TRTR(I.3) Cogito Ergo Salamander [p. 96]

[Jed Kelestron]

http://bit.ly/jh9VUV

[Descartes] "Kept a salamander, no wonder." A reference taken from the
novel, "At the Sign of the Reine Pédauque" by Anatole France, first
published in 1893. Here is the account of Descartes and his
Salamander:

Salamanders
are of such a kind that beside them the prettiest
person in town or at court is but a repulsive mon-
key. They yield themselves willing to philosophers.
You have no doubt heard tell of the wondrous
being by whom Monsieur Descartes was accom-
panied on his travels. Some said it was a natural
daughter he took everywhere with him, others
thought it was an automaton that he had made
with inimitable art. In reality it was a Salamander
that this able man had taken for his lady-love. He
never left her. On one of his passages in the
Dutch seas he took her on board shut in a box of
precious wood lined with satin. The shape of this
box and the precautions with which Monsieur Des-
cartes handled it drew the attention of the captain,
who, when Monsieur Descartes was asleep, lifted
the lid and discovered the Salamander. This ig-
norant and coarse man thought that so marvel-
lous a being must be the devil's handiwork. For
very fear, he threw her in the sea. But as you can
well believe the beautiful creature was not drowned
and it was easy for her to rejoin her good friend
Monsieur Descartes. She remained faithful to him
as long as he lived, and on his death left this earth
never to return.

"I cite this example among many others to ac-
quaint you with the love of philosopher and Sala-
mander. This love is too sublime to be subjected
to contracts, and you will agree that the ridiculous
farrago and apparatus of our marriage would not
be the right thing in such unions. Truly, it would
be a pretty thing if a bewigged notary and a fat
cure were to put their noses into it ! These gentle-
men are fit only to set the seal to the vulgar union
of man and woman. The hymeneals of Salaman-
der and sage are borne witness to in more august
fashion. They are celebrated by the aerial peo-
ples in aery navies, which, borne on gentle zephyrs,
glide on invisible waves to the sound of harps, their
poops bedecked with roses. But do not run away
with the notion that because they are not inscribed
in a thumbed register in a dirty sacristy such troth
is not enduring, or may be broken with facility.
The Spirits are its sureties, who sport among the
clouds, whence flashes the lightning and bursts the
thunder. I make revelations which will be of use
to you, my son, for I have already recognised by
indications not to be mistaken that you are destined
for the bed of a Salamander."

"Alas! Monsieur," I cried, "this destiny ter-
rifies me, and my scruples on the subject are nearly
as great as those of the Dutch captain who threw
Monsieur Descartes's pretty friend into the sea. I
cannot help thinking as did he that these aerial
ladies are demons! I should fear to lose my soul
for them, for, in fine, Monsieur, such marriages are
contrary to nature, and opposed to divine law.
Would that Monsieur Jerome Coignard, my good
master, could hear you ! I am quite certain that he
would uphold me with good arguments against the
seductions of your Salamanders, and against your
eloquence."

[The intro by William J. Locke makes it clear why
the works of Anatole France were of interest to
Gaddis.]

"The secret of this paradox lies in the dual tem-
perament of the artist and the philosopher. One
is ever amused by the riddle of life, dallies with it
in his study, and seeks solutions scholarwise in the
world of the past, knowing full well that all endeav-
ours to pierce the veil are vanity, and that meas-
ured by the cosmic scale the frying of a St. Law-
rence and the chilblain on a child's foot are equally
insignificant occurrences. The other penetrated by
the beauty and interest of the world is impelled by
psychological law to transmit through the prism of
his own individuality his impressions, his rare sense
of relative values, his passionate conviction of
the reality and importance of things. The result of
the dual temperament is entertaining. What the
artist, after infinite travail, has created, the easy
philosopher laughs at. What the artist has set up
as God, the philosopher flouts as Baal. In most
men similarly endowed there has been conflict be-
tween the twin souls which has generally ended in
the strangling of the artist; but in the case of Ana-
tole France they have worked together in bewild-
ering harmony."

http://bit.ly/iJIc24