Fanfiction: Jackdaw (Princess Tutu)

[nebroadwe]

Title: Drabble: Jackdaw
Fandom: Princess Tutu (anime version)
Character: Autor
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Warnings: None.
A/N: Yet another Princess Tutu drabble: I wasn't expecting Autor to jog my elbow, but he did, at once entrancing and horrifying me with visions of old books recycled to bind new ones. I think him a jackdaw; he considers himself a scholar. We compromised on slightly demented antiquarian. Crossposted from nebroadwe to princesstutu and tutufic.
Dedication: Still for fmanalyst.

---

      He haunts Goldkrone's secondhand shops, almost a byword for oddball acquisitiveness. The merchants of Nikolausstrasse call him (not quite behind his back) Herr Dohle, but as long as they take his money, he ignores their jibes. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Who tells gold from lead by weight alone?

      Books he buys to disbind, teasing manuscript fragments from backstrips and linings, searching for overlooked words. But those teacups, that inkwell: them he touches sparingly, lovingly, for history fills them as full as he expects to brim with power, once his knowledge is complete.

---

Author's Note: Dohle is the German word for jackdaw, a member of the crow family proverbial for snapping up unconsidered trifles; Sankt Nikolaus (Saint Nicholas) is the patron of pawnbrokers as well as of children. The saying about the one-eyed man's advantage among the blind is usually attributed to the Renaissance humanist Desiderius Erasmus. And it was long customary for bookbinders to use scraps of old manuscripts in the bindings of new books; some fragmentary pieces of medieval literature have been recovered by dissecting later tomes, to the subdued joy of my colleagues in paleography.

---

[Disclaimers: Princess Tutu was created by Ikuko Ito and Junichi Sato. Copyright for this property is held by HAL and GANSIS/TUTU. All rights reserved.]

Comments

[haleysings.livejournal.com]

You have no idea how happy you made me! XD; Yes, I'm a fangirl, but I've been hoping that you would write a drabble on Autor--I always love your perspectives on the characters, and often they make me think of them in different ways.

I really like the idea of him unbinding new books to search for old ones (the lost endings to Drosselmeyer's stories, perhaps?). As well as him being aware of the names, but ignoring them. A great look at the quirky, inquisitive nature of Autor.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

A lovely drabble, but you know what really caught the eye of the writing teacher? The reference to paleography. I'd never known the term, but I have had a story in the back of my mind -- rather Saiyukiesque -- with a linguistic historian in the Sanzo role.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

You have no idea how happy you made me! XD; Yes, I'm a fangirl, but I've been hoping that you would write a drabble on Autor--I always love your perspectives on the characters, and often they make me think of them in different ways.

Thanks. I hesitated before writing this one because I knew that you were doing substantial work with Autor and I didn't want to -- not poach, exactly, but not just come waltzing in with a character sketch that's not terribly sympathetic to someone else's favored subject. Drive-by drabbling, as it were. :-) But then I did start to find some sympathy in his scholarly drivenness and his predicament as a man (to paraphrase another writer) with vision in a world that doesn't even know it needs bifocals. So here I am.

I really like the idea of him unbinding new books to search for old ones (the lost endings to Drosselmeyer's stories, perhaps?).

Yes. That was explicit in earlier drafts, but had to go because of the 100-word limit. I'm thinking I might get another drabble out of the idea that he finds something he believes is in Drosselmeyer's hand -- another detail that had to go due to space constraints.

As well as him being aware of the names, but ignoring them.

He's got a real power, down at the bottom of things. Maybe just the power of knowledge (those who can't do, teach?), but that gives him self-confidence. What he lacks is humility; by the time we meet him, he seems too used to being the one-eyed man among the blind to accept his own limitations. The story contrasts him sharply with Fakir, who lays down his self-consequence as the Knight with his sword (and then has the much harder task of relinquishing his desire to shield others, and implicitly himself, from harm when what's needed is the courage to do what is necessary, despite the pain).

Peace!

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

A lovely drabble, but you know what really caught the eye of the writing teacher? The reference to paleography.

[grin] We academics always gravitate to the footnotes.

I'd never known the term ...

