Segmentación y detección

While a student at Berkeley, Norris took every opportunity to publish his work. He wrote a number o f articles for the student newspaper and annual yearbook, as well as speeches and comic burlesques for a number o f special occasions. Though much has been made o f Norris's wild experiences as a member o f Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, it is possible that modem Norris critics are simply trying to prove Norris to be a "regular fellow" as he was known to describe himself; however, his participation in a fraternity is quite important to this study as it was N orm 's first opportunity to associate in a group classified by race, gender, politics, religion and economic distinctions—an extremely

WAS Pish environment in which Norris seemed to fit. Norris, however, did not share the anti-Semitism o f the Fiji's—two o f his best friends were Jewish.

Norris, though, probably saw fraternity membership as a modern-day knighthood, complete with heraldry, ritual and codes o f conduct.

Symbolically, the collegiate fraternal structure represents a medieval brotherhood, an important factor that initially attracted Norris and c o n tin u ally

nourished his interests in the medieval throughout his college years. Modem critics have argued that Norris's boyhood interest in the medieval waned during his Berkeley years, but I will argue the opposite. During this period Norris produced six medievalist works, a production that shows no sign o f diminishing interest in medievalism. He was fueled by the fire o f collegiate and local

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interest in his writing and often chose his favorite setting for story-telling—the Middle Ages.

In his four years at Berkeley, Norris would continue writing historically inspired poetry, producing three medievalist pieces: "At Damietta, A.D. 1250”; "Brunehilde”; and, "Les Enerves de Jumieges." Inspired by Froissart’s

Chronicles, probably influenced by the works o f composer Richard Wagner, and likely inspired by the contemporary writings o f British Pre-Raphaelite William Morris, these works, like Yvemelle o f the year before, demonstrate Norris's considerable ability to write interesting historical narrative in poetic form. Its late Victorian-era appeal has medieval quaintness, but the three poems also show an increasing use o f brutality staged in historical events o f the medieval period. Still, the unlikely pairing o f brutal violence with romantic convention was becoming more and more awkward. It seems that Norris was inspired to write realistic fictions, but could not originate his own stories; thus, he adapted to his literary purposes the classic stories he had known as a boy through the Sidney Lanier editions o f Froissart which were quite popular with the boys o f Norris’s generation and probably inspired a lot o f medievalist writing in the period.

AT DAMIETTA, A. D. 1250

"At Damietta, A.D. 1250" was probably composed by Norris in 1890. as it appeared in the student literary magazine, The Occident, on October 31 o f that year. In typical Norris style, the saga is highly dramatic in its rendition o f the bloody siege o f the Eighth Crusade, fought upon Egyptian soil in which the

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Saracens take the French King Louis captive, and his steadfast wife Margaret commits suicide to escape enslavement. It is, also, probable that Norris completely referenced this piece through Lanier's version o f Froissart, which gives a sketchy and greatly inaccurate account; therefore, the inaccuracies in this poem and the unlikely thematic choice are possibly explainable.

Like Yvemelle. the piece is riddled w ith the jargon o f medieval convention and the use o f uncommon vocabulary that is specific to Islamic involvement in the Crusades. It is similar to Yvemelle in structure and content: the opening voice o f a woman, Margaret o f Champagne, laments the loss o f her husband Louis, just as Guhaldrada laments the loss o f her lover Caverlaye; the poem contains the wild horseback ride o f a knight-messenger bearing the news of Louis's capture on the Egyptian battle front and the dramatic approach o f the rider to the Hall, similar to the ride o f Caverlaye to liberate Yvemelle, and his audible approach to the abbey; the rider, like Caverlaye, strips o ff all knightly accoutrements before reaching his destination; and, the chivalric devotion o f the noble woman M argaret to Louis is analogous to Guhaldrada's obsessive passion for Caverlaye. The similarities in these works were a first example o f Norris’s adapting successful aspects o f previous works to his current writing, an idea which accounts for conventional trends that would develop in Norris’s later works.

But, "At Damietta A.D. 1250” is distinguished from Yvemelle in a number o f ways. Norris initiates in this short poem a trend which will distinguish his writing from that o f other contemporary medievalists: the

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development o f the strong woman. Through the character o f Margaret o f Champagne, however, Norris can epitomize her as a classic medieval character, and as a woman one who can make a strong and unemotional choice about her own death by the sword o f her servant as an alternative to the possibilities o f rape or torture at the hands o f her enemies. Norris saw this as a brave and chivalric choice more expected o f a man than a woman; yet, for all o f the

bravery o f Queen Margaret, Norris, in the close o f the poem, ironically seems to merit the seneschal o f King Louis for his obligatory act o f killing the queen.

