Geography
Its a long time since I saw The Other(1972) or read the book, so I have a question about the geography which has been bothering me since I read the book.
As I remember, the farm was somewhere in New York or New England. And the other day I read that the novel was set in the fictional community of Pequot's Landing, Connecticut. I also found mention of other Tom Tryon novels set in Pequot's Landing, Connecticut.
I also remember from the novel a nursery rhyme:
How many miles to Babylon?
Three score miles and ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again ...
If your heels are nimble and your toes are light,
You may get there by candle-light[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Many_Miles_to_Babylon%3F#:~:text=%22How%20Many%20Miles%20to%20Babylon%22%20is%20an%20English%2Dlanguage,Song%20Index%20number%20of%208148.
Of course, when that nursery rhyme originated, before modern transportion, it would have been a great feat to travel three score miles and ten - 70 miles - during a single period of daylight.
That rhyme may have referred to the ancient city of Babylon in Iraq. Or it might have referred to the ancient fortresss in Babylon, Egypt.
Babylon Fortress (Arabic: حصن بابليون; Coptic: ⲡⲁⲃⲓⲗⲱⲛ or Ⲃⲁⲃⲩⲗⲱⲛ)[1] was an ancient fortress in the Nile Delta, located in the area known today as Coptic Cairo. It was situated in the Heliopolite Nome, upon the east bank of the Nile, at latitude 30°N, near the commencement of the Pharaonic Canal (also called Ptolemy's Canal and Trajan's Canal), from the Nile to the Red Sea.
It was at the boundary between Lower and Middle Egypt, where the river craft paid tolls when ascending or descending the Nile. Diodorus ascribes the erection of the first fort to rebel Assyrian captives in the reign of Sesostris, and Ctesias (Persica) dates it to the time of Semiramis; but Josephus (l. c.), with greater probability, attributes its structure to some Babylonian followers of Cambyses, in 525 BC. The Romans built a new fortress nearer the river, with typically Roman red and white banded masonry.
Within the fortress's enclosure are the Coptic Museum, a convent, and several churches, including the Church of St. George and the Hanging Church.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_Fortress
In medieval Eruope the Fortress of Babylon, Egypt was so famous that the Sultan of Egypt was often called the Sultan of Babylon. So if a medieval European text mentions the Sultan of Babylon, it probably means the Sultan of Egypt.
Naturally a number of other places on Earth have been named after Babylon, Iraq and Babylon, Egypt. Enough places that Babylon 5, 1993-1998, should have used a higher number.
Thee is a Babylon, Illinois, and a Babylon Town(ship) in Suffolk County, New York, as well as a village called Babylon in the town(ship) - along with other villages including Amityville - and a Babylon railroad station in the Babylon village.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_(disambiguation)
As I remeber, in the novel The Other a fairly nearby community named Babylon is mentioned, which I believe had an institution for the insane. Babylon, New York is on Long Island, and is about 25 miles from the closest shore of Connecticut, where a village named Pequot's Landing could be located, and only about 110 miles from the farthest corner of Connecticut.
It is quite plausible there could be about 70 miles between Pequot's Landing, Connecticut, and Babylon, New York. And with the transportation systems of the 1930s someone could go there and back before candle-light.
So it seems reasonable for a kid in Pequot's Landing, Connecticut, to wonder about the connection between Babylon in the nursery rhyme and the nearby Babylon, as I believe that Niles did in the book.
As I remember the rural area around Pequot's Landing was served by some sort of trollycar or light rail system in the era of the novel. But what bugs me is I seem to remember Niles thinking that or wondering whether the light rail system could take someone to Babylon.
There are no bridges across Long Island Sound from Connecticut to Long Island and Babylon.
So did Niles think that the light rail system led to ferries across Long Island Sound and more light rail leading to Babylon?
Or did Niles think that people could take the light rail from Pequot's Landing and get connections to New York City where they could cross to Long Island and reach Babylon the long way around?
Or was there a fictional Babylon, Connecticut in The Other (1971)?
Or was Niles naive enough to think that the light rail could take someone from Connecticut to Babylon, Iraq? share