conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a plot for a book about Arcanum, novel, Arthur entitled The Arcanum.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Arcanum (novel): The year is 1919 and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle must investigate the murder of his mentor (and founder of the The Arcanum), Konstantin Duvall.\nTo do so he must reunite the scattered members of the Arcanum: Harry Houdini, Lovecraft, and voodoo queen Marie Laveau.\nDoyle finds himself embroiled in a story of war as old as time itself, for possession of the world's most powerful—now missing—artifact: the Book of Enoch, the chronicle of God's mistakes, within whose pages lie the seeds for the end of everything.\nPeopled with the twentieth century's most famous—and infamous—figures, the stakes go beyond the realm of humankind—into the divine.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: \nTo do so he must reunite the scattered members of the Arcanum: Harry Houdini, Lovecraft, and voodoo queen Marie Laveau.\nDoyle finds himself embroiled in a story of war as old as time itself, for possession of the world's most powerful—now missing—artifact: the Book of Enoch, the chronicle of God's mistakes, within whose pages lie the seeds for the end of everything.\nPeopled with the twentieth century's most famous—and infamous—figures, the stakes go beyond the realm of humankind—into the divine.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the first two paragraphs for this book.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Arcanum
  Soon after Augustus's inspection of the Japanese Palace urgent matters of state called him to Poland. The matter of who held the throne of Poland had traditionally been decided by election, but as he drew near to the end of his life Augustus longed to establish Saxony's hereditary right to it. Before leaving for Warsaw he decided to pay a brief, informal visit to the Meissen factory. It was destined to be his last. Arriving at the Albrechtsburg castle on November 8, he could already see the effects of the changes he had made since taking charge of the factory. A new firewood lift, an extraordinary horse-driven conveyor-belt contraption linking the cellars of the castle to the river landing stage below, had been constructed. This would save on the cost of bringing the vast quantities of wood needed to fire the new kilns into the castle precincts. A physician had been brought in to improve the workers' health. The fumes from the kilns were highly toxic, respiratory diseases were endemic, and it was rare for those constantly exposed to the belching smoke to live past middle age.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Add another sentence about painting, expanded.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Arcanum
  Soon after Augustus's inspection of the Japanese Palace urgent matters of state called him to Poland. The matter of who held the throne of Poland had traditionally been decided by election, but as he drew near to the end of his life Augustus longed to establish Saxony's hereditary right to it. Before leaving for Warsaw he decided to pay a brief, informal visit to the Meissen factory. It was destined to be his last. Arriving at the Albrechtsburg castle on November 8, he could already see the effects of the changes he had made since taking charge of the factory. 
  The painting departments, the kilns and the stores had all been expanded to cope with the vast orders for the porcelain palace. A new firewood lift, an extraordinary horse-driven conveyor-belt contraption linking the cellars of the castle to the river landing stage below, had been constructed. This would save on the cost of bringing the vast quantities of wood needed to fire the new kilns into the castle precincts. A physician had been brought in to improve the workers' health. The fumes from the kilns were highly toxic, respiratory diseases were endemic, and it was rare for those constantly exposed to the belching smoke to live past middle age.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me five more paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Placed upon the table in front of the king at a royal banquet, the completed figure caused riotous mirth among all those who understood its significance. The tailor had been present at a royal banquet—but not in the manner he had anticipated. Kaendler was so pleased at its reception that he made a second smaller version, and also modeled the tailor's wife.
  Hunting was another passion of the Saxon court frequently interpreted by Kaendler. A highly exclusive occupation, in which only the king and his retinue were allowed to participate, hunting was as emblematic of royal privilege as an invitation to dine at court or to join the king in one of his rural fetes. Farmers whose lives depended on their crops were forbidden to protect them from marauding wild animals, no matter what damage they perpetrated. Killing an animal without royal consent was considered poaching and punishable by death. Jonas Hanway, a visitor to Saxony in the middle of the century, recalled how "The wild boars are so great a nuisance to the country, that the Saxons would gladly compound to support a body of 8,000 soldiers extraordinary on condition that those animals should be reduced to half their present number. In every town of any note there are fifty of the inhabitants who watch, five every night, by rotation, and use belles to frighten the deer, and defend their corn from the incursions of this formidable enemy."
  But despite frequent complaints by the local farmers and the outrage of occasional visitors such as Hanway, hunting remained an exclusively royal pastime for many decades to come. Meanwhile Kaendler's figures of virile huntsmen and their luckless quarry enjoyed enormous acclaim as potent reminders of the thrill of the chase and souvenirs of social status.
  Most revealing of all Kaendler's figures were the so-called crinoline groups, which, like three-dimensional photographs, provide a snapshot of the intrigues, flirtations and fashions of court life. They represent court beauties of a type Augustus the Strong would have found irresistible, laden with movement and replete with imaginary confidences. As one gazes at these intimate creations one longs to know what exactly has led up to the moment that Kaendler has so evocatively frozen in time, and what will happen next.
