In the novel Submergence, Hades is also a physical place, the deepest of the deep sea vents where both the newest and oldest life is found…among that yet to be discovered.

WORK

“We cannot talk with definition about our souls, but it is certain that we will decompose. Some dust of our bodies may end up in a horse, wasp, cockerel, frog, flower, or leaf, but for every one of these sensational assemblies there are a quintillion microorganisms. It is far likelier that the greater part of us will become protists than a skyscraping dormouse. What is likely is that, sooner or later, carried in the wind and in rivers, or your graveyard engulfed in the sea, a portion of each of us will be given new life in the cracks, vents, or pools of molten sulphur on which the tonguefish skate. You will be in Hades, the staying place of the spirits of the dead. You will be drowned in oblivion, the River Lethe, swallowing water to erase all memory. It will not be the nourishing womb you began your life in. It will be a submergence. You will take your place in the boiling-hot fissures, among the teeming hordes of nameless microorganisms that mimic no forms, because they are the foundation of all forms. In your reanimation you will be aware only that you are a fragment of what once was, and are no longer dead. Sometimes this will be an electric feeling, sometimes a sensation of the acid you eat, or the furnace under you. You will burgle and rape other cells in the dark for a seeming eternity, but nothing will come of it. Hades is evolved to the highest state of simplicity. It is stable. Whereas you are a tottering tower, so young in evolutionary terms, and addicted to consciousness.”

—J. M. Ledgard
—from Submergence

WORD(S)

egrote /ee-GROTE/. verb. To feign sickness in order to avoid work or other unpleasantness. It’s unclear that this word, noted in the OED without examples other than a single dictionary—and which I can find only in various books and articles about words—was ever in use. But it seems like a fine time for a revival.

“Among lazy men, egroting is a pursuit of perfection.” (Mark Forsyth)

“Homer egroted one too many times on a Friday.”

WEB

1. “God Doesn’t Live Here”…a year in Honduras (murder capital of the world). Sheds some light on why Hondurans are sending their children on dangerous journeys to the US. The US Dept. of State’s travel warning is a chilling piece of understatement for the would-be visitor.

2. Galerie F has a series of illustrations by various artists reimagining cover art for Roald Dahl books.

3. In his “Tautochronos” series, Michael Lamoller takes a series of photographs of the same place/person over time, then prints and physically layers them to occasionally incredible effect.

4. The “This Makes Me Uncomfortable” site collects images of objects that do just what the title says. I can’t help but be reminded of the Katerina Kamprani’s fantastic series of redesigned household objects—“The Uncomfortable”. Which, of course, leads back to Meret Oppenheim’s classic fur cup, saucer and spoon set that makes me incredibly uncomfortable.

5. Today is International Tiger Day. The tiger population has dropped from 100,000 to 3000 in the last 100 years, including a loss of 200 just last year. A bit of tiger trivia: a tiger’s stripes are as individual as fingerprints and are a pigmentation of the skin; tigers have a white spot on the back of each ear that looks like eyes, an evolutionary trick to deceive predators; a group of tigers is called a “streak.”

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Continuing the discussion about the future of music and streaming: an article on the imminent epic battle between passive and on-demand listening services.

• From the same company that made the poster with diagrams of the opening sentences of great novels comes “The Great Gatsby Chart”, breaking down that novel’s characters and movements.

• Reader J. shares an illuminating article: “The Tale of Beatrix Potter”.

I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press ‘Reply’ or email to: clippings@katexic.com.

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