BEg2 ch 26 Rocky & Cornelia TLA

[Michael Bailey]

(Maxine’s impressions of Cornelia’s friendly self-sharing, aided by
omniscient narration & filtered thru Pynchon’s dramatic sense and
vocabulary)


“A sort of compassionate clarity dawned, and grew. Cornelia went on
insisting dramatically that for Thrubwells most of the Social Register was
rather too impossibly ethnic and arriviste, and Rocky went on singing
“Donna non vidi mai” while ogling her in the shower, often eating a
Sicilian slice as he sang. But in growing closer they also came to know who
it was they thought they were kidding.”

          Here’s a Pavarotti rendition of “Donna non vidi mai”

https://youtu.be/TJgrHQGjvzc

>From Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut”

Donna non vidi mai, simile a questa!
A dirle: "io t'amo,"
a nuova vita l'alma mia si desta.
"Manon Lescaut mi chiamo"
Come queste parole profumate,
mi vagan nello spirto.
e ascose fibre vanno a carezzare.
O sussurro gentil,
deh, non cessar!

I have never seen a woman, such as this one!
To tell her: " I love you",
my soul awakens to a new life.
"Manon Lescaut is my name."
How these fragrant words,
wander around in my mind.
And come to carress my innermost fibers.
Oh! sweet thoughts,
Ah, do not cease!