various New Sun/Proust quotes (+ Napoleon)

maa32 · 18 Aug 2003, 22:38 · from urth-v0308.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) various New Sun/Proust quotes (+ Napoleon)
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 15:38:30 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0308-3933 at digest.urth.net>
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I was just finishing up Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, and was caught=20
off guard by how many of my favorite Wolfe quotes come from book six (The=20
Fugitive, in my translation).  "Love is the only divinity", "All things tha=
t=20
we consider imperishable tend to their own destruction", "Certain philosoph=
ers=20
aver that the real world is a construction of the mind", "Time turns our li=
es=20
into truth", eating a Chatelaine to invoke involuntary memory instead of a=20
Madeleine cookie, etc.

I remember one debate that was innocuous enough last year in which we=20
discussed Weer's answer to the riddle of Napoleon's hand in his coat from=20
Peace.  Proust offers a joking answer: Napoleon took liqourice tablets for =
his=20
liver which stained his books, and the liver bothered him so much that he=20
grabbed it all the time and eventually died of the ailment.  If you look it=
 up=20
on the internet, most sites say that it was "fashionable" for a gentleman t=
o=20
hold his hand that way in portraits during Napoleon's time.  My own crude=20
theory back then was that Napoleon's documented erectile dysfunction occupi=
ed=20
him at all times, especially on the battle field, where some residual=20
excitement may have offerred some solace to his condition.  (A psychologica=
l=20
Priapism in battle, perhaps?)  In any case, does anyone think that Proust's=20
explanation for the hand has anything to do with Alden Dennis Weer's=20
explanation?  It may be found in the beginning segments of Time Regained.

Just a few worthless bits ...
Marc Aramini

--=20

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