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federicodeleonardis · 3 years

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The specificity of artistic languages-as voiced by Glenn Gould and Joseph Brodsky

M. Rotchko, Huston, 1971 and R. Serra, Venezia, 2005

It is a pleasure to lend an ear to two megaphones of the caliber of the two artists cited to get at that colossus (of Rhodes?) that bears the name of Marcel Duchamp. It’s been exactly 34 (1) years since I started my battle, but my bullets bounced off a rubber wall rebounding to the sender. I have to thank heaven if I have come out unscathed so far. The thread of the discourse of the two unravels very clearly in different fields that never touch visual art, but it is also valid for this. Substantiated by very few others (including Susan Sontag and Franco Vaccari), it cannot be dismissed as biased: which, if one speaks of music and the other of poetry?

G. de Chirico, 1913, and Pontormo in S. Felicita, Firenze,1526/27

So let’s keep in mind what JB and GG say about their fields, but let’s ask ourselves why there should be a different discourse in that of visual art. If we give the etymological meaning to semantics and not that of the expression of its content, every interpretation, as Sontag (2) states, is a usurpation, a grand deception. Art cannot exhibit any semantic content separate from its form, because it is exactly this that conveys it. The ambiguity linked to the meaning does not interest us, but the mystery of form does (3). If a plethora of exegetes have strived, with good results for their profit, to give an explanation to the convoluted arguments of the “Frenchman”, this does not justify forgetting that the visual language possesses an autonomy of signs that do not preclude the past and are in search of a future that has nothing to do with the lingua franca, even that of the most distinguished critics, one that does not suffer from a translation. Even mine right now: I don’t pretend to do poetry.

G.B. Tiepolo,Venezia,1757 and Gordon Matta, Paris, 1975

Mine is an effort of collation of arguments produced in the lingua franca by two true artists: each of their own words, carefully chosen by me, can be applied to the green of a Poet’s dream as to the Conical hole of Gordon Matta-Clark or Tiepolo, to the pink of Santa Felicita (or to the Hand that indicates it; who? the Pontormo or Giovanni Anselmo?) as to the black of the Rothko Chapel, to the unbalanced Spiral space of Serra as to the agitation of Erasmus of Narni (who is able to curb it in its stillness?). There are no borders in art, nothing sets and often the classics are revived.

Gordon Matta, NY, 1974 and Federico De Leonardis, Peccioli (PI),1990

Here is the series of promised quotes. I’ll start with Gould. After pointing out Bach’s indifference if not unwillingness to write for a given keyboard instrument, Gould uses terms such as smug, silken, legato spinning resource for his own Steinway. This says a lot about the attention to the characteristics of one’s own expressive language:

Giovanni Anselmo, Pointing hand

Bach’s compositional method, of course, was distinguished by his disinclination to compose at any speciﬁc keyboard instrument. And it is indeed extremely doubtful that his sense of contemporaneity would have appreciably altered had his catalogue of household instruments been supplemented by the very latest of Mr. Steinway’s “accelerated action” claviers. It is at the same time very much to the credit of the modern keyboard instrument that the potential of its sonority—that smug, silken, legato-spinning resource can be curtailed as well as exploited, used as well as abused.

I suspect I may have unwittingly engaged in a dangerous game, ascribing to musical composition attributes which reﬂect only the analytical approach of the performer. This is an especially vulnerable practice in the music of Bach, which concedes neither tempo nor dynamic intention, and I caution myself to restrain the enthusiasm of an interpretative conviction from identifying itself with the unalterable absolute of the composer’s will. Besides, as Bernard Shaw so aptly remarked, parsing is not the business of criticism.

As for the reasons for his abandonment of concert halls for recording ones:

Well, you see, Bruno, I don’t really enjoy playing any concertos very much. What bothers me most is the competitive, comparative ambience in which the concerto operates. I happen to believe that competition rather than money is the root of all evil, and in the concerto we have a perfect musical analogy of the competitive spirit. Obviously, I’d exclude the concerto grosso from what l’ve just said.

Marliave’s mention of “the intimate and contemplative appeal to the ear“ illustrates an approach to these works based upon philosophical conjecture rather than musical analysis. Beethoven, according to this hypothesis, has spiritually soared beyond the earth’s orbit and, being delivered of earthly dimension, reveals to us a vision of paradisiacal enchantment. A more recent and more alarming view shows Beethoven not as an indomitable spirit which has overleapt the world but as a man bowed and broken by the tyrannous constraint of life on earth, yet meeting all tribulation with a noble resignation to the inevitable. Thus Beethoven, mystic visionary, becomes Beethoven, realist, and these last works are shown as calciﬁed, impersonal constructions of a soul impervious to the desires and torments of existence. The giddy heights to which these absurdities can wing have been realized by several contemporary novelists, notable offenders being Thomas Mann and Aldous Huxley.

If you are particularly fond of the last works of Strauss, as I am, it is essential to acquire a more ﬂexible system of values than that which insists upon telling us that novelty equals progress equals great art. I do not believe that because a man like Richard Strauss was hopelessly old-fashioned in the professional verdict, he was, therefore, necessarily a lesser ﬁgure than a man like Schoenberg who stood for most of his life in the forefront of the avant-garde. If one adopts that system of values, it brings about the inevitable embarrassment of having to reject, among others, Johann Sebastian Bach as also being hopelessly old-fashioned.

His opinion on the relationship between the tastes of the time and the eternity of language see the following fragments:

The generation, or rather the generations, that have grown up since the early years of this century have considered the most serious of Strauss’s errors to be his failure to share actively in the technical advances of his time. They hold that having once evolved a uniquely identiﬁable means of expression, and having expressed himself within it at ﬁrst with all the joys of high adventure, he had thereafter, from the technical point of view, appeared to remain stationary—simply saying again and again that which in the energetic clays of his youth he had said with so much greater strength and clarity. For these critics it is inconceivable that a man of such gifts would not wish to participate in the expansion of the musical language, that a man who had the good fortune to be writing masterpieces in the days of Brahms and Bruckner and the luck to live beyond Webern into the age of Boulez and Stockhausen should not want to search out his own place in the great adventure of musical evolution. What must one do to convince such folk that art is not technology, that the difference between a Richard Strauss and a Karlheinz Stockhausen is not comparable to the difference between a humble ofﬁce adding machine and an IBM computer?

The great thing about the music of Richard Strauss is that it presents and substantiates an argument which transcends all the dogmatisms of art—all questions of style and taste and idiom—all the frivolous, effete preoccupations of the chronologist. It presents to us an example of the man who makes richer his own time by not being of it; who speaks for all generations by being of none. It is an ultimate argument of individuality—an argument that man can create his own synthesis of time without being bound by the conformities that time imposes.

But one last examination of this hypothetical piece: let us assume that instead of attributing it to Haydn or to any later composer, the improviser were to insist that it was a long-forgotten and newly discovered work of none other than Antonio