From: Stephen Pepper
Category: Amis
Date: 8/16/99
Time: 6:06:42 AM
Remote Name: 195.171.125.1
So, the terrible truth about my surname is out (and yes, my entire family, apart from me, are doctors, and my uncle was in the army and attained the rank of - you've guessed it - sergeant. As you'll guess, the long winter evenings just fly by).
As for Tiresias, Jules dearest peony, may I refer you to America's second greatest export after Dr Pepper, Mr T Stearns Eliot. The Waste Land namechecks this little hermaphroditic cove ("old man with wrinkled dugs...") who was given the gift of prophecy . I think he was cursed with eternal life (not eternal youth) and carried on getting more and more tiny and shrivelled for ever and ever. Presumably he's still around, then, possibly in Camden, and probably in Lycra support shorts for extra lift. I think also he was mixed up with Philomel and all that ghastly business over in ancient Greece, there. Sorry to be vague but it's been a while since me 'O' Levels. And talking of eternal life, Joanie looks great, Jules. Excellently done, if God did all, as the Swan of Avon cogently put it.
I think Tiresias was made a hermaphodite in order to solve a rumble between a couple of second-tier gods about which gender had the most fun during rumpity-pumpity. Marty has of course solved this enigma for the grateful gods in that no woman in his oeuvre has ever had the least bit of fun in the bag. Apart from (possibly) the blessed Vron, though I dare say poor John barely touched the sides.
Quick TS Eliot / Amis ref (to pre-empt the venerable Jarma):
From *SUCCESS*: "April is the coolest month for people like myself"- GREGORY
From *THE LOVE SONG OF J ALFRED PRUFROCK*: "Let us go then, you and I, while evening is spread out against" hang on a minute...
A long post to say nothing, then, but it's dead out there. I'll dial till twelve. Happily, I'm off to France on Thursday to brush up on the old lingo for a couple of weeks. Bill Jarma insists on having our phone sex in French. He says it adds 'piquancy', whatever that means...