Roland Mitchell: state of somnolence, sick juddering wakefulness, worry about Val, pg 11; Graduate of Prince Albert College, London and PhD from same at 29.
Thought of himself as a latecomer. Grew up in a depressed Lancashire cotton town. Father: County official, Mother: disappointed English grad, disappointed in herself, his father and in himself. She drank. Kept changing Roland’s schooling. A’s at A level. Saw himself as a failure and vaguely responsible for this. Essentially unemployed, part-time tutoring, dogsbodying for Blackadder, and restaurant dishwashing. Compact, clearcut, precise features, soft black hair, thoughtful dark brown eyes. Paid little attention to what people thought of him. Women liked him. Val called him Mole? Met her when 18 years old. Pg 14
Dissertation: “History, Historians and Poetry? A Study of the Presentation of Historical “Evidence” in the Poems of Randolph Henry Ash.” Page 11
Roland’s index cards – one set of grassy green, the other tomato-red. Page 6
“Oxford Selected Ash” – book Roland carried page 10.
Val- lived in a basement room called a garden flat with Roland. Not allowed to enter the garden. Quarreled seldom with Roland – usually about Val’s reserve, refusal to advance opinions. The more success Roland had the less she said. Wrote her required essay “Male Ventriloquism: The Women of Randolph Henry Ash.” Examiners had thought wrongly that Roland had done the work. Pg 16 Was from Croydon, mother divorced, drinker. Father in Merchant Navy – hadn’t seen him since five. Pg 16 Val left Roland, he was glad, then she came back, took course in shorthand-typing.
Became the breadwinner. Academic typing at home, various temp jobs during the day. Called her work ”menial.” Two Vals – one sat silent at home in old jeans the other made up for day job. Not constructed to be attractive. She didn’t like Fergus.
Fergus Wolff – Roland’s rival in Blackadder’s Ash Factory. Pg 17 Got job Roland had applied for. Roland afraid Fergus might think him resentful., pg 18 Tall, brassy hair cut long on top and short at the back. Bright blue eyes, white teeth. Pleasant enough in general. Roland liked Fergus because Fergus seemed to like him. Pg 37 Writing a deconstructive account of Balzac’s “Chef-d’Oeuvre Inconnu.”
Expert on Christabel LaMotte because of an affair he had with Maud., pg 39
Professor Blackadder – writing “Complete Works of Ash.” Discouraged and liked to discourage others, stringent scholar. Blackadder’s Ash Factory, operated from British Museum on a small grant from Newsome Foundation in Albuquerque, charitable trust. pg 11,13.
A Scot, pg 13 Thought British writings should stay in Britain and be studied by British. Thought Cropper trying to worm his way into confidence and goodwill of owners of manuscripts lodged within, but not owned by, the British Library, pg 13.
54 years old, Downing College, Cambridge. Saw examples of Ash’s ventriloquism – became an expert on Ash. PhD “Conscious Argument and Unconscious Bias: A Source of Tension in the Dramatic Poems of Randolph Henry Ash.” Pg 32
Thought often of how a man becomes his job., pg 33. Blackadder allowed himself to see clearly that he would end his working life in this task, that all his thoughts would have been another man’s thoughts, all his work another man’s work. But he did find Ash fascinating. It was a pleasant subordination, if he was a subordinate., pg 33
Mortimer Cropper – Stant Collection – working on “Complete Correspondence of Randolph Henry Ash,” page 4 Trustee of Newsome Foundation, pg 13
Paola – Blackadder’s clerical assistant. Long colorless hair, huge glasses.
Dr. Beatrice Nest – “Helpmeets” was her book – doesn’t go down well with today’s feminists. Studying Ellen Ash. Feminists believe Ash suppressed Ellen’s writing. Beatrice spent 25 years wanting to show how self-denying and supporting Ellen was. Found that no one cared – they wanted proof that Ellen was raging with rebellion, pain, and untapped talent.
Dr Maud Bailey – Women’s Resource Center, Lincoln, London University. Had an affair with Fergus. Pg 39 Expert on Christabel LaMotte. Wrote essay – see below.
Most untouchable woman, trustworthy.pg 55
Taller than Roland. Roland thought of her as green and white. Had a Green Beattle car. Green towels, green sheets, white divan. pg 63 Lived at top of Tennyson Towers. Pg 45
Contents of Christabel’s desk sent to one of her cousins May Bailey upon her death. Maude is great-great-grandaughter of May and great-great-great-great niece of Christabel. Pg 46
Sir George Bailey - Seal Court, Croysant le Wold. Not willing to let anyone look for info on Christabel., pg 47
Joan Bailey - wheelchair incident, pg 81-83 Lives at Seal Court.
Professor Leonora Stern - Tallahassee – Expert on Christabel LaMotte. Pg 39
Sir George Bailey threatened her with a gun, pg 47
Past:
Randolph Henry Ash – body vanished? Pg 24
Ellen Ash – gave many of Ash’s poems to British Museum, pg 13 Childless, pg 30
Mr. Isidore LaMotte - Born 1801. Cambridge. Mythographer. Wrote ”Mythologies indigenes de la Bretagne et de la Grande Bretagne” and ”Mythologies francaises.” Scholarly comendium of folklore and legends., pg 33 Parents Jean-Baptiste and Emilie LaMotte. Married Miss Arabel Gumpert. Two daughters: Sophie, 1830, wife of Sir George Bailey of Seal Close, Croysant le Wold; Christabel, 1825, never married. Lived with young woman friend, Blanche Glover.
Christabel Madeleine LaMotte – . 1825 Never married. Had house in Richmond in Surrey shared with woman friend Miss Blanche Glover. Pg 41. She is undertaking a grand Fairy Topic. Tapping spirits, pg 29 Wrote religious poems “Last Things” and children’s stories “Tales Told in November”. Page 36 Wrote “The Fairy Melusina.” Pg 38 Tragedy and romance and symbolism rampant all over it, a kind of dream-world full of strange beasts and hidden meanings and a really weird sexuality or sensuality. Wrote insect poems, pg 43 Wrote “Glass Coffin” pg 52
Birdlike. Pale crimped hair, generic Victorian lady, pg 44
Reputation rests on restrained and delicate lyrics, products of a fine sensibility, a somewhat somber temperament, and a troubled but steadfast Christian faith., pg 42
Lived with Sophie for rest of life after Blanche drowned. Pg 42
Feminists saw her as distraught and enraged.
Blanche Glover – Lived with Christabel LaMotte, artistic ambitions. Oil paintings, wood carvings. Drowned in Thames in 1861, pg 42 Wrote a diary – pg 46 “A Journal of Our Home-Life, In Our House in Richmond.” Pg 49 Wrote about Robinson breakfast – read aloud a little of the Faerie Queene. Irritated that Cristabel is spending so much time on letter writing, pg 52 Letters kept from her – I am not a blind mouldiwarp. Not her governess. A prowler? Where is our frankness of intercourse? This Peeping Tom – I know nothing, I never have known very much, but I fear for her. The Wolf is gone from the door. Then the diary ends abruptly. Pg 54 No evidence to connect the Prowler with Ash. Leonora Stern thinks Prowler is Mr Thomas Hearst of Richmond who played the oboe with the ladies. Blanche was jealous. Pg 55
Crabb Robinson, ?? and Ash met at breakfast at his house. Kept a Diary –had hoped to be a writer but deciding he lacked the ability he kept a diary of interviews he had with famous authors. Recorded breakfast party where Ash and LaMotte met. They had questioned LaMotte about the tapping spirits – she declined to express an opinion. Pg 29
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