What Did Bob Know, and When Did He Know It?

[dr_pretentious]

Yes, the new Rugosa Coven story is still coming along. Alas, it won't still be called "Bob and the Black Head of Atho" when it's done. Atho's more than a McGuffin, but it would be misleading to put him in the title.

I have this exposition quandary. There are some things I read too much about when I was working on the dissertation, and now I can't tell anymore where the line is between common knowledge and esoterica. And all exposition problems are that much more embarrassing when your protagonist actually is named Bob. So, two questions:

Have you ever heard of Madame Blavatsky?

If you've heard of her, do you remember any of what you heard?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

As of right now, I remember a good bit about Blavatsky...but then, I do that religious studies thing, so I may not be a good test case either.

[sleepymaggie.livejournal.com]

Sorry, for some odd reason, I was logged out of lj -- that was me up there.

heard of her

[cthulhia]

but had to wikipedia to find out why.

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

Blavatsky: Theosophical Society. Got spirit letters from her spirit guides, which she was later shown to have made herself and rigged to float from the ceiling. Wrote a number of Theosophical tracts. Didn't she foster a young Indian man who was said to be the incarnation of a spiritual master? Bog-eyed woman - odd looking, but apparently highly intelligent.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head at 7:08am.

hmmm....

[leapfaith.livejournal.com]

I recall that she was a medium, a fraudulent one, if I recall correctly, and that she founded the Theosophical Society, which is a great name for an organization, sad to be associated with fraud. For some reason, I associate her name with Houdini's, but I don't recall why. And now I'm going to go look them both up...

leapfaith

[jr0124.livejournal.com]

I have the book Madame Blavatsky's Baboon. You're welcome to borrow it if you'd like or need.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Read it for the diss. Good, lively stuff.

I also slogged through Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine, which were, um, less so.

[jeneralist.livejournal.com]

I've heard the name -- I think she was mentioned in an issue of a DC comic, Hellblazer or somesuch.

Now, your friends seem to have at least heard of her -- but you also need to ask if we're a valid approximation of your readership.

[citabria]

I'd say that Madam Blavatsky is general knowledge. Elizabeth Peters even included reference to her in one of her Amelia Peabody (turn-of-the-century Egyptologist) novels. (Which, if you haven't read them, I recommend highly.)

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

She includes lots of things that would be common knowledge amongst those of us keen on Victoriana; would that translate to a wider audience? I don't know. But my Big Assumption is that, if you write the story, it will find its audience - and some of them will get the subtleties and some won't, and that's OK.

[sppeterson.livejournal.com]

In the interest of pure experiment I'll tell you what I guess raw.

The name is familiar -- I think an occultist and for some reason I assoicate her with the Order of the Golden Dawn, or at least Victorian mysticism.

If I got any of this right it's because I gamemastered the Call of Cthulhu RPG and read a fair few of their adventure books.

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

Short answers: yes; no. Couldn't have told you a damn thing about her until I read this comment thread.

(Except that cthulhia was looking her up this morning, which doesn't count.)

[reynaud.livejournal.com]

I've heard of her from various sources, know her in general as an occultist of some type.

[shakti-lemaris.livejournal.com]

Blavatsky...spiritualist, table-tapping, ectoplasm, stuff like that, yeah?

[tokeiwakamidesu.livejournal.com]

It needs at least some brief explanation. I saw the name and basically guessed right (AP history memories), but I wiki'd it just to be safe... if the book is going to a wide audience, too many people will have no idea.