Subject
New Yorker "Conclusive Evidence": "Barbara Braun" (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Robert Cook <rcook@rhi.hi.is>
Unresearched thoughts on the conclusion of "Conclusive Evidence," where I
sniff something apocalyptic - which makes the cyclical implications of the
missing final phrase, "to which I now turn" (pointed to recently by Brian
Boyd), the more intriguing.
By dropping the end of Whitman's title ("When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard
Bloomed") the word "last" changes from an adverb to a verb, and implies
that there a question about whether lilacs will survive or not.
My first reaction to Barbara Braun was to connect her last name with Verner
von Braun and her first name to the barbaric research in which he shared.
"Amen Corner" in my perhaps too local usage always meant a place for those
in trouble to huddle and say their last prayers.
All this fits in with the "conclusion" implied in "Conclusive Evidence." On
the other hand, the early part of VN's last paragraph tells us that the
book gives evidence "that this world is not as bad as it seems," and he
suggests that the book will find "a PERMANENT place on the book lover's
shelf."
Robert Cook, University of Iceland
Unresearched thoughts on the conclusion of "Conclusive Evidence," where I
sniff something apocalyptic - which makes the cyclical implications of the
missing final phrase, "to which I now turn" (pointed to recently by Brian
Boyd), the more intriguing.
By dropping the end of Whitman's title ("When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard
Bloomed") the word "last" changes from an adverb to a verb, and implies
that there a question about whether lilacs will survive or not.
My first reaction to Barbara Braun was to connect her last name with Verner
von Braun and her first name to the barbaric research in which he shared.
"Amen Corner" in my perhaps too local usage always meant a place for those
in trouble to huddle and say their last prayers.
All this fits in with the "conclusion" implied in "Conclusive Evidence." On
the other hand, the early part of VN's last paragraph tells us that the
book gives evidence "that this world is not as bad as it seems," and he
suggests that the book will find "a PERMANENT place on the book lover's
shelf."
Robert Cook, University of Iceland