tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post8659555433893619738..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: The Gods are kind, and will not suffer men all things to find they search for - why William Morris rhymesAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-77173714877865085732014-09-11T23:32:51.671-05:002014-09-11T23:32:51.671-05:00Overdoes it, does he ever. This is exactly one of...Overdoes it, does he ever. This is exactly one of the reasons it was an effort to re-enter the book.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-6937924537533199512014-09-11T17:41:26.954-05:002014-09-11T17:41:26.954-05:00He overdoes the inversions, doesn't he? In th...He overdoes the inversions, doesn't he? In the words of Wolcott Gibbs, "Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind."Doug Skinnerhttp://www.dougskinner.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-83996219565050090012014-09-11T13:24:16.534-05:002014-09-11T13:24:16.534-05:00Those Sjón novels are on the way to my home now. P...Those Sjón novels are on the way to my home now. Perhaps they will arrive today. I hope so.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-69779677873379493502014-09-11T11:11:10.827-05:002014-09-11T11:11:10.827-05:00AR(T) great point about The Earthly Paradise being...AR(T) great point about The Earthly Paradise being still influential. Sjón is great at intensifying older material for his novels. <br /><br />In the Muslim world there's this tradition (I quote caddy caddy's version from a certain online literature forum):<br />'Satan was an Angel; his name is Eblees. When Allah created Adam in his image , all angels knelt in front of him, except for Eblees. Angels kneel in front of no one. Kneeling in front of Adam would have meant that Adam came directly after Allah in hierarchy . When Eblees didn't kneel like the others, Allah asked him "Eblees , what's wrong with you. Why didn't you kneel?" Eblees replied: "You created him from burned soil and you created me from fire. I'm better than him."'<br /><br />Sjón turned this into the prelude to his novel, From the Mouth of the Whale:<br /><br />"Yes, there you lay in His hand, with your knees tucked under your chin, breathing so fast and so feebly that you quivered like the pectoral fin of a minnow. Our Father rested His fingertip against your spine and tilted His hand carefully so that you uncurled and rolled over onto your back. I stepped forward to take a better look at you. You scratched your nose with your curled fist, sneezed, o so sweetly, and fixed on me those egotistical eyes -mouth agape. And I saw that this mouth would never be satisfied, that its teeth would never stop grinding, that its tongue would never tire of being bathed in the life-blood of other creatures. Then your lips moved. You tried to say your first word, and that word was, 'I'. But the Father interrupted you and addressed me in an affable but commanding tone.<br />'Lucifer, behold Man! You must bow down before him like the other angels, your brothers...'<br />I looked at you a second time and in that instant you released a stream of slimy green feces. Quick as lightning, you shoved your hand under your buttocks, fetched a fistful of whatever you found there, and raised it to your mouth.<br />As all the world knows, I did not bow my knee to this new pet of my Father's, and for that I was cast out of Heaven along with all who wished to follow me. "Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com