Heads; Scylla; Four Eyes

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 14 Mar 2001, 07:53 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Subject: RE: (whorl) Re: Heads; Scylla; Four Eyes
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 07:53:27
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0454 at digest.urth.net>
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> >Also: I'm still waiting for someone to explain Babbie's
> >spectacles. No takers?

> It's a joke!

What them guys said. Sometime I think I'll have to do a miniarticle
on Lupine humor -- there's a LOT of it, but it's usually subtle and
often goes unnoticed until the fifth or so reading. (This kind of
"analysis" can bring it out sooner, tho'.)=20

Wolfe's humor reminds me, more than a little, of the subtler death=20
jokes in the ALICE books, as when Alice, falling down the rabbit
hole, remarks that "after a fall like this, I shall think nothing
of a tumble down the stairs. In fact, if I fell off the roof, I
should say nothing at all" -- to which the narrator adds, "Which=20
was probably true; or as when, being advised by Humpty-Dumpty that
she should have stopped (aging) at six, she remarks "One can't,
you know," and Humpty-Dumpty: "One can't, perhaps, but I daresay
with the right help you could have managed it." [All quotes by
memory & probably misworded but accurate as to intent.]

Anyway, that sort of thing, where you don't necessarily catch
it on the first or even third reading but suddenly it hits you
WHAM and you find yourself giggling embarassingly.

> Bluvian creatures (thanks Blattid)

Well, it was that or "Bluish," and that's already taken by the
arch-enemies of Pepperland.

> *Yes, I will provide a reference for this scene, if anyone
> asks me to.

Okay, I'm asking.

--Dan'l

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