St Veronica's

[Paul Mackin]

On Dec 24, 2005, at 1:04 AM, Michael Bailey wrote:

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Veronica
>
> (Interesting tie-in with V., for that matter.) ( and Archie comics )
> St Veronica was supposed to have given Jesus a hankie on his
> deathmarch, with  which he wiped the beads of sweat from his suffering
> face.
> An imprint of his face, quoth Wikipedia, stayed on the linen, and was
> preserved among many such relics by the Church, and:
> To distinguish at Rome the oldest and best known of these images it
> was called vera icon (true image), which ordinary language soon made
> veronica"

The name has always connoted affliction and illness.

By the way, the eccentric friend of  the one-time-fashion-model  
heroine of Mary Gaitskill's  recent _Veronica_ bears that name in the  
story. She is in the process of succumbing to AIDS. Alison, the  
heroine, only has Hepatitis B.

The designer for the book's dust cover decided to play up the vera  
icon (true image) aspect--delivering a Shroud-of-Turin-like image of  
a  beautiful high-cheek-boned face.

Didn't Veronica Lake die of Hepatitis at a fairly early age?

Anyone else read the novel? I've been a Gaitskill fan from the  
beginning, and finally the National Book Awards agreed with me.