The King In Yellow
by Robert W. Chambers
read: 2014
I've already mentioned my interest in HBO's True Detective, and like many folks watching the show I saw the article pointing out "the Yellow King's" literary heritage. I've already read most of H.P. Lovecraft's works, so another set of creepy stories along those lines sounded pretty appealing.
The King In Yellow is a funny collection, though. The first four tales are full of Lovecraftian darknesses, featuring the titular play which drives anyone who reads it insane. The rest of the stories are more mundane, culminating in two longer romance stories set among art students in Paris. It's a jarring contrast to the insidious science fiction of the first four stories.
The names in Song of Solomon stand out right away - Milkman, Guitar, First Corinthians, Macon Dead, Pilate - but while they sound nonsensical, there's a method to Toni Morrison's madness. The names African Americans have is distorted by slavery and oppression, as Malcolm X notes in the following conversation:
The protagonist's given name is "Macon Dead III," but he's called "Milkman," a nickname given to him by a neighbor who glimpsed him breastfeeding at the age of four. For most of the story, he doesn't know the origin of his name or the embarrassing implications. But "Macon Dead" is no better - it was given to Milkman's grandfather by a registry board, who asked for his place of origin ("Macon") and his father's occupation ("dead"), and erroneously filled them in the first and last name boxes. The first Macon Dead, originally named Jake, was encouraged to keep the new name by his wife Sing, herself having shortened her name from its original Indian name, Singing Bird. His last name is unknown, but his father was Solomon, whose name in corrupted form provides the town of Shalimar its name - or is it Solomon that's a corruption of Shalimar? The names characters have is a series of accidents and mis-steps, which reinforces the lack of identity African-Americans have in a world dominated by the white man.
Milkman's sisters are named based on random words in the Bible, as is his Aunt Pilate, who keeps her name (the only word her illiterate father ever wrote) folded up in a gold box dangling from her ear. It's not until late in the book that Milkman understands the power of names and why Pilate treasures hers so much:
How many dead lives and fading memories were buried in and beneath the names of the places in this country. Under the recorded names were other names, just as "Macon Dead," recorded for all time in some dusty file, hid from view the real names of people, places, and things. Names that had meaning. No wonder Pilate put hers in her ear. When you know your name, you should hang on to it, for unless it is noted down and remembered, it will die when you do.
Milkman doesn't own his name - his given name is washed away by his nickname, his family name was washed away by the bureaucrat's error, and undoubtedly his true African name was washed away by slavery. Because of this, he has no sense of who he is or where he came from, and during the final part of the book he realizes that this has more value than the gold he's seeking that could set him free financially.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
by Ian Fleming
read: 2014
In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond finally finds (and marries) a woman who is willing to take him for what he is:
I wouldn't love you if you weren't a pirate. I expect it's in the blood. I'll get used to it. Don't change. I don't want to draw your teeth like women do with their men. I want to live with you, not with somebody else.
