Michael Bartholomew-Biggs accompanies Nancy Charley on an unorthodox poetic excursion into the New Testament
The Gospel of Trickster
Nancy Charley
Hercules Editions
ISBN 978-0-0572738-9-4
44pp ÂŁ10
A Trickster figure occurs in many mythologies as the questioner of established orders and the mischief maker who may seem briefly to be on your side but is never to be trusted. Nancy Charley imports a version of Trickster into the Christian Gospels, making him a participant in â and sometimes the instigator of â some of the more well-known events in the recorded life of Jesus (who is referred to throughout this book as âthe manâ). His motivations seem mixed: sometimes he seems just to be trouble-making; on other occasions he veers between grudging admiration for (what he sees as) Jesusâs own Trickster-like skills and a wish to thwart whatever plans Jesus actually has. Finally it appears that Trickster himself may have been a pawn in a bigger game being played by a higher power.
One question occurred to me immediately after I had written the words âwell-known eventsâ in the previous paragraph. Just how âwell-knownâ are these events in 21st century Britain? Charleyâs narrative sticks fairly close to the Gospel according to Luke and she seems to assume that readers will recognize the Biblical stories from her abbreviated versions. She may be on fairly safe ground with the feeding of the five thousand or the episode of the Gadarene swine; but other incidents may not ring many bells. Consequently some of the cleverness of Tricksterâs subversions and alternative perspectives may be lost on those for whom the originals are unfamiliar.
The above point is, however, not one for me to labour. My own Biblical knowledge was sufficient to enable me to find Charleyâs book lively and thought-provoking. The liveliness often comes through Tricksterâs irreverent language. When visiting Joseph â soon to be Jesusâs Dad â and observing him covered in dust and shavings Trickster compares him to âa bear trapped in a woodshedâ. A few months (and half a page) further on, Trickster takes on the role of the donkey which carried Mary to Bethlehem and reports that he
brayed once more,
ushered in a motley gang
who spluttered about an angelic throng
which is very different from a typical glossy Christmas-card depiction of the arrival of the reverential shepherds!
Simeonâs warning prophecy to new parents Mary & Joseph is more street-wise and succinct than the King James Bible version. âThis child will expose / glitz and gutters, hidden hearts / tear you apartâ replaces the traditional language of Luke 2:34-35. In this incident (and several others) Trickster claims responsibility for bringing a speaker onstage; but it is less clear if he is to be credited as the author of the lines they speak. This is one aspect of Tricksterâs rather ambiguous status which I shall return to later.
Sometimes the re-tellings of Bible stories use particularly fresh and inventive language. When people lower a lame man through the roof of a house where Jesus is teaching, Trickster expects him to âflare at this daringâ. When a woman interrupts a party to anoint Jesusâs feet, the âexpensive scent / sent noses liftingâ. Tricksterâs instructions to the demons possessing the man known as Legion include
Oi you lot, I need you to torment
that odd gent who lives in the tombs.
Craze him up ...
In another neat touch, the tax-collector Zacchaeus repents of his extortions and gives away âhis soft-earned cashâ.
Of course Trickster does much more than re-tell the stories in unusual language. He also offers unorthodox interpretations and explanations. For instance he explains away the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand by suggesting that one example of generosity by a (planted!) small boy shamed everyone else in the crowd into sharing their own supplies of food. This theory provokes the added compliment âthat kind of scam could have come / from Tricksterâs handâ. Trickster also claims responsibility for motivating Judasâs betrayal by playing on his neediness and insecurity
Youâre always the last to leave,
paying off his debts, receiving
grubby money. He canât really
love you
canât even think much of you
Most interestingly of all, perhaps, is Tricksterâs reaction to the crucifixion and resurrection. Initially triumphant after Jesusâs death on the cross â âI guess I won. Celebration timeâ â he is utterly taken aback when, from a wound that suddenly appears in Trickster’s own body,
the man emerged in counterfeit BIRTH.
Trickster screamed.
Heâd been outwitted. He hadnât seen
the master plan.
And this master plan, in which wounding is a means of restoration, turns out also to include the revelation âthat dirt and clean may not be as they seemâ (which perhaps echoes cautions about rigid and dualistic thinking to be found in some very accessible books by the contemporary Franciscan theologian Richard Rohr).
It may be a little unfair, in a review of this kind, to pick on points of possible theological inconsistency. But there does seem to be an awkward shift between the ease with which Trickster can label the feeding of the five thousand as a fraud and his admitted discomfiture when Jesusâs words âBe QUIETâ are so undeniably effective that âTrickster found his mischief boundâ. It also seems odd that Trickster chooses not to involve himself in â or even to observe â Jesusâs temptation in the wilderness by Satan (whom some might call the Ultimate Trickster but is here demoted to merely âA mate of mineâ!).
But even if the preceding paragraph is somewhat out of order, it is certainly fair for me to comment on the bookâs layout. The text is set out in two columns with chapter breaks and numbered verses: but is this simply set dressing to mimic the look of the Bible? The result is quite attractive and readable but I am left wondering if we are meant to read the work as a sequence of prose poems defined by the chapter headings. Or are the verses a coded indication of line breaks? (In the way I have set out the quoted extracts I have assumed an affirmative answer to that last question â and hereby apologise if the assumption is incorrect!)
As with all Hercules Editions publications, this book is enhanced by pictures and supplementary material. Alison Gill provides lively illustrations of episodes in the narrative and Sophia L Deboick supplies an interesting Afterword on the place of Trickster in the contemporary imagination. Nancy Charley herself has also written a short but helpful closing essay to explain the genesis of her treatment of the Gospels.
