J. C. Powys' Autobiography: A Reader's Companion - Site POWYS

8 Autobiography
society, told with wit and a satiric undertone.
Sense and Sensibility appeared in 1811.
author of a first-rate book [on Dreiser]
(553) — Either Burton Rascoe’s Theodore Dreiser
(1925) or Dorothy Dudley’s Forgotten Frontiers:
Dreiser and the Land of the Free (1932), the only
substantial studies of Dreiser by the time JCP
wrote. Since Rascoe is the author of two
journalistic pieces about JCP and Llewelyn, one
from 1921 (see Powys Society Newsletter 44
[November 2001] 21), the other from 1926 (see
Powys Society Newsletter 28 [April 2003], 22–24),
he is the more likely candidate.
“Avanc” (330) — A crocodile-like lake-dwelling
monster, still known in Welsh mythology as
“Afanc” in stories of Hu Gadarn and in “Peredur
Son of Efrawg.” It is referred to frequently in
Porius. Traditions regarding avancs in England are
extremely rare.
Aytoun (25–6, 38, 146, 161, 336) — William E.
Aytoun (1813–1865), a Scots writer of ballad
romances, considerably influenced by Scott and
Macaulay. See J[ohn] B[atten]’s 2001 article.
Aztec (400) — The Aztecs were an Amerindian
people of central Mexico who succeeded the
Incas and the Mayan peoples and were ultimately
conquered by the Spanish in the early sixteenth
century.
B
Baal (467) — A heathen god worshipped in the
“high places” in biblical times and regularly
condemned by Hebrew prophets.
Babylon (31) — Ancient kingdom in the Middle
East, which defeated the Israelites and carried
them into exile. The “psalmist” reference is
doubtless to Psalm 137. So, “Babylonian” (171).
Babylon Hill (125) — West of Sherborne, close to
Yeovil. Also mentioned in Wolf Solent (99, etc.);
“what would [JCP and Littleton] feel today to find
that deep, romantic cutting totally gone and a
very wide carriageway in its place?” (Gourlay [8]).
Bacbuc, Princess (62) — A character in Rabelais
(Book 5, chs.42–6).
Bacchanal (431) — An occasion of drunken
revelry in honour of Bacchus, the Roman
equivalent of Dionysus (q.v.).
Backwater (151) — Weymouth Backwater, also
mentioned in Weymouth Sands (91), see Peltier
(internet). Llewelyn writes about it eloquently in
“Childhood Memories” (Earth Memories [48–50]).
“Baconian Theory” (255) — The belief that the
plays ascribed to Shakespeare were in fact the
work of Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam (1561–1626).
JCP writes sensibly about the weaknesses of the
theory in the chapter on Shakespeare in The
Pleasures of Literature.
Baedeker (391) — The famous series of German
guidebooks popular in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries.
Balin’s fatal spear (417) — The spear that wounds
the Fisher King in some Grail romances.
Balius (388) — See “Zanthus.”
Balm of Gilead (369) — See Jeremiah 8:22. Gilead
is a region in modern Jordan. Also quoted in
Visions and Revisions (193) and Rabelais (219).
“balone” (567) — A misprint for “baloney,” slang
for “nonsense.”
Balzac (293, 418, 544, 581) — Honoré de Balzac
(1799–1850), French novelist whose novels and
short stories form a vast saga known as la
Comédie humaine. JCP wrote an essay on Balzac
in Suspended Judgments. So, “Balzacian” (198,
472, 486).
Banquet (120) — An alternative translation of
Plato’s dialogue known more often in English as
the Symposium.
Baphomet (467, 473) — Believed to be a
corruption of Mahomet, and an idol that the
Knights Templar were accused of worshipping.
One of the names used by Aleister Crowley.
However, Hugh Schonfield (164) has recently
argued that it is a code-word for “Sophia”
(Wisdom). Might also be the corruption of an
Arabic word meaning “father” (or “source”) of
understanding.
barge of Cleopatra (411) — See Enobarbus’s
famous description in Shakespeare’s Antony and
Cleopatra (II ii 194–222).
Barmouth (187) — A small town in the county of
Gwynedd in Wales.
Barnes, William (54, 224) — Dorset dialect-poet,
scholar, clergyman, and friend of Thomas Hardy
(1800–1886). See Hardy’s account in his obituary
article reprinted in Millgate, ed., Hardy’s Public
Voice (94).
“Barnum and Bailey” (540) — Well-known circus
proprietors.
Barrès, Maurice (420, 429) — French author and
politician (1862–1923), “Frenchman of
Frenchmen” (Visions and Revisions [63]). Sacred
Hill must refer to La Colline inspirée (1913), the
hill in question being Sion-Vaudémont in
Lorraine; this book has not, I think, been
translated into English. The reference at 429 is to
Greco, ou le secret de Tolède (1923).
Baskerville (245, 260) — John Baskerville (1706-
1775) was a typographer who gave his name to a
much-used style of type.
Baths of Caracalla (402) — Famous Roman baths
in Rome.
Bathshebas (218) — A somewhat odd reference in