Dear Holy Minds,
you maybe think that here, in Heaven, - among the
whiteness of all whitenesses, softenesses of all
softnesses, we keep being sober and serious all the
time...
how boring it would be, especially for a tender
(long-haired, pale-faced, Blake-created) young lady,
like me.
Bored, I would be, and unmotivated,
disconsolate...lonely, loosing appetite,
among sun beams, clouds on clouds, circles on circles
of seated Saints and Wise-Old men. All looking up to
me!
Good God, no.
No, no, no, no.
How do you think they keep me here?
In such eternal light, how would a Beatrice Portinari
(Alighieri, if only Dante had married me! ), the
beauty of all beauties, survive? They play Dada with
me all time. In turn, the dear Saints.
Those great souls, on which the Church of Rome rely!
Dear old lads! I have such a fun....
They cheer me up with Expressos and Cappuccinos, all
day long (since, here, you know, it is always
"morning".)
Love to all.
By the way, here there are no viruses. The place is
uncontaminated. Be sure of that!
Con grazia e leggerezza, sempre Vostra,
Beatrice Alighieri
--- Viv Kitson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Martin - You're right, of course, about "fatuous
> ecstasies anent Beatrice
> Alighieri"...although I would have postulated my
> position as "simulated
> ecstasies". As other members of this list have
> frequently commented, irony
> does not - quite obviously - translate to email
> communication. Or, to quote
> Iggy Pop, "I'm bored, I'm the Chairman of the
> Bored". Just trying to
> stimulate a little "erudite" (??) fun on the list.
>
> And you are correct, quoting from memory: Beatrice
> Portinari it is. I've
> found on the bookshelves the volume of "The Divine
> Comedy" I bought when I
> was 15 or 16. "Oxford Editions of Standard Authors",
> translated by H.F.Cary,
> with 109 illustrations by John Flaxman (no
> publication date). I obviously
> bought it on sale: the price on the flyleaf is a
> crossed out 15/6 to 5/-.
> Circa 1961. five shillings was a lot for an
> adolecsent to spend on a volume
> of poetry. Particularly when I read Cary's Preface
> and note that it is dated
> February 1844! (that is, 100 years before I was
> born).
>
> I haven't seen the Blake illustrations to the Divine
> Comedy, but the Flaxman
> illustrations are decidedly in the Blake style. I
> can make this comment
> because I've also taken from the bookshelves my
> Viking Press 1960 edition of
> "The Portable Blake" - probably purchased
> contemporaneously with the Divine
> Comedy.
>
> Yes, Martin, I do not - to use a favourite word of
> contemporary
> politicians - resile from my adolescent fantasies
> and interests. They formed
> me (for better or worse). But I would have thought
> that my comment in my
> last response to "Beatrice Alighieri" - about
> playing with identities etc. -
> was a "dead give away" as to the position...
>
> FUN, Martin. Fun, GOOD FUN (but perhaps not
> erudite).
>
> Cheers,
> Viv Kitson
>
> Martin J. Walker wrote:
> > Excuse me if I interrupt the fatuous ecstasies
> anent "Beatrice Alighieri"
> > (sic), but it seems to me that you, Viv, and
> others perchance, have fallen
> > for a gross deception, an instance of what certain
> neo-gnostic
> commentators,
> > later unfortunately suppressed, have designated
> the "false Beatrice"
> > syndrome (so well known to Blake, vide his
> illustrations for the
> > _Commedia_ ). Who knows what subtle fairy has
> foisted this deceit on you,
> > ladies and gentlemen, but it is not, repeat NOT,
> the Beatrice Portinari (I
> > am open to correction to the spelling of her
> family name, not having the
> > relevant literature to hand in my sylvan retreat)
> of literary renown and
> > august anima of both Dante Alighieri and the
> adolescent Viv Kitson, known
> to
> > us as otherwise sharp-witted and adult contributor
> to this poetry list.
> > Another estimable contributor, Mairead by name,
> has suggested that
> > "Beatrice" is "Henry" - but who is Henry? Henry
> Pussycat is no longer with
> > us r.i.p. The dark wood grows curiouser and
> curiouser. Could the list have
> > been infected by a very intelligent virus, perish
> the thought, albeit one
> > that commits solecisms of the above-indicated kind
> and attempts to pull
> the
> > wool over our eyes with such patently fabricated
> misspellings as "hights"
> > and "wispering"?
> > Yours etc. Martin
> >
> >
>
>
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