V.V.(9) Vheissu

[jbor]

I was also struck by the 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' resonance
(Verne, volcanos, Vesuvius etc). And I think that there is more than a touch
of the noble savage, Orientalism/exoticism/romantic primitivism, naive art,
Rousseau (J-J as well as Henri I guess), in the explorer/randy young
subaltern & dusky native women thang going on in this section. Some of le
Douanier's paintings (nb. the rainbows) always remind me of Godolphin's
Vheissu sojourn (or vice versa):

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rousseau/gypsy.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rousseau/rousseau.dream.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rousseau/

> However, stripping the skin of anything
> in Vheissu reveals Nothing, it is all skin above and, Godolphin
> figures, no life below.

It *is* "life" -- animate -- isn't it? What is absent is *soul*. Life and
soul are two separate things, surely? Isn't this the horror which haunts
Godolphin: the intimation that "life" might in fact fall on the *inanimate*
side of the binary, that the "animate" soul is a mere illusion?

> Even dreams are ìnot closer to the waking
> world, but somehow, I think, they do seem more realî [171.3-4].
> Does he mean more real than dreams outside of Vheissu, more real
> than waking reality inside Vheissu, more real than the seemingly
> animate being that inhabit Vheissu?

It's a paradox, for sure. I think that he is saying that being awake in
Vheissu is actually like being trapped in a dream, and that sleep and dream
are in fact escapes from a "reality" which is even more fantastic than any
dream. It also echoes or pre-empts the way Vheissu had come to haunt
Godolphin's dreams ever since.

> In Vheissu everything that
> shows on the outside is raiment (clothing) or skin, below is
> lifeless, soulless.  Which is exactly opposite, of course, to the
> psychodontal description given of teeth.

Yes, I hadn't noticed that before. And it certainly continues the trend of
parallellism, mirror reflection etc in the various narratives.

best


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>From: Michael Perez <studiovheissu at yahoo.com>