Pope Joan

Rating:
Summary: A Comic Masterpiece Brilliantly Translated and Adapted
Review: "Pope Joan" or "Papissa Joanna" was originally written and published in 1886 by the Greek author Emmanuel Royidis. The book tells the story of Pope John VIII, the purported female Pope who ruled Christendom for a period of two years, five months and four days in the middle of the ninth century. "Pope Joan" is a comic masterpiece of irreverence towards the medieval Church and the accepted pieties of its revisionist historians. Indeed, insofar as Royidis continued to propagate the legend of Pope Joan, to claim that the work contained only "facts and events proved beyond discussion", the text itself ingeniously combines history and legend, as well as brilliant wit, to subvert claims of authority. As Lawrence Durrell notes in his Preface to his brilliant English translation and adaptation, "the authorities of the Orthodox Church were horrified by what seemed to them to be the impious irony of its author-and no less by the gallery of maggot-ridden church fathers which he described so lovingly." Not suprisingly, Royidis was excommunicated from the Orthodox Church and his book was banned in Greece.

The first three parts of "Pope Joan" tell the story of Joanna prior to her arrival in Rome, before she became an historical personage. Set in the ninth century, the narrative captures the European world in disarray after the death of Charlemagne, captures a time when civilization was tenuous and the Church provided one of the few viable social structures. It is this part of the narrative that is unambiguously fictional, the imagined story of Joanna's life in Germany and then in Greece. After her parents die, Joanna clandestinely enters a monastery where she meets the monk Frumentius and develops a romantic relationship with him. When her true sexual identity is surmised, Joanna and Frumentius flee one monastery and then another, eventually ending up in Greece. Joanna soon becomes tired of her romance and her intellectual brilliance attracts the attention of Church leaders throughout Greece. She leaves Frumentius and departs alone for Rome, where the legend, some say the history, of Pope Joan begins. She becomes a papal secretary renowned for her intellect and, when Pope Leo IV dies, she ascends to the papacy. Pope Joan becomes pregnant and dies after giving birth during a procession through the streets of Rome.

While the general outline of the narrative may seem only mildly interesting, the brilliant translation and prose of Lawrence Durrell, together with the biting, irreverent wit of Royidis, make "Pope Joan" an unsurpassed work of comic genius. A flavor for this wit and style can be found in a short passage describing what ensued after Pope Joan gave birth: "Great was the consternation when a premature infant was produced from among the voluminous folds of the papal vestments . . . Some hierarchs who were profoundly devoted to the Holy See sought to save the situation and change horror and disgust to amazement by crying out 'A miracle! A miracle!' They bellowed loudly calling the faithful to kneel and worship. But in vain. Such a miracle was unheard of; and indeed would have been a singular contribution to the annals of Christian thaumaturgy which, while it borrowed many a prodigy from the pagans, had not yet reached the point where it could represent any male saint as pregnant and bringing forth a child."

While the apologist position has consistently denied the historicity of Pope Joan, there is at least some suggestion that the legend is indeed a fact. As Durrell suggests in his Preface, one telling point is that Platina includes a biography of Pope John VIII in his "Lives of the Popes". And no less an authority than The Catholic Encyclopedia states that Platina's "Lives of the Popes" is "a work of no small merit, for it is the first systematic handbook of papal history." Historical disputation aside, however, "Pope Joan" stands as a brilliant work of comic writing and masterful translation, a masterpiece of Royidis and Durrell.

Rating:
Summary: This is the Pope Joan book you should buy, not the Cross one
Review: People that buy the Cross version are buying the wrong book. Look instead to the beautifully written, gleefully and irreverently funny version by Emmanuel Rhodes, written over a 100 years ago, translated from the Greek by famed author Laurence Durrell.

Truly, there is no comparison between the Cross and Durrell versions. Jane Austen chided her gullible heroine in "Northanger Abbey" for indulging in pulp Gothic novels that were "all plot and no reflection". The Cross book is all plot and no reflection. Or even worse, it is all agenda and no reflection. It is unabashedly, tediously revisionistic, hell-bent on making Pope Joan an idealized, religiously progressive proto-feminist. Cross projects all our late-twentieth century values onto her, time and place be damned. And it bludgeons you with its purpose for hundreds upon hundreds of pages. Joan never emerges as a character, just a cause. This is a book that in 50 years we will be able to look back upon and say, "Oh, how '90s". Plus, the writing is cliched and really rises no higher than that of "genre" level prose.

The Durrell translation of the Emmanuel Rhodes book is everything the Cross book is not. The prose simply sings, even in translation -- there were passages that were so beautiful, they gave me a palpable headrush. It is filled with gleeful black humor, the plot is tight and well-constructed, and the book, though irreverent, is filled with respect and affection for the character of Joan. Rhodes has no agenda for Joan, he depicts everything with honesty and clarity. For example, he does not attempt to make apologies for anti-Semites, and even adopts their views in casual references as a device to voice the world views of the characters that is required to immerse the reader in the time and place of the book. And Joan's baser impulses driving her actions are never gilded over into something more heroic than they are. Plus, the Rhodes book is simply fun.

Rating:
Summary: Droll and Delightful
Review: This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It is well crafted and expertly translated, the final product is rich, dense, and wonderfully funny writing that requires and rewards the full attention of the reader.

Don't read this book if you are looking for the history of Pope Joan, you won't find it here - this book is historical fiction, and Royidis weaves the myth - legend - facts - whatever about the story of a female pope into a satirical 9th century romp through Christendom, from England to Athens and finally to Rome. Royidis's backdrop is tribal Europe, Europe before modern science, where Christianity was just another form of supersitition having to compete with all sorts of paganism and witchery for the hearts and minds of the less than faithful.

Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular has always had a problem with human sexuality and female sexuality in particular, and Royidis uses the story of Joan to poke all sorts of fun and ribaldry at Catholicism and Christianity - and unctuous hypocritical Catholic and Christian leaders. It is almost like shooting fish in a barrel, but Royidis manages to do it imaginatively each and every time. His observations of the 9th century from the 19th century resonate well here in the 21st, it seems we are as slave to superstition and hypocrisy as our forebearers were.

This is a fun to read, funny book, about a bellylaugh per page. I recommend highly!

Rating:
Summary: Droll and Delightful
Review: This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It is well crafted and expertly translated, the final product is rich, dense, and wonderfully funny writing that requires and rewards the full attention of the reader.

Don't read this book if you are looking for the history of Pope Joan, you won't find it here - this book is historical fiction, and Royidis weaves the myth - legend - facts - whatever about the story of a female pope into a satirical 9th century romp through Christendom, from England to Athens and finally to Rome. Royidis's backdrop is tribal Europe, Europe before modern science, where Christianity was just another form of supersitition having to compete with all sorts of paganism and witchery for the hearts and minds of the less than faithful.

Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular has always had a problem with human sexuality and female sexuality in particular, and Royidis uses the story of Joan to poke all sorts of fun and ribaldry at Catholicism and Christianity - and unctuous hypocritical Catholic and Christian leaders. It is almost like shooting fish in a barrel, but Royidis manages to do it imaginatively each and every time. His observations of the 9th century from the 19th century resonate well here in the 21st, it seems we are as slave to superstition and hypocrisy as our forebearers were.

This is a fun to read, funny book, about a bellylaugh per page. I recommend highly!