VV(18): Let her be a lesbian ...

[Dave Monroe]

"Let her be a lesbian, let her turn to a fetish, let
her die: she was a beast of venery and he had no tears
for her." (V., Ch. 14, Sec. ii, p. 412)


>From Christine Buci-Glucksmann, Baroque Reason: The
Aesthetics of Modernity (Trans. Patrick Camiller. 
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1995), Part 2, "The Utopia of
the Feminine: Benjamin's Trajectory. 2," pp. 91-5 ...


Women in Baudelaire: the most precious booty in the
'Triumph of Allegory'--Life, which means Death.

                                 'Central Park', p. 39

The motif of the androgyne, the lesbian or the sterile
woman should be considered in relation to the
destructive violence of the allegorical intention.

                                 'Central Park', p. 35

The lesbian is the heroine of modernism.

               'The Paris of the Second Empire', p. 90

Baudelaire's heroic ideal is androgynous.

                                 Passagen-Werk, p. 980

Love directed towards prostitutes is the apotheosis of
empathy for the commodity.

                                 Passagen-Werk, p. 637


Among the various epigraps on p. 91, citing ...

Benjamin, Walter.  "Central Park."  Trans. Lloyd
   Spencer.  New German Critique 34 (Winter 1985):
   32-58.

__________.  "The Paris of the Second Empire."
   Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of
   High Capitalism. London: Verso, 1973.  9-106.

__________.  Das Passagen-Werk. Gesammelte Schriften, 
   Vol. V.  Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1982.

And given Stencil's "mad time-search" here, an
interesting multivocality afoot ...

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

Will try to get a last few notes out on Ch. 14 this
morning, but of course any and all up next feel free
to go on without me.  As you always have.  This has
been a ragged couple of weeks, I know ...



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