"Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by Aliana

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

B2MeM Challenge:
O68: Time Travel (Crackfic); War (Economy); March 7th: Denethor and the palantír (March 3019)
O67: Chronicle of a Death Foretold - Gabriel García Marquez (Magic and Real)
Format: Drabble pair
Genre: Drama
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Disturbing imagery; author's notes that are longer than an actual drabble
Characters: JRR Tolkien, Denethor
Summary: Who's the crazy one?


Chronicle of a Death Foretold

1916

In the recruiters’ queue, a soldier is still a “warrior”; a horse is still a “steed.” The dead are the fallen. To France, then, with books of verse in their pockets, crying God for Harry, England and St. George.

At the Somme, they do cry “God.” They cry God because the dead are so heavy and mangled where they have dropped; because the air is poison-thick and the trenches reek of rot; because pale slender chivalry bleeds out at the bottom of a shell-crater. The lamps have flickered out over Europe, and sensible despair gleams grey beyond the barbed wire.

3019

John, taking notes, looks over the Steward’s shoulder.

So. He’s overreached himself, this crownless ruler, exhausted his coin. His hands tremble. He sees far, but he sees not—this is the thing. His desolation is one with his blindness, with his folly. John stands between marble walls, the relief of a creator suffusing him: he knows the ending, knows that hope is the truth, that warriors and steeds triumph still—

And Denethor turns suddenly from the palantír and looks him in the eye—

—the whistle and thunder of bombardment. John shakes himself, puts away his notebook, goes to his station.



Notes:

Cry ‘God’ for Harry, England and St. George! Shakespeare, Henry V, Act III Scene 1

The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime. Attributed to Sir John Grey, 1914

In the discussion of the use of chivalric language in World War I (and an extremely literary army), I basically owe everything to Paul Fussell’s The Great War and Modern Memory

I should also add that I wrote this after reading altariel’s Total War, which incorporates the same major prompts. So if I’ve imbibed any of her themes here, it’s through admiration.

Comments

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

This was unique and imaginative.

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Wow! I really like this. Beautiful job. Love the concepts. You hooked me with the Henry V stuff at the beginning.

Whatever on the footnotes--I didn't really need them (except I will run off and read Altariel's drabble now). But your double drabble was so well done that I was able not to mind them!

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yeah, I figured that most people would get the references without the footnotes (except for maybe the Fussell which incidentally I think you would really like if you haven't yet read it :) ), but as an English major I'm a sucker for citing all my ideas.

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

The disillusionment in this is extremely powerful, the details of language and the blackout serve so well to anchor this in reality, and then just the glimpse of Denethor - who is the mad one, indeed. I'm having trouble articulating what I'm trying to say, but basically, wow.

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm so glad that you liked the language. As for who's the mad one...it depends on your perspective, but if you say it's Denethor that means you're optimistic. Which is a good thing. :)

[starli-ght.livejournal.com]

Amazing!! The juxtaposition of their "worlds" and this meeting of minds between creator and created is So awesome! I liked the ending: he knows the truth. Warriors and steeds triumph still. (which is how I choose to read it) But, at the same time, you have that element of ambiguity in the fact that this is a story he is writing-- is he constructing this "reality" because *his* reality is just not measuring up? (Dif you ever see Pan's Labyrinth? I don't know why I was reminded of that when I read your awesome Drabble pair; I think it is that well-crafted element of ambiguity that you handle so well here). (I hope I am reading this the right way. I was up late last night working on some RL projects, then trying to catch up reading and reviewing, and I have been messing up in the interpretation department...)

Love the title! It's been a few years since I've read this particular book, but you make very good use of a very good title.

Finally (I promise I'll shut up now) your author's notes and summaries are great ;-)

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

But, at the same time, you have that element of ambiguity in the fact that this is a story he is writing-- is he constructing this "reality" because *his* reality is just not measuring up?

Exactly--my idea, both here and in my previous 1916/3019 piece, is that Tolkien (my fictionalized conception of him, that is) created a world of beauty, moral certainty and purpose out of reaction to the ambiguity and modern ugliness he encountered in the trenches. At the Somme, it makes total sense to despair, and so in the Ring War he gets to construct a situation in which despair is a result of madness and misunderstanding. But his own character challenges him in that (and in Altariel's drabble, Denethor is, indeed, correct).

Dif you ever see Pan's Labyrinth? I don't know why I was reminded of that when I read your awesome Drabble pair; I think it is that well-crafted element of ambiguity that you handle so well here

I did! Great movie, and I can kind of see the parallels here, with a character retreating into a fantasy world in order to cope with unbearably horrific reality. I've actually not read that particular Marquez book, but I should, since I've enjoyed all the other stuff I've read by him.

[dreamflower]

Wow! This is powerful and thought-provoking!

And I am a sucker for anything featuring Tolkien himself interacting with the world he created/discovered.

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Me too--I'm an absolute sucker for the meta.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

The warning about author's notes made me laugh - and click. They wiped out the best and finest of a generation in four short years, and you sum that up so well in the first, darkly realistic part. The transition to Denethor's madness and then back to mankind's is smooth and telling. This feels much longer than 200 words.

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

Yay, author's notes warning for the win! I'm glad that it was able to capture the tragedy of the war for you; I'm fascinated by the effect of WWI on the British psyche and culture, and also, of course, on Tolkien's writings. Thanks so much!

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

Excellent, although his family and friends called him Ronnie and he was to incorporate Denethor into his stories in the forties.. But this is apparently true to much of what we know about him and his experiences and how he used his writing to help him fight the despair he and his fellows faced in the trenches.

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you! For some reason I thought it wasn't "John"...

It makes sense that Denethor would be a later addition. I'm actually doing something sort of weird with Tolkien in these stories--I'm not really striving for any sort of biographical accuracy beyond the major outlines, and using the idea of Tolkien in the trenches as an intermediary between two "Great" wars, one real and one fictional. If that makes any sense at all. (That, and I'm lazy. ;) )

I'm glad you liked this!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

"Ronald", I thought. Have you read John Garth's book, Tolkien and the Great War? Biography of his early years and wartime experiences.

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

I have not--do you recommend it?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Very much so. I think it might be Kindleable.

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected--Ronald, although I suspect family might have used Ronnie, too.

It's a good strategy and works well!