To be called out on your ignorance

Yesterday I went to a writing workshop with Australian writer Gillian Polack that I might talk about more in a different blogpost. In this one, I would like to focus mainly on one thing she said that has left me feeling a bit uncomfortable all day that I seriously feel I need to comment on. It might make a lot of people uncomfortable, but since Miss Fisher fans in general seems very open-minded I hope you can at least hear me out and reflect on it before you start trolling me.

A lot of fans hang out in a certain chat forum where we discuss just about everything. Most of us there are from The US and Europe and not from Australia. This is important because it plays into why I react so much to this.

Yesterday I learned that Australian readers are used to different types of characters and writing styles to European and American ones. I think it is important to realise that Phryne is actually written into this tradition (probably in the beginning not really intended for non-Australian ones either) by an Australian author. What Gillian Polack also said yesterday, was that, if Australian authors are to be sure to make it outside of Australia, they needs to tone down their "australianess" to please Americans and Europeans (which are the biggest markets for Australian literature outside of Australia).

During discussions among (mostly) American and European fans the differences in Phryne's book and TV persona often comes up. Book-Phryne is shallow, serious and a little spoiled, while TV-Phryne is exuberant, kind and feeling.What has been bothering me all day is not other fans's opinion on the books as much as that I have not seen any comment about the "strangeness" people feel in regard to the books's writing and characters might be attributed to different cultural preferences in fiction. This is, to be honest, rather typical reactions coming from Americans and Europeans to something that is out of their familiar area too.

I really do get the strangeness, I also think the books a bit weird at times. This post is made mostly because I have kind of been called out on my ignorance and it has made me uncomfortable all day. Even more in light of the changes that were made to the characters for the TV show and I wonder how much that really was because of a want to have it work better in other countries than Australia.

I guess Australia can be seen as part of Western culture. What the whole issue really shows is that even if we are all thinking of it as homogenous, we are still quite different. I also wonder what in Swedish litarture that others find strange and if a clue is to be found in the remakes of films Hollywood does.

Ruddy Gore - TV vs Book

While Ruddy Gore is the 7th book about Phryne Fisher, it is the 6th episode of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Like in most cases this far, the plot has been reduced and changed somewhat for the TV adaptation. To be honest, I really do find part of it to benefit the pacing of the story. The theatre felt quite overcrowded in the book and, like I said in my book entry about Ruddy Gore, I did have some problems taking an interest in all the cast and crew. They are all quite egocentric and in love with each other.

I found the best part with the book to be Phryne's date with Lin Chung and the issues it provoked with interracial relationships at the time. This issue was treated by the TV show in the episode of The Green Mill Murder and I was pleasantly surprised to see Phryne contemplating it as much as she did. Same goes for her finding it sad that she is going to lose one of her lover, Dr Mark Fielding,who returns from Flying too High, to the nurse-trained actress Mollie Webb.

Phryne with Bernard Tarrant and Lin Chung

I do love that Phryne is adventurous and reckless and sort of does whatever she wants and does not care about what people think. However, I do find those moments when she gets emotional. Especially in regards to her relations to other people. It keeps her grounded. Makes her human. Even though she only has loose liasons with men, she does care about them. This caring for her lovers is taken out of the TV show almost entirely except for in the case of Lin Chung. (Again on the subject of recurring characters and plots that is evident in the book, but not on the show.) Besides Lin (and Jack Robinson of course), we do not get to see any of her "gentlemen callers" ever again. The case does rattle Phryne in a slightly different way though. When a sand bag falls, Jack saves her and it falls on Gwilym Evans (the actor Dot Williams has a celebrity crush on) instead, killing him. This incident happens in the book too, but in a slightly different way and for different reasons.

'Don't make the mistake of thinking their emotions are all put on. They're real people underneath, just exxaggerated. They talk to me', she observed, 'because I care for them. They call me Mum. The're quivering little things under all that glamour. They're always afraid that no one really loves them, that they're going to fail. But they're addicted to applause.'

~Miss Pomeroy, Ruddy Gore

The ghost of Dorothea Curtis

Even though I do prefer the simplification of the plot in the TV episode in this case, I do find it sad that they have left out one of the central themes of the book: wanting/needing to be seen. I really think this is a basic human instinct. Not that everyone does need to stand on a stage to fulfill it, but I think everyone feels a need to be acknowledged and taken seriously from time to time. The setting of the plot in a theatre and also to a certain extent the apperance of "a ghost" work well to enhance this theme.

'I bet none of you have ever handled stage machinery.'
The murmurs increased.
'Of course not, we're actors, not technicals', said Cameron Armour. 'If I'd wanted to be a tradesman, I wouldn't have done ll that voice training.' Phryne began to understand Mr Brawn's rage and scorn.

