VV (19) Brenda Wigglesworth

[Dave Monroe]

Okay, here 'tis.  From Vince Constabileo, "An
Explication of Desire and Anxiety: Plotting a Course
Acroiss the Sexuality of Henry James" (M.A. Thesis,
San Francisco State University, 1997)...

"In 'The Figure in the Carpet,' James offers a young
critic, our narrator, who is told of the 'general
intention' [...] in the work of an admired and revered
author, Hugh Vereker. The intention, while Vereker
claims it can be defined, is left tantalizingly beyond
description--it is 'the string the pearls were strung
on, the buried treasure, the figure in the carpet'
[...]. Try as he might, the narrator cannot decipher
Vereker's meaning. The narrator's close friend, George
Corvick, does manage to discover the meaning which s
later confirmed by Vereker. Before the narrator can
inquire about his friend's discovery, Corvick dies.
When approached by the narrator, Corvick's wife,
Gwendolen, makes it clear that she means to keep the
secret to herself. In fact, before she dies she does
not, to the narrator's utter disbelief, pass the
secret on to her second husband.

"The way the narrator pursues the secret (and the way
James describes the importance of knowing the secret)
is usually reserved for sexual pursuits. The
bewildered narrator asks 'Was the figure in the carpet
traceable or describable only for husbands and
wives--for lovers supremely united?'"

http://www.threedollarbill.com/vince/thesis/three.html

Tres Pynchonesque, non?  And so many V.'s ... not to
mention so much venery, as in "beast of" (V., Ch. 14,
Sec. ii, p. 412) ...

Main Entry: ven·ery
Pronunciation: 've-n&-rE
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English venerie, from Middle French,
from vener, to hunt, from Latin venari -- more at
VENISON
Date: 14th century
1: the art, act, or practice of hunting
2: animals that are hunted : GAME 

Main Entry: venery
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English venerie, from Medieval Latin
veneria, from Latin vener-, venus sexual desire
Date: 15th century
1: the pursuit of or indulgence in sexual pleasure
2: SEXUAL INTERCOURSE 

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0106&msg=833&sort=date

Again, cf. Stencil's "mad time search."  Very, very
good call there, Sam ...

> --- Samuel Moyer <smoyer at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> >  
> > Brenda writes poetry:
> > 
> > "I am the twentieth century," she read.  Profane
> > rolled away and stared at the pattern in the rug.
> > 
> > I have not read enough Henry James to know the
> > answer to this... but didn't he have some theory
> > about rugs/carpets and patterns? and is this a
> > reference... is this done on purpose by TRP? 
> > Anyone?

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