Topical Guide 657
Mark Dorset
Allusion
Advice
Seduction: Crude, Clumsy
What a Piece of Work I Am, Chapter 7:
His overheated mind was trying to mediate between his headstrong and sensible selves:
“You really ought to try to hold off, you know, in case there is any chance that she might be willing to give you more than what you are now getting.”
“Get it while you can!”
“You really should try to hold out for the greater pleasure—”
“Oh, Geez, that feels good!”
All of that was going on somewhere below the level of thought, in the bottom of his mind, […]
Maybe this is “just me,” but I read the foregoing as a struggle between Denny’s inner Emerson and his inner Horace.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Method of Nature”:
[…] aim at an infinite, not at a special benefit. […] Your end should be one inapprehensible to the senses: then it will be a good always approached,—never touched; always giving health.
Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
[“Seize the day, and put the least possible trust in the future.” Or, more broadly, “make the most of the present moment; you may never get another as good as this.”]
Or perhaps the whole front-seat-of-the-car-on-the-pier scene is more Meatloaf than either Emerson or Horace.
Or perhaps it most resembles this version of the dance or tussle, from e. e. cummings, with cummings’s punctuation and spacing and with divine where Denny had lovely:
may i feel said he
(i’ll squeal said she
just once said he)
it’s fun said she
(may i touch said he
how much said she
a lot said he)
why not said she
(let’s go said he
not too far said she
what's too far said he
where you are said she)
may i stay said he
which way said she
like this said he
if you kiss said she
may i move said he
is it love said she)
if you’re willing said he
(but you're killing said she
but it’s life said he
but your wife said she
now said he)
ow said she
(tiptop said he
don’t stop said she
oh no said he)
go slow said she
(cccome?said he
ummm said she)
you’re divine!said he
(you are Mine said she)
Or, from Denny’s point of view, this:
Or, from Ariane’s point of view, this:
See also:
Allusion; Quotation TG 140, TG 455, TG 462, TG 502, TG 506, TG 532, TG 559, TG 583, TG 592; TG 626; TG 654
Advice: Bad TG 129; Dangerous TG 545; Good, Bad, Indifferent, Who Knows? TG 592; Good TG 605
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