Fur and Feathers

The Goncourt Brothers
"Our minds see alike and see with the same eyes."

Here, photographed by Nadar, they appear to be dressed alike. Silently sharing their thoughts, leaning towards eachother, slightly touching. Both of them smoldering in a way that is romantic, and intimate. Jules is looking our way. They are fascinating, and repellent.

"Yes, it is true that there is an element of sickness in our talent, and a considerable element at that. But this, which at the moment causes displeasure and irritation, will one day be regarded as our charm and our strength. Sickness sensitizes man for observation, like a photographic plate."

In this paean to hypersensitive neurasthenia, were they describing themselves?
"Charles was impressionable to a supreme degree. He had an almost painfully sharp sensitivity to everything in life. Wherever he went he was affected by his reactions to the feeling of the place. He could discern a scene, an argument, in a house where smiles were on every face; he could sense what his mistress was thinking when she was absolutely silent, he could feel in the atmosphere the hostilities of his friends, he could sense good or bad news in the walk of the man coming towards him. And all these perceptions, which had something of presentiment about them, were so strong that they were almost unconscious. A look, the sound of a voice, a gesture would speak directly to him and reveal what they managed to hide from everyone else, so much so that he envied from the bottom of his heart those fortunate souls who go through life without seeing any more than they are meant to see and who maintain their illusions to the end.

Objects had a great effect on him, were as eloquent to him as people. They seemed to have a physiognomy, a voice, and that mysterious uniqueness that creates sympathy or antipathy. These invisible atoms awaked an echo in Charles. A piece of furniture would reveal itself as friend of foe. An ugly glass would put him off an excellent wine. The colour of a paper, the material covering a chair, would affect him both for the better and the worse, and his mood would change along with his impressions."

Then comes our sympathy - the death. The loathsomeness of the disease, the disease of a libertine. The details of it obsessively recounted. Once it has occurred, alone with his brother's body, Edmond peers through the door: "At midday, through the crack of the dining-room door, I saw the hats of four men in black." What could be more vivid, and pathetic? History then immediately overtakes the death - and Edmond survives for decades after, diminished.

In the Journals, the two batten on scurrilous gossip. And must say, I instinctively dislike all these coarse, vulgar men. Sitting at dinner with Flaubert, Dumas, and Zola, I too have an expression of melancholy surprise on my face, like Mme Daudet, "who seemed pained, upset, and at the same time disillusioned by the man's gross, intemperate unbuttoning of his nature."

In the journals, the women generally appear to be inhuman - and I align myself with those women, perhaps wistfully. "These women have horrifying heads, half antique cameo, half animal, sculpturally, implacably bestial in appearance."

Am also aligned in sympathy with all the young things in brothels, who they despise:
". . . . so many skinny graces, those spiteful, chlorotic little whores . . . always as melancholy and careworn as alms-collectors, with clouds of eviction on their foreheads, forever worried and, beneath the mask of laughter and caress, preoccupied with the parturition of their due; after all those shopworn chatterboxes, those mercenary parrots with their miserable, unhealthy slang picked up in the popular press, the brothel, and the workshop; after those touchy, peevish little things."

At one point Edmund encounters Judith Gautier. "In her fur and feathers, Theo's daughter looked beautiful, with a strange almost terrifying beauty. Her pale complexion barely tinged with pink, her mouth standing out like the mouth of a Primitive against the ivory of her broad teeth, her clearly defined and as it were drowsy features, her big eyes, whose animal lashes, stiff lashes like little black pins, did not soften their gaze with a veil of shadow, all have the lethargic creature the indefinable, mysterious air of a sphinx, of a flesh, a matter in which there were no modern nerves."

Piranesi Revisited

When in Rome I was unable to find any copies of Piranesi's Vedute di Roma to use as a visual reference. However, his views must have become imprinted within me, for upon returning home, I discovered that my photographs had unerringly aligned themselves with his vision. 

Particularly eerie was the small figure in the foreground of the Arch of Titus . . .

