Read The Brooke-Rose Omnibus Online

Authors: Christine Brooke-Rose

The Brooke-Rose Omnibus (65 page)

or the latterway?                          

Those for: Peter Brandt Barbara Darcy Francesca

Newman Robert Galliard Myra Kaplan Kathleen

O’Shaunessy Ali Nourennin Renata Polanska Lin Su Fu.

Those against: Vittoria Charib Marie Faber Salvatore

Tancredi Michael Mandel Jean-Marie Fèvre Eliza Jones.

Abstention: Paul Stradiver Julia Weintraub Neil Alder.

? Refusal of Vote: Saroja Chaitwantee.

a show of hands within a secret ballot

which is one way of introducing a cast-list.

unless Armel inventing Larissa

 
 
or Larissa
"
 
Armel 
 
 
" Armel
"
 
Veronica 
 
 
" Veronica
"
 
Armel
 
 
" Armel
"
 
Larissa
 
 
" Larissa
"
 
Marco (or is it Oscar?)
 
 
" Marco (?)
"
 
Larissa
 
 
" Larissa
"
 
Armel
 

The other possible permutations do not occur for logical reasons: Larissa could invent Veronica but in a limited subjective way in any case Veronica and she are contradictories not contraries as Socrates explained to Protagoras and Structural Semantics has just reinvented. While Armel could invent Marco or is it Tariel and vice versa but due to the double standard in practice would not stoop or merely would not have the curiosity. Clearly Marco does not invent Veronica nor she even utter Marco (or is it Stavro?) they’ve never met besides Stavro has no imagination.

On the other hand the hypotheses could have been posed anticlockwise:

 
 
 
Larissa
inventing
Oscar
 
 
 
Oscar
 "
Larissa
 
 
 
Larissa
 "
Armel
 
 
 
Armel
 "
Veronica
 
 
 
Veronica
 "
Armel
 
 
 
Armel
 "
Larissa
 
 
 
Larissa
 "
Armel
 
 
 
Armel
 "
     ?
 

er something’s gone wrong here there seems to be room for some extra who why the mistress of the moment since the man any man must be if not many at least one up who will fairly soon be dropped for she does not see by day the four lies in the retrovizor when shifted to her forward gaze nor dancing hoops by night

But it needs adjusting.

Well then I found myself with a magician on a

helluva stage as his stooge you know in tights

and a sequin bodice and my bust like it was busting

tight out of it and I was handing him coloured scarves

 

i think and suddenly a prop was missing I forget his

stick I mean his wand anyway it was my fault he couldn’t

 

Lift the white rabbit out of the hat and the crowd murmured

and even shouted as he signalled frantically like mad

right into the wings but they didn’t get the message and

in the end he walked off leaving me alone on stage to cope

somehow in the glare of lights that hits the mirror and

swings left out of it beaming ahead rewritten now

as two small red eyes in a hunched black shape which is

 

delineated against forward floodlight the retrovizor re-

opening to the hoops dancing up and down and aside

in the rear distance luminous horizontal ovals oh

no, vertical ovals as if at quarter angle amber red

green white swiftly changing shape and juggled by the

 

night or by the tall dark house with blue eyes

or maybe by the black recumbent street who

was very short and fat for a magician more than

 

obese you’ve never seen anything so fat he tried to

reach the switches to calm the audience but he was so

 

Very fat and short so he lifted me in my tights and bodice

ever so firm under the breasts with them busting

right out of the sequins and I managed to switch them

off and as he brought me down we kissed half

naked ever so sexy and then we started wanting

it like crazy but I said no later we have to

calm the crowd so he got wild and dragged me

after him out of the theatre but I wrenched free

       saying the show must go on can you interpret

?

The show within the show

What?

of hands juggling

 

within a secret ballet of the I

hell honey I guess I just fill the air for you sure that’s what

i like about you oh I thought it was my big beautiful

true blue tits they’re fine too with a show of hands

entering under silk with a secret ballet of fingers on

 

tiptoe upon soft globed flesh the nipple now rising

hard between the lights the foot pressed gently purring

into a stop the is it sacred belly tensed to the show of

green fingers into the left thigh that jerks open to the

hot human humidity of a sexual humour secreted un-secretly go on then

 

Doing what?

Oh filling the air. You do

 

it so much more convincingly

than the others (tit for

 

tat)

what others?

others who fill the air.    Oh

 
 

You’re mythologising me.

Oh any time. And then you came with your car and said come

unto me I’ll light the way and well

 

drove off

 

did you?

No I didn’t             

Dopey relations you have with your magician men.

Yeah but he wasn’t you Stavro that was the first dream

but he was short well you’re short too but he was

immensely fat and couldn’t have strangled an eagle in

the water for anything he’d have sunk you turn left at the

corner

Hey I know.

Yes you should by now but you always forget.

Okay can you see a spot?

Usually there’s one further up on the right. Here.

Too small.

It isn’t. You’ll have to back into it.

True. But it’s still too small.

But Marco of course you can get in.

I’ll say, if you light the way.

Tooshay! You kill me have you no male pride it’s your car.

Come come honey it’s your street.

Hang on I’ll lower the window. Turn full right

yes now left stop straighten oh lordy no you’re

on the pavement all crooked forward a bit straighten her

up no You’ll have to take her out and start again.

 

Who sez? Some tale-bearer (off) or Other who has got it all wrong

 

Is it Marco or Stavro? (or Armel?)

There has occurred however the foreshortening of

 

Armel into Marco

Laretino or is it Tarie

L? of the accurate boymouth (removed?)

 

whose legs : his body : : his brow : his nose relations in proportion quaternary conjunction or disjunction with the possibility also of non-relations non-conjunction and even non-conjunction a game

Whereas well
Armel
Armel
however
is not like
equates
that at all but tall
rarity
with hair quite dark
of
and swept back grey over
mind with
splendid brow as stark
unusual
as Beethoven’s
spirit and
making the nose (turned up)
the looks of a
seem small between the burned up
hero with a brow
eyes and blurred
as high as Beetho
evasive
ven’s a small nose an
mouth
evasive mouth
it occurred in South
and hair swept back
Carolina
dark but silver
oh but
over temples
not muscular
retaliating eyes
indeed though
and the
masculine
troubled
and slim for
identity
grace and
of the
elegance
narrator.
 
 
(Portrait by Veronica)
(Portrait by his reflection)*
 

*
Jacques,
après
avoir
dit
entre
ses
dents
:
“Tu
me
le
paieras
ce
maudit
portrait
”,
ajouta.
– Vous avez été fou de cette femme-là?

L
e
Maitre
-Et pourquoi haïssez-vous les portraits?

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