Night and Day: Literature Guide
by
Mo
Disclaimer: The X-Men and Alpha Flight belong to Marvel. The movie belongs to Fox. Belarus is an independent country and belongs to its citizens, mutant and otherwise. Bryn Mawr is a private women's college founded in 1885. It belongs to the women, mutant and otherwise, who have lived and learned there for the past 116 years. I do feel like Scott and Logan are a little bit mine since I've been borrowing them for so long.
"Night and Day" is my fourth series of stories based on the X-Men movie and pairing Scott and Logan. Scott Summers (in this incarnation) is: a mutant superhero, really good at giving blow jobs, a funny guy with a joke for most any occasion, and an English teacher. So the stories are full of quotes from poems and other literature, primarily reflecting Scott's literary interests. The following gives a little information on the works quoted as well as urls to read the complete works, where available. As was the case for the other literature guides, this document contains spoilers for the series and should be read after reading "Night and Day".
Poems
William Blake. "Jerusalem". (sometimes just titled "From Milton" to avoid confusion with Blake's longer poem by the same title).
This brief poem contrasts the England Blake knew, full of "dark Satanic mills", with the ideal society as represented by the biblical Jerusalem. The poet recounts a legend that Jesus traveled to England during the period of time not covered by the gospels and tries to imagine Christ in modern (i.e. early nineteenth century) England. He pledges himself to creating a new Jerusalem "in England's green and pleasant land." Blake uses warlike imagery in describing the quest for a new society, which is part of why the poem appeals to Logan. Its use in the series contrasts Wendy's rather lofty Blake-like view of the Saskatchewan project with Logan's more practical one. Read the poem at http://www.bartleby.com/236/62.html
David, Israelite king (?). "Psalm 104".
The Psalms (tehillim in Hebrew) are a series of Hebrew songs whose words are included in both the Jewish and Christian bibles. They are traditionally said to have been written by the young David and sung to soothe the mad king Saul. Modern scholarship suggests that at least some of them were written well after the end of the Israelite monarchy. Psalm 104 contains the line "Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening" which provides the title for the ninth story. The King James translation of this psalm appears at http://www.bartleby.com/108/19/104.html#23
T.S. Eliot. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock".
This poem has appeared in all of the previous series. It's one of Scott's favorites. Like Prufrock, Scott has a tendency to have difficulty in making decisions about his life. In this series, a quote from Prufrock serves as the title of the final story. You can read the poem at http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html
Leigh Hunt. "Abou Ben Adhem"
A story-poem about a man who, upon waking from a "dream of peace", encounters an angel. Ben Adhem ends up being blessed by God for caring more about his fellow men than about God Himself. I used a phrase from it as the title to the third segment, which deals with all the Saskatchewan outpost residents expressing concern for each other. Scott also quotes from the poem in that story, having just come from poetry class where he was teaching it. As "Abou Ben Adhem" is about a dream, it also fits in with the dream and time-of-day themes of the series. The line I have Jubilee saying about the poem is one that Isaac Asimov said he had said, as a child, in a class discussing this poem. Read the poem at http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/hunt4b.html
Carl Sandburg. "Murmurings in a Field Hospital"
One of Sandburg's most powerful World War I poems. It tells of a badly wounded soldier who wants only playthings and "beautiful useless things". Scott had recited it to Logan when Logan was in the depths of his depression over finding out that he had been under the control of the people who tortured him. Scott told Logan at the time that he saw him as the wounded soldier and was happy to be his plaything. In this series Logan asks Scott why he didn't find being Logan's plaything dehumanizing, in contrast with his feelings about the johns who had abused him (as described in Canadian Nights). Scott explains that love and trust make for the difference. The poem is available many places online, including http://www.bartleby.com/165/70.html.
Francois Villon. "Ballade des dames du temps jadis." From Le Testament.
Fifteenth century French poet Villon is one of the finest of France's lyric poets. This poem is among his best known, primarily for the wistful, nostalgic refrain that Jean-Paul quotes. The line is usually translated as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?" A well-done web copy of the poem, with hypertext explanatory notes on several of the words and historical and mythological figures, can be seen at http://www.ac-strasbourg.fr/pedago/lettres/Lecture/jadis.htm. A side-by-side French original with English translation is available at http://www.projetbrassens.eclipse.co.uk/transballade.html. Please note, though, that it is translated in rhyme and with a similar rhythm, but not very literally.