View of the Arch of Titus

 

 View of the Pantheon

 

 

 View of the Arch of Constantine

View of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

View of the Fountain of the Acqua Felice

View of the Piazza Di Monte Cavallo (Quirinal)

View of the Bridge and Mausoleum Built 

by the Emperor (Aelius) Hadrian

 View of the Pyramid of Caius Cestius

View of the Temple of Cybele in the 

Piazza Della Bocca Della Verita

View of the Temple of Fortuna Virilis

Another View of the Pronaos of the Temple of Concord

View of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans

His Magical Aura

Napoleonic artifacts and relics, objects once possessed by Napoleon, or by those who knew him, or things he might have encountered, or even modern things which look like his possessions, or look like anything to do with him, or not - seem to bear the ability to transfer to others a bit of his magical aura.

This is a corkscrew in the image of a Napoleon hat. A completely cryptic shape to the uninitiated.

And a pencil. The hat on the pencil actually serves a useful function, which is to prevent the pencil from rolling off a table. Napoleon said “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” Or as Edward Bulwer-Lytton put it, "the pen (or pencil in this case) is mightier than the sword." 

Napoleon's image is used to sell a bewildering assortment of completely unrelated items - a boon for collectors.

Cigars - "This brand of cigars is particularly adapted for the mountains or seashore. They cost a little more than others."

Razors - "Today nearly all the world’s Rulers use a Gillette Safety Razor. No stropping - no honing."

Soap - "A N(S)apoleonic theory - if I had conquered the world I should have cleaned it with Sapolio."

Flour - "Milled by millers who are willing to work for an ideal first and who consider quality of vastly greater importance than quantity or price. Flour so good the adjectives used to describe ordinary flour fail to do it justice. It is an extraordinary flour which finds instant favor with those who wish something vastly better than the “average” product of an “average” mill. Perhaps Napoleon Flour costs a little more than other flour, but it is worth it."

This advertisement is for a legal firm. “Emperor Napoleon, we’ll finish off the Brits and be back in time for tea!” (which was presumably the bad advice given to Napoleon at Waterloo). They ask: "Will you have the right counsel when you need it?"

And of course for someone who has succeeded in conquering time - a watch.

Maybe at the root of these persistent invocations of Napoleon is a measure of regret that the genius of this capable man had not been turned more entirely to benign pursuits. Like cards.

Entering the olfactory realm - Incense. In both English and Hindi: "Such a blend, can never be again."

Perfume - The “only personal olfactory reminiscence that we have from the Emperor.”

According to the certificate of authenticity: "The sense of smell conjures up memories, allows us to forget time and unites the past and the present. Scents transcend time and create images which deliver infinite feelings.” This is true.

This item is a little worse for wear - was given to me years ago and I was unable to bring myself to divest it of its caul-like cellophane wrapping. Its a very interesting object, mostly because it was purchased in Paris at Napoleon’s tomb, and it seems to be lacking the reverence one would expect from that place. The ingestion of Napoleon’s image in this case is very literal.

Another opportunity to ingest the Emperor.

The Napoleon Company, which sells imported foods, was founded in 1903.  The company trademark is updated periodically, making the image of Napoleon progressively younger, slenderer, and more dashing. This is a perfect illustration of the Emperor’s abilities of rejuvenation.

In this advertisement, the presence of the bust of Napoleon, and his feral emanation covering the chair, seems to turn the seated male into an invisible man. Or maybe they are saying that this is the suit Napoleon would be wearing if he were alive today.

Or if you wear this suit, you can, in effect, “Be Your Own Napoleon.”

Here’s another chance to be your own Napoleon.

A Napoleonic Map of America

The naming of places can be an indication of cultural preoccupations. Physical evidence of the perennial popularity of Napoleon Bonaparte is stamped on the countryside of America.

Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, and Kentucky have towns named Napoleon. Louisiana has a Napoleonville.  

Police cars in Napoleon, Ohio, bear the image of the Emperor.

In the state of Alabama there is a town named Napoleon, as well as an Elba, a Waterloo, and a Marengo County. Iowa has a town named Bonaparte.

