V-2nd C4 Unsyncopated Tango

[Dave Monroe]

"Beneath the mirror, two golden imps in a clock danced the same
unsyncopated tango they'd always danced."  (V., Ch. 4, p. 98)


"tap-tapped"

Mechanically?  And/or blindly?


"unsyncopated tango"

"The dance of the imps is regulated by the constraints of the clock's
mechanism and therefore lacks the elements of passionate fierceness
that the jumpy rhythms of the tango impart.  Esther 'felt home'
here--a comment on her relationship with the clock's owner, no doubt."
--Grant, Companion, p. 42

http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/companion_to_v/

... and/or, perhaps, on her relationship to the clock's mechanisms.
Meanwhile, on said "passionate fierceness," see, e.g., ...

Washabaugh, William, ed.  The Passion of Music and Dance:
  Gender, Body and Sexuality.   Oxford: Berg, 1998.

http://www.bergpublishers.com/?tabid=1174

https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/wash/www/Passmus.html


"the operating room"

As opposed to "a small chamber, in it a bed" (note also that
"sentimental glance")  ...


"the intense halo of a paraboloid reading light"

Main Entry: ha·gio·graph·ic
Pronunciation: \ˌha-gē-ə-ˈgra-fik, ˌhā-, -jē-\
Variant(s): also ha·gio·graph·i·cal \-fi-kəl\
Function: adjective
Date: 1819

1 : of, relating to, or being hagiography; especially : excessively
flattering <a hagiographic biography>
2 : of or relating to the Hagiographa

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hagiographic


"'You are early' [...] 'I am late'"

Cf. those "two golden imps [....] danc[ing] the same unsyncopated
tango they'd always danced" ...