The Woman Clothed with the Sun

Last updated

The Woman Clothed with the Sun
The Woman Clothed with the Sun.jpg
First edition (US)
Author F. L. Lucas
Genre Historical novel
Publisher Cassell (UK)
Simon & Schuster (US)
Published in English
August 1937

The Woman Clothed with the Sun; being The Confession of John McHaffie concerning his sojourn in the Wilderness among the folk called the Buchanites, is a historical novella by the British writer F. L. Lucas. It purports to be an account, written in 1814 by a Scottish minister of the Kirk in middle age and published posthumously, of his youthful bewitchment by Elspeth Buchan and of the time he spent in the 1780s among the Buchanites. First published in 1937, it was Lucas's second historical novella, the first being The Wild Tulip (1932); he had also published a prize-winning historical novel, Cécile (1930).

Contents

Plot summary

The narrator, John McHaffie, the bookish 16-year-old son of a schoolmaster in Irvine, Ayrshire, "an overwrought lad and a Johnny-head-in-air", [1] is loved by sensible Jenny Traquair, also 16, an orphan fostered in the McHaffie household. After an account of his childhood, the narrator describes the stir caused in his town in 1782–3 by the fanatical preaching in the Relief Church of the new minister, Hugh White, a fearsome "false Elijah" who has danced among the Shakers of Mother Ann Lee in America. White brings from Glasgow Elspeth Buchan, 44, the self-proclaimed 'Woman Clothed with the Sun' of Revelation. At first John joins the Irvine rabble in persecuting Elspeth and the Buchanites, a revivalist sect who believe they are the elect living in the Last Days, shortly to be translated en bloc to Heaven without tasting death. In reality John is secretly fascinated by Buchan's teaching that wedlock is now abolished and that men and women may couple freely. Elspeth one day finds him spying, asks him why he persecutes her, takes his hands in hers and quotes some erotic lines from The Song of Songs . He is struck by her fine eyes, coils of black hair and queenly bearing. "I read deep in Revelation and Daniel, till my wits were completely upside down." [2] His obsession grows when he sees her dragged out of town by the mob, "her clothes rent to ribbons", her "white shoulders shining in the torchlight". Common-sense Jenny, alarmed, tries reason and mockery to cure him of his interest in this "doited auld ale-wife". [3] On a chance errand, John overtakes the exiles on their way (1785) into the wilderness, to, as they believe, "a place prepared of God, for a time, and times, and half a time". Elspeth takes him to one side, again quotes Scripture ("Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field. Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; also our bed is green") and kisses him. Jenny later rounds on him as a "daft young lad beglammered by an auld spaewife might be his ain grandmither". [4] A few weeks later a letter arrives from Elspeth inviting John to join the Society in its new commune in Dumfriesshire. Believing the world about to end, John opens his Bible at random:

The first time I opened, I read: "And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azov." This did not greatly guide me, so I tried a second time and found: "And they removed from Benejaahan, and encamped at Hor-hagidgad. And they went from Hor-hagidgad and pitched in Jotbathah." Here again I did not feel much enlightened. So I tried a third time and opened the Book, as it happened, at First Thessalonians, fifth and nineteenth: "Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things." [5]

He steals away and joins the sect in the hills of Galloway. He finds its members "blithe as bees to work in the morning, blithe as bees when they returned at night," in the fullness of their faith that Heaven's gates stand already ajar. [6] He perceives that they do indeed couple freely as the beasts that perish. [7] Elspeth wastes little time in initiating the narrator, now 18. Next morning he feels bitterly that he has been false to Jenny; he would not like to think of her in such company. Among the faithful is Jean Gardner, "loveliest of lasses ... with great coils of auburn hair", whom "that ungodly young poet" Robert Burns had tried to lure from the sect. [8] John notes many underhand infringements of the Society's rules by its male leaders. He describes the preparations for Ascension, as the "time for our translation heavenward was near at hand" : the forty-day fast, barricaded in their barn, and the sufferings it brings; the mockery of the locals; the desertion of one of their number and her calling in of the magistrates to save her starving children. Jenny meanwhile devises a stratagem to rescue John. She tells the Irvine magistrates (falsely) that John McHaffie made her pregnant before running off to join the Buchanites. He is summonsed and brought home; but in a few days he escapes and returns to the Society, just in time to witness the abortive Ascension on midsummer's dawn – a failure put down by Elspeth to lack of faith.

