Pope Joan

by Lawrence Durrell | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: Global Overview for this book
Registered by Metropolitan of São Paulo, São Paulo Brazil on 4/10/2004
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3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Metropolitan from São Paulo, São Paulo Brazil on Saturday, April 10, 2004
Irreverent and witty

Journal Entry 2 by Metropolitan from São Paulo, São Paulo Brazil on Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Sent today to Bookczuk - USA. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 3 by wingbookczukwing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA on Saturday, May 8, 2004
REceived this book from the lovely Metropolitan, in trade for a book from my mother's shelf! It came with a most interesting postcard of Sao Paulo and lots of enticing information (except for the part about the traffic jams!). I had recently gotten a book on PopeJoan by Donna Woolfolk Cross and have read debates as to which of these two books on the same subject is better. Now I can read them both and make up my own minde! Thank you so much!

Journal Entry 4 by wingbookczukwing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA on Sunday, May 7, 2006
This book got hidden away among the volumes on my shelf, and I only recently refound it. I have also on my shelf, another book called Pope Joan which is a novel. This book, however, it turns out is a translation of a Greek text-- very irreverent and quite funny, once you get used to the pacing and timing of the whole thing.

One reviewer, Peter Owen, writes:
Translated and adapted from the Greek of Emmanuel Royidis. In this brilliant adaptation of a novel by the nineteenth century Greek author Emmanuel Royidis, Lawrence Durrell traces the remarkable history of a young woman who travelled across Europe in the ninth century disguised as a monk, acquired great learning and ruled over Christendom for two years as Pope John VIII before her sudden and surprising death. When Papissa Joanna was first published in Athens in 1886 it created a sensation. The book was banned and its author excommunicated. It nevertheless brought him immediate fame and the work established itself securely in the history of modern Greek literature. Subsequently Durrell, one of the most important British writers of the twentieth century, created a masterpiece in its own right — a dazzling concoction presented with the deftest touch.


I am reading both books now and shall report back when I am through.

Journal Entry 5 by wingbookczukwing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA on Wednesday, May 10, 2006
A quirky telling of a bit of folklorish history. My friend Fr Dennis would be appalled that I might even consider it to be historically based. But who is to say? The 800's were a long time ago and historical information or sources from that time are sketchy. To this day, the Catholic Church continues to deny Pope Joan's existence. Instead, the "legend" is said to be an invention of Protestant reformers. (Yet Joan supposedly lived hundreds of years before the Protestants' break from the Catholic church. And there's the church's institution of the so-called chair exam (sella stercoraria). Each newly elected Pope after Joan sat on the sella stercoraria (literally, dung seat), which was like a toilet seat (or birthing chair) so that his genitals could be examined to prove he was a guy. Why start this new requirement if there had not been a need to? (I think the practice has been abandoned in modern day.)

Anyhow, this was kind of fun to read. I shall see if there is someone with it on their wish list, as I don't think it could hold up to a wild release.

Thanks again, Metropolitan! Bumma says hi!

Journal Entry 6 by wingbookczukwing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA on Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Whoops! Link to the other book is here

Here's what a Catholic Encyclopedia has to say on Pope Joan.

And apparently the original author of this (in the Greek) was excommunicated for writing it.

Journal Entry 7 by wingbookczukwing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA on Saturday, May 13, 2006
Off media mail to pokpok. She was the one that got me started by mentioning the other version of the story by Donna Woodfolk Cross.

Journal Entry 8 by PokPok from Vista, California USA on Friday, May 19, 2006
Rec'd today. Thank you!!

Journal Entry 9 by PokPok at Panera Bread, 401 Vista Village Dr. in Vista, California USA on Sunday, July 8, 2018

Released 5 yrs ago (7/9/2018 UTC) at Panera Bread, 401 Vista Village Dr. in Vista, California USA

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