~Ruddy Gore

Phryne and Dot

It is not that the show does not deal with this subject. In fact it does so to a larger extent than the books seem to be doing actually. Phryne's employed taxi driver Bert Johnson tells his partner Cecil Yates that he is hopless when it comes to collecting strays in Cocaine Blues which is a trait also true of their employer. Both in the books and in the TV show, Phryne has an ability to really see people who needs it. She cares for them and encourages them to reach their full potential. She does not ever pamper them, which can be seen by the way she treats the female star of the theatre production Leila Esperance in the book.

Finnish author Tove Jansson is considered one of the giants in the children's litterature of the Nordic countries and her works about the Moomins are known worldwide. I have not talked about her before on this blog, because I have long felt a need to reread her books before I do so. However, one of her short stories, Det osynliga barnet (The invisible child) is very much worth mentioning here.

In the short story the character Tooticki brings the girl Ninni to the Moomin family. Ninni has been taken care of by a horrible older lady who did not like her. Because of this, she has lost all her confidence and turned completely invisible and the only way to know she is there is by the sound of the little bell, the lady had put around the girl's neck. Ninni is placed under the care and love of Moominmamma and little by little she becomes visible again.

I feel like there are certain similarities in Moominmamma's treatment of Ninni and how Phryne handles Dot in the TV show. When she first meets the younger woman in Cocaine Blues, Dot is mainly invisible. She works as a maid at the Andrews's house, but you cannot say that she draws much attention to herself. As she comes to work for Phryne however, Dot starts to develope as a person. She finds her confidence and role in life without giving herself away at the same time. And Phryne is there, nudging, caring and encouraging. You can see her become surprised by Dot's strict religious reasonings of the modern world in Cocaine Blues, but she never judge her.

"When I came to work for you, Miss, I was afraid of everything. And you taught me so many things, and you made me brave, and you made me happy."

~ Dot Williams, Death do us part

Dot is quite different in the books. She is much more timid and not as active in Phryne's cases as she is on the TV show. With Phryne's mentoring, TV-Dot starts learning the detective skills and from time to time ends up solving the crimes to a certain extent. In a way I think Dot is the main character who develope most throughout the show. I prefer the more active TV-Dot over the passive book one. The friendship between the two women in the books is just wonderful and they certainly love and respect each other (even so much that Phryne continue to wear the St Christopher medal that Dot gives her before she goes away to the circus in Blood and Circuses). However, I do miss Dot doing her own sleuthing and Phryne teaching her the ways of the detective. She does participate from time to time (like helping Phryne go through all the dressing rooms at the theatre in Ruddy Gore) but it is just not the same and the character does not go through the same evolution in the books as in the TV series.


The image of the cover of Det osynliga barnet, did I borrow from here.

Kerry Greenwood - Ruddy Gore

Ruddy Gore is the 7th book about Phryne Fisher in which Phryne goes to the theatre to watch Ruddigore and celebrate the aviator Bert Hinkler who has flown from Croydon to Darwin.

The Bert Hinkler of the book is probably Herbert John Louis Hinkler the first man to fly solo from England to Australia, reducing the flight record of 28 days to 15. This all happened in February 1928, which had me somewhat confused about the timeline of the books, so I did a little bit of sleuthing through the books I have already read as to what dates are mentioned.

• Cocaine Blues: No dates mentioned at all as far as I could discern. (If you have noticed any indication as to any dates, please tell me in a comment.) 
• Flying too High: Amelia McNaughton mentions that her father wanted to marry her off like it was unbelieveable to happen in 1928. The date for her brother Bill's trial is set to 17th August 1928 as well and there is a mention of it being a winter's day, which for Australia would mean a day somewhere between June and August. 
•  Murder on the Ballarat Train: The murder of Anne Henderson took place on the night of 21th June 1928 and at the end of May that same year, Bobby Matthew's Megatherium Trust crasched, ruining Anne Henderson.
• Death at Victoria Dock: Bert and Cec are invited to dinner and mention that there will be a strike on 10th September and Phryne says it is the 1st September that day. Like Amelia, Phryne cannot believe someone was shooting at her because it is 1928.  
• The Green Mill Murder: No year is mentioned, but it seems to be set in October which is mentioned as Phryne is flying up to the mountains to meet Victor Freeman. 
• Blood and Circuses: The date is stated already in the beginning as Mr Christopher's body is found at the boarding house in which he lives. Jack Robinson, Constable Harris and Sergeant Grossmith also talks about the society getting harder and colder in 1928, so a police strike would not be so easy as it had been before. Also, when Phryne feels like her persona is slipping back to its primitive roots, her contemporary identity is refered to as "1928 Phryne". 
• The dates in Ruddy Gore are somewhat diffuse. 1928 is mentioned and based on what the boy Herbert Cowl (I wonder if he is named Herbert because of the other references to Hinkler.) who becomes Phryne's assistent tells her, it sounds like it would be a little before christmas. Phryne also tells the theatre manager Bernard Tarrant that she has had enough performance for a while and tells Dot Williams that this is not going to be like her time at the circus and she will come home every night. Phryne also have the St Christopher medal that Dot gave to her as she was leaving for the circus. So the book is definitely supposed to be set after Blood and Circuses.

