atdtda: 31 - pg 877

[Bekah]

877.1-.3   Yashmeen:   "- what were the chances of finding anyone  
else seeking to transcend that, and not even particularly aware of  
it?  And Cyprian, of all people.  Dear Cyprian."

If I'm reading this paragraph correctly,  Yashmeen is getting bored  
in a political and suburban-type life what with its "diminished  
payoffs."  She wants to "transcend" that.    Cyprian is apparently  
like-minded,  but he wants to transcend a whole lot more than the  
banality of suburban life.  He wants to transcend everything,  his  
physical body,  pain, sex,  desire.

*****************

877.10-.12     "But now, for the first time, with Cyprian's return,  
something was different, as if with his miraculous resurrection  
something had also been restored to her, though she resisted naming it."

Cyprian's "resurrection"?  Is this metaphorical in some way or is it  
simply his reappearance?

She resisted naming it?   Might I project the term "dominatrix?"    
Something else?  Is there something about naming or not naming that's  
important?

*****************

877.15  Girtonian - a student at Cambridge,  Girton college (or alumnus)
*****************

  877.21-.22   -  "It was more than the usual history of flogging one  
expected from British schoolboys of all ages."
ahh.... flogging -  http://www.archivist.f2s.com/cpa/biogs/ 
memoirspage.htm
pretty graphic:   http://www.archivist.f2s.com/cpa/instruments/ 
apparatus.htm
*****************

  877.22 -24   -  "It was almost an indifference to self, in which  
desire was directed at passing beyond the conditions of the self..."

see page:   876.30-31  "Most who met him found it difficult to  
reconcile his appetite for sexual abasement - its specific carnality - 
with what had to be termed a religious surrender of the self."

***  Isn't there a Buddhist connection in the loss of self?
*****************

877.26  "Cyprian took altogether too much pleasure in what she  
obliged him to do."
The man has become a true masochist - seeking transcendence through  
pain.

*****************
  877.36 on -   Cyprian gets what he's after - so does Yashmeen.

*********
And for starters on Cyprian at this point:

Sadism and Masochism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadism_and_masochism_as_medical_terms

Bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism and masochism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BDSM

Power Exchange
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_exchange_%28BDSM%29

Sadomasochism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadomasochism
There are a number of reasons commonly given for why a sadomasochist  
finds the practice of S&M enjoyable, and the answer is largely  
dependent on the individual. For some, taking on a role of compliance  
or helplessness offers a form of therapeutic escape; from the  
stresses of life, from responsibility, or from guilt. For others,  
being under the power of a strong, controlling presence may evoke the  
feelings of safety and protection associated with childhood. They  
likewise may derive satisfaction from earning the approval of that  
figure (see: Servitude (BDSM)). A sadist, on the other hand, may  
enjoy the feeling of power and authority that comes from playing the  
dominant role, or receive pleasure vicariously through the suffering  
of the masochist. It is poorly understood, though, what ultimately  
connects these emotional experiences to sexual gratification, or how  
that connection initially forms.

Erotic humiliation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humiliation_%28BDSM%29


**
Bekah
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