William Shakespeare. Sonnets 27 and 33.
Two Shakespearean sonnets are quoted in this series. They are both in the set of sonnets thought to have been written for Will's male lover, known as the "Fair Youth" to Shakespearean scholars. Scott quotes Sonnet 27 when he says that he can find "no quiet" for thinking about Logan. Wendy quotes Sonnet 33 in praise of getting up early in the morning. All of the Shakespearean sonnets are widely available on the 'net. One place to find them is the Bartleby site. Here are the urls for these two:
Sonnet 27. http://www.bartleby.com/70/50027.html
Sonnet 33. http://www.bartleby.com/70/50033.html
Walt Whitman. "We Two Boys Together Clinging"
Logan quotes from this poem when, after speaking to Scott on the phone, he remembers the last time they had sex. Scott had quoted this poem to Logan in an email in the third series, saying it reminded him of the time they spent on the road together. The poem, which begins "We two boys together clinging, One the other never leaving" is available at http://www.bartleby.com/142/56.html
Plays
William Shakespeare.
Several of Shakespeare's plays are quoted in this series, both by Scott and by Wendy. Scott is teaching a Shakespeare seminar (and is concerned that Charles follow up on a homework assignment while substituting for him in that class) and uses a couple of Shakespearean quotes in that email. He also quotes from Shakespeare when speaking to Logan about Wendy, and to Warren about Logan. Wendy quotes from one of the plays when speaking to Arthur, as well. In addition, two of the ten stories have titles taken from lines from Shakespeare's plays.
Here are the specific plays quoted:
All's Well that Ends Well. Scott mentions the title of this play in describing the resolution of the problem that occurred between Logan and Wendy over Wendy having given the outpost address to her friend.
Hamlet. The title of the story in which all the characters are dreaming is taken from Hamlet's most famous soliloquy, the one that begins "To be or not to be, that is the question." In it, Prince Hamlet considers suicide. Likening death to sleep, he wonders whether there might be dreams in death.
Macbeth. Scott says that he will "screw his courage to the sticking place". This line and the title of the eighth story, "Ravell'd Sleave of Care", are both taken from Macbeth.
A Midsummer Night's Dream. Wendy quotes from this play when she tells Arthur that looks aren't primary to her. Scott takes another line from it later on, describing Wendy as little and fierce, like Hermia.
Othello. Scott tells Warren that he loved Logan "not wisely but too well", which Othello says, while dying, of his love for Desdemona.
All of Shakespeare's plays are available, in a variety of formats, at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/shakespeare/works/
Novels
Lewis Carroll. _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_. Wendy quotes from this fantasy novel in her dream. Alice exclaimed "curiouser and curiouser" at changing size rapidly and Wendy exclaims the same thing in her dream when she discovers a tiny person in the dollhouse she's building. She doesn't yet realize that it is Arthur.
Robert Heinlein. _Time Enough for Love_. This book by one of the most popular science fiction writers tells the story of Lazarus Long, the very long-lived character Heinlein first introduced in _Methuselah's Children_. Arthur, who is very fond of Heinlein, quotes from the book a couple of times and it also provides the title for the fourth story in this series. I don't think the book is available online, but most libraries and bookstores will have it.
Rafael Sabatini. _Scaramouche_. This swashbuckling tale of the early days of the French Revolution is often compared to Dumas, although it was written in English and much later. The hero, AndrČ-Louis, is poor but proud. His best friend is murdered early in the book by an evil nobleman who later seduces and abandons the woman AndrČ-Louis loves. There is a scene where the hero, acting a part in a play, steps out of character to denounce the nobleman from the stage. Later in the book there is a sword fight between AndrČ-Louis and his arch-enemy. Scott reads _Scaramouche_ the night he arrives in Saskatchewan and his dream later that night is influenced by the book. The Project Gutenberg edition of the novel is available at http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1947. One warning: like Scott, you may have trouble putting it down.
Children's Song
"Mon merle a perdu une plume". The lyrics to the song Jean-Paul sings with April can be found, along with several other French children's songs, at http://www.chaisemusicale.com/chansonnier/chansons.html. I have not been able to find the music for it online.
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