Based on the preface of the book, there was a production of Ruddigore in Melbourne in 1928 (but it did not include any murderers). After a lot of hard googling I have not been able to deduce if there where a gala performance of the play for Hinkler for real and books on 1920's theatre in Australia has turned out to be pretty rare here in Sweden. Therefore my thoughts about the timeline will remain what it is. They might just have waited with celebrating Hinkler until November/December?

Anyway, Phryne and her friend Bunji Ross (one of those recurring characters of the books that I have talked about before) are at the theatre to celebrate Bert Hinkler's triumph. However, the performance is cut short when one of the main actors and then his understudy are poisoned. Phryne starts to investigate, but the main suspect seems to be the ghost of the late actress Dorothea Curtis who died playing Ruddigore in London thirty years prior to the events in Ruddy Gore.

'Could you call up a spirit for me? I've been trying to find one lately and she is very difficult to locate.'

~Phryne Fisher, Ruddy Gore

It is also in this book that we meet the character Lin Chung for the first time. On the way to the theatre, Phryne and Bunji helps him and his grandmother out of a fight and they are cleaned up at the Lins's house before they are off to the theatre. Throughout the entire book, Chinese men are following Phryne and she seems a bit worried about it.

Not only is the timeline between the books a bit confusing, but at the theatre history seems to be repeating itself with resemblances to thirty years prior. Phryne is also thinking how her life has turned into a comic opera. There are a lot of references back to Dorothea and Phryne is sure that her death was not an accident.

Hitherto I have liked each book about Phryne Fisher more and more, but this is a break in that trend. I prefer both Blood and Circuses and The Green Mill Murder over this one. I liked the plot and the theatre milieu and the world around the production of Ruddigore, but even though it was depicted just as thoroughly as the circus in Blood and Circuses which I really enjoyed, I thought this a bit tiresome. I also had problems connecting to all the people at the theatre. Everyone seemed to be quite full of themselves and they were all in love with each other and also left each other heartbroken. It was like a drama series on TV. Adding the Chinese and it got a bit messy. I still liked the book just fine. It was a fun read and it did not put me off the books.

Phryne and gender norms of the 1920's

As I have said in my previous two entries there is a lot to talk about Blood and Circuses. However, I felt like the entry about Phryne's character was so long, that I could not discuss everything in one entry. This entry will therefore more or less be considered "left overs" from the Blood and Circuses TV vs book one.

In both TV episode and book, a transexual person is murdered. On TV, the person is called Miss Christopher and has met up with a doctor who promised to help her become a woman. In the books however, he is called Mr. Christopher and seems to want to be treated like a man even though the magician Robert Sheridan falls in love with him and wants to treat him like a woman (Christine). The book also involves Miss Molly Younger who is engaged to Mr Christopher and is as it turns out also transsexual.

Mr. Christopher and Miss Younger. Man-woman and woman-man. They were made for each other and no one else would fit.

~ Kerry Greenwood, Blood and Circuses (book)

Interestingly enough, transsexuality sort of fits well into the time period. During the first world war one can say that women broke through a gender wall. They proved that they could drive cars and aeroplane, repair them when needed and also replace them in industries and other businesses. This, more than anything, led to women gaining their democratic rights in many countries. But it also created a new ideal for women.

This first wave of emancipation gave women access to a new world and the ideal symbolised their new freedom and confidence. They were no longer only restricted to the home, but could take their place in the public as well. This clashed against the earlier gender segregations of Western society and the gender norms became visible and could therefore be discussed and renegotiated.

