Curse

7 8 CURSE

Ancient Mariner In Samuel Coleridge's poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (1798), a mariner shoots an albatross at sea and as a result of this 'hellish thing', killing a bird of good omen, a curse falls on his ship. As a penance, he is forced to wear the albatross hung round his neck. The ship is becalmed near the Equator and everyone except the mariner perishes.

Must go and see how Bert is getting on. Cod! I wish I'd never got involved with him;

he is like an Ancient Mariner around my neck.

SUE TOWNSEND The Crowing Pains of Adrian Mole, 1984

In my weaker moments I have often longed to cast myself on your mercy. How lucky, for both our sakes, that I have held out! You do not need an albatross from the old world around your neck,

j . M. COETZEE Age of Iron, 1990

AtreilS In Greek mythology, Atreus was the progenitor of a family known as the House of Atreus. His brother Thyestes laid a curse on it after Atreus had tricked him into eating the flesh of Thyestes' own sons at a feast. The family were subsequently involved in mutual murder and betrayal for several generations. One of Atreus' sons, Agamemnon, leader of the forces who besieged Troy, was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra. The other son, Menelaus, was

'You can't hide things for ever. The Mordifords should know that by now! 'What's left of us. Beatrice would say it's a family curse, like the House of Atreus. A bit above our mercantile station, wouldn't you say?'

GILLIAN LINSCOTT Widow's Peak, 1994

Cain In the Bible, Cain, the elder son of Adam and Eve, murdered his brother, Abel, and as a consequence was cursed to wander the earth for the rest of his life (Gen. 4: 1-16). God branded him with a mark, identifying him as not to be

In this manner, Hester Prynne came to have a part to perform in the world. With her native energy of character and rare capacity, it could not entirely cast her off, although it had set a mark upon her, more intolerable to a woman's heart than that which branded the brow of Cain.

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE The Scarlet Letter, 1850

However the unjust discrimination against him had begun earlier; it had begun the day after Boxing Day. It seemed that since that business in the Market Square when that silly bitch fell off her horse and cracked her head open, the mark of Cain was on

ANN GRANGER A Season for Murder, 1991

Flying Dutchman The Flying Dutchman was a legendary ghost ship supposed to be seen in the region of the Cape of Good Hope and presaging disaster. It was said to haunt the seas eternally as a result of a murder that had been committed on board. The term is sometimes applied to the ship's captain. In Wagner's opera of the same name (1843), Captain Vanderdecken is freed from a curse when he finds a woman willing to sacrifice herself for him.

Jeroboam In the Bible, Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon and, after

DANCING 7 9

Solomon's death, encouraged the Israelites to rebel against Solomon's successor, Reheboam. Jeroboam incited the Israelites to commit the sin of idolatry, encouraging them to worship two golden calves as gods. He also established a priesthood and, even though warned against it, continued to appoint priests. In punishment God decreed that Jeroboam's entire family be destroyed. 'Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam . . . And will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone' (i Kgs. 14: 10).

'How horrid that story was last night! It spoiled my thoughts of today. It makes me feel as if a tragic doom overhung our family, as it did the house of Atreus.' 'Or the house of Jeroboam,' said the quondam theologian.

THOMAS HARDY Jude the Obscure, 1894

Jonah In the Bible, Jonah was a Hebrew minor prophet, who was commanded by God to 'go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me' (Jonah 1: 2). However, Jonah was afraid and ran away, boarding a ship bound for Tarshish. God responded by sending a violent storm to threaten the ship. Eventually, acknowledging that he was the cause of the tempest, Jonah told the sailors to throw him overboard, whereupon the storm abated. Jonah lived to comply with God's instructions, but his disobedience had endangered the unwitting sailors with whom he had sailed and his name has subsequently stood for a bringer of ill luck.

His presence was a perpetual reminder of bad luck, and soon he was suffering the cold shoulder that had been my lot when Happy Hannah first decided I was a Jonah.

ROBERTSON DAviES World of Wonders, 1975

Tutankhamun The tomb of Tutankhamun, in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, was discovered by Howard Carter (1874-1939) and the Earl of Carnarvon (1866-1923)01 November 1922. Carnarvon died in Luxor shortly after the discovery from a mosquito bite which led to a blood infection and pneumonia. Carter died seventeen years later but before he was able to provide a final report on the find, having spent the intervening years conserving the contents of the tomb and sending them to the Cairo Museum. The association of the two deaths gave rise to a popular tradition that the tomb was cursed.

Dancing

Most of the dancers included here are modern, drawn from ballet and the cinema. The frenzied dancing associated with the worship of Dionysus is covered at Chaos and Disorder.

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (1899-1987), who was born Frederick Austerlitz, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. His first partner was his sister Adele, who starred with him in Broadway shows such as Lady Be Good in the 1920s. When his sister married he moved to Hollywood, where he paired up

DANCING 8 1

Rudolph Nureyev Rudolph Nureyev (1939-93) was a Russian ballet dancer who defected to Paris in 1961. His partnership with Margot Fonteyn, dancing for the Royal Ballet, was inspired. In addition to his wide range of roles in classical and modern ballet, he choreographed La Bayadere (1963) and other ballets, performed in films such as Don Quixote (1975), and was artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet 1983-9.

So I Nureyeved the front steps and flowed through the door in a single motion of Yale and Chubb.

JULIAN BARNES Talking It Over, 1991

Pavlova Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) was a Russian ballerina who became famous for her roles in Fokine's ballets, in particular in his solo dance for her, The Dying Swan. She lived in Britain from 1912 and formed her own company with which she toured Europe and the world.

Her office was hardly larger than the interior of my car. . . and she had to squeeze between the edge of her desk and the wall to get up to greet me. It was a maneuver that would have looked clumsy performed by Pavlova and Margaret Dopplemeier turned it into a lurching stumble.

JONATHAN KELLERMAN When the Bough Breaks, 1992

Johnnyboy draped himself across the workbench like Pavlova in the closing moments of the 'Dying Swan!

JOYCE HOLMS Bad Vibes, 1998

Red Shoes The Red Shoes was a Powell and Pressburger film released in 1948 starring Moira Shearer as a student who becomes a famous ballerina. When she falls in love and has to choose between love and career, she commits suicide.

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (1911-95), born Virginia Katherine McMath, was an American actress and dancer. Best known for her dancing partnership with Fred Astaire, she also won an Oscar for her performance as an actress in

Kitty Foyle (1940). • See also FRED ASTAIRE.

I put my hand in his and followed. He was one of those men who can make you feel like Ginger Rogers on the dance floor, conveying an entire set of suggestions in the way he applied pressure to the small of my back.

SUE GRAFTON H Is for Homicide, 1991

Salome According to the Bible (Matt. 14: 6-9), Salome, the stepdaughter of King Herod Antipas, danced for her stepfather the king and 'pleased him'. He then 'promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask' and Salome, instructed by her mother, demanded the head of John the Baptist.

Terpsichore Terpsichore (literally 'delighting in dance') was the Muse of dancing, particularly choral dancing and its accompanying song. The adjective derived from her name is 'Terpsichorean'.

The old-fashioned fronts of these houses . . . rose sheer from the pavement, into which the bow-windows protruded like bastions, necessitating a pleasing chassezdéchassez movement to the time-pressed pedestrian at every few yards. He was bound also to evolve other Terpsichorean figures in respect of door-steps, scrapers, cellar-hatches, church buttresses.

THOMAS HARDY The Mayor of Casterbridge, 1886