P and mirrors & the 'elastic universal"

[Ian Livingston]

The mirror entered 16th C literature as a major symbolic element as
the first tin-mercury amalgam-backed glass mirrors became fashionable.
The effect among those who first saw these things was pretty big,
really. It was very like magic. The reflection was so nearly like the
original in color for the first time since Narcissus and his pond.
Oh, and where were they made? Venice, of course.

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 7:25 AM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> From an article in today's NYT about a DC exhibition on the sea. I want to see
> it:
>
> "A 1559 book by William Cunningham, a physician and favorite of Queen Elizabeth,
> is even more ambitious; it is called “The Cosmographical Glasse, Conteinyng the
> Pleasant Principles of Cosmographie, Geographie, Hydrographie, or Navigation.”
> The book names itself as a “glasse,” a mirror, in which the entire cosmos can be
> discerned and ordered, with the navigator himself at its stable center. "
>
> And, should have posted this in my last post. Kermode, writing on Shakepeare's
> incredible powers of verbal "ambiguity", i.e. allusive resonance, uses
> the phrase "the elastic universal" about some of the richest, most multi-valent
> words. Seems 'the elastic universal' might apply to "V." (as symbol)  itself as
> well as to many other symbols of TRP's, yes?
>
>
>
>



-- 
"liber enim librum aperit."