March 2, 2004
-
Passion
From the previous entry:
1.
Oscar:
military phonetic
for the letter
‘O’
From an entry of Dec. 21, 2002, some background in literary theory:
“I know what ‘nothing’ means….”
— Maria Wyeth in Play It As It Lays
“How do you solve a problem like Maria?”
— Oscar Hammerstein II
“…problems can be solved by manipulating just two symbols, 1 and 0….”
— George Johnson, obituary of Claude Shannon
“The female and the male continue this charming dance, populating the world with all living beings.”
— Leonard Shlain, The Alphabet Versus the Goddess, Penguin Arkana paperback, 1999, Chapter 17, “Lingam/Yoni”
“According to Showalter’s essay*, ‘In Elizabethan slang, ‘nothing’ was a term for the female genitalia . . . what lies between maids’ legs, for, in the male visual system of representation and desire…. Ophelia’s story becomes
the Story of O — the zero, the empty circle or mystery of feminine difference, the cipher of female sexuality to be deciphered by feminist interpretation.’ (222)* Ophelia is a highly sexual being…”
— Leigh DiAngelo,
“Ophelia as a Sexual Being“
*Showalter, Elaine. “Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism.” Hamlet. Ed. Susanne L. Wofford. Boston: Bedford Books of St.Martin’s Press, 1994. 220-238.
At the Oscars Sunday night, a thought attributed by Billy Crystal to Sean Connery:
“Pussy Galore! I just got it! That’s vulgar.”
For further background, see
Passing the Crown (Aug. 24, 2003) and
The Agony and the Ya-Ya (Oct. 4, 2002).