In 1922, Victor Margueritte published the book La Garçonne* which became immensely popular among young women. The book moves around in the borderland between the gender norms. It tells the story of Monique Lerbier who handles her fiancé's infidelity by living a free, hedonistic life-style with multiple sexual partners. The book sold in over one million copies and became a cult book for young women who wanted to rebell against the older gender norms and Victorian prissiness which had sort of trapped their mothers and grandmothers. It created a fashion in which women should dress either in clothes traditionally considered male or in figureless dresses and wear cloches. They were also encouraged to cut their hair short (The winter of 1926 had over 50% of the women in Stockholm short hair.). Margueritte's book is not mentioned (as far as I have read) the Phryne Fisher books, or in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, but it still makes me think about both Phryne and her best friend Elizabeth Macmillan (Mac). I also wonder if it created the so called "lesbian subculture" in Paris that is mentioned in Cocaine Blues (book) when Phryne wonders about Lydia Andrew's sexuality.

Elizabeth "Mac" Macmillan

But not only did the female role change, the male did as well and while the woman became more masculine, the men turned to a more feminine style. One might wonder how this all came about. To make a long story short, I think it has a lot to do with a chaning lifestyle in general due to democratisation, urbanisation and industrialisation, but mostly I think it had a lot to do with the first world war. Both Kerry Greenwood's books and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries brings up how society to a large extent was thrown into a feeling of despair after the Great War. In a way I find the above quoted (and by me translated) part of Swedish contemporary singer Karl Gerhard's song Jazzgossen (Jazz boy) fitting. It talks exactly of those old, traditional gender values with the knights in shiny armour who fight over the fair maidens. A violent culture that can be seen as having culminated in the war. In this way, the ideals became a rebellion against those who were in place before the war and which was held responsible for it. What we can see during the 1920's is a renegotiations of the gender roles. Women became more masculine and men more feminine. In a way this makes a story bringing up transexuality fitting into this world.

 This is just a short overview and I probably will have reasons to go back to it in future entries to the blog as I progress in my reading of Kerry Greenwood's books. Phryne is, after all, the personification of the new woman of the 1920's.

Sources:
Andersen, Jens 2015. Denna dagen, ett liv. En biografi över Astrid Lindgren, Swedish translation: Urban Andersson.
Hirdman, Yvonne & Lundberg, Urban & Björkman, Jenny 2012. Norstedts Sveriges historia 1920-1965.
The photo of Phryne was borrowed here and the one of Mac here.

*I have not read this book myself. Only a general description in Jens Andersen's Astrid Lingren biography Denna dagen, ett liv. This is what I base my knowledge of it on.

Blood and Circuses - TV vs Book

"Justice, not money, determines the cases worthy of my attention."

~Phryne Fisher, Blood and Circuses (TV)

As I said in my entry about the book, there are a lot of different thoughtprovoking issues in Blood and Circuses and I probably get back to it in the future. It was however one issue that was more prominent than others to me and it was how both versions of the case at the circus sort of got to Phryne Fisher herself, but in different ways.

Phryne, Dot and Jane sneek a taste.

I had really decided I was going to leave Phryne as a character pretty much alone until I had read through all the books, but after reading this book (and to some extent also after a person I like said Phryne was only a shallow James Bond character), I figured I needed to address her character pretty much immediatelly, but first I will do a recap of the plot of the TV episode and how it deviates from the book one.

Just like the book, the TV episode starts with Mr Christopher (here called Miss and is considered a woman) and the episode starts with her being found strangled, stabbed and with a python around her neck in the magician’s vanishing cabinet (overkill as Phryne calls it) during the circus Farrell’s show and not in his bed at the boarding house where he lives in the book. Not pleased with Senior Sergeant Grossmith who has been assigned to the case, Phryne’s old friend Samson(Sam) seeks Phryne out to try getting her to help. For once, Phryne is rather reluctant to go back to Farrell’s since it was there that her little sister Jane disappeared while Phryne was too caught up in the magician perform a vanishing act in the same cabinet (at least I think it is) that Miss Christopher is found dead in. 

Jack and Elsie share a moment.

The TV episode is not one of my favourites. It is quite messy and it is not made clear exactly who made what and why. However Elsie Tizzard is probably my absolute favourite among the minor characters. I love her special relationship with Jack, but also how she bonds with Amelia Parkes in the cell. The latter is just one of all the amazing depictions of female friendships that we can see throughout both TV and book series.

Another aspect I really enjoy as an archaeologist is how they have used how memories (even unwelcome ones) are triggered by materialities. Phryne is extremely reluctant to go (back) to Farrell's circus to investigate and it is not until Jack (for once) gives her a definite no that she agrees to Samson's request and takes on the case. When she gets to the circus, the memories become even more prominent and we get much longer flashbacks with Jane and Phryne at the circus. Correct me if I am wrong, but I also think this is the first time we really get to see Janey Fisher's blue ribbons.

We have seen Phryne vulnerable before, but the memories of Jane are humbling in a new way. They seem to give her new insights into what happened to her sister and the episode itself sort of works much more as a build-up to the two that follows it.

