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Re: Fw: lunette/meniscus in TT
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I'm not in on this reading, but I couldn't help noticing the discussion
about 'lunette'. As someone said elsewhere, one meaning could be
'telescope'; I believe 'microscope' is possible, too. At least,
Constantijn Huygens uses this word in his letters to refer to one or
other of these meanings. Also, there is a still life painting that I am
currently researching in the Yale University Art Gallery by Jacques De
Gheyn II; it's a vanitas from 1614 and above various objects there is a
glowing moon (-like hole/painting?) with a cherub floating in it. In one
description it's referred to as a 'lunette'. I don't know if this is a
standard art term. I hope it has some resonance with TT.
Also, the excellent Irish writer John Banville is rather keen on
'meniscus'. I think I've noticed it more than once! Banville's fiction
(for me) has a very knowing, sardonic (dare I say Nabokovian?)
undertaste.
Brian Howell
On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:59:15 -0800, "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
said:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
> To: don barton johnson
> Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 5:11 PM
> Subject: Fw: lunette/meniscus in TT
> ..................................................................
> John and List,
>
> Following the "lunette" and its various meanings referring to:
> the crescent cut for holding the neck at the guillotine;
> crescent moon; meniscus; little moon;
> arcade with an opening for ventilation and light;
> architectural projection;
> "lunotto", the rear window of a car or carriage, which may have a
> moonlike shape or serve for admiring the moon;
> etc...
>
> we find, after the initial chapter in TT where " the future is but a
> figure of speech, a specter ot thought" ( even at an imminent beheading
> secured by a lunette ), a slow and discreet emergence of the crescent
> moon in various "figures of speech" culminating with our Baron R´s "
> tralatitions".
>
> A subtle variation of "lunette" appears on Ch.5: " He strolled aimlessly,
> keeping in the shelter of various ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTIONS ( one of the
> meanings of "lunette") for it was in vain the the daily paper of that
> rainy town kept clamoring for ARCADES to be built in its shopping
> district "
> ( on Ch 4, Hugh was sharing a room with his father in a "halfhearted
> alcove, separated by an ARCHWAY and a clothes tree" which, more or less,
> also suggests the crescent shape but not as clearly as what follows
> later ) .
>
> At the closing of Ch 6 we find a frightened Hugh close to the dead body
> of his father when he opens "wide both casements; they gave on a parking
> place four floors below; the thin MENISCUS overhead was too wan to
> illumine the roofs of the houses descending towar the invisible lake".
>
>
> Then, of ch.9 Hugh meets pretty Armande who has " two dimples of the
> CRESCENTIC type" and that "came down her tanned cheeks on the sides of
> her mournful mouth".
>
> The "lunette" is now firmly connected to Armande herself! and I stopped
> at Ch.9. I wonder what lies in the next chapters!
>
> ( the hunting goddess Diana is also depicted with a crescent as a crest
> on her head)
>
...................................................................................................
> There is also the affair of ch9, with the play with "opposite" images
> from "crescent moon" to "setting sun".
> It starts with "Would he mind pulling that dark blind down a little? THE
> LOW SUN´S FUNERAL"
> and proceeds to " Ask me what I can do, not what I do, lovely girl,
> lovely WAKE OF THE SUN" ( ...)
> And, after that:
> " I can commit to memory a whole page...I have never published one scrap
> of verse except some juvenile nonsense at college" ..
> And what was the juvenile nonsense? It appears at the begining of Ch8: "
> Blest are suspension dots...THE SUN WAS SETTING A HEAVENLY EXAMPLE TO THE
> LAKE' .
>
> ( wonderful: Funeral - Wake - Sunset and set an example - ( Lake )
>
...........................................................................................
>
> Has it been brought up at the list that the hotel "FANTASTIC in Blur"
> that is actually the "MAJESTIC in Chur", soon gains expression in Hugh´s
> appearance: " had not his melancholy stoop belied every inch of his
> FANTASTIC MAJESTY' ?
>
...............................................................................................
