SLSL: Nerissa and Hyacinth

[The Great Quail]

Terrence writes,

> I mean, the scene with the
> girl/baby/lady/fantasy and the rat ("the midget
> problem")  is lame, juvenile, smart assed kid, and it
> does damage the story and the sympathy we have for the
> protagonist, 

Man, I am fated to disagree Terrence on this story!

There is a 90% likelihood that this sequence is a fantasy being experienced
by Flange, brought on by several factors -- Bolingbroke's (possibly
irrational and imaginary) fear of "gypsies," Flange's "break-up" with Cindy,
and the telling of sea stories.

I believe that there are no actual gypsies -- as Rob says, their literary
purpose is to turn the dump into a more magical, mysterious place: gypsies
are to land what sailors are to sea: nomads, strange wanderers, a subset
with their own strange folkways, codes, moralities, languages, traditions,
etc. It is within this enchanted space that Flange has his dream, his
pelagic blood spinning its own sea story....

I find nothing lame, juvenile or even humorous about Nerissa and her rat.
Why is Nerissa a "midget?" Because she is the incomplete image of woman; not
really a midget at all. Indeed, she doesn't even appear to have the
traditional phenotypical characteristics of a midget; rather, she's a
diminutive woman, quite beautiful in an unearthly way -- a nereid. She
springs from an underground grotto deep inside of Flange's unconscious,
where his romantic notions of the sea are fed by a decidedly erotic current,
and he has conflated his desires into one all-purpose being representing the
limitless, undifferentiated potentials of the ocean, the joys of sexual
dissolution, and the unconditional comforts of motherhood. He always was a
womb-seeker, as long as that womb was not "relentless and rational;" in
other words, intended for its true purpose. Better a soft, snug, warm,
sheltering, sexy, dark, accepting, nourishing security.

But there's trouble in paradise: Hyacinth the pet rat. Like the protagonist
in David Lynch's "Eraserhead," Flange projects his fear of fatherhood
onto/into a monstrous being. The presence of this rat-baby destabilizes the
fantasy, and calls forth the first and only "mature" question Flange asks:
Why has he and Cindy not yet had a child?

I feel that this is the pivotal moment of the story, and I also see hope for
Flange. Nerissa acquires another level of meaning -- a child-figure, and
like HCE's thoughts about his daughter Izzy in "Finnegans Wake," there is an
almost incestuous epiphany of age and maturation. So while Flange is not yet
ready to face the real world, he indicates to Nerissa that he will stay for
only "awhile." He sees the truth behind her eyes....

Ron writes,
> The crack about it occurring to Flange that he might discuss "the Midget
> Problem" with Nerissa is pretty supercilious though, patronising and
> offensive to both minorities it alludes to.

Rob, I don't know what to say about your above statement, my friend. I find
it so PC it borders on the humorless. I though Flange's half-awake,
smart-ass comment was actually rather funny, an honest bit of edgy humor.

--Quail

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Great Quail, Keeper of the Libyrinth:
http://www.TheModernWord.com

"Book! you lie there; the fact is, you books must know your places.
You'll do to give us the bare words and facts, but we come in to
supply the thoughts."
     --Herman Melville, "Moby Dick"