'Tonight you shall share my luxury', she said, pulling off the dress and the scarf and shedding battered undergarments, 'because tomorrow I shall share your poverty.'

~ Kerry Greenwood, Blood and circuses (book) 

Phryne and Samson

In the book, Phryne goes through an even more humbling journey. She is forced to leave her luxurious lifetotally behind as she goes undercover as Fern Williams, the trick rider at the circus. Like Peter Smith, the anarchist, does in the Death at Victoria Dock book, Mr Burton questions what she does at the circus and Phryne gives him a similar answer that she is tired of being said not to understand or being able to manage a more simple life because of her otherwise privileged lifestyle. Because the Janey Fisher/Murdoch Foyle plot was made up for the TV show, the circus does not provoke as many bad memories for Phryne as in the TV show, but it does turn out to be a very hostile environment.

Little Phryne and her sister Jane in one of the flashbacks.

Like the TV episode, the book works a lot with materialities, but instead of connecting them to memores, it connects them to Phryne's self-esteem and confidence in a way that had me thinking of the song Wig in a Box from the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

The musical is about trangendered Hedwig who goes through sex reassignment therapy, but the surgery goes terribly wrong and she is left with an "angry inch" and in a state of not belonging to either of the binary sex/gender construction that is still considered norm in today's Western society. As you might understand, this can in many ways be related to the transgender theme of both book and TV episode (In the TV episode, we even get to know that Miss Christopher pays a surgeon to have her "additional appendage" removed.), but in many ways it can also be related to Phryne as a character.

Kerry Greenwood made a cameo at the circus in this episode.

As I have said before, I do not like the comparisson of Phryne to James Bond. I actually find it a bit degrading of her character. Phryne is so much more than just a female version of the action male archetype. Yes, she is wild, adventurous and reckless, active in every scene she is in (traditionally male traits), but she is also empathetic, compassionate and kind (traditionally female traits). She does not show many emotions (male trait), but she is sensitive to other people's needs (female trait). (I admit the latter does not always apply to Jack, but in that case it has much more to do with him not behaving like a traditional male way.) She is cunning and clever (male traits), but also flirty and seductive (female traits). She also uses violence and reacts to it in a very different way than Bond (or for that matter Indiana Jones who she is also compared to). Even though she often brings her golden pistol with pearl handle and has a dagger in her garther, she does not use them other than when it is totally necessary to save herself or others. I agree that her wild, reckless and sexual side is far more conspicuous, but I think we more should ask ourself why that is instead of only calling her a female James Bond/Indiana Jones.

Her overall apparence is also totally female with her beautiful, often very feminine clothes, hats and red lipstick. This is also where the relation to Hedwig and the song Wig in a box becomes most apparent. Like Hedwig, Phryne has a dark past which has been made clear at this point in the TV series, but not in the books, so I will leave it until it is brought up. Both of them also hits rock bottom, but they decide to turn their life over and they both sort of find exuberance in fashion. This is also how the book points to the material aspect of Phryne's identity and how important it is to her.

She was feeling of balance. Deprived of her usual props and stays and allies, and having to speak with the accent of her childhoo, she was losing confidence. No one seemed to like her, and she was used to being liked, or at least noticed. She closed her eyes.

~ Kerry Greenwood, Blood and Circuses (book)

Jane asks Samson for stories about Phryne.

In a way the circus makes her time-travel back to her childhood in poverty in Collingwood, leaving her feeling self-concious and lonely. When the clown Matthias/Jo Jo does her make up for her performance in the circus show, she does no longer recognise her face, seeing only a stranger in the mirror.

But again it is a material object that destroys her identity all together. When she is discovered by Jones and his men and they are about to rape and kill her, they take away both her clothes and the belonings she has hidden underneath and inside them. Among those is the St Christopher medal Dot gave her right before she was leaving her home.

She made no sound until he broke the thong which held the holy medal and pocketed it. Phryne gave a pitiful cry. Her last link with her own self was gone.
~ Kerry Greenwood, Blood and Circuses (book)

The medal triggers a basic instinct inside of Phryne, making her fight the men. Because she is no simple "damsel in distress", she manages to avoid rape, but she does not win her freedom. Instead Jones and his men locks her in an animal case calling her a "wild beast".

This is actually not the first time in the book where humans have been compared to other animals.This is actually a theme also woven into the plot. Trapped in the animal cage and naked, Phryne's identity travels even further back in time (The mentioning of her friendship to the archaeologist being extremely fitting in all of this). Her fear of the lions was established already as Dulcie showed her around the circus and is already then said to enhance a primitive version of herself. She, however, remains quite active, trying to get herself out. In the end though, she realises she might need help from a friend or two. Humans are, after all living in hoards by nature...

