MDMD(8): Another weather report.

[Michel Ryckx]

There's something weird going on p. 107:  The italics are the author's.

"what Mason sees, from his first Nightfall there, is Darkness, rising up
out of the sea, [. . .] (M&D, 107.2-3)

"the sea appears to lie above the Island [. . .]" (M&D, 107.35).

Then there is the Rain, apocalyptic as ever, or more or less symbolic
--which I've never understood, living in a country where there's a lot
of rain, so the force of the image somehow eludes me; rain to me is a
natural background.

There is, I think, a large difference between the description of the
rain at the Cape, maybe obnoxious, but mainly purifying, and here, on St
Helens: "After Rain-Storms, the water rushes downhill, in Eagres and
Riffles and Cataracts, thro' the town, rooftop to rooftop, in and out of
Windows, leaving behind a shiv'ring Dog from uphill [. . .]" (M&D,
107.24-27)

The "introduction to the Rainy Season" (M&D, 89.36) results on page 89
in a kind of slapstick scene, starring Charles Mason, whom we (or I)
laugh at because of his misery.

p. 91: "the Rain-Beetles are in Song"

The storm at p. 92 "which sheds the Rain in Sheets" (M&D, 92.9) causes
to drink  Madeira wine.  You know: the weather is bad, but you're safe
inside.

And not to forget: while the Reverend is telling chapter 11, "frozen
Rain sweeps briefly yet pointedly at the glossy black Window-Panes (M&D,
105.19-20).  And he, maybe others in the room too, are drinking.

Then there is the Wind, of course.

Michel.
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