(John Basinger brandishes his tattered memory book.)John Milton was born 400 years ago, and my apologies to
Middletown Eye readers for neglecting to highlight the celebration by Wesleyan University this past week.
All but one celebratory event has passed.
And that one's magnificent.
John
Basinger will be reciting, from memory, the entire text of
Paradise Lost, all twelve books, in a marathon session that runs over two days at the
Buttonwood Tree, 605 Main Street,
Middletown, on Saturday and Sunday, December 13 and 14..
If you don't think the memorization and dramatic recitation of Paradise Lost is amazing, refresh your memory on the length and poetic density of the work
here (this GoogleBooks version includes the famous criticism of the work provided by Sam Johnson, which serves as the title of this blogpost - the entire essay is worth reading since Johnson's critique appears only after pages of praise.)"In 1993, I decided I wanted to do something for the
millennium,"
Basinger said recently in a bemused recollection. "Something that was
millennial. I thought, why not choose something wildly challenging, and
Paradise Lost came to mind and it stuck."
Basinger looks every bit the part of the
professor emeritus/actor he is, a fierce intellect masquerading behind a
wisp of
tousled red hair streaked with grey, and a ready smile. A witty joke is always at hand, as is a pithy thought, passed poetically.
Basinger made his
millennial goal, memorizing two books a year.
"After finishing the first two books, I thought, '
Oy,
oy,
oy. Where the hell is the beauty?'"
Basinger recollected. "But I have a bit of a stubborn streak."
Immediately after memorizing the first books,
Basinger began to perform them, adding books as he committed them to memory.
Basinger is not sure he's ever found the beauty in the epic poem he expected to find.
"His (Milton's) intent is not to create a beautiful image,"
Basinger suggests, echoing some of what Dr. Johnson wrote in his 18
th century introduction. "His eye is elsewhere. There is not much sentiment. Not much passion to be found.'
While
Basinger is rightfully proud of his achievement, and has been praised for his performances of Milton's masterpiece, he is sure that he is not the first to have mastered the poem.
"In previous times there were people who realized there was value in memorizing it,"
Basinger said. "And I've found some evidence in my research. There is a rumor that Harold Bloom had done it. In fact, he claimed to have done it as a child. Well,
allright, Harold."
Basinger chuckles at the thought of even a precocious child committing the muscular poetry of
Paradise Lost to memory.
"I'm morally certain that I'm not the first to have done it,"
Basinger said. "In these times, it's not too hard to imagine that I am the first, or the only."
Basinger's performance begins Saturday morning, December 13 at the Buttonwood Tree, beginning at 10 a.m. The performance continues through Saturday and Sunday, with Monday reserved in the case that "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
