Rosanne said:
Iboohooo I just do not get the Eight of Wands??-but I will leave that mystery until I have the deck in my hands
Try this
- for the book, I chose to illustrate this image with the famous battle of Hernani. No, it's not a military battle. It was a great and very funny confrontation between the Romantic poets and the defenders of Classic theatre that took place at the first night of Victor Hugo's play Romantic play, Hernani. The Romantics, all dressed like Byronic heroes, came ready to take on the old guard in a concerted action. Grandville, of course, was there (he was often at the theatre and came from a theatrical family). You must imagine a huge racket, boos and counter-boos, whistles, music made, an actress fiercely declaiming her ground-breaking lines, the whole theatre in ferment, on and off-stage - and these groups of teddy boys - aka Romantics - kicking up a huge fuss all in concert (8 arrows in a row...). I find that card one of the most eloquent 8 of Wands I've seen - it was an easy one to write, too!
Rosanne said:
I am a bit ambivilent about the Magician-I am sure he will improve with use.
There are several things going on in the Magician card. First of all, it's a wink at the trickery aspect of the Magician. It's also a new way of looking at magic. Most people who love the theatre know that the stage transforms and heightens reality, exactly the way a Magician does - and in fact, there is something theatrical about the traditional magician (both the older Bateleur and the Golden Dawn Magician). Grandville often represented artists as monkeys - himself included. It was a way for him of saying - artists are very human, they are the most human of all animals. They are clever and mobile like monkeys. But all art is a form of trick, and my art (caricature, illustration) even more so. Finally, in the original lithograph, the card is a word-image game that comes from a famous line in Racine's play Andromaque: "Pour qui sont ces serpents qui sifflent sur nos têtes?" (for whom are these serpents hissing over our heads?) - a strong alliteration of Sssssss - which Grandville reproduces literally (this is lost in English - but the other aspects of art and theatre as magic
and trickery remain).
Rosanne said:
The Lovers is the only one I see a whole new story from lol.
I absolutely LOVE those Lovers. The sweetest card ever, but as ever with Grandville and with baba-prague - with an edge. There are many stories that could be told with this image. Is the pretty little goat being seduced? Has she chosen kindness over looks? Is the deer in the background an abandoned husband? (he could be - that would be suggested by the "horns" - the antlers), or is he sighing for the bull on the goat's arm? It is the ambiguity and force of this card that is so strong.
I'm glad you like the cards, Rosanne - it has been very exciting for me to work on this project, and trying to fit words to Grandville's witty imagery and baba-prague's strong use of them in tarot.
~Rosanne