Paleography's more a premodern and early modern concern -- once type hits, you're in a different world (she says, sighing over her nth reading of McKerrow on bookmaking). My current job requires me to squint at handwriting only for the purpose of determining provenance (e.g. from autographs and inscriptions), but it's a bit of a pain because my training (such as it is) is in medieval hands and everything I'm looking at is Renaissance or later. Maybe over the summer I'll see if I can find the later-period equivalents to Michelle Brown's Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600.

... , but I have had a story in the back of my mind -- rather Saiyukiesque -- with a linguistic historian in the Sanzo role.

If you ever write it, I'll read it. [looks hopeful]

[tomoyoichijouji.livejournal.com]

Nice work on Autor, very nice. :O I think I'd come back to this when I need some inspiration to write his character. :) I also really like the idea of having him go through palimpcests (spelling is wrong, I know, but that's the name of tomes that are written on leafs of old books, am I right?) to find old writings, and that he feels himself gaining power from that. I watched a show on Nova once that talked about a book on Calculus by Archimedes -- way before calculus was invented by Newton some centuries later -- that was discovered in a prayer book. Except, they had to use modern technology to detect the difference in indentations, since even the left over ink was still too faded to read it all.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I think I'd come back to this when I need some inspiration to write his character.

Now there's a compliment. Thank you very much.

I also really like the idea of having him go through palimpcests (spelling is wrong, I know, but that's the name of tomes that are written on leafs of old books, am I right?) to find old writings, and that he feels himself gaining power from that.

I'm actually having him do something different (but thank you for reminding me of palimpsests -- the back of my brain sat up and became very attentive just now, which may eventuate in another story, whereupon I will credit you properly for the inspiration :-). Autor's actually ripping books up to see whether the bindings contain bits of other books. It's not uncommon to find fragments of, say, medieval manuscripts being used as pastedowns (the endpaper attached to the inside front and back covers, or "boards," of a book) or backstrip (i.e. spine) linings in later books. Paper has never been cheap and parchment and vellum are even more expensive, so if you had an old copy of Aristotle or the Sarum missal nobody was using anymore, you might just take it apart and recycle it into somebody's new copy of Hugh Latimer's collected sermons (ugh). You can see some examples of manuscript pages recovered from such recycling here (http://www.uwm.edu/Library/special/exhibits/incunab/incpg4.htm); the whole exhibit (http://www.uwm.edu/Library/special/exhibits/incunab/inctoc.htm) on early printing is quite interesting, IMO, with pretty pictures and a nice basic summary article (http://www.uwm.edu/Library/special/exhibits/incunab/incmwh.htm) at the end. I liked the picture of Autor methodically destroying books in search of the bits of Drosselmeyer's work that the Book Men might have overlooked; it picks up both his cleverness, his scholarly streak and his odd attitude toward creativity (like his determination not to write until he can make the world dance to his pen).

For more information about the making of books (since there is no end to it, or at least not until society goes completely digital), my supervisor recommends Jane Greenfield's ABC of Bookbinding (http://www.oakknoll.com/detail.php?d_booknr=49915&d_currency=) and John Carter's quietly snarky yet informative ABC for Book Collectors (http://www.amazon.com/ABC-Book-Collectors-John-Carter/dp/1884718051). You'll never handle a hardcover the same way again ... :-)

[haleysings.livejournal.com]

I hesitated before writing this one because I knew that you were doing substantial work with Autor and I didn't want to -- not poach, exactly, but not just come waltzing in with a character sketch that's not terribly sympathetic to someone else's favored subject. Drive-by drabbling, as it were. :-)

Hee, well, I'd hardly want people to feel like they can't write about Autor while I'm doing the challenge...particularly since I'm planning on doing one for Fakir (and the other main characters) once I'm done with his. ^^; Plus, even though I'm a fan of his, even I will admit that he's not really incredibly sympathetic, himself. Sympathetic in Act 22 with Rue, perhaps, but...most of the problems and bumps and bruises he gets are his own fault. XD;

But then I did start to find some sympathy in his scholarly drivenness and his predicament as a man (to paraphrase another writer) with vision in a world that doesn't even know it needs bifocals.

This is only loosely related, but...I wonder about Autor. His level of perception seems to be almost uncanny for someone that brags about hearing the Oak Tree make a "faint sigh"...

I'm thinking I might get another drabble out of the idea that he finds something he believes is in Drosselmeyer's hand -- another detail that had to go due to space constraints.