Kerry Greenwood - Blood and Circuses

I think this is my favourite among the
art deco-inspired covers.

Blood and Circuses is the sixth installment in the book series about Phryne Fisher by Kerry Greenwood and they just keeps getting better and better. The plot surrounds Farrell´s Circus where a lot of things seem to have gone wrong lately. The latest "mishappening" is the murder of the circus artist Mr Christopher. Some old friends from the carnival following the circus, turn up at Phryne's door to have her investigate what is really going on over at Farrell's. Phryne therefore decides to go under cover as the trick rider Fern Williams.

The circus was vast and bewildering. The number of people who might want to destroy it was unknown and it seemed impossible to keep tabs on everyone. Phryne was concious of being alone in shabby clothes and completely ignorant. You've bitten of more than you can chew this time Phryne, she thought. You'll never make any sense out of this. 
'To understand a circus', she added alound, stepping sideways to avoid a passing camel, 'you obviously have to be born in a trunk.'
'Too right', agreed Dulcie.

At the same time, detective inspector Jack Robinson starts looking into the murder of Mr Christopher together with sergeant Grossmith and constable Tommy Harris. The latter is saved by Amelia Parkes, one of the women living at the same boarding house as Mr Christopher. She has a dark past and is therefore accused of the murder almoste immediately. But things is never as it seems at first.

There really is a lot to talk about here. Not least identity issues due to the victim being androgyne. But since my thoughts about identities to a great proportion involves Phryne to a great extent, I have decided to leave it for my TV vs Book post about Blood and Circuses.

Essie is very beautiful and all, but why not
use a picture from the TV episode with
Phryne dressed as Fern?

Instead, for this entry, I have decided to talk about the, sort of new world, Phryne gets herself into when she goes under cover as the trick rider Fern.

The title is an sort of paraphrase of an expression coined by the Roman poet Decimus Junius Juvenalis panem et circenses (Bread and Circuses - Bröd och skådespel in Swedish). He was not pleased with the decadence of the Roman Empire claiming the politicians kept the population at bay by feeding and entertaining them. It was during this time that emperor Vespasian made the Colosseum, which probably added more argument to Juvenalis proclaim that the distribution of cereals, the spectacles and the gladiator games all was just a trick to have the lower classes thinking about other things than social issues.

The circus in Kerry Greenwood's book however is the modern type which originated in 18th century London where Philip Astley held shows which mainly featured riders doing advanced tricks on horses.

Interestingly, Astley had discovered that a circular shaped stage (the ring) had several benefits. Not only could you get a bigger audience because they were able to surround the stage in stead of just sitting on one side of it. It also proved to help with the horse tricks. The ring helped the horses to gain speed because they could keep going around and around instead of having to slow down to turn every once in a while. This created the centripetal force which helped the riders to stay on.

In Sweden, the history of the circus phenomena can only be traced back to the early 1900s, but there had been travelling menageries before that. Among the artists were often families belonging to the Norwegian and  Swedish Travellers.

I really enjoyed how elaborative Greenwood's description of the circus was. Instead of just writing that  Dulcie shows Phryne/Fern the circus, we are actually getting to follow them around, meeting the people and the animals there.

The circus is described as a society in its own with its own social hierarchy: circus folks-carnies-gypsies*. Among the circus folks there are also a smaller social hierarchy with flyers being seen as the nobility and the others pretty much as simple peasants according to the dwarf* Mr Burton.

'You were at Oxford University?' squeaked Phryne. 'Then what are you doing in Farrell's'
'Where else could my... deformities be valuable? Everywhere else I am a freak. Here I am still a freak but I am a performer. Circuses are the only places where dwarves can get some respect.'

The fact that people who deviated from one or many of the societal norms were more or less forced to be performers at the circus are actually rather terrible. I had encounter it before in history books and in other forms of popular culture, for example Phantom of the Opera, but I still feel terrified by the view on humanity that society had.

I think the Phryne Fisher books just keeps getting better and better. It had a slow, somewhat boring start, but then it really hit of and even though I sort of figured out who did what somewhere in the middle, it did not really matter. And I love that Phryne has a friend who's an archaeologist.

The photo of the Essie Davis cover of the book was borrowed here.
*I know it is preferable to use other terms than these, but they were the ones used during the 1920's which is probably the reason why Kerry Greenwood 

Some more thoughts about the Phryne Fisher universes

The main characters of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

After having fun with Historical Women, Female Archaeologists and actually a lot of Ancient Egypt, I thought it was about time that I went back to Phryne Fisher.

