[ilds] Query re 'Tunc'

[James Gifford]

Bruce, I think this is very close to what Durrell was after.  He, of 
course, indulges the "dirty mind" element as well, but it's never 
terribly far from the sacred and corporate worlds of the book.  Rebirth 
is an explicit part of it as well.

I've enjoyed the Revolt books very much, despite their lesser status for 
many readers.  You just can't expect them to be look like the Quartet or 
travel books.

Best,
James

On 2014-05-30, 2:00 PM, Bruce Redwine wrote:
> James and Richard,
>
> All very interesting.  Thanks.  I'll have to put /Revolt of Aphrodite/
> on my reading list.  One more thing about /naos/ in the context of
> Aphrodite, goddess of love. /Naos, /particularly when talking about the
> architecture of ancient Egyptian temples, has a strong sexual component.
>   Egyptologist tend to look at the typical temple as a long progression
> from light to darkness, as the passage narrows and becomes smaller.  The
> innermost part is the holy of holies, where the god resides in near
> darkness.  The vision is vaginal.  Hence the term penetralium (<
> /penetralis,/ penetrating) for the holy of holies.  This isn't
> interpreted as the Egyptians having "dirty minds," rather the sexual
> trope is seen as a from of regeneration and resurrection.  The ancient
> Egyptians were obsessed with the afterlife and getting there.  So, the
> sexual metaphor is a way to view rebirth.  Dunno how this applies to
> /Revolt/ and dunno to what extent Durrell was aware of all this.
>
> Bruce
>
>
>
>
> On May 30, 2014, at 11:57 AM, James Gifford <james.d.gifford at gmail.com
> <mailto:james.d.gifford at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>>> /Naos/ is very interesting.  It is a technical term used
>>> frequently in archaeology, particularly Egyptology and Mediterranean
>>> archaeology, and has a specific referent.  It refers to the innermost
>>> part of a temple, the /sanctum sanctorum,/ the holy of holies.
>>>
>>> Bruce
>>
>> Which is, of course, where that book series peaks in London...  St.
>> Paul's, with a "magic circle" and Fall (LD's capitalization).
>>  /Nunquam/ is replete with references to corporatism and faith, with
>> the distinction between the two frequently elided.  Even before the
>> closing scene in St. Paul's, Durrell hints at the magic circle element
>> and money:
>>
>> "It [St. Paul's] was built by a great artificer in conscious pursuit
>> of mathematical principles; it was not a dream of godhead full of
>> poetry or frozen music or what not. No, it belonged to its age; it was
>> a fitting symbol for a mercantile country in an age dedicated to
>> reason, hovering on the edge of the Encyclopaedia and the Industrial
>> Revolution. It is no accident that the business part of the city, the
>> moneyed part, grouped itself round this great symbol of the stock and
>> share. Nor is it an accident that it should in some ways feel strongly
>> reminiscent of a railway station—say Euston or Waterloo. It stands as
>> a symbol for the succeeding ages which produced both." (Nunquam 214)
>>
>> Faith and funds are manifestations of the same impulse, in effect, and
>> it circles around Durrell's preoccupation with urbanization and the
>> conditions of modernity, I would think.  The faith-funds link comes up
>> again and again across /Nunquam/:
>>
>> "My dear chap, in this, our new Middle Ages, investment has become the
>> motor response of all religion; not in God as he was known (he hasn’t
>> changed), not in the psychic Fund of Funds which pretends to chime
>> with the ways of universal nature. (That too is balls by the way.) No,
>> for us money is sperm, and the investment of it the ritual of
>> propitiation." (Nunquam 94)
>>
>> To this Durrell adds the chain's link:
>>
>> “The pattern is only repeating itself; we have placed an unobtrusive
>> hand on much more than the Stock Exchange. Most of the Indian holy
>> places like the Taj and Buddha’s tree and so on are in our hands; the
>> Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Herculaneum, Pompeii, Grant’s Tomb."
>> (Nunquam 94)
>>
>> The last item is striking, taking in as it does the nation as a
>> continuation of the religious impulse.  The same idea repeats several
>> times across Nunquam in particular.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> James
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