Ooh! I'd love to see that, if you ever decide to write it! ^_^

He's got a real power, down at the bottom of things. Maybe just the power of knowledge (those who can't do, teach?), but that gives him self-confidence. What he lacks is humility; by the time we meet him, he seems too used to being the one-eyed man among the blind to accept his own limitations. The story contrasts him sharply with Fakir...

I'm not sure if he's actually as self-confident as he likes people to think he is...If he was, I don't know if he'd really need "acknowledgement" from the Book Men the way he does. (That scene always boggles my mind--he does realize that he's basically demanding they cut of HIS hands instead of Fakir's, right??)
I do like him as a foil to Fakir, though...I think they bounce off each other really well. I'm always happy when the story forces them to interact again. XD

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Hee, well, I'd hardly want people to feel like they can't write about Autor while I'm doing the challenge...particularly since I'm planning on doing one for Fakir (and the other main characters) once I'm done with his.

Oh, good. I'll look forward to your other sequences, too, then.

This is only loosely related, but...I wonder about Autor. His level of perception seems to be almost uncanny for someone that brags about hearing the Oak Tree make a "faint sigh"...

To leap outside the frame for a moment, I see story-structural imperatives at work there. He needs to know a lot, in order to tell Fakir (and the audience) necessary plot information, but something has to keep him from moving into the protagonist's position instead of (or as a rival to) Fakir, because coping with that dynamic would require more episodes than the story has to work with. So Autor's developed as a character who cannot translate his knowledge into action because his gift lacks strength (given a story-internal correlative in his descent from Drosselmeyer in a less-direct line than Fakir) and who therefore substitutes the pursuit of knowledge for the exercise of his gift under the cockeyed assumption that if he only knows enough (collects enough, is acknowledged sufficiently) his power will ripen into mastery. He certainly spends enough time trying to one-up Fakir -- being forced into the role of adjutant grates on him like crazy, but it's in character that he never tosses up his hands and leaves, even before his attitude begins to shift in the final episodes. If you can't sit in the throne, be the power behind it; if you can't do either, cling to the coattails of those who can ...

I'm not sure if he's actually as self-confident as he likes people to think he is...If he was, I don't know if he'd really need "acknowledgement" from the Book Men the way he does. (That scene always boggles my mind--he does realize that he's basically demanding they cut of HIS hands instead of Fakir's, right??)

Evidently not, or he wouldn't be asking. :-) I think Autor goes to collect that particular endorsement because he's just seen Fakir chosen by the Story-Tree -- he's looking for something to counterbalance that, so he goes to what he mistakenly believes is the other storytelling authority in town. It's not explicit in the dialogue, but Autor seems to view the Book Men as an editorial board; possibly he thinks their job is to weed out bad art. He clearly doesn't conceive of them as being in such opposition to Drosselmeyer that they'd prefer to destroy the dead man's influence root and branch.

I do like him as a foil to Fakir, though...I think they bounce off each other really well. I'm always happy when the story forces them to interact again.

I like the way the story places Autor to one side of Fakir and the Book Men to the other, representing two dangers between which he has to thread a path: the unbridled and grossly manipulative use of power and its complete repudiation (notably in favor of edged weaponry :-). (Not the only two dangers, either: Fakir's impulse to protect people from pain is set against Drosselmeyer's glee in inflicting it, but he has to find a third way there as well. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis -- how Hegelian of the writing team. :-)

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

...Drosselmeyer pastedowns. AWESOME.

Why did it never occur to me that I needed to read Princess Tutu stories written by rare book scholars? Possibly because I didn't know there were any rare book scholars writing in the fandom until I found your last fic. May I friend you? I think our common fandoms are Tutu, Avatar (although I don't write in it) and archival libraries, if archival libraries can be counted as fandoms (and in my world, they totally can).

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

May I friend you? I think our common fandoms are Tutu, Avatar (although I don't write in it) and archival libraries, if archival libraries can be counted as fandoms (and in my world, they totally can).

Yes, of course! Sorry for the hideously delayed response -- life kind of got away from me. I'm up to my neck in Milton to catalog, and at the same time starting an incunable-update project that bids fair to last me till retirement. Nothing like job security -- except when it interferes with replying to kindly reviewers. :-)