  Intriguingly, Kaendler often uses porcelain itself as a prop within these groups. As in a picture within a picture he shows us a gallant with his lady love, she holding a painted porcelain beaker of chocolate to his lips in a gesture filled with seductive familiarity. Often these figures were inspired by the paintings of Watteau, but they have been embroidered with extra romantic meaning. Many are said to show Augustus the Strong and one or other of his mistresses. In one he offers a lady (perhaps the unfortunate Countess of Cozelle) a heart-shaped box, while she mirrors his affection by holding a heart to him.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The tailor had been present at a royal banquet—but not in the manner he had anticipated. Kaendler was so pleased at its reception that he made a second smaller version, and also modeled the tailor's wife.
  Hunting was another passion of the Saxon court frequently interpreted by Kaendler. A highly exclusive occupation, in which only the king and his retinue were allowed to participate, hunting was as emblematic of royal privilege as an invitation to dine at court or to join the king in one of his rural fetes. Farmers whose lives depended on their crops were forbidden to protect them from marauding wild animals, no matter what damage they perpetrated. Killing an animal without royal consent was considered poaching and punishable by death. Jonas Hanway, a visitor to Saxony in the middle of the century, recalled how "The wild boars are so great a nuisance to the country, that the Saxons would gladly compound to support a body of 8,000 soldiers extraordinary on condition that those animals should be reduced to half their present number. In every town of any note there are fifty of the inhabitants who watch, five every night, by rotation, and use belles to frighten the deer, and defend their corn from the incursions of this formidable enemy."
  But despite frequent complaints by the local farmers and the outrage of occasional visitors such as Hanway, hunting remained an exclusively royal pastime for many decades to come. Meanwhile Kaendler's figures of virile huntsmen and their luckless quarry enjoyed enormous acclaim as potent reminders of the thrill of the chase and souvenirs of social status.
  Most revealing of all Kaendler's figures were the so-called crinoline groups, which, like three-dimensional photographs, provide a snapshot of the intrigues, flirtations and fashions of court life. They represent court beauties of a type Augustus the Strong would have found irresistible, laden with movement and replete with imaginary confidences. As one gazes at these intimate creations one longs to know what exactly has led up to the moment that Kaendler has so evocatively frozen in time, and what will happen next.
  Intriguingly, Kaendler often uses porcelain itself as a prop within these groups. As in a picture within a picture he shows us a gallant with his lady love, she holding a painted porcelain beaker of chocolate to his lips in a gesture filled with seductive familiarity. Often these figures were inspired by the paintings of Watteau, but they have been embroidered with extra romantic meaning. Many are said to show Augustus the Strong and one or other of his mistresses. In one he offers a lady (perhaps the unfortunate Countess of Cozelle) a heart-shaped box, while she mirrors his affection by holding a heart to him.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the last four paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: As you follow the dimly lit passages leading from one bleakly echoing chamber to the next you cannot but help wondering if Böttger ever imagined, as he toiled in such an inhospitable place, that nearly three hundred years later people would still visit the spot where it all happened, or that the fruits of his struggles would feature in countless museums and collectors' vitrines all over the world.
  My intention in writing this account of the invention of European porcelain is to bring this incredible story of discovery and intrigue to the attention of the general reader. In order to research these events I have gratefully relied on the vast body of scholarly and expert insights published in studies of Meissen porcelain. I have also drawn on eighteenth-century travelers' accounts of Dresden to provide a picture of the color and intrigue of court life, as well as general works on eighteenth-century German history to outline as simply as possible the complex political panorama of the time. The following list provides the main sources on which I have relied for each chapter. Full details of these and other related publications to which I have referred are given in the bibliography that follows.
  A womanizing, hard-drinking, and luxury-loving king...a brash young alchemist imprisoned in a squalid dungeon...an artistic genius who virtually enslaved his apprentices—all locked in an amazing true story of greed, cruelty, and beauty...
  JANET GLEESON has a degree in both art history and English. A journalist who has published numerous articles on art and antiques, she has worked at Sotheby's, as well as at Bonham's Auctioneers.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: As you follow the dimly lit passages leading from one bleakly echoing chamber to the next you cannot but help wondering if Böttger ever imagined, as he toiled in such an inhospitable place, that nearly three hundred years later people would still visit the spot where it all happened, or that the fruits of his struggles would feature in countless museums and collectors' vitrines all over the world.
  My intention in writing this account of the invention of European porcelain is to bring this incredible story of discovery and intrigue to the attention of the general reader. In order to research these events I have gratefully relied on the vast body of scholarly and expert insights published in studies of Meissen porcelain. I have also drawn on eighteenth-century travelers' accounts of Dresden to provide a picture of the color and intrigue of court life, as well as general works on eighteenth-century German history to outline as simply as possible the complex political panorama of the time. The following list provides the main sources on which I have relied for each chapter. Full details of these and other related publications to which I have referred are given in the bibliography that follows.
  A womanizing, hard-drinking, and luxury-loving king...a brash young alchemist imprisoned in a squalid dungeon...an artistic genius who virtually enslaved his apprentices—all locked in an amazing true story of greed, cruelty, and beauty...
  JANET GLEESON has a degree in both art history and English.