|
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
in Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Readerhi, D she uses Dante's concept of the sempiternal rose as follows:
"It would take an epic...to do justice to the tools purveyed by the Sempiternal Rose of mail order, the 1902 Sears, Roebuck catalogue"
i'm not sure i understand her meaning here; Paradiso's offering of the Mystic Rose as the clustering of souls around the Deity, with those closest being the brightest and nearest in the quality of love, doesn't seem to translate well for me.
does anyone use this metaphor, and if so could you please share another example of its usage?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Yes, I use this phrase all the time!  But seriously, isn't she just condensing the meaning of 'still blooming (after all these years)'? hi, paul simon
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
yeah, I doubt that she is offering up the SR catalog as being Mystic, simply eternal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
hmm, it only just now occurred to me to look sempiternal up, to see if it can stand on its own as an adjective, and the etymology (from Latin sempiternus : semper, always + aeternus, eternal) suggests that the word is self-redundant.
i doesn't make sense that it can be superlative to 'eternal', since there can be nothing beyond eternity. in what context would one use 'sempiternal' as opposed to simply 'eternal', except as a symptom of euphuism?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
It is very hard for us to understand the magical meaning the early Sears Roebuck catalog to the disadvantaged rural population of 1902. For the first time they could dream of acquiring luxuries they had never seen before.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
magical meaning the early Sears Roebuck to the disadvantaged rural population of 1902.
Not to mention an eternal supply of toilet paper.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
|
For the first time they could dream of acquiring luxuries they had never seen before.
Yes! like this gem, which Fadiman quotes:
"LADIES, YOU CAN BE BEAUTIFUL. No matter who you are, what your disfigurements may be, you can make yourself handsome as any lady in the land by the use of our FRENCH ARSENIC WAFERS"
no wonder they died young back then.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
It is very hard for us to understand the magical meaning the early Sears Roebuck catalog
Even these days anyone posted overseas by military knows one of the best things to have is a Sears catalogue! Heaven be praised for the Military Postal Services.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
That's why we call it the "Wish Book." ...and arsenic's bad enough... but French arsenic? Yuck  I'll have the Old Lace to go, please.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
well, arsenic-- in very small quantities tend to make the skin whiter (well actually-- it destroys red blood cells-- and make you anemic-) but its not the only the only poison used in makeup-- even today "red" lipstick uses coal tar dyes-- (take a lump of coal-- heat it with out any oxygen-- it will melt, and smoke)-- take the tar like reside and mix it with alcohol and fat-- and sell it for $10 for less than an ounce--Voila! Lipstick. (Coal tars are know to be carcinogenic.– But the thought is you don't "eat" lipstick.)
Do you ever read the ingredients list for makeup? iron (usually an oxide) for blush-- or eyeshadow-- copper too, (and copper is a poison too, just not as strong a poison as arsenic) titanium, too. Cleopatra uses eyeshadow made from kohl– a soft lead compound– and Queen Elizabeth (I) used a lead oxide to powder her face white.
Don't think "natural" cosmetics are better-- some dyes are made from soaking dead insects in alcohol to dissolve there their "shells"--ecto- skeletons- for dyes.. (Yummy!)
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,316
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
693
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
