AtD translation: though to what pleasures given posed a question far too dangerous

[Mike Jing]

Thanks, Becky. I'll have to think about it a bit more.

On Fri, Feb 16, 2018 at 12:14 PM, Becky Lindroos <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

> I’d just say “'why they liked it' posed a question far too dangerous. “
>  ("what pleasures given” -  what they were getting out of it)
>
> > an odalisque of the snows—though to what pleasures given posed a
> question far too dangerous— we're not even sure if that's a face, or human
> -- what awful activities might give it pleasure?
>
>
> Becky
> https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com
>
> > On Feb 15, 2018, at 6:55 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Odalisques were imagined as "given to" (accustomed to, fond of, trained
> for) pleasures. The inversion "to what pleasures given" is poetic diction
> common in English poetry (or ornate prose) of the 16th-19th centuries,
> faintly archaic in this context. "Far too dangerous": in parallel with the
> other descriptions -- we're not even sure if that's a face, or human --
> what awful activities might give it pleasure?
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 15, 2018 at 7:56 AM, Mike Jing <
> gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
> > P141.24-32   “More like due diligence,” replied Dr. Counterfly, “and a
> respect for probabilities.” He gestured toward the image transmitted by the
> prisms of the instrument, which had been growing steadily clearer, like a
> fateful dawn none await with any eagerness. Too soon we discovered that we
> could not look away. Though details were still difficult to make out, the
> Figure appeared to recline on its side, an odalisque of the snows—though to
> what pleasures given posed a question far too dangerous—with as little
> agreement among us as to its “facial” features, some describing them as
> “Mongoloid,” others as “serpent-like.”
> >
> > What does "to what pleasures given" mean?
> >
> >
>
>
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