Welcome!

This Blog pertains to the novel Not Wanted on the Voyage by Mr. Timothy Findely. Within are personal responses, a list of links, an Apologia, an Explication, and a nostalgic reflection on the overall experience. You, the reader, are encouraged, nay, commanded, to read this tragic, hilariously cataclysmic re-telling of Noah's Ark. It will leave you changed.

P.S.

The unicorn is horrifying. Don't say I didn't warn you...

Links!

Here are some relevant sites pertaining to Mr. Findley in general, this book, and his place in the field of Literature.

1. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Findley
2. www.cbc.ca/news/obit/findley
3. www.athabascau.ca/writers/findley.html
4. http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol42/nielsen.htm
5. wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_Wanted_on_the_Voyage
6. http://www.curledup.com/pilgrim.htm
7. http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/profile.cfm?article_id=1517
8. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim_(Timothy_Findley_novel)
9. http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_P/pilgrim1.asp
10. http://www.allreaders.com/topics/info_25494.asp

Lucifer and Yaweh

Mr. Findely has a wonderful take on the contrasts between God and Satan. God is an old, senile and enfeebled man who talks on and on and isn't interesting. His senility is betrayed in his rambling phrases like: "We are now the object of the world's derision... Mocked and scorned in the streets. Attacked. We cannot say... We cannot say...". Yaweh is more worthy of pity than reverance in this story, and his value system (akin to Noah's) is not at all endearing.
Lucy, the cross-dressing witty magician with a sense of what it is to be human is an infinitely more likeable character. The witticisms, the hilarious allusions that Mr. Findely throws in are marvelous. "I've always enjoyed the depths." and"Cozy as a fireplace..." made me laugh out loud. Mr. Findely has a way of making the "dark side" look much nicer than the alternative.

The Unicorn, Dear Lord, The Unicorn!

So... I don't know exactly what to say about the instance in the book in which the unicorn dies. It affected me in... numerous ways. Upon finishing the passage, I was unable to put the book down until I'd finished it; I felt nauseous. I feel, in writing this, unable to recount the actual passage, or even bring myself to take a quote from it. All I can say is that great art makes you feel some way, and this book is great art.

Tragic Realism

Mrs. Noyes, Mottyl and Lucifer embody stark, imperfect reality. There are numerous scenes depicted in the book that follow Mrs. Noyes around, and allow the reader to understand completely where she's coming from. A particular scene which sent me into uncontrollable tears was when Mrs. Noyes discovers Lotte. (Emma's visibily deformed little sister). Mrs. Noyes desperately tries to save her, telling her everything will be fine, that the dead man in the boat is just sleeping, and that she's leading Lotte to safety. Upon bringing Lotte onto the Ark, only to have Lotte slaughtered as an ape, sends Mrs. Noyes back to her music and her gin. Her seeming mania conveys a humanity that has been beaten out of Noah, Hannah and Japeth. She sings to her little corpse, wraps her in bandages and buries her, remembering all the while that she and Noah had conceived an autistic child. That Emma was chosen so that if Japeth should pass on the deformity, Emma could be blamed and not Noah. Not her. I cried and cried and cried as I read this. It's really unfair that Mr. Findely should capture human sadness, helplessness, self-righteousness, love, and hatred so accutely...so seemigly real. Later on their is a similar tragic moment for Noah. Yaweh is dead. He is abandoned; he is despaired. He reverts to a Stalin-like paranoid madness, eventually being able to rationalize the destruction of such a delicate creature as the Unicorn. This realism, too, is unfair. This book probes so deep-so terribly true and authentic that it changes the reader. It is among the greatest pieces of literature I have ever read.

Bwahaha

Mr. Findley has pulled me into his story almost immediately. His sense of humour is gorgeous! There is a passage that had me laughing for a solid minute. Mrs. Noyes (Noah's Wife) is sitting on her porch remarking on how beautiful things are. She "loved to sit and watch the sun" and hear the "sounds of the birds flying" and the "bee noise and cattle lowing". This seems perfectly dull and ordinary until she thinks to herself: "And the songs, way down by the road, of the itinerant work gangs-peasants by their campfires, singing of their distant homes... Oh, it was grand in the evening, she thought-truly a kind of heaven." This mockery of historical obliviousness is so tantalizing that I can't put the book down! What a true observation of ancient culture: slaves are just there, and they are there to serve you. What's especially interesting is that this is obviously intentional. Almost all historical hilarity I have encountered has been accidental. Such as "Have some Madira. M'Dear!" by Flanders and Swan, or "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" from "The Little House on the Prarie". That Mr. Findley included a nod towards this phenomenon immediately endears me to his book, and I'm excited to continue the story.