SLPAD - 84 - “togetherness” sidelight / little death

[Michael Bailey]

“…spasmodic as
               they were, blinded yet curiously aware of this as little
more than an entwining of
               little fingers, a touching of beer mugs, a McCall’s
togetherness…”

https://quomodocumque.wordpress.com/2007/06/26/togetherness/

“I always thought “togetherness” was an ordinary English word, but it turns
out it was invented in 1954 by McCall’s magazine as part of a publicity
campaign to encourage families to do things, well, *together.”*


*But - *

Same article -

*“Update* (27 Jun) John Cowan points out in comments that in fact
togetherness was a well-established English word before the McCall’s
campaign. Maybe I should start looking stuff up before I post! I do get the
impression from the contemporary sources that in the mid-50s the word was
very strongly associated with the campaign; but maybe it should be seen as
roughly analogous to the present position of the word “abstinence,” which
has a dictionary meaning but which at the moment is closely attached to a
specific political initiative.”




“In the midst of great death,” Levine said, “the little death.”
               And later, “Ha. It sounds like a caption in Life. In the
midst of Life. We are in death. Oh god.”


So I looked that up too.
Coming from “La petite mort”
This article comes at the phrase from many angles, with the additional
attraction of pictures of dancers

https://australianballet.com.au/blog/la-petite-mort-the-little-death


The frogs, Pasiphae, McCall’s, “the little death” Life magazine - ancient
and modern culture surround their tryst. Also the frog chorus as “a pedal
bass for a virtuoso duet of small breathings, sighs”

https://musictheory.pugetsound.edu/mt21c/PedalPoint.html#:~:text=A%20pedal%20point%20is%20a,foot%20pedals%20on%20an%20organ
).

“A pedal point is a note that is held through changing harmonies, starting
as a chord tone before becoming a non-chord tone. Pedal points are often in
the bass voice. The term “pedal” relates to the foot pedals on an organ.”

A) frog calls aren’t always low tones, but quite often they are.

B) does mentioning “pedal” and thinking of foot sex enrich the reading?
I’d say not - except for the references in GR and in BE to foot sex. (-;

Can’t resist:

W/r/t bass & lowness in general -

https://youtu.be/7PCkvCPvDXk

https://youtu.be/mvCgSqPZ4EM

Couldn’t find any foot fetish songs offhand, tho’
(“How beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him who bringeth good
tidings, that publisheth peace” - mons veneris?)

Anyhoo - in the Preface, there’s a certain amount of deprecation of the
many references (“whole extra overlay of rain images and references to “The
Waste Land” and A Farewell to Arms”)

& I was going like “references?”

Now I’m going like, yes, but they’re great.

But _A Farewell to Arms_?
I’m just not that familiar with that one. (Looked at a summary, a baby dies
tragically, presumably Levine uses a condom, making me try to tie it in
with James Joyce’s “what of all the God-possibled souls we nightly
impossibilize?” But that’s probably spurious)

& “The Waste Land”?

Okay, I’ll try & track those down, because the end of the tale approaches
apace & it’s one more chance to savor it. Who knows when or if my next
rereading of it may occur?