Page 292 "..What Revenant had remembered was a portion of A Glastonbury Romance"

From page 292 of the book:  "...What Revenant had remembered was a portion of A Glastonbury Romance, from which I had described a short scene toward the end, but the essence of which had occurred all throughout that great novel. It was a scene where an evil momentary wish of one character had left the Corporeal and entered the Ethereal. Then it lingered above the heads of the other characters and, given the nature of John Powys' mythology or pantheology, the thought had enjoyed a life of its own. It had, by the end of the scene, transmuted itself into a physical act which had wreaked havoc on the characters in a brutal crime. When I told Revenant of the book he was interested in hearing more...."


Various covers for A Glastonbury Romance--



 Views of the Glastonbury countryside, the tower (Tor), and Glastonbury Abbey (the ruins).

The Tor



Another view of the Tor





A portion of Glastonbury Abbey





Glastonbury Abbey





On the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey



Page 288 "Yes, there was anguish, Oh Lord, the anguish."

From page 288 of the book:  "What was it like?" Ebert asked out of the blue.
"What?" said Revenant.
"You know," Ebert urged.
"You mean hearing his confession?" replied the priest.
"Yes."
"It was like listening to music," Revenant said. "It was like listening to Haydn. I went a good distance with it."
"Anguish?" asked Ebert.
"Yes, there was anguish, Oh Lord, the anguish; it was like one of those string instruments rubbing against my...what gland was it you told me about last winter? The one in the brain, the size of a cherry, the one that makes me sweat when I'm hot and shiver when I'm cold?"
"The hypothalamus," answered Ebert.
"Yes, yes, the hypothalamus," echoed Revenant. "The wonderful hypothalamus. Yes, I remember now, it tells me when I'm hungry and converts nerves into hormones."

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http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=haydn&x=18&y=19

Page 280 "...I began to imitate well-known American movie personalities..."

From page 280 of the book:  "...To humor him, I began to imitate well-known American movie personalities, poor renditions they were but sufficient enough to keep an audience of ten drunkards laughing while liquor was purchased for me instead of by me. After my imitation of Jimmy Stewart in "The Philadelphia Story," Gerard insisted that I do Noel Coward, as he had, just the night before, watched "Sink the Bismarck" on television...."







You can't marry that guyyyyy.



The moon is also a goddess.

C.K. Dexter Haven you have unsuspected depth.

[Author's note:  Walter was thinking of Noel Coward's line "Shoot!" in the movie "In Which We Serve" not from "Sink the Bismarck" because as we all know, Noel Coward was not in "Sink the Bismarck"]

Noel Coward

Page 278 "...It was a late harvest."

From page 278 of the book:  "It was a late harvest," began Mme Mirès in French. "The Blessed Virgin sent us a thunderstorm in October and Botrytis cinerea the following week."
"The noble rot," Ebert nudged Owen.
"Then, we had more than enough warm air left over from summer," she continued. "Voila! The mold! We harvested at 29 degrees Brix, and cold fermented to nine and a half percent alcohol and 14% residual sugar."
"Parfait!"
"Jesus sipped," Owen said.*

Botrytis cinerea

Botrytis cinerea, the "noble rot"

[(*) Owen references here the shortest sentence in the Bible from John 11:35, "Jesus wept."]

Harvesting at 25.5 degrees Brix

cold fermented to 9.5% alcohol

[In the Botrytis infection known as "noble rot" (pourriture noble in French, or Edelfäule in German), the fungus removes water from the grapes, leaving behind a higher percent of solids, such as sugars, fruit acids and minerals. This results in a more intense, concentrated final product. The wine is often said to have an aroma of honeysuckle and a bitter finish on the palate.] (Courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Page 244 "It was Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but less excessive..."

From page 244 of the book:  "...Everyone, it seemed, was there for the festival, so that a shared carnality filtered from table to table, from street to street, and throughout the neighborhood. It was mardi gras in New Orleans but less excessive, it was the Feast of St. John the Baptist in Quebec but not as loud; it was Cinco de Mayo, it was the Fourth of July."

Mardi Gras, New Orleans

Feast of St. John the Baptist, Quebec

Cinco de Mayo, Mexico

Fourth of July, U.S.A.