Months pass. The faithful (some forty) struggle on at a new location in Kirkcudbrightshire. John, his belief gone, stays on out of pity for and loyalty to Elspeth. Elspeth falls ill and dies. Hugh White buries her in secret and, producing proofs, tells her disciples that the body has been swept up to Heaven. John, disgusted, searches in secret for her grave. He discovers instead the graves of unwanted babies born to the sect. He is "resolved that this imposture should now finish" and calls in Sir Alexander Gordon, Sheriff of Kirkcudbright. In a torchlight scene, Sir Alexander forces Hugh White to disinter Elspeth's coffin. John surprises the gravediggers and accuses White, who defends himself: "Ye fool, canna ye understand that I could ill-use her and yet love her? That I couldna bear to see her shamed before the world? That they all should know, as I know now, that she was but a puir mortal body like us a' ?" [9] Sir Alexander cautions White against further jugglery and advises him to return to America. The novella ends with Jenny arriving to ask John to come home.

In a coda we learn that the narrator returned to Irvine, took Sir Alexander's advice to go up to University of Edinburgh to read Theology, married Jenny (who vets his sermons before he preaches them), settled down as Minister of the Kirk, and dedicated his first sermon to Love.

Themes

The narrative is John HcHaffie's "warning ... (particularly to young callants [lads] puffed up with a little learning) against enthusiasm and false prophets and headstrong wrestings of the Scriptures". [10] "I saw clearly now," he writes, "that once false faiths begin, none can say how they will end". [11] A secondary theme is that sons may react negatively to the virtues of their fathers, so that "through the contrariness of our fallen nature, the bairns might oft times have been better, had their parents been less good." [12] (David McHaffie, who embodies 18th-century rationalism, is "a dour man who loved his duty above all else". [13] ) Commonsense Jenny ("as makes a man understand why the heathen Greeks made Wisdom itself a woman" [14] ) is contrasted with Elspeth, whom the narrator nevertheless portrays sympathetically: "Truly (and it is some excuse for me) she was no ordinary woman." [15] The rabble who persecute her, and the hypocrites within the sect, are more obviously condemned.

Background

At the end of his Decline and Fall of the Romantic Ideal (1936) Lucas had expressed dissatisfaction with the role of literary critic that had established his reputation. According to his American publisher, he planned to turn increasingly to historical fiction to give expression to his beliefs and political convictions. [16] After the cool reception of his novel Doctor Dido (1938), however, he turned instead to history-based poetry, [17] not writing another novel till his retirement – The English Agent: A Tale of the Peninsular War (1969).

Reception

J. D. Beresford in the Manchester Guardian said of The Woman Clothed with the Sun, "The manner of writing is that proper to the period, with a spicing of dialect, both so admirably rendered that we might easily be deceived into the belief that it is an authentic document." [18] "As a pastiche it is brilliant," noted The Times Literary Supplement ; "but if Scott or Stevenson had written the same story the 'something' missing in this" [inspiration] "would have been abundantly present". [19] Forrest Reid in The Spectator found it a "delightful" account of Elspeth Buchan and her followers. "Mr Lucas can be amusing and at the same time very much in earnest. His method is ironic." [20] The Scotsman praised the author's "fine sense of drama, remarkable powers of description, and admirable sense of style". [21] Of the book as a whole Beresford wrote, "The stories have a forcible intellectual quality that makes them a real pleasure to read," [18] while Time and Tide opined: "This sombre collection of brilliantly written stories will be a good choice for people who are consoled by the thought that the world never has been up to much." [22]

Publishing history

The novella was the title-story and longest (at some 25,000 words) in a collection of ten, published in 1937 by Cassell and Company of London and in 1938 by Simon & Schuster of New York, as The Woman Clothed with Sun, and Other Stories. Cassell's director was Lucas's former student Desmond Flower. [23] The volume was reprinted in the UK in March 1939 and in the US in 1970.

