Last night I dreamt of Africa, my natal land … upon awaking, I hastily referred to my dog-eared copy of The Dreambook of Mister Pyridine. As that infamous tome's epigraph proclaims — good luck, for there is no other!
Hmmm … deadly continents loom ahead … strong stuff indeed for the haruspices amongst us! Speaking of which, no doubt those of you blessed with second sight have been poking around your breakfast livers and come to the conclusion that any further mention of Lewis Carroll's Hunting of the Snark has become rather scarce on this blog.
Nothing could be further from the postmodern, globalized, deconstructed truth! All this talk of dreams is merely an extended riff upon the dominant theme of Fit the Sixth, the Barrister's Dream. The Barrister dreams of Snark, the Poet dreams of Parnassus, the Reader dreams of the Library of Babel and the Artist dreams of his own private Africa where well-inked beasts roam densely crosshatched jungles, themselves dreaming of Eden before the Fall.
This has indeed been an extended recess; but, as m'lud pleases, I wish to enter into evidence a precedent that has come to our attention during the interim:
ReplyDeleteA Pig on Trial
The court will take note that the defendant is an progenitor of Pierre Delalande, who contributed the epigraph to Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading:
"Comme un fou se croit Dieu, nous nous croyons mortels."
Thank you, Dave (and merry xmas) for that bit of porcine show trial … and in french to boot! (à botte!). Frankly, I prefer my pig-felons to be German, they go better with sauerkraut than with chacroute!
ReplyDeleteyes, it's been an extended recess but certain things are afoot Chez Snark and I hope to rectify the situation very soon …