#the secret country

[bookfirstlinetourney]

Round 1

Sing, Goddess, sing of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus

-The Iliad, Homer

Reginald Gatling's Doom found him beneath an oak tree, on the last Sunday of a fast-fading summer.

-A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske

Edward Fairchild, Prince of the Enchanted Forest, Lord of the Desert's Edge, Friend to the Unicorns, and King of the Secret Country, wished he were somewhere else.

-The Secret Country, Pamela Dean

[theannotateddean]

“Let the Third Riddler come forth,” said the huntsman.

Ruth came forward. […]

“Who is Claudia, what is she?” said Ruth, and Patrick made a muffled snort. “Does your high court commend her?” finished Ruth, and sent Patrick a look almost as alarming as the lion’s.

The unicorn paused, flicking an ear.

“Subtle, fair, and wise is she,” it said, and although its voice had no expression as human voices do, Ted could have sworn that somewhere in its answer there was a touch of delighted malice. “But none of ours did send her.”

Chapter 20, The Secret Country

Both Ruth’s question and the unicorns’ reply are adaptations of lines from William Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV, Scene 2:

Who is Silvia? what is she,  That all our swains commend her?  Holy, fair and wise is she;  The heaven such grace did lend her,  That she might admired be. 

[herbofgraceandpeace]

in the summer of 2023 I read Tam Lin by Pamela Dean and fell completely in love with the book and the legend. This deserves a much longer post, but I only mention it to say that I am finally reading another one of her books, The Secret Country. I finally folded and got it from my library cause Libby didn’t have it.

So far it’s been very different from Tam Lin (as expected), but holy cow, her WRITING STYLE. It’s so dramatic in an elegant and controlled way. I aspire. I expire (from the awesomeness).

BUT. The real point of this ridiculous post is that in the chapter I’ve just been reading, there was two phrases that caught my attention as sounding familiar. The first one—“this bodes some strange eruption to our state”— immediately sounded Shakespearean in every way. It’s in freaking iambic pentameter for one thing! But I simply resolved to look it up later (guessing it was probably from Lear) and moved on until I was stopped by the second quote—“a hit, a very palpable hit”—which, like, you guys. PLEASE. it’s so obviously Shakespeare!!!! (I know I’ve probably come across it in Sayers, if not in something else? I think she may have quoted it in Tam Lin as well.) So I looked up both quotes, and THEY’RE BOTH FROM HAMLET. Y’ALL.

dunno why this makes me so crazy, but I just adore recognizing Shakespeare quotes in the wild. His words are so potent in our memories.

[etherealyearning]

Abbotsford House

[daisylambs]

[peerless-cucumber]

[starry-bi-sky]

“Your brother is adorable.” The cashier cooed at Danny, peering over the counter with a smile. “What’s his name?”

Danny looked down to the surly, scowling little de-aged Batman currently holding onto his hand, glaring up at the cashier with bright blue eyes.

Things had already been bad enough when he’d gotten caught in a fight in Gotham, but things went from bad to worse when a magician had hit Batman with a de-aging spell and then shoved them through a portal.

Into a different fucking dimension.

Because of course neither of their lives could be easy. And now the two of them were stuck in Iowa in the middle of nowhere, at a truck stop gas station, trying to go on a cross-country roadtrip to reach the nearest hero city and get home.

He looked up and smiled awkwardly, trying to come up with a name off the top of his head — one of the heroes called Batman ‘B’ when he got hit right? B for Batman, right. B… B… Bee… Bees.

“Buzz.” He said, and tried not to grimace as the cashier’s face warped with surprise. “Like the astronaut.”

This was gonna be a long trip.

[auspicioustidings]

Everybody shut up I am having a vision. The 141 stopping off at Soap's parents because there are top secret files he hid there. He's very cagey giving them directions and they are getting increasingly confused as their truck is pulling past wrought iron gates and into some tourist destination of sorts, driving past stables and a little crop of buildings to what looks like a manor.

Not his fault these English boys just heard a Scottish accent and assumed he came from peasantry. He turns bright red when the butler formally welcomes back the Much Honoured Laird of Kelburn. He's never going to fucking live this down.

[etherealacademia]

romania, 2023.

[batcavescolony]

I feel like comic writers and some fans have forgotten that Young Justice is mostly about the girls. The main storylines were about Secret/Greta, Cissie, and Anita. The boys were there but they had their own runs. Take Young Justice Dark Crisis, yeah it's all about the boys IF you only read the first 5 ish comics. After that it's either big comic events or about the girls. Really the girls are the main characters of Young Justice, the boys are there to draw people in.

[book--brackets]

The Secret Country from Pamela Dean's Secret Country trilogy

Added!

[lizzygrantt1uvr]

[theannotateddean]

[Ellen and Laura] padded [into Ruth’s chambers], and Laura tripped on a rug and fell down with a thump. “Who goes there?” said a voice so imperious that Laura did not recognize it at once. She rubbed her elbow. “It’s us,” said Ellen crossly, “and we don’t know how to unfold ourselves, so there.”

Chapter 15, The Secret Country

Ellen is referencing a scene in Shakespeare’s Hamlet wherein a guard challenges a currently unidentified figure, ordering them to reveal themselves.

One guard to another, Act I Scene 1:

Bernardo. Who's there? Francisco. Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.

[herbofgraceandpeace]

Pamela Dean is playing a game called “how many times can I quote Hamlet,” and she is WINNING, but the cost is MY SANITY

[vestathepixels]

catalastor