Topical Guide 785
Mark Dorset
Clams: Tridacna gigas
What a Piece of Work I Am: Chapter 72:
I’m here to enjoy myself, to let my work make me happy. Out of the labyrinth, vacationing on Naxos, still a work in progress, now I am at home, happy as a clam (and here we have Tridacna gigas, the giant clam of horror movies, whose happiness must be enormous).
Here is an excerpt from episode 39 of Sea Hunt, a television series that ran for a total of 155 episodes over four seasons (1958 to 1961):
Places, Real and Fictional: Rarotonga; Arcadia; Shangri-La; Fantasy Land
What a Piece of Work I Am: Chapter 72:
I stand here at the center of my universe, with the foam lapping at my ankles, and I invite myself to dance, to turn in the gentle light, to make myself available for viewing, to put myself on display, so that I can see myself from every angle and marvel at my workmanship, appreciate the piece of work I’ve made, and what a piece of work I am!
That letter came from Rarotonga.
Engara Gosselin singing “My Rarotonga”:
[This concludes the serialization of What a Piece of Work I Am. The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy will resume with the first episode of At Home with the Glynns on Wednesday, August 14th, 2024.]
Have you missed an episode or two or several?
You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.
You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)
At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, and Where Do You Stop?
You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.