{"id":12517,"date":"2024-10-22T09:46:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T08:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=12517"},"modified":"2024-10-22T09:53:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T08:53:47","slug":"camille-ralphs-after-you-were-i-am-reviewed-by-andrew-mcculloch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=12517","title":{"rendered":"Camille Ralphs, After You Were, I Am, reviewed by Andrew McCulloch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>\u2018In the beginning was the Word\u2019: Camille Ralphs casts a spell.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Camille2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"460\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Camille Ralphs | After You Were, I Am | Faber &amp; Faber: \u00a312.99<br \/><\/strong><strong>Reviewed by Andrew McCulloch <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The epigraph of Camille Ralphs\u2019 debut collection is from the Coptic Gospel of Thomas. Discovered in Egypt in 1946, this consists of 114 <em>logia<\/em> attributed to Jesus, some of which are found in the canonical gospels while others are closer to the thinking of the second century Gnostics, denounced as heretics by the Fathers of the Early Church. Gnosis \u2013 from the Greek <em>gnostikos<\/em> \u2013 was mystical or esoteric knowledge derived from direct engagement with the divine. Christian Gnostics saw Christ not as the Son of God but as an angel sent to teach men how to discover the divine spark within themselves.<\/p>\n<p>This has an important bearing on Ralphs\u2019 collection, whose three sections explore different ways of engaging with the divine \u2013 and the diabolical. The first, \u2018Book of Common Prayers\u2019, is a set of verses and responses that interrogate mostly traditional Christian texts. The third section, \u2018My Word: From the Spiritual Diary of Dr. Dee\u2019, dramatizes episodes from the life of the sixteenth century mathematician, astrologer to Elizabeth I, and owner of one of the largest libraries in Europe \u2013 another seeker of new knowledge in old writing. The sinister heart of the collection, \u2018Malkin: An Ellegy in 14 Spels\u2019, gives a voice to the thirteen Pendle witches, tried in Lancaster in 1612 (a year after the first performance of <em>Macbeth<\/em>), and reveals the darkness and cruelty of much religious extremism.<\/p>\n<p>Ralphs\u2019 title \u2013 <em>After You Were, I Am<\/em> &#8211; adapts John 8:58 (\u2018Jesus said to them \u2018Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am\u2019\u2019). The confusion of tenses points, perhaps, to man\u2019s own involvement in the construction of his creator \u2013 even if, much of the time, this gets no further than imagining \u2018something sizing up that endlessness\u2019 or \u2018what is left when the mind forgets itself\u2019 (\u2018Wessobrun Prayer\u2019). But more typical is a vigorous, metaphysical wit. Like Donne, Ralphs squeezes language for every drop of suggestion, meaning, and music. In \u2018After Mechthild of Magdeburg\u2019, verbal tipsiness overflows in delirious wordplay \u2013 \u2018O moon mirabilis, unmirrorable mirrorball, O, you, most bottomless of wholes\u2019, while the opening poem, \u2018after George Herbert\u2019, playfully subverts the original (\u2018The Call\u2019), turning \u2018Such a Love, as none can part\u2019 &#8211; with appropriately Joycean relish &#8211; into \u2018such an I will Yes as none can quote\u2019. Enlightenment and despair are equally ecstatic: \u2018beam yourself into us like\/headlights through light-headedness\u2019 (\u2018Veni Sancte Spiritus\u2019); \u2018why did my umbilicus, umbrella of the belly, not asphyxiate\u2019 (\u2018Job 3:11-26\u2019).<\/p>\n<p>The monologues of the Pendle witches reveal the dark underside of religious zealotry, its suffering, semi-literate victims, \u2018harelipped by snot and trussed\/in naked sores\u2019, a brutal reminder of the vicious cruelty it can conceal. Ralphs\u2019 language here is more visceral than ever \u2013 \u2018A Grosse five iron inches &#8211; \/longue . . . you sink in like a grief\u2019 \u00ad\u2013 a standing reproach to the sophisticated theologies elsewhere, and a grim reminder of what is at stake.<\/p>\n<p>In some ways, John Dee and Edward Kelley, his \u2018scryer\u2019 \u2013\u00a0a medium who claimed to be able to communicate with angels \u2013 bring together the orthodox Christianity of the first section (the Polish king insisted Dee\u2019s \u2018spiritual conferences\u2019 were approved by the Pope) and the more occult beliefs of the witchfinders. Although the \u2018graspy alchemy\u2019 to which Kelley turned was ultimately discredited, the universal theory of material purity and spiritual enlightenment from which it derived was taken seriously at the time: Kelley was \u2018as happy with his pessle\/as at vesspers or our scrying table, with a missal\u2019. In the end, however, abandoned by his accomplice, Dee returns to England to find his library destroyed: \u2018Damb Eden, damb grammars of creation . . . Dam England. Dam Kelley. Damn me.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>With its pages of commentary and reference, the collection is, in a sense, an example of its subject \u2013 a miniature library, brought alive by Ralphs\u2019 electric ability to inhabit its periods and personalities. This is a collection that steps bravely into the Holy row that has been blazing for centuries &#8211; and makes thrilling poetry out of the racket.<\/p>\n<p><em>Reviewed by Andrew McCulloch<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018In the beginning was the Word\u2019: Camille Ralphs casts a spell. Camille Ralphs | After You Were, I Am | Faber &amp; Faber: \u00a312.99Reviewed by Andrew McCulloch The epigraph of Camille Ralphs\u2019 debut collection is from the Coptic Gospel of Thomas. Discovered in Egypt in 1946, this consists of 114 logia attributed to Jesus, some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[13,283],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.2.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Camille Ralphs, After You Were, I Am, reviewed by Andrew McCulloch - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=12517\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Camille Ralphs, After You Were, I Am, reviewed by Andrew McCulloch - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2018In the beginning was the Word\u2019: Camille Ralphs casts a spell. Camille Ralphs | After You Were, I Am | Faber &amp; Faber: \u00a312.99Reviewed by Andrew McCulloch The epigraph of Camille Ralphs\u2019 debut collection is from the Coptic Gospel of Thomas. 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