A question--
Do you think Henry used his world book tour as an easy opportunity to search for and of the research on the Grail, or do you think his interest in/obsession with the Grail only come after Anna's death? I tend to think it was probably an interest while Anna was alive but became an intense obsession after her death--maybe searching for and thinking only of the Grail was a way of dealing with her loss, as though he was distant it's obvious from the series he loved her--and thus the Grail became his quest for meaning--of why he had to lose her perhaps. Just like Indy's quest in KOTCs is a search for who he is and who he'll be remembered as.
Indy says in LC that Henry's been searching for ''40 years'' which would put his starting interest in the Grail around 1898, if Indy was accurate. But we don't see the Grail Diary in the YIJC, though we do see him doing a lot of research such as in "Travels with Father."
That also leads me to wonder--In the years he and Indy didn't talk (1919-1938), I wonder if Senior Jones went on adventures of his own, searching for the grail. I know he has more of a respect for old treasures and the like than Indy does but surely he had to do some ''field work'' to discover all the clues he had by '38.
Interesting topic Raiders.. I've always liked to think that the visit to the monastery in travels with Father was specifically linked to the search for the Grail, as for the rest of the book tour,I'm sure he made use of it for research purposes.
I for one have always been a little dissapointed that Henry Snr never mentioned the Grail over the course of Young Indy, and that we never got any insight into Anna's feelings regarding the quest.. However I've always believed the 'obsession' started before her death, and deepened after it. Indy's comments in Last Crusade that she 'never understood it' and Henry Snrs distinctly sour reaction to them being evidence, as though he knew she never did, but always refused to accept it. As for further adventures theres the Grail Diary that came with the Last Crusade adventure game which details many such travels around the world, right up until 1938, theres a gap in the middle I seem to recall where he lays down the gauntlet for a time, its been years since I've reread the thing, maybe another board member has it close to hand?
Anyway his books, according to Dr Freud mainly dealed with the Chivalric ideal, which though the quests of Arthur and such can easily be linked to the Grail.. perhaps whatever book he was lecturing on was an attempt to make use of the information he had gathered through obsession
Location: Neuchâtel, Switzerland (Canadian from Montreal)
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According the diary from the "Crusade" video game, his 1st entry is April 3, 1898 (my birthday, ha ha) where he describes a vision he had the night before while reading "Parsifal". So, Henry's obsession started the same year that he got married to Anna (or the pre-TV show, Mary).
In that diary, he travels to a few places on his quest (including Switzerland in 1920) but, coincidentally, there are no entries during the world lecture tour. Before 1920, the only time he writes from outside the U.S. is in 1906.
Too bad there was not, at least, one mention of the Grail in the series but it's never really bothered me. The reference to "mediaeval studies" was good enough. Will have to take a closer look at Henry Sr.'s blackboard in "Curse of the Jackal/My First Adventure" and see if there's anything grail-related on it!
According the diary from the "Crusade" video game, his 1st entry is April 3, 1898 (my birthday, ha ha) where he describes a vision he had the night before while reading "Parsifal". So, Henry's obsession started the same year that he got married to Anna (or the pre-TV show, Mary).
In that diary, he travels to a few places on his quest (including Switzerland in 1920) but, coincidentally, there are no entries during the world lecture tour. Before 1920, the only time he writes from outside the U.S. is in 1906.
Too bad there was not, at least, one mention of the Grail in the series but it's never really bothered me. The reference to "mediaeval studies" was good enough. Will have to take a closer look at Henry Sr.'s blackboard in "Curse of the Jackal/My First Adventure" and see if there's anything grail-related on it!
The left column is definately says Beowulf but the other seems to say Chaucer from what I can make out.
For what it's worth The Mummy's Curse adaptation of Curse of the Jackal mentions Jones Sr is lecturing on the medieval chivalric code and the Holy Grail and in Safari Sleuth Henry says he's on the tour due to the success of publications on those two topics.
The Last Crusade game diary has a nice gap from 1906 - 1912 with the entry:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grail diary (February 22, 1912)
Can it really have been six years since my last entry? Could academic obligations, lack of funds and the responsibilities of fatherhood truly have kept me so long from pursuit of my quest? Worst of all has been Mary’s tragic death, a blow from which neither I nor Junior have yet recovered. I fear I am unfit to raise a son alone Junior grows wilder and more undisciplined by the month. Yet my heart will not admit any other woman to take Mary’s cherished place.
But it wouldn't surprise me that all that reading at the table is personal research.
I don't doubt that Henry Sr had been searching for the Grail all his life, much like Indy with other artifacts, like the Chachapoyan Idol or the Cross of Coronado. I also don't doubt that while on the book tour, between meeting famous people, punishing Indy and meeting famous people of the time, he was doing research into the Grail. You could easily say that he was probably researching the Grail while in the Monastery's library in Travels With Father. Or infact in any of the many books you see him reading on trains and boats could have easily been Grail related books or Arthurian legend
I don't doubt that Henry Sr had been searching for the Grail all his life, much like Indy with other artifacts, like the Chachapoyan Idol or the Cross of Coronado. I also don't doubt that while on the book tour, between meeting famous people, punishing Indy and meeting famous people of the time, he was doing research into the Grail. You could easily say that he was probably researching the Grail while in the Monastery's library in Travels With Father. Or infact in any of the many books you see him reading on trains and boats could have easily been Grail related books or Arthurian legend
That's the way I see it. Since 1898 researching the Grail would have been a constant passion, though not his exclusive line of work, since he had a broader subject to teach. I would think that the Grail for Henry Sr. was something he'd be working on at every available opportunity, taking advantage of the resources of whatever location he happened to currently be in.
Location: Neuchâtel, Switzerland (Canadian from Montreal)
Posts: 6,950
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremiah Jones
However I've always believed the 'obsession' started before her death, and deepened after it.
We're always on the same wavelength, Jeremiah, and once again, I agree with you here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao_Che
The left column is definately says Beowulf but the other seems to say Chaucer from what I can make out.
For what it's worth The Mummy's Curse adaptation of Curse of the Jackal mentions Jones Sr is lecturing on the medieval chivalric code and the Holy Grail and in Safari Sleuth Henry says he's on the tour due to the success of publications on those two topics.
Thanks for the info from those particular novelizations, Leland...(erm, I mean) Lao_Che, because I don't own them. Yes, Beowulf and Chaucer are written on the board. I'll have to put it on the large screen and zoom in to decipher the rest...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Exulted Unicorn
Or infact in any of the many books you see him reading on trains and boats could have easily been Grail related books or Arthurian legend
Sometimes a title is seen and other times the book has a blank cover.
Location: Neuchâtel, Switzerland (Canadian from Montreal)
Posts: 6,950
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao_Che
The left column is definately says Beowulf but the other seems to say Chaucer from what I can make out.
Thanks to the photo that ATMachine posted in this thread (Old Indy pre-production costume test?), some of the writing on the blackboard is more legible. Using a combination of the two, this is my take (red = not sure):
Left Column
Beowulf Art P64 Louvre: Monuments of the Early Church Bagot: L'Art Byzantin Leth-----: Mediæval Art
Right Column
Literature Chaucer: The general Prologue
1) Mediæval Lore: The Knight's Tale