> Best to all,
> Jansy
----- End forwarded message -----
about 'lunette'. As someone said elsewhere, one meaning could be
'telescope'; I believe 'microscope' is possible, too. At least,
Constantijn Huygens uses this word in his letters to refer to one or
other of these meanings. Also, there is a still life painting that I am
currently researching in the Yale University Art Gallery by Jacques De
Gheyn II; it's a vanitas from 1614 and above various objects there is a
glowing moon (-like hole/painting?) with a cherub floating in it. In one
description it's referred to as a 'lunette'. I don't know if this is a
standard art term. I hope it has some resonance with TT.
Also, the excellent Irish writer John Banville is rather keen on
'meniscus'. I think I've noticed it more than once! Banville's fiction
(for me) has a very knowing, sardonic (dare I say Nabokovian?)
undertaste.
Brian Howell
On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:59:15 -0800, "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
said:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
> To: don barton johnson
> Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 5:11 PM
> Subject: Fw: lunette/meniscus in TT
> ..................................................................
> John and List,
>
> Following the "lunette" and its various meanings referring to:
> the crescent cut for holding the neck at the guillotine;
> crescent moon; meniscus; little moon;
> arcade with an opening for ventilation and light;
> architectural projection;
> "lunotto", the rear window of a car or carriage, which may have a
> moonlike shape or serve for admiring the moon;
> etc...
>
> we find, after the initial chapter in TT where " the future is but a
> figure of speech, a specter ot thought" ( even at an imminent beheading
> secured by a lunette ), a slow and discreet emergence of the crescent
> moon in various "figures of speech" culminating with our Baron R´s "
> tralatitions".
>
> A subtle variation of "lunette" appears on Ch.5: " He strolled aimlessly,
> keeping in the shelter of various ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTIONS ( one of the
> meanings of "lunette") for it was in vain the the daily paper of that
> rainy town kept clamoring for ARCADES to be built in its shopping
> district "
> ( on Ch 4, Hugh was sharing a room with his father in a "halfhearted
> alcove, separated by an ARCHWAY and a clothes tree" which, more or less,
> also suggests the crescent shape but not as clearly as what follows
> later ) .
>
> At the closing of Ch 6 we find a frightened Hugh close to the dead body
> of his father when he opens "wide both casements; they gave on a parking
> place four floors below; the thin MENISCUS overhead was too wan to
> illumine the roofs of the houses descending towar the invisible lake".
>
>
> Then, of ch.9 Hugh meets pretty Armande who has " two dimples of the
> CRESCENTIC type" and that "came down her tanned cheeks on the sides of
> her mournful mouth".
>
> The "lunette" is now firmly connected to Armande herself! and I stopped
> at Ch.9. I wonder what lies in the next chapters!
>
> ( the hunting goddess Diana is also depicted with a crescent as a crest
> on her head)
>
...................................................................................................
> There is also the affair of ch9, with the play with "opposite" images
> from "crescent moon" to "setting sun".
> It starts with "Would he mind pulling that dark blind down a little? THE
> LOW SUN´S FUNERAL"
> and proceeds to " Ask me what I can do, not what I do, lovely girl,
> lovely WAKE OF THE SUN" ( ...)
> And, after that:
> " I can commit to memory a whole page...I have never published one scrap
> of verse except some juvenile nonsense at college" ..
> And what was the juvenile nonsense? It appears at the begining of Ch8: "
> Blest are suspension dots...THE SUN WAS SETTING A HEAVENLY EXAMPLE TO THE
> LAKE' .
>
> ( wonderful: Funeral - Wake - Sunset and set an example - ( Lake )
>
...........................................................................................
>
> Has it been brought up at the list that the hotel "FANTASTIC in Blur"
> that is actually the "MAJESTIC in Chur", soon gains expression in Hugh´s
> appearance: " had not his melancholy stoop belied every inch of his
> FANTASTIC MAJESTY' ?
>
...............................................................................................
> Best to all,
> Jansy
----- End forwarded message -----