Literary InterpretationsOne of the major reasons for this project was my frequent frustration with the pre-existing attempts; on the whole, web-published interpretations of The Play have been wildly over-literary. I feel this does a disservice to the piece, suggesting pretensions simply not present in The Play. |
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Taking one correspondent virtually at random: Greg suggests in TalkTull that: "Anderson almost certainly had to be influenced by Bunyan (Pilgrim's Progress), Milton (Paradise Lost; Paradise Regained), as well as Dante (Inferno; Divine Comedy). It would be logical that he had read the first three as required reading given his schooling." That's the key flaw with this line of reasoning: Ian is not likely to have read Milton or Dante in any depth at school. Ian attended the local grammar school in Blackpool, then Art College - not Eton and University! While his education was in no way inferior, Ian simply does not have a significantly academic background. Another commentator's assertion that "IA is, quite demonstrably, the happy recipient of a classical education" is, quite demonstrably, absurd. The works of Dante and Milton are mind-numbingly difficult to follow. The erudite Andy Jackson recalls the struggle of reading 'Paradise Lost' at University; few realise that it runs to twelve books and over 10,000 lines. As Andy says: "not exactly bedtime reading", and more significantly, not part of the standard school curriculum. Andy informs me that a fragment of Milton was on the 'O' level syllabus ('O' level: 'ordinary' level UK school-leaving exams, sat at age 16) in 1963, but Ian sat the 1964 paper, and the piece was nothing as complicated as 'Paradise Lost'. Andy: "So you would have to assume that Ian read both of these in his spare time, at some point after finishing school, just for the hell of it. This is a guy who says he doesn't like poetry as well… I just don't see it." Remember that Ian is not a scholar of mediæval literature, but a busy musician. It is, however, quite conceivable that Ian was aware of these works or, more significantly, fragments of the classical myths that in part inspired Dante and Milton - any schoolboy would recognise Cerberus, for example (not that I think Cerberus appears in The Play). A further, personal, example of learning from popular culture (social osmosis) without the need for literary study: I'm relatively familiar with the basic story of the siege of Troy and voyage of Odysseus, but I've never read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey themselves - most of my knowledge arises from a TV series, seen at the age of ~10! Andy: "My guess - Ian has never read a word of Dante in his life. The poetics of Milton are as much an accepted part of the culture as Shakespeare, i.e. you can know the phrases and images without necessarily knowing their source. So while these references may strike a chord with folk who happen to be (perhaps only slightly) familiar with these works, I've never seen them as being of any real use in approaching the Play itself." It is, of course, quite possible for an educated listener to fit The Play into his or her knowledge of certain works of literature - indeed, in the 1970s, a 50-page Master's thesis was submitted, comparing APP with 'Paradise Lost'. However, I would strongly suggest that such efforts say more about the observer and his/her preconceptions than about Ian's likely intended meanings. |
