Atdtda23: [46.2i] Recognition, 656

[Michael Bailey]

On 12/18/07, Paul Nightingale wrote:
> [656.13-15] For years now, the tunnel-in-progress here had been a regular
> stop for leisured balneomaniacs of the era, traveling spa to spa all over
> Europe and beyond ...

cf Octomaniacs in Vineland; I think there are one or two more *-maniac
formations in the oeuvre as well...

leading to wool-gathering on the subject of mania -
Wikipedia sez: Mania is a severe medical condition characterized
by extremely elevated mood, energy, and unusual thought patterns

Why this would be a useful concept:
that description - "extremely elevated mood, energy,
and unusual thought patterns" - pigeonholed as a
"severe medical condition", when actually it sounds like
a useful state of mind, that artists, scientists, partiers -
anybody in fact - would want to seek out...

a)  This cognitive dissonance leads into paranoia:
"They" have defined my desired state of mind as a pathology!

b) I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of literary antecedents
for the phrasing; and I know that American slang is full
of similar references ("Crazy, man!")

c) the flavor of this particular "passim" reference is
part-and-parcel of the Victorian author-like tone
that crops up frequently in AtD.  A little less fruity
than the Chums narrator, but many kinships!  Offhand,
I remember feeling (or tasting - have been reading the
Octavia Butler books about the ooloi and their sensitive tongues)
this narrator in some of the Colorado scenes, Dally in New York,
some of Lew...



"can't stop hoppin' when the cereal's poppin'" - Pop