Pope Joan

by Emmanuel Rhoides and Lawrence Durrell

Book Overview

In this brilliant adaptation of a novel by the 19th 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879517867
• ISBN13: 9780879517861
• Release Date: August 1997
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 2.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Droll and Delightful

This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It is well crafted and expertly translated, the final product is rich, dense, and wonderfully funny writing that requires and rewards the full attention of the reader.Don't read this book if you are looking for the history of Pope Joan, you won't find it here - this book is historical fiction, and Royidis weaves the myth - legend - facts - whatever about the story of a female pope into a satirical 9th century romp through Christendom, from England to Athens and finally to Rome. Royidis's backdrop is tribal Europe, Europe before modern science, where Christianity was just another form of supersitition having to compete with all sorts of paganism and witchery for the hearts and minds of the less than faithful.Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular has always had a problem with human sexuality and female sexuality in particular, and Royidis uses the story of Joan to poke all sorts of fun and ribaldry at Catholicism and Christianity - and unctuous hypocritical Catholic and Christian leaders. It is almost like shooting fish in a barrel, but Royidis manages to do it imaginatively each and every time. His observations of the 9th century from the 19th century resonate well here in the 21st, it seems we are as slave to superstition and hypocrisy as our forebearers were.This is a fun to read, funny book, about a bellylaugh per page. I recommend highly!

A Comic Masterpiece Brilliantly Translated and Adapted

"Pope Joan" or "Papissa Joanna" was originally written and published in 1886 by the Greek author Emmanuel Royidis. The book tells the story of Pope John VIII, the purported female Pope who ruled Christendom for a period of two years, five months and four days in the middle of the ninth century. "Pope Joan" is a comic masterpiece of irreverence towards the medieval Church and the accepted pieties of its revisionist historians. Indeed, insofar as Royidis continued to propagate the legend of Pope Joan, to claim that the work contained only "facts and events proved beyond discussion", the text itself ingeniously combines history and legend, as well as brilliant wit, to subvert claims of authority. As Lawrence Durrell notes in his Preface to his brilliant English translation and adaptation, "the authorities of the Orthodox Church were horrified by what seemed to them to be the impious irony of its author-and no less by the gallery of maggot-ridden church fathers which he described so lovingly." Not suprisingly, Royidis was excommunicated from the Orthodox Church and his book was banned in Greece.The first three parts of "Pope Joan" tell the story of Joanna prior to her arrival in Rome, before she became an historical personage. Set in the ninth century, the narrative captures the European world in disarray after the death of Charlemagne, captures a time when civilization was tenuous and the Church provided one of the few viable social structures. It is this part of the narrative that is unambiguously fictional, the imagined story of Joanna's life in Germany and then in Greece. After her parents die, Joanna clandestinely enters a monastery where she meets the monk Frumentius and develops a romantic relationship with him. When her true sexual identity is surmised, Joanna and Frumentius flee one monastery and then another, eventually ending up in Greece. Joanna soon becomes tired of her romance and her intellectual brilliance attracts the attention of Church leaders throughout Greece. She leaves Frumentius and departs alone for Rome, where the legend, some say the history, of Pope Joan begins. She becomes a papal secretary renowned for her intellect and, when Pope Leo IV dies, she ascends to the papacy. Pope Joan becomes pregnant and dies after giving birth during a procession through the streets of Rome. While the general outline of the narrative may seem only mildly interesting, the brilliant translation and prose of Lawrence Durrell, together with the biting, irreverent wit of Royidis, make "Pope Joan" an unsurpassed work of comic genius. A flavor for this wit and style can be found in a short passage describing what ensued after Pope Joan gave birth: "Great was the consternation when a premature infant was produced from among the voluminous folds of the papal vestments . . . Some hierarchs who were profoundly devoted to the Holy See sought to save the situation and change horror and disgust to amazement by crying out `A miracle! A mira

A fun, satirical read

I purchased this book at the same time that I purchased Donna Woolfolk Cross's book. For a long time I didn't read it, thinking it would be too dry and difficult, being a translation....nothing could be further than the truth. It is genuinely hysterical. Some Catholics probably would be offended at some of the characterizations of the priests and of life in the Middle Ages in general, but it is a book that shouldn't be taken too seriously, just enjoyed. As to whether or not Pope Joan existed or not - who knows? But I hope she did!

Highly Enjoyable

Forget the veracity of the events in question...this book is beautifully written, extremely thoughtful, provocative and quite humorous (which is why Mr. Durrell took the time and made the effort to translate it from the Greek) Lawrence Durrell is one of the greatest novelists of the 20th Century English language and he recognized this little book as the jewel that it is.

Believable fiction of an astounding tale.

For many centuries, the tale of the 9th century Pope, John VIII, who was secretly a woman has been passed by word-of-mouth throughout Western Europe's common classes, secretly whispered about by its aristocracy, and derisively discussed in the Catholic Church's hierarchy with contempt and ridicule. The historical facts are these: in the middle of the 9th century, a young woman, Johanna Jutta Gilberta, dressed as a man to be able to enter the classical education schools open only to aristocratic males in Mainz, Germany. Her reputation as an impeccable scholar soon earned her an invitation to study at the foremost school of learning in Athens, where she travelled with her male, secret lover. Once there, she established a standard of excellence in learning that was the talk throughout Greece. She began lecturing and her classes became so popular that several royal, Italian families began sending their sons to be educated at the Athenium by her. Calling herself "John Anglicus", due to a lengthy stay studying at a monastery in England before arriving in Athens, she received offers from several Roman families to relocate and set up a school in Rome. Accepting the generous offers and accomodation provided, Johanna made a name for herself as the foremost scholar in the Western world. When the papacy became vacant from the death of Leo IV in 855, it was offered to "Joannes Anglicus". She hesitated solemnly but eventually had to accept. Ruling for 2 years, she became pregnant and in a procession went into labor. The child and act of birth was seen by the attending Cardinals as an act of Satan. Her and the child died on the spot and a marker stood for centuries, symbolized by a woman draped in the papal cloth with a child in her arms. Even the reformist, Martin Luther, mentions in his "Table Talk" that he had seen the very same monument and was dumbfounded how the Church could be so blind to allow it to remain after so many years. The new edition (August 1997) just released of Emmanuel Royadis' book contains a surmised account of how such a preposterous event could have ever happened. By the end of the tale, you will not think it so impossible. Written in the style of a play, Royadis fills in known historical fact with a painter's eye for background and visually detailed scenes. The introduction by one of the English language's foremost artist of words, Lawrence Durrell ("The Alexandria Quartet"), alone makes the book worth reading. While the tale of "Pope Joan" has been one of the longest and most enduring stories ever to be passed on from one century to the next, it is practically unknown in North America and when brought up, vehemently denied. Thus, be prepared for wide-opened eyes when you relate this tale to someone else. A book about a "Woman For All Seasons". Johanna Jutta Gilberta Anglicus, known as Pope John VIII, ruled from 855 to 857 for 2 years, 5 months and 4 days. May she rest in peace.