March 18
Turandot, Marianna Mayer (1995)

This is another children's book. As with The Seven Wise Princesses, I came across it in the course of my ongoing research on sources for the story used in Puccini's opera Turandot.

I now have a Julie Scott Meisami's translation of Haft Paykar (my first interlibrary loan!), and the next step is to get a good translation of Gozzi's play. When I looked for Gozzi's Turandot in the King County Library catalog, this book is all that turned up. It was in at the Shoreline branch, so I was able to take a look right there. I could tell right away it wouldn't be much use as a real source, but I checked it out anyway.

According to the colophon (and the library card catalog entry) the story is "based on the play by Carlo Gozzi", but I can see that's not entirely true. I don't know exactly how Gozzi's version goes (that's why I'm looking for a copy), but I do know some parts of it. This version has riddles that match the ones in Puccini's opera, which I know for a fact don't appear in Gozzi.

The whole book follows very closely to Puccini's story. The only significant differences are that Liù is omitted, and the characters are all made a little more child-friendly. Turandot, for instance, is a nice girl who is just so attractive that the boys throw themselves at her. She set up the business about the riddles in order to deter them, not because she actually wanted anybody to die.

An author's note at the end tells readers, "The character of the faithful slave girl, Liù, is Puccini's invention and cannot be found in any of the other versions." Presumably that's supposed to explain Liù's absence to those who remember her from the opera. But it fails to mention that Liù was loosely based on Gozzi's character Adelma, and there's no Adelma here either. Frankly, I wonder if this book is based on Gozzi at all. I wonder if the author didn't just adapt it from Puccini's story.

Also in the author's note is the statement that the Turandot story was included in the Thousand and One Nights. I've seen that claim made by several other sources, but it's false.

Some day, after I've followed up on all the sources, I'll summarize my findings. That will probably get posted at RMO, since it will be on topic there.

3:01:43 AM  [permalink]  comment []  

Well, shut my mouth. Contrary to my prediction, the Oakland Athletics did indeed sign Eric Chavez -- their star third baseman, due to become a free agent at the end of the season -- to a six-year contract. The media spin is that although it's the most money the A's have paid a player, it's still less than Chavez would get on the free agent market, and thus it signals a new pattern for the team in terms of hanging on to some players.

I didn't think they'd sign Chavez at all, and I especially didn't think they'd sign a contract that restricts their ability to trade him if they choose to. Yet the news stories say that the contract includes a "limited no-trade clause." The only elaboration I've been able to find on that clause is that Chavez "selected a certain number of teams he can't be dealt to."

I'd be curious to know how many teams are names and which ones they are. Does anyone know?

12:26:33 AM  [permalink]  comment []