I met professor Cornelius Ryan, author of The Dante Shock, while I was holidaying, last fall, in the Aegean Sea; it was Ryan who told me this story regarding a fellow academic, Helen Gardinor.
Gardinor was a linguist, a brilliant Greek and Latin scholar. Her reputation was established by a scholarly as well as populist book, The Medea Version. The title, Ryan told me, was a pun on the Italian word “versione”, which plays on the meaning of version and translation. Scholars of Medea will know that there are conflicting versions of the Medea myth starting with Apollonius’ version, itself based on fragments. Gardinor’s book, however, is not content with exploring classical versions of the myth. It has a wider brief, perhaps the reason for its success, since it takes in modern versions of the myth, that of Pasolini, the playwright Anouilh and the novelist Crista Wolf as well as various films and cartoons. In her research Gardinor had come across a fragment believed to be part of the Apollonius version. The fragments are purported to be the words of Medea herself. One particular choice quote, related to me by Ryan caused particular amusement to Gardinor:
Whoever crosses me, does not go unscathed.
While there was some quibble over the translation of the word “cross”, Gardinor favoured the word “touch”, she did not believe the importance of the fragments; only the fact that it might be attributed to Medea amused her.
Following the critical success of her book, and its translation into all the literary languages, Gardinor had gone on a global lecture tour; she was a skilful networker as well as an ambitious academic. At the end of the tour, Gardinor had been invited onto a super yacht by a rich Italian family, the Gaultierris. The fact amused Ryan; the Gaultierris were one of the old Roman families. Their lineage goes right back to the middle ages. They had lived off the family silver for centuries; the yacht was not in their name, but that of an arriviste family, the Scabis. The Scabis have made their name and reputation by championing priceless Italian works of art. Behind they were quietly helping themselves to lesser known but equally lucrative artworks.
All this is by the by. Jayson Grayson, the crewman. Genial personality. Easy with people. Perhaps with what was once known as loose morals. The coincidence of the name, the romance of the situation – on a boat – in the Aegean Sea – all these things combined to go to the head of Helen Gardinor. She fell head over heels in love with the antipodean crewmate. In spite of his Italian origins, on his mother’s side, Jayson knew next to no Italian; he was not a scholar or a wit. But he was so amiable that he was popular not only with the crew but also the Gaultierris.
By this time Helen was in her mid-thirties; she had never thought about children. No one knows what Jayson himself thought of the idea. The gap in their ages was the healthy side of ten years. When Gardinor became pregnant, it was a shock to her; she thought, naively perhaps, her body had long given up on the idea of reproduction. It may seem strange, Ryan pointed out to me, Gardinor did not believe she could get pregnant. One might think she had discussed the idea with Jayson, though no one knows what Jayson thought of it.
In the winter months, when they were busy networking – and if you would pardon – fleecing the Italian state, the Scabis would hire their yacht – its name was the Shazam – to other members of the jet set. Jayson went with the Argo as Gardinor ironically put it into the Caribbean. Importantly, she did not know she was pregnant, and nor, for that matter, did the unsuspecting Jayson.
Jayson meets an Asian princess. The Asian Princess was from Hollywood, but her father was beginning to move in those circles.
Jayson one might argue was an opportunist. They have an affair. She was left alone for a week by her father, who had gone to Odessa to do business.
Gardinor had a dream. It was a strange dream, but stuck in her mind because she dreamt it in colour. She saw a woman with Jayson. The woman was dressed in light bright robes. On her forehead was a red bindi; there it seemed they were kneeling together. Gardinor was in the same room, but when she tried to talk to Jayson he did not hear her. It seemed that she was sucked out of the room and lost consciousness. All of this of course was in the dream she had dreamed so vividly.
Casually she learnt of the presence of the Asian princess alone on board the Shazam. Gardinor believed that the Asian princess had become her rival. In this she was influenced by the dream. She berated Jayson and raged with jealousy. Jayson was caught between a rock and a hard place. Instead of brazening it out, he committed a fatal error. He told Gardinor he was having an affair with the Asian princess. Yes, he was quite happily screwing her in her cabin while her dad was away. Jayson was incensed by Gardinor’s jealousy. He threw it all back in her face.
Gardinor hung up and fainted. Searching for an explanation, she realized that her period was late. She went to a chemist and bought a pregnancy test kit. Realising she was pregnant, she went to see her gynaecologist, who showed her the ultra-sound. There were two healthy embryos growing inside her; Jayson’s children.
As he was recounting this, Ryan stopped and looked at me hard. “You realize,” he said,” a woman can do strange things when she is pregnant. In Gardinor’s case,” he went on, “she was still violently upset with Jayson and convinced that he was having an affair with an Asian princess half way round the world. She had had a dream so vivid that she believed it was a presentiment of this affair. She was so angry with Jayson that she decided to take drastic action.
“Gardinor booked herself into a clinic. A day or so later, she checked out. Jayson phoned her on his mobile, but she would not answer him. She cut him out of her life.
“What happened to Jayson you may ask? By all accounts, he was not happy. In fact, I believe he took to drink. But since he was still popular with the Scarbis, and the truth was, they owed him money, he continued to work for them helping himself to the drinks cabinet on their super yacht. At the end of the season, he was in process of cleaning the boat when a mast fell on top of him and knocked him unconscious. He went into a coma and lost all power in his legs. Now he is a cripple, living on benefits in his mother’s house.
“So,” I said, unable to resist, “Medea took her revenge. That really is tragic.”
And yet one thing was still bothering me about Ryan’s account.
“How did you really learn this story? I cannot imagine Gardinor would have revealed all this to your colleagues.”
Ryan looked at me without speaking, but his face betrayed a self-satisfied smile.
“Helen Gardinor is my wife,” he said eventually. “I learnt the story the day she told she was pregnant by our only child.”