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| Last night I was reading The Witch of Exmoor by Margaret Drabble. I found this part really funny. Nathan is smoking a cigarette in the garden that belongs to his in-laws, Patsy and Daniel: "Patsy and Daniel are proud of their garden and spend time on it. They talk about it. They even talk about it to Nathan, although they must know that he is a lost cause. The flower culture of the English middle classes pisses him off. The names of old roses make him ill. ..There is a slightly unpleasant smell on the air, which his cigarette has not overwhelmed. He sniffs. It is coming from those pink roses, those small clustery yellow-stamened pink roses, which no doubt have some very special pretty title. He approaches them, sniffs more closely. A rotting, fecal, fungal smell. The smell of old rose, of old England, of old women. They are probably called Duchess of Death, or Cuisse de Vieille, or Marquise de la Mort. Do all roses smell so disgusting? Experimentally, he progresses to a standard rose of deeper crimson, with larger flowers. These smell strongly of cheap soap. Never would Nathan inflict a scent so crude upon the British customer." |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I especially like Marquise de la Mort. That might fool many rose lovers who don't speak French. How elegant! However, after reading this through a second time I had the strong desire to put my hands around Nathan's arrogant and rotten little neck. How dare he! Ingrid |
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| I have to agree with Ingrid, I find that character the epitome of our youth obsessed society. However, it's quite creative though, especially the old maiden's blush allusion... |
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- Posted by melissa_thefarm NItaly (My Page) on Mon, Sep 8, 14 at 14:03
| I've liked what I read of Margaret Drabble; thanks for the quote, bellegallica! I didn't want to strangle Nathan, though he certainly wouldn't get invited into my garden. This just reminded me of how different our noses are, and what different associations particular scents have for us. Poor guy. The first rose sounds like 'Cornelia', and it sure does smell good down in the garden right now. Melissa |
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| I think Nathan is a horses' patootie. And an arrogant horses patootie, at that. Jeri |
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- Posted by malcolm_manners 9b C. Fla. (My Page) on Mon, Sep 8, 14 at 16:09
| Just for fun: In 1998 at a Heritage Rose Foundation conference (Dallas), an evening pursuit at the hotel bar included thinking up a list of "unfortunate" names for roses. It was great fun, and as the "designated secretary" (I don't drink), I wrote them all down. Here's the list: Anna de Dies Back |
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| You did not include "Old Red Baller" ... I mean, that's a REAL study name! Jeri |
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| Malcolm I had a good laugh.... Souvenir de mal odor that's bad.... |
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- Posted by fig_insanity 7a, East TN (My Page) on Mon, Sep 8, 14 at 16:59
| Hmmmmm....I think I've grown about half of those roses, Malcolm. And yes, Nathan is an olfactorily-compromised nincompoop. |
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- Posted by bellegallica_zone9 9 (My Page) on Mon, Sep 8, 14 at 21:19
| Like true-blue, I giggled at the Cuisse de Vieille. In the list of badly named roses, I think Little White Trash is my favorite. I have Little White Pet, so maybe that's what I'll call it just for fun. In Nathan's defense, sometimes even good smelling roses don't smell so good once they've aged a bit. And I think I remember StrawberryHill doing experiments with additives to her water for cut roses and some of them making the roses smell pretty bad. There are different versions of the old rose scent, some sweeter, some drier. But I liked all of the ones I've sniffed. Maybe Nathan was smelling a myrrh scented rose... |
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| Malcolm, you might not have been drinking but with that list of hysterical names I suspect everyone else was. Corpuscle, indeed! Diane |
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| I about fell out of my chair laughing at 'Gross an Hoboken'. Too funny! 'Anna de Dies Back' already had me laughing right out the gate, though... And 'Rose de Retch'? I know that if I were more familiar with the real-life inspirations for some of the names... well, it's lucky that I actually didn't fall out of my chair. I like Margaret Drabble's novels- she has a good eye for human behavior. I think we've all known- or at times maybe even been- a 'Nathan', determined not to like certain things for reasons unrelated to the things themselves. |
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| It sounds like a takeoff on Kingsley Amis's 1957 novel, Lucky Jim "The hero of that comic novel, Jim Dixon, not only showed no mercy toward anything bogus but exhibited an unashamed philistinism. When he overhears someone singing he identifies the tune as 'some skein of untiring facetiousness by filthy Mozart.' At the time, that was truly shocking, and attracted horrified comment." http://www.robertfulford.com/2004-05-25-amis.html) The character of Lucky Jim, the original "angry young man", hated Mozart, folk music, madrigal singing and everything he associated with the upper classes and/or affectation. and doubtless this would have included gardening. The book was extremely influential and very very funny. But as time went on, Amis turned into a tiresome alcoholic crank. What could be more affected than a pose of hating Mozart and other good things, after all? |
This post was edited by monarda on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 15:43
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- Posted by Nippstress 5-Nebraska (My Page) on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 15:04
| What a hoot, Malcolm! It's worth the coffee I snorted through my nose to read your delightful list. Rose de Retch is to die for, as is Touch of Crass. Some of your names clearly need new partners - like Wilting Mathilda needs Shrinking Violet, and De Spicable needs A Palling to balance each other out. How about good old Shovel Ready? Back Talk? Beetlemania? Eau de Chien? The ever faithful companion rose Spot? Since you have roses with every other letter, how about Quitter and the twins Zero and Zilch to round things out. And isn't Little White Lies a real rose? I thought I saw it in the Rogue Valley listings recently. As for Nathan, I haven't read the Drabble book, but he doesn't sound like someone I'd like to spend my time with, and since good books become old friends, if they're written about people I dislike I tend to avoid them. Rather spend my time with you lovely folks instead! Cynthia |
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- Posted by malcolm_manners 9b C. Fla. (My Page) on Wed, Sep 10, 14 at 10:52
| Diane, I've heard old Southerners actually say Corpuscle. Same people who grow "Theresa Bug-Net" (as in a mosquito net). And Cram-OY-zee-eye superior! Gotta love it. |
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- Posted by melissa_thefarm NItaly (My Page) on Wed, Sep 10, 14 at 12:26
| for Cynthia: I love sympathetic characters as much as anyone, but think of the contribution well-conceived bad guys make to our reading pleasure. What would 'Mansfield Park' be without Mrs. Norris? She's one of my favorite villains. LOVE the list!! Melissa |
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| The character Nathan sounds like someone whose company, in real life, I would take pains to avoid. Rosefolly |
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| Wini Edmunds once wrote in one of the Edmunds catalogs, "Poor Garden Party! A reporter heard Fred refer to it as 'Garden Pity' and printed it, costing us some orders." I've always referred to Angel Face as Angel Farce and Angel Farts, it's so bad in these parts. Gorgeous (sometimes) blooms with great scent, but on a real train wreck of a plant. Kim |
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- Posted by Nippstress 5-Nebraska (My Page) on Wed, Sep 10, 14 at 15:45
| Melissa - oh, I fully agree with you on the value of deliciously rotten villains in stories. I think Professor Moriarty is a wonderful character and the Holmes series was decidedly less interesting when other villains took his place. It's just that I dislike stories where I'm supposed to root for, or at least feel sympathy with, people who are deliberately distasteful or self-centered, like Nathan sounds from the description. I'm even OK with rooting for villains occasionally, or criminal characters like Raffles, particularly if they have some complexity to them. Whiners, however - meh!! Life's too short, and we all hear too much whining already in our lives (including our own...). Cynthia |
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