A Henry Miller Moment

Catherine Driscoll catherine.driscoll at adelaide.edu.au
Sat Oct 5 08:47:32 PDT 2002


Hi Dennis


> Been reading Miller's wonderful "The Colossus of Maroussi" and
> came across this nice little passage, which I thought was
> reflective of the current mood:
>
> "Madame, there are always two paths to take: one back towards the
> comfort and security of death, the other forward to nowhere. You
> would like to fall back amongst your quaint tomb-stones and
> familiar cemetery walls. Fall back, then, fall deep and fathomless
> into the ocean of annihilation. Fall back into that bloody torpor
> which permits idiots to be crowned as kings. Fall back and writhe
> in torment with the evolutionary worms. I am going on, on past the
> last black and white squares. The game is played out, the figures
> have melted away, the lines are frazzled, the board is mildewed.
> Everything has become barbarous again."
>
> Has it not?

Umm... what? Are you saying Miller has a singularly useful or perceptive perspective on something? What is it, exactly? There are worms somewhere? Oh, I know, metaphor, sure, yeah. But... for what, exactly? Or, ok, I'll give you that a really productive image doesn't have to be a metaphor *for* anything in that strict sense, but, still... melted figures, frazzled lines, mildewed boards... I'm clearly to ignorant to see the productive connection here to whatever it is you wanted to connect to. Guessing 'war against terror scenario', but I can't see it.

Catherine



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