Related Research Articles

Nicolaism was an early Christian sect mentioned twice in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament. The adherents were called Nicolaitans, Nicolaitanes, or Nicolaites. They were considered heretical by the mainstream early Christian Church. According to Revelation 2:6 and 15, they were known in the cities of Ephesus and Pergamum. In this chapter, the church at Ephesus is endorsed for "[hating] the works of the Nicolaites, which I also hate"; and the church in Pergamos is rebuked: "So thou hast also some [worshiping in their midst] who hold the teaching of the Nicolaites".

Page 3, or Page Three, was a British newspaper convention of publishing a large image of a topless female glamour model on the third page of mainstream red-top tabloids. The Sun introduced the feature in November 1970, which boosted its readership and prompted competing tabloids—including the Daily Mirror, the Sunday People, and the Daily Star—to begin featuring topless models on their own third pages. Well-known Page 3 girls included Linda Lusardi, Samantha Fox, and Katie Price.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. L. Lucas</span> British writer and classical scholar (1894–1967)

Frank Laurence Lucas was an English classical scholar, literary critic, poet, novelist, playwright, political polemicist, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and intelligence officer at Bletchley Park during World War II.

<i>Loaded</i> (magazine) British mens lifestyle magazine, 1994–2015

Loaded was a men's lifestyle magazine. It launched as a mass-market print publication in 1994, which ceased being issued in March 2015, but relaunched as a digital magazine on 11 November 2015. The content later changed, with semi-clothed women becoming absent.

<i>The Torrents of Spring</i> 1926 novel by Ernest Hemingway

The Torrents of Spring is a novella written by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1926. Subtitled "A Romantic Novel in Honor of the Passing of a Great Race", Hemingway used the work as a spoof of the world of writers. It is Hemingway's first long work and was written as a parody of Sherwood Anderson's Dark Laughter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferro Lad</span> DC Comics character

Ferro Lad is a superhero appearing in DC Comics, primarily as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th and 31st centuries. In post-Zero Hour continuity, he is simply known as Ferro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew 1</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Matthew 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It contains two distinct sections. The first lists the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham to his legal father Joseph, husband of Mary, his mother. The second part, beginning at verse 18, provides an account of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.

The Buchanites were the late 18th-century followers of Elspeth Buchan, a Scottish woman who claimed to be the Woman Clothed with the Sun, one of the figures named in the Book of Revelation.

Elspeth Buchan (1738–1791) was the founder of a Scottish religious sect known as the Buchanites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Ching (comics)</span> Comics character

I Ching is a fictional, blind martial artist published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Wonder Woman #179, and was created by Denny O'Neil and Mike Sekowsky. The character was created to further the editorial plans to reboot Wonder Woman's premise and characters.

<i>Salute to Adventurers</i> 1915 novel by John Buchan

Salute to Adventurers is a 1915 historical adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. Largely set among the newly-settled Virginia plantations of the late 17th century, the novel includes a number of historical characters and events, including the wild and radical preaching of John Gibb, founder of the Sweet Singers sect.

<i>Snow White: The Fairest of Them All</i> 2001 film directed by Caroline Thompson

Snow White: The Fairest of Them All is a 2001 fantasy adventure television film co-written and directed by Caroline Thompson and produced by Hallmark Entertainment. The film was first released theatrically in Europe, and subsequently aired in the United States on ABC as part of their series on The Wonderful World of Disney on March 17, 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woman of the Apocalypse</span> Figure described in Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation

The Woman of the Apocalypse is a figure, traditionally believed to be the Virgin Mary, described in Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation.