As is probably quite obvious from this blog, I love Phryne. I think she is such a wonderful character and both TV and book series are amazing. There are some differences between the two media though which I discuss from time to time in the series of entries I have chosen to call Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries -TV vs books. This entry will be part of that series, but instead of talking about a certain book and its TV counterpart, this one will discuss a more general trend I have noticed that is different.

Up until this point, I have only read five of the Phryne Fisher books and, after a short hiatus, I have just started with the sixth (Blood and Circuses). There are a lot of books that I still have to read, but I think I can still discuss this and there is a chance I have reasons for returning to the subject further on.

In the TV series, Phryne creates a sort of family that more or less provides her with stability in life. Only one of these people is related by blood to her (Her aunt Prudence.). They are a bit mismatched with communists, policemen and strict Catholic girls for example, but they turn out to work extremely well together and also with Phryne. (This is a subject for a different entry though, so I will not go into it so much.) Besides these nine people making up Phryne's family, there is not much consistencies to Phryne's friendbase. People come and go and we hear they have a past with Phryne and some of them might be "old friends", but we tend not to hear about them either before or after Phryne and Jack have solved the case they are part of. There are a few exceptions to this. Most of them related to the over-arching plotlines of each season like Murdoch Foyle in season one and Phryne's father Henry Fisher in season three. In season two we also get to meet Jack's ex-wife Rosie Sanderson who is introduced already in season one (when Jack is still married to her), but is only talked about then. These characters are in more than one episode, because their plot stretches out for more than one episode. Another exception is Lin Chung. He is in two different episodes with two different plots although his part is sort of the same (being Phryne's lover). From what I have gather he is a much more of a recuring character in the books, but I have not got to him yet, so I have to leave it for the time being. (I cannot think of any more minor characters that are in more than one episode. Please help if you come up with someone!)

On the contrary, the books reuse a lot of characters and also plot points. Phryne still builds a family around herself containing mostly the same people. There is no aunt Prudence, but Mrs Butler and Ruth. The latter I will get back to in a bit. Detective Inspector Jack Robinson has a different role in the books and is not as close to Phryne as he is on TV, but I think he still can be classified as a family member. Not least since one of the few times he is mentioned in Death at Victoria Dock is in the context of having given Jane and Ruth a record player.

Then Phryne also has friends who she surounds herself with on a more distant level. She still calls them when she needs them to help her out on a case and she seems to meet up with them from time to time. These characters are reused and we also get to hear how some of the minor characters (both friends and others) do after their plot has been finished. For example Bobby Matthews who we encounter in the very beginning of Cocaine Blues and who we later hear from in Murder on the Ballarat Train in relation to Eunice Henderson and her mother. There are also a couple of characters that I have a small feeling will return later on, but I will not tell you whom since I do not trust you not to spoil me.

'I feel a bit shaken, but I'm all right, Dot, don't fuss. This is not the same as that other time. I didn't see this man die.'

~ Phryne Fisher, The Green Mill Murder, Kerry Greenwood

There are also some mentions of past cases and not just in a recap sense, but more woven into the plots of other books. For example when Dot asks Phryne how she is after hearing Phryne has encountered another murder in The Green Mill Murders. This is a reference to Phryne being shocked and upset by the death of Yourka in Death at Victoria Dock.

Hugh: "Miss Fisher's gone on holiday again Sir."
Jack: "Hm. Anyone dead yet?"
Hugh: "Only one so far Sir..."

~ Murder under the Mistletoe

Jane and Ruth, Murder on the Ballarat Train

I do understand the need to simplify things for the TV adaptation, but the reuse of characters in the books makes book-Phryne's universe feel more real and thriving. In the TV series it sometimes feels as if you either die or kill someone if you do not belong to Phryne's inner circle. The TV series is very good at reusing clothes and accessories though and also in how they are worn. The men, like Jack for example, have a pretty limited range of clothing, but they can vary small things like ties, which makes the male clothing a bit less uniform. When it comes to the minor characters however I would love to see or hear more about many more of them. A lot of them are actually very interesting and some of their stories are left more or less unresolved.

To take Ruth for example because she is probably the most important character from the books that is not important in the show. She is in the Murder on the Ballarant Train and just like in the book she lives (and slaves away) in the same boarding house as Jane and they are really close.The police finds her grandmother in the end of the episode and she goes away to live with her. But if she and Jane were so close, why would she not come around to the house to see Jane? And would she not fit into the group of flower maidens Phryne trains in Queen of the Flowers? I do not think Jane would stop seeing her and/or that Phryne would not let her. So why can she not appear as Jane's best friend?

I do not expect every minor character to turn up again or Phryne to have any sort of contact with that we get to hear. Some of them are just so fantastic that I find it sad. Besides, we do not even get to know if Jack and his police men were able to catch Lydia Andrews and destroy the cocaine trade after the events in Cocaine Blues.