According to the official website of the state of Indiana, the naming of the town of Napoleon, Indiana was due to Alvin Peterson Hovey, the governor of the state of Indiana in the 1890s. He was said to have believed himself to be Napoleon’s reincarnation, and honored the anniversary of Napoleon’s death in solitary retreat.

Napoleonic events were also commemorated on maps of America. Elba, of course, was the island from which Napoleon escaped in 1815. Elba, in upstate New York, was also significant to those attempting to escape. It was a link in the Underground Railroad - there was a tunnel underneath Main Street, between an inn and a private home.

Today Elba claims to be the Onion Capital of the World and every year, an Onion Queen is crowned.

Twenty-eight states in the Union have towns named Waterloo. The town of Waterloo, New York so honored those fallen in battle that it was designated the official birthplace of Memorial Day, by presidential decree. The town even contains a miniature Arc d’Triumphe.

Martin Van Buren, in 1878 a state senator, later the 8th president of the United States, was an admirer of Napoleon. He became angered when an opponent in the state senate succeeded in getting a place named Waterloo. So he insisted that a new community in upstate New York be named for a Napoleonic victory, Austerlitz, rather than, like Waterloo, for a Napoleonic defeat.

The town of Austerlitz has a sign in an empty field, for the future site of Old Austerlitz.

Just east of Kansas City, in Missouri, is a Napoleon, Wellington, and Waterloo. The town of Napoleon was named first, in 1836. Then a year later a nearby town was named for his rival, Wellington. Waterloo, situated between the two, was named last - named of course after the battle in which Wellington defeated Napoleon.

Meanwhile, Napoleon, Arkansas, once called "the most wretched of wretched places," by Mark Twain, has long since been washed away by the Mississippi River.

The Appian Way

In ancient Rome, burial within the boundaries of the city

was forbidden to all but Emperors and vestal virgins.

And so the area just outside the city walls

grew into a suburban necropolis-scape.

The Appian Way

The Appian Way begins in the center of Rome.

It crosses the great defensive walls that ring the city.

A newer road, the Appia Nueva,

runs alongside the old one.

The ground underneath this area is

honeycombed with vast and complex

galleries, tunnels, and passages.

These crypts, the catacombs, were forgotten for

centuries. Now one may take a guided tour.

In the 1980s a park was created

to protect the Appian Way.

Most of the area is private property,

owned by old aristocratic families.

1% of the park belongs to the military.

A section of the old road is called the

archaeological promenade, and here a

sense of the ancient Appian Way is evoked.

The cobblestones are said to

still show the ruts carved by

centuries of carts and chariots.

Many ancient tombs are hidden behind

the high garden walls of private villas.

There is a strange mingling of

the romantic and the everyday,

with hybrid ruins grafted over time.

The Casal Rotondo is a residence built

on the top of an ancient funerary monument.

The Torre Selce is a tower built in the 12th century

on the base of a tomb from the Roman era.

The tomb of Cecilia Metella was converted

into a medieval castle and fortress.

Now it’s a tourist attraction.

There is surprisingly little graffiti on the Appian Way.

In fact, there is very little interpretative

signage or tourist infrastructure.

In the 19th century the first systematic excavation, documentation,

and restoration of the Appian Way occurred.

A strip of land along each side of the road was

enclosed with low stone walls and hedges.

Pines and cypress trees were planted.

Countless monuments, shrines, sculptures, inscriptions,

and marble fragments were unearthed.

Some were taken to museums.

Replicas were substituted in their place.

Smaller pieces were gathered up, fixed into new

brick walls, and displayed along the roadway.

Nowadays, much has been stripped

from even the restorations,

leaving only enigmatic rubble.

Yet the character of the Appian Way remains true

to its ancient role as a place of display.

Once a funerary promenade, now an

archaeological drive-through park.

Now the road begins to show signs of more recent paving.

Then even this road surface begins to break up.

Crosses the great encircling ring road.

The Appian Way gradually emerges from

its antique fantastical dream, and the

modern world begins to intrude.

Towards the end, the old road is

unmaintained. The wreckage of time

mixes with another kind of debris.

Finally it is blocked to vehicles.

The Appian Way becomes a place where men 
wait, to meet in eternal assignation.