<i>Amok</i> (novella) 1922 novella by Stefan Zweig

Amok is a novella by the Austrian author Stefan Zweig. First printed in the newspaper Neue Freie Presse in 1922, Amok appeared shortly afterwards in the collection of novellas Amok: Novellas of a Passion. As Zweig was fascinated and influenced by Sigmund Freud’s work, Amok includes clear psychoanalytic elements. It deals with an extreme obsession, which leads the protagonist to sacrifice his professional and private life and, eventually, to commit suicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Glenallan</span> Fictional character

William, Earl of Glenallan, otherwise Lord Glenallan, is a character in Sir Walter Scott's 1816 novel The Antiquary, a Scottish aristocrat whose life has been ruined by the suicide of his wife and the belief that he has unwittingly committed incest. His story forms the melodramatic Gothic strand in an otherwise largely realistic comic novel.

Jean Gardner or later Jean Hill, was "a young woman of very surpassing beauty," with a "light foot and an ensnaring eye," but she may have been thirteen years older than Robert Burns with whom she was on friendly or 'intimate' terms. A strong local tradition in Irvine links her with Robert Burns, however no contemporary written evidence records this relationship and Burns himself is not thought to have written about her, other than a disputed use of her given name as the 'darling Jean' of Burns's 'Epistle to Davie', and most recent writers have considered the reference to be to Jean Armour.

Events from the year 1791 in Scotland.

Doctor Dido is a historical novel by the British writer F. L. Lucas. First published in 1938, it was his third novel. With much local and antiquarian detail, it tells the story of Samuel Plampin, Doctor of Divinity at Cambridge and Vicar of St Peter's Babraham, who in 1792 brings to the vicarage as his housekeeper a young Frenchwoman he finds in Cambridge, a destitute refugee from The Terror.

"...And the Woman Clothed with the Sun" is the ninth episode of the third season of the psychological thriller–horror series Hannibal. It is the 35th overall episode of the series and was written by co-executive producer Jeff Vlaming, Helen Shang, series creator Bryan Fuller, and executive producer Steve Lightfoot and directed by John Dahl. It was first broadcast on July 30, 2015, on Canada, and then August 1, 2015 on NBC.

<i>The Watcher by the Threshold, and other tales</i> 1902 story collection by John Buchan

The Watcher by the Threshold, and other tales is a collection of early novellas and stories, most with supernatural elements, by the Scottish author John Buchan. When first published in the UK in 1902 the collection included five stories, mainly set in the Scottish Borders. The collection was republished for the US market in 1918 under the title The Watcher by the Threshold, with four of the original stories and four new ones.

References

  1. ↑ Lucas, F. L., The Woman Clothed with Sun, and Other Stories (London, 1937), p.72
  2. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.91
  3. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.93
  4. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.95
  5. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.96
  6. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.98
  7. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.101
  8. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.99
  9. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.127
  10. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.71
  11. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.120
  12. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.72
  13. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.73
  14. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.79
  15. ↑ The Woman Clothed with Sun, p.85
  16. ↑ Dust-wrapper, The Woman Clothed with the Sun, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1938
  17. ↑ Lucas, F. L., From Many Times and Lands: Poems of Legend and History (London 1953)
  18. 1 2 Manchester Guardian, 13 Aug. 1937, p.5
  19. ↑ The Times Literary Supplement , August 1937
  20. ↑ Forrest Reid in The Spectator, 20 August 1937, p.326
  21. ↑ Advert in The Times Literary Supplement , August 1937
  22. ↑ Tullis Clare in Time and Tide, 14 August 1937, p.1100
  23. ↑ Flower, Desmond, Fellows in Foolscap – Memoirs of a Publisher (London 1991)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.