the African-American character as compared to the other two German-American women.

Morrison acknowledged that Stein's book dips into some of the racism of her day. Anna and Lena are indentified by their country of origin as German immigrants while Melanctha is American, but is identified by her skin color. There were also comparisons between the light-skinned Melanctha and the darker-skinned, Rose who is considered more dangerous than Melanctha.

However, Morrison also noted that Melanctha is the most developed of the three protagonists in Three Lives. She is the most active and strong willed of the trio. Melanctha also makes the strongest stance for freedom of sexuality and knowledge. Morrison compares Stein's protagonists "Three Lives moves from the contemplation of the asexual spinster's life-the Good Anna-in its struggle for control and meaning, to and through the quest for sexual knowledge (which Stein calls wisdom) in the person and body of Melanctha, an Africanistic woman; to the presumably culminating female experience of marriage and birth-the Gentle Lena."

She also said that while the three women come to sad ends, it is only Melanctha that learns from her experience. She learns about love and acceptance from her friends. Even though Stein wrote like a forward thinking woman of her time, Morrison recognized her ability to capture the voice of a woman that she would have considered The Other.




Part II: God's Language


"God's Language"-In this section, Morrison covers art and literature and where such inspiration comes from. This essay recounts how Morrison created her novel, Paradise and what a word like "Paradise" means to some people. She had to find a way to define such a term that had been seen through religious and spiritual eyes they don't reflect those of her characters. "How to render expressive religious language credibly and effectively in postmodern fiction….which represents the everyday practice of nineteenth-century African-Americans and their children, nor lends itself to postmodern narrative strategies. The second problem then is part of the first: how to narrate persuasively profound and motivating faith in and to a highly securlarized, contemporary "scientific" world. In short, how to reimagine paradise."

Besides defining paradise for her book, Morrison also wrote on a larger scale what it has grown to mean in general. It has been overimagined and overused. Modern religion and narratives fail to capture the early flowery language of Paradise's meaning, in an attempt to claim and own the ideal. Morrison chose instead to reveal the consequences of such terms instead of just defining it.


"Grendel and His Mother"-Like "Cinderella's Stepsisters", Morrison used an older story to find meaning in reality. She looks at the antagonists from Beowulf, Grendel and his mother to analyze how villainy is portrayed in ancient and Postmodern literature.

Grendel is seen as evil incarnate, no history, no motivation. He just is. His mother on the other hand can be identifiable. She seeks vengeance and is driven by love for her son.

John Gardner's novel, Grendel gives a much needed analysis on Beowulf's villain. Morrison saw Grendel as a native, someone perceived as The Other, trying to defend his home from invaders and understanding his place in the world.


"On Beloved"-By far, Morrison's greatest work is Beloved. Morrison often began her works by asking a question. In Beloved's case, the question was how other than equal rights, access, pay etc. does the women's movement define the freedom being sought particularly over control over one's body and how the women's movement involved encouragement of women to support other women.

Morrison recognized these struggles when she chose to tell the story from the point of view of a former slave who killed her daughter rather then return her to slavery. Morrison used her imagination to picture the life of a woman who had to make the decision to save a child from a fate worse than death and to rely on other women when she is haunted by the spirit of that late child. She used Beloved's haunting of Sethe as a metaphor for the past of slavery haunting the people who lived under those institutions.


"Tribute to Romare Beardon"- Morrison recognized artists of many types from Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart to funny man, Peter Sellers. One of those was artist, Romare Beardon.

Just as Morrison saw truth, wisdom, and beauty through words, she felt that Beardon saw those things in color, form, and images. She saw the "aesthetic implications," as Beardon described also in jazz and blues music which was an inspiration for both hers and Beardon's work. She saw the dialogue between Bearden and music as a union between art forms.

She believed that Beardon should be viewed in galleries and recognized as a canon artist.


"Goodbye To All That: Race, Surrogacy, and Farewell"-A true artist knows how to say goodbye in their own way. David Bowie and Johnny Cash summarized their illustrious careers with the music videos for "Lazarus" and "Hurt" respectively with images that called back to the two men in their prime contrasting to their frail appearances. The Beatles ended their partnership with the hit, "The Long and Winding Road" coming full circle with the mournful echo of "yeah, yeah, yeah." (Calling back to the more joyful "She Loves You.") This essay could be considered Morrison's goodbye. After all, it is not difficult to read about her legacy as an African-American female writer and how characters of different races said farewell without thinking of Morrison's own end. Though she died from complications from pneumonia and this may have been unplanned, this essay, the second to the last in this book, is a fitting final word.

Morrison mused on being thought of as an African-American female writer (as though she had a choice to be either African-American or female). She knew that she recognized that her works were going to by definition be about race and gender, so she sought to create works that opened those discussions. She allowed those topics to draw people of all races inward so they can recognize those experiences.

One of the ways that Morrison explored this concept was discussing the relationships between black and white women. Her own work, Beloved involved a powerful moment when Sethe, a former slave, and Amy Denver, a white woman who helped her escape and give birth to her daughter, Denver, have to leave each other. "They speak not of farewell; how to fix the memory of one in the mind of the other or as with Sethe, how to immortalize in the encounter beyond her own temporal life. ...Washing up on the bank of the Ohio River is our knowing that if both women had been the same race they could have, they might have, would have stayed together and shared their fortune."

Morrison recognized the change in paradigms for reading and writing literature and that writers are a part of changing those paradigms. Morrison said, "To the racial anchor that weighed down the language and its imaginative possibilities. How novel would it be if in this case, life imitated art….If, in fact, it I was not a (raced) foreigner but a home girl, who already belonged to the human race."


And she did. Toni Morrison was not just one of the greatest African-American writers, nor one of the greatest women authors. She was one of the greatest human authors.