The Green Mill Murder - TV vs Book

Phryne

The Green Mill Murder is one of my favourite episodes of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and also turned out to be one of my favourite out of the Phryne Fisher books I have read so far. There are some differences in the plot between the two versions that I intend to talk about here. 
The TV adaptation is loaded with different social topics like interracial marriages and homosexuality. The murder also takes a more central role in the plot there than in the book. The same method is used for the killing of Leonard Stevens (Bernard Stevens in the book. - Seriously, what is up with all the changing of names between the media?!), but things might not have turned out as it was intended in the book. The fact that it also was pretty risky considering how many people could have got in the way is also acknowledged there.

Jack: "I don't know who has the more fanciful imagination. Rodgers for coming up with it or you for working it out."
Phryne: "Jack! Me, obviously!" 

Nerine

The character Nerineis much more awsome in the TV episode where she is already married to Ben Rodgerswhile in the book, she waits for her lost husband to die before commiting herself to him. 

Hugh Collins och Dot William's relationship however, is pretty well established in the book while in the TV episode, Hugh tries to master up the courage to ask her to the Firemen and policemen's ball. 

"As far as I'm concerned, everybody should be allowed to marry whomever they choose. Though personally, I'm not the marrying kind."

~Phryne Fisher

Jack Robinson has a rather more laid back role in the book than on TV and he gets a chance to both worry for Phryne and yell at her. At the end of the TV episode we also get our first more clear indication of what is called phrack by the fans when he looks at the mug shots Hugh takes of her. In the book he is introduced as: "Detective Inspector John 'Call me Jack, Miss Fisher, everyone does' Robinson", but I have to say that I do prefer how he is introduced in the TV episode. The camera is intended to be him and we hear him excuse himself as he walks through the crowd at the jazzclub The Green Mill up to Phryne and the dead body of Leonard Stevens. 

Jack excuses himself through the crowd at the Green Mill

While the TV show focuses on social issues, the book seems much more interested in the First world war (called The War to end War) and the effects it still had, ten years after it was finished on the people involved. (They bring up that homosexuality is a crime, but does not dwell as much into it as the TV episode does.) The character of Victor Freeman gets back from the war shell-shocked (Today we call it Posttraumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD). The TV series does tackle this subject as well. It is a recurrent theme in many episodes and we meet a lot of characters who suffer from it (There are even small hints that Jack might be one of them.) and Victor Freeman does move out into the wilderness because of it. It just does not deal with it so much in this particular episode. The book is far more thorough and Bert and Cec tell Phryne and Dot over dinner about their experiences during the war in both Gallipoli and Pozières. (There is a very good podcast about the former campaign by the Missed in history website.)

Because everyone else does,
I'm not commenting much on
the clothes. However I just
love this outfit!

Besides Phryne, the most interesting characters in the books are the three remaining members of the Freeman family. In the entry about the book, I did proclaim my love for Victor Freeman. He is a far more complex character in the book than on TV, but even though I find his mother horrible and appalling, I find her interesting. 

On TV they are all old friends of Phryne. Victor is an aviator and used to take Phryne up in his airplane. He also told his brother Charles, he was going to teach him how to fly, but then he left for the war and Charles is now trying to sell his plane off to Phryne. Contrary to his brother, book Charles is far more unpleasant. He is one of those people I talked about in my book entry that does not care for the things he has no understandings of or interest in. This has devastating results for himself.

Book Mrs Freeman is an extremely terrible person who abuses both of her sons. It is even hinted by Bobby Sullivan that she takes Charles to bed with her and Charles says that his mother has taken away his ability to love any other person. Neither her nor her husband (who is dead before the beginning of the book) seem to understand the seriousness of Victor's condition and Mrs Freeman also seems to turn both sons against each other. TV's Adele Freeman (I do not remember and have not been able to find any first name for her in the book.) is far nicer. A mild-tempered woman who seems loving, caring and understanding of both of her sons. Just like in the book, however, she does keep the fact that Victor is alive a secret from Charles.

I find certain similarities between Mrs Freeman and the character of Lydia Andrews in Cocaine Blues. They are both women who never have had the chance to live independently and provide for themselves. Mrs Freeman's husband also rather donated all the money to charity than putting his wife in charge of it. Both Lydia and Mrs Freeman feel they can do business better than their husbands and in the end they feel entitled to "go bad" because of it. This also makes them stand in stark contrast to book Eunice Henderson from Murder on the Ballarat train and not least Phryne herself.


The photo of Phryne in her flapper costume was borrowed here.