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The Daily Dose/September 28, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Pics will return.
Notes from around the Human Experience...
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: The Walking Drum By Louis L'Amour: Regular readers of this crap will recall that earlier this month we read our first Louis L'Amour book, his memoir Education of a Wandering Man. You may also recall we were very impressed with it, for the quality and breadth with which L'Amour educated himself, the way he lived his life on his terms and how he saw fit and in the man's writing talent.
So we decided to read another Louis L'Amour book. Since he was a very prolific writer and appeared to have written 7,000 books over the course of his life, there was certainly no shortage of L'Amour books to choose from.
We picked The Walking Drum because the main character, Mathurin Kerbouchard is mentioned in Education of a Wondering Man, when L'Amour mentions a port in France he was visiting where Kerbouchard was taken into slavery.
Leading Off: As the story opens, Kerbouchard is homeless and may well be an orphan, following a local ruffian's pillaging of his house and murdering of his mother. His father is a corsair who hasn't been heard from in ages and is rumored to be dead or a slave himself.
Kerbouchard vows to find him. Forced to flee and with no place to really go, his adventure begins when he tries to acquire passage on a ship leaving his homeland of Brittany. He is forced into slavery, rowing in the galley, though he manages to worm his way into the pilot's position then ingeniously manages to sell the ship, which he doesn't own, and impress the real owner and his crew into slavery.
Oh, By The Way: Impressing people into slavery seems to be have been the primary form of social interaction back then. Well, that and sword fighting. It seems every other chapter ends with Kerbouchard facing a handful of guys with swords looking to filet him.
Meanwhile: The story continues in this vane. He goes to Cadiz, then to Cordoba where he escapes from prison, then joins a merchant caravan, returns to Brittany and avenges his mother's death, ends up in Paris, where he again annoys people and is obliged to flee. Kerbouchard then travels to Kiev, Constantinople, Tabriz and Alamut, which is where is father is a slave in an impregnable fortress. Posing as an alchemist in the area, he gains an invitation to the fortress.
Resume Builder: In addition to slave, merchant and alchemist, Kerbouchard poses as a scholar, physician and ladies man.
Spoil Sport: I am not telling you the end of the story, though we will say not every young man finds himself under orders to castrate his old man.
The Big Picture: If you are familiar with L'Amour's life it isn't difficult to get the feeling L'Amour is writing about a life he wouldn't have minded living had he flourished in the 12th century.
We Interrupt This Column For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following Is The Official Writer's Shack Rating scale:
EX - Excellent; as good as the medium can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good. Well worth your time.
GD - Good. Worth your time.
AR - All Right. Not completely without merit.
SP - Nothing of substance; a steaming pile, utterly without merit.
Final Rating: VG. After two books we are completely enthralled with Louis L'Amour. As historical novels go, we rank this right up there, though a little below, Gore Vidal's Creation and Lincoln.
The only real drawback to the story was it depends heavily on luck. You expect heroic deeds and escapes in an epic story like this, but Kerbouchard seems to have more than his share of luck, though we note his luck is both good and bad. The book is richly researched, accurate to times, places, events and people, as all good historical novels should be. Like Education of a Wandering Man it is rich with insights into the Human Experience and wise thoughts from L'Amour. Unfortunately, the sequels L'Amour promised in the Afterword were never written.
RENDER UNTO CAESAR, EVEN IF IT'S YOUR HEAD: Forced to flee to Egypt after losing to Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus, Roman military commander Pompey was assassinated by King Ptolemy of Egypt on this date in 48 BC.
This followed the siege of Dyrrhachium where Pompey's army defeated Caesar's army, however Pompey passed on an opportunity to destroy Caesar's depleted army, which Caesar even acknowledged would have happened.
Hail Britannia: On this date, in 1066, the Norman Conquest begins when William the Conqueror invades England. The House of Norman would rule England until 1154,
Should I Have Named The City After Me? On this date, in 1542, Juan Cabrillo of Portugal sailed into what is now San Diego, California. Cabrillo was the first European to sail what is now the Pacific coast of the United States and he would later sail north, but appears to have missed both Monterrey and San Francisco.
Insert Own Lead Line Here! On this date, in 1781: The Siege of Yorktown, the last major land battle of the American Revolution, begins in Yorktown Heights, Virginia under US forces commanded by General George Washington and augmented by the French. The siege would last until British commander Gen. Charles Cornwallis offers surrender on Oct. 17. In a huff, though, Cornwallis refuses to attend the surrender ceremony, sending his second in command instead. Washington, as he should have, cops an attitude and refuses to accept the surrender of a second in command and lets his second in command, Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, accept the British's surrender.
Great Moments In Democracy: On this date, in 1787, the US Congress votes to send the recently completed Constitution to the several states for approval. On Dec. 7 Delaware would become the first state to ratify the Constitution, and it would take effect when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it in June, 1788.
Editor's Note: On This Date continues its chronicle of the 1908 Chicago Cubs season, the last year they won the World Series.
No Game Today: Only one team with an interest in the 1908 National League pennant race played today, as the Giants moved into a first place tie with the Cubs, getting two in the ninth to defeat Philadelphia 7-6. The Pirates are still a game back.
Weather Channel: The New York Times noted most of the game was played in the rain, and accused umpire Bill Klem of not calling the game because "of his desire to complete the playing schedule".
Dry, Technical Matter: The Cubs start a five game series in Cincinnati tomorrow. The Giants continue hosting Philadelphia, and the Pirates host St. Louis.
Oh Yeah: It's a dogfight in the American League, too, where Detroit beat the Senators 4-1 while Chicago and Boston tied 2-2 while Cleveland was idle. The Tigers are in first place, a half-game up on the Naps and one game up on the White Sox.
Uh, I Thought It Was Lunch: On this date, in 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming discovers a bacteria-killing mold in his laboratory, which would ultimately lead to the discovery of penicillin. The complete story involves the word staphylococcus, which immediately renders it beyond the scope of this column.
Thought For The Day: I was by no means a scholar, simply an interested reader with nothing to do but live and learn. - Louis L'Amour, Education of a Wandering Man
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The last trivia question was, again and tediously, rhetorical. There is no evidence that even had Nixon been elected President in 1960 that he would have been assassintated.
Today's Stumper: Where is Dyrrhachium? - Answer next time!
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