The Avignon Quincunx

M

Mr Can

Mannikin
"In the layer beneath the dollies (as in a box of chocolates) were stored all sorts of necrophiliac thoughts and tendencies which lead to an exaggerated dread of graves, corpses, etc. These fears are sublimated into love for statues, waxworks, effigies, all dead objects. The reason for the fascination is the appeal of defencelessness. The corpse cannot defend itself. 'Listen to that,' I cry to the sleeping gypsy. 'The corpse cannot defend itself, nor can the sleeper.'"
Lawrence Durrell - from Monsieur, the first book of 'The Avignon Quintet'.
 
"And this book which I have always had in deep soak, when will it be finished? When I stop breathing? But the idea behind the furtive activity has always been that ideal book - the titanic do-it-yourself kit, le roman appareil. After all, why not a book full of spare parts of other books, of characters left over from other lives, all circulating in each other's bloodstreams - yet all fresh, nothing second-hand, twice chewed, twice breathed. Such a book might ask you if life is worth breathing, if death is worth looming . . . Be ye members of one another. I hear a voice say, 'What disease did the poor fellow get?' 'Death!' 'Death? Why didn't he say so? Death is nothing if one takes it in time.'"
Lawrence Durrell - from Constance, the third book of 'The Avignon Quintet'.
 
'You live in the spare parts of other people's dreams, neologisms among the nightmares which project themselves into your own daymares of violence and panic.'
- from 'The Avignon Quincunx' by Lawrence Durrell ('Constance' 1982)
 
"From the cosmic point of view, to have opinions or preferences at all is to be ill; for by harbouring them one dams up the flow of the ineluctable force which, like a river, bears us down to the ocean of everything's unknowing. Reality is a running noose, one is brought up short with a jerk by death. It would have been wiser to co-operate wih the inevitable and learn to profit by this unhappy state of things - by realising and accommodating death! But we don't, we allow the ego to foul its own nest. Therefore we have insecurity, stress, the midnight-fruit of insomnia, with a whole culture crying itself to sleep. How to repair this state of affairs except through art, through gifts which render to us language manumitted by emotion, poetry twisted into the service of direct insight?"
- from 'The Avignon Quincunx' by Lawrence Durrell ('Constance' 1982)
 
It bore an arrow and an exclamation mark and indicated the pyramid of wax cones upon which he had imprinted the true story of his death, his suicide.
---from 'Sebastian' (the fourth of the 'Avignon Quintet') by Lawrence Durrell
 
Mr Can, the quotations of Mr. Durrell are certainly the strangest I have experienced since being introduced to the writings of Elizabeth Bowen some months ago. One might posit that they are both "sympathetic organisms," the two writers ships in the night, fully aware of that treacherous iceberg ahead. Perhaps, at the last moment, catastrophe may either be avoided or explained...
 
LOL !
Spot & Mr Can, you may be interested to know there are succulent Bowens described and linked from HERE: ie a choice cutlet from each of her many short stories and from each chapter of all her novels. A massive task recently completed by yours truly.
des
 
Mr Can said:
"In the layer beneath the dollies (as in a box of chocolates) were stored all sorts of necrophiliac thoughts and tendencies which lead to an exaggerated dread of graves, corpses, etc. These fears are sublimated into love for statues, waxworks, effigies, all dead objects. The reason for the fascination is the appeal of defencelessness. The corpse cannot defend itself. 'Listen to that,' I cry to the sleeping gypsy. 'The corpse cannot defend itself, nor can the sleeper.'"
Lawrence Durrell - from Monsieur, the first book of 'The Avignon Quintet'.
Click to expand...
I must thank you for posting this quotation, Mr Can. Upon further examination and much deeper consideration of Durrell's words, truly Ligottian concerns do emerge. I shiver at the thought of marionettes dangling without movement.

My dictionary states the following about the origin of the word "marionette":
[Fr. for Mariolette, a dim. of Mariole, a little figure of the Virgin Mary.]

In closing, I can state that mooching a meal from my mother has no strings attached, except the heart strings, of course...
 
G. S. Carnivals said:
I shiver at the thought of marionettes dangling without movement.
Click to expand...

And so you should, mr gsc.
It is my sad but inevitable duty to finish my scratching through the massive QUINCUNX with this my last post here.
This last, seemingly appropriate, quote is a tribute both to the writer who gives his name to this site and who also created my own name if not me. And please tell mr des, I'll not be back, after all.
Compliments of the Season.

"My style may be described as one of jump-cutting as with cinema film. The basic illustration is of course the admission that reincarnation is a fact. The old stable outlines of the dear old linear novel have been sidestepped in favour of soft focus palimpsest which enables the actors to turn into each other, to melt into each other's inner lifespace if they wish. Everything and everyone closer and closer together, moving towards the one."
From 'Quinx' (the fifth novel of the Avignon Quintet) by Lawrence Durrell.
 
Mr Can, it is with great regret and sorrow that I acknowledge your sudden departure from TLO. Your contributions have certainly stimulated this canine mind. I sensed in your substance a disenfranchised and disembodied entity not unlike my own - but I speculate and grow introspective. Since no future games of "fetch" are likely, I offer a few choice tidbits of advice I've picked up since I was naturalized as an American citizen: 1) Don't take any wooden nickels 2) Look both ways before crossing the street 3) Always wear clean underwear in case you don't look both ways before crossing the street 4) Trust the hair of the dog.
 
Mr Can said:
It bore an arrow and an exclamation mark and indicated the pyramid of wax cones upon which he had imprinted the true story of his death, his suicide.
---from 'Sebastian' (the fourth of the 'Avignon Quintet') by Lawrence Durrell
Click to expand...


A Tearsheet Doll become Irreligious Icon?
 
As I don't have a blog, I hereby bequeath my choice of quotes from 'The Avignon Quincunx' to Nemonymous for benfiting the readers of his blog.
Happy New Year.
Mr Can
 
Mr Can said:
"In the layer beneath the dollies (as in a box of chocolates) were stored all sorts of necrophiliac thoughts and tendencies which lead to an exaggerated dread of graves, corpses, etc. These fears are sublimated into love for statues, waxworks, effigies, all dead objects. The reason for the fascination is the appeal of defencelessness. The corpse cannot defend itself. 'Listen to that,' I cry to the sleeping gypsy. 'The corpse cannot defend itself, nor can the sleeper.'"
Lawrence Durrell - from Monsieur, the first book of 'The Avignon Quintet'.
Click to expand...

Some great quotes on this thread.
 
Mr Can said:
"And this book which I have always had in deep soak, when will it be finished? When I stop breathing? But the idea behind the furtive activity has always been that ideal book - the titanic do-it-yourself kit, le roman appareil. After all, why not a book full of spare parts of other books, of characters left over from other lives, all circulating in each other's bloodstreams - yet all fresh, nothing second-hand, twice chewed, twice breathed. Such a book might ask you if life is worth breathing, if death is worth looming . . . Be ye members of one another. I hear a voice say, 'What disease did the poor fellow get?' 'Death!' 'Death? Why didn't he say so? Death is nothing if one takes it in time.'"
Lawrence Durrell - from Constance, the third book of 'The Avignon Quintet'.
Click to expand...

Timely quote.
 
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