We’re not brave enough to attempt interpretation of Lewis’ dreams – let alone
the dreams of any character – but we thought we’d toss out of some
trivia about the
Queen of Spades.
While the figures on today’s king, queen, and jack cards don’t recall anyone in particular, there was a time when the French card manufactures associated each figure with a historical or mythological name; the Queen of Spades was associated with the goddess Athena [1].
In a more literary sense, The Queen of Spades is the name of a short story by Alexander Pushkin, written in 1833. It was turned into the opera The Queen of Spades by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and there were a handful of films based on either the story or opera during the Twentieth Century [2].
Knowing John’s penchant for the obscure it wouldn’t surprise us if he had heard of the opera, but we doubt it served as stimulus for the scene.
[1] Wikipedia: Queen of spades
While the figures on today’s king, queen, and jack cards don’t recall anyone in particular, there was a time when the French card manufactures associated each figure with a historical or mythological name; the Queen of Spades was associated with the goddess Athena [1].
In a more literary sense, The Queen of Spades is the name of a short story by Alexander Pushkin, written in 1833. It was turned into the opera The Queen of Spades by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and there were a handful of films based on either the story or opera during the Twentieth Century [2].
Knowing John’s penchant for the obscure it wouldn’t surprise us if he had heard of the opera, but we doubt it served as stimulus for the scene.
References
[1] Wikipedia: Queen of spades
[2] Wikipedia: The Queen of Spades (story)
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