It is worth mentioning that Nancy Charley has also devised a live presentation of The Gospel of Trickster which requires her to accomplish the not inconsiderable feat of memorizing around 30 pages of text, along with stage directions and some musical interjections. By virtue of its energy and originality this book deserves and lends itself to this sort of performance. Do try to catch it if it comes your way.
The Gospel of Trickster
September 10, 2019 by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2019 • Tags: books, Michael Bartholomew-Biggs, poetry • 0 Comments
Michael Bartholomew-Biggs accompanies Nancy Charley on an unorthodox poetic excursion into the New Testament
A Trickster figure occurs in many mythologies as the questioner of established orders and the mischief maker who may seem briefly to be on your side but is never to be trusted. Nancy Charley imports a version of Trickster into the Christian Gospels, making him a participant in â and sometimes the instigator of â some of the more well-known events in the recorded life of Jesus (who is referred to throughout this book as âthe manâ). His motivations seem mixed: sometimes he seems just to be trouble-making; on other occasions he veers between grudging admiration for (what he sees as) Jesusâs own Trickster-like skills and a wish to thwart whatever plans Jesus actually has. Finally it appears that Trickster himself may have been a pawn in a bigger game being played by a higher power.
One question occurred to me immediately after I had written the words âwell-known eventsâ in the previous paragraph. Just how âwell-knownâ are these events in 21st century Britain? Charleyâs narrative sticks fairly close to the Gospel according to Luke and she seems to assume that readers will recognize the Biblical stories from her abbreviated versions. She may be on fairly safe ground with the feeding of the five thousand or the episode of the Gadarene swine; but other incidents may not ring many bells. Consequently some of the cleverness of Tricksterâs subversions and alternative perspectives may be lost on those for whom the originals are unfamiliar.
The above point is, however, not one for me to labour. My own Biblical knowledge was sufficient to enable me to find Charleyâs book lively and thought-provoking. The liveliness often comes through Tricksterâs irreverent language. When visiting Joseph â soon to be Jesusâs Dad â and observing him covered in dust and shavings Trickster compares him to âa bear trapped in a woodshedâ. A few months (and half a page) further on, Trickster takes on the role of the donkey which carried Mary to Bethlehem and reports that he
which is very different from a typical glossy Christmas-card depiction of the arrival of the reverential shepherds!
Simeonâs warning prophecy to new parents Mary & Joseph is more street-wise and succinct than the King James Bible version. âThis child will expose / glitz and gutters, hidden hearts / tear you apartâ replaces the traditional language of Luke 2:34-35. In this incident (and several others) Trickster claims responsibility for bringing a speaker onstage; but it is less clear if he is to be credited as the author of the lines they speak. This is one aspect of Tricksterâs rather ambiguous status which I shall return to later.
Sometimes the re-tellings of Bible stories use particularly fresh and inventive language. When people lower a lame man through the roof of a house where Jesus is teaching, Trickster expects him to âflare at this daringâ. When a woman interrupts a party to anoint Jesusâs feet, the âexpensive scent / sent noses liftingâ. Tricksterâs instructions to the demons possessing the man known as Legion include
In another neat touch, the tax-collector Zacchaeus repents of his extortions and gives away âhis soft-earned cashâ.
Of course Trickster does much more than re-tell the stories in unusual language. He also offers unorthodox interpretations and explanations. For instance he explains away the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand by suggesting that one example of generosity by a (planted!) small boy shamed everyone else in the crowd into sharing their own supplies of food. This theory provokes the added compliment âthat kind of scam could have come / from Tricksterâs handâ. Trickster also claims responsibility for motivating Judasâs betrayal by playing on his neediness and insecurity
Most interestingly of all, perhaps, is Tricksterâs reaction to the crucifixion and resurrection. Initially triumphant after Jesusâs death on the cross â âI guess I won. Celebration timeâ â he is utterly taken aback when, from a wound that suddenly appears in Trickster’s own body,
And this master plan, in which wounding is a means of restoration, turns out also to include the revelation âthat dirt and clean may not be as they seemâ (which perhaps echoes cautions about rigid and dualistic thinking to be found in some very accessible books by the contemporary Franciscan theologian Richard Rohr).
It may be a little unfair, in a review of this kind, to pick on points of possible theological inconsistency. But there does seem to be an awkward shift between the ease with which Trickster can label the feeding of the five thousand as a fraud and his admitted discomfiture when Jesusâs words âBe QUIETâ are so undeniably effective that âTrickster found his mischief boundâ. It also seems odd that Trickster chooses not to involve himself in â or even to observe â Jesusâs temptation in the wilderness by Satan (whom some might call the Ultimate Trickster but is here demoted to merely âA mate of mineâ!).
But even if the preceding paragraph is somewhat out of order, it is certainly fair for me to comment on the bookâs layout. The text is set out in two columns with chapter breaks and numbered verses: but is this simply set dressing to mimic the look of the Bible? The result is quite attractive and readable but I am left wondering if we are meant to read the work as a sequence of prose poems defined by the chapter headings. Or are the verses a coded indication of line breaks? (In the way I have set out the quoted extracts I have assumed an affirmative answer to that last question â and hereby apologise if the assumption is incorrect!)
As with all Hercules Editions publications, this book is enhanced by pictures and supplementary material. Alison Gill provides lively illustrations of episodes in the narrative and Sophia L Deboick supplies an interesting Afterword on the place of Trickster in the contemporary imagination. Nancy Charley herself has also written a short but helpful closing essay to explain the genesis of her treatment of the Gospels.
It is worth mentioning that Nancy Charley has also devised a live presentation of The Gospel of Trickster which requires her to accomplish the not inconsiderable feat of memorizing around 30 pages of text, along with stage directions and some musical interjections. By virtue of its energy and originality this book deserves and lends itself to this sort of performance. Do try to catch it if it comes your way.