Norris fabricated highly dramatic, brutal events and wove them into a medieval legend. The detailed accounts o f chaotic battle and disorganized warfare are both graphic and memorable. Man's instinctive, violent response to bloodshed is described in the following lines about the medieval attack on Tunis:

The shrieks o f men, crushed under those Who recked not, if they fell or stood But e'er swept onward mad with blood The lances shivered to the hand,

The hoarse fierce shout o f brief command, And while the toppling ramparts fell The crashing o f the mangonel.

By thousands are the Christians slain, The outward gates are sapped and ta'en, And on the walls,-fit sign o f loss,

The crescent rises o'er the cross. ( I I 11. 28-39)

Norris believed that man (or woman) could go truly "mad with blood" because the sight o f blood awakened the animal nature or "brute" within and all vestiges o f humanity and civilization would vanish in the heat o f the moment. This would be fully developed in "Lauth," his shocking short story which would

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appear in 1892. Norris increasingly sought brutal topics as a vehicle for the exposition o f his increasingly naturalistic theories. Though he had proclaimed upon his entrance to Berkeley that his interests and vocational pursuits had changed from art to fiction writing, his enthusiasm for depicting violence in either medium was still o f foremost interest.

Norris continued to use antiquated terminology to “medievalize" his subject. There were many possible sources for his jargon in San Francisco o f the 1890's as a revived academic interest in the medieval, particularly the study of the twelfth century and a renewed fascination with the Crusades, had

developed as a result o f the medieval renaissance in the arts in this period. It would, nonetheless, be interesting to know Norris's source o f inspiration for such uncommon words as "paynimirie," (Muslim); "soldan." (Sultan);

"mameluke," (a member o f a military class, originally composed o f slaves, who seized control o f the Egyptian sultanate in 1250); "mangonel" (various military engines designed for throwing large stones, darts and missiles); and."seneschal" (an officer having full charge o f domestic arrangements in the household o f a medieval prince or dignitary; steward). Norris probably took great pride, as he had in “Clothes o f Steel,” in this use o f medievally 'technical” jargon, which he used to credit his knowledge o f the medieval battle at Damietta.

The conclusion o f “At Damietta, A. D. 1250” addresses an audience with a medievalist interest in the Middle Ages and who might possibly even be familiar with the story o f the medieval Margaret and Louis and the sack o f Tunis

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in 12S0 A.D. Norris addresses his audience as if they are students o f medieval history:

In history you know the rest:

How that the siege though fiercely pressed At length was raised, and how at last The ransomed king at Tunis passed To saintlike death, from saintlike life. And how was calmed the holy strife. But long, long after when the fame O f sainted Louis' deeds became The theme o f every Trouveres song, When through the winter’s evenings long The strolling jongleur thrummed his note While e'er the yule-log's fires wrote Quaint quivering tracings on the wail And while the Chatelaine let fall The shuttle from her tappestry [sic], Wrapt in his maritial melody

While on the arms o f his great chair The Baron's fingers drummed the air.

While the jester checked his fun, While the hounds were lying prone. While the boys were drawn away

From their carven toy knights play. While the men-at-arms and Boors Gathered at the lower doors. Then while lai and geste

O f deeds done on the last crusade That lai the jongleur would recall O f Damietta’s Seneschal (III 11. 29-56)

Often. Norris misspells words and forces the rhyme but, like Yvemelle. the poem has a quaint rhythm and tells a moral though brutal tale reminiscent o f bygone days. Though the subject is grim. Norris ends the piece on an upbeat note which surely lifted the somber tone and appeased the American audience.

Though Norris was gaining recognition as an aspiring author about the Berkeley campus and in San Franciscan social circles, he still was hesitant to take credit for his well-received works. "At Damietta, A.D. 1250" is signed

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"Norrys," a nom de plume that would appear on a number o f his works

published at the university. And, though the poem was published in late 1890, Norris dates it n>94," an intentional inaccuracy which may be confusing in Norris study. This erroneous date was possibly an acknowledgment o f his projected year o f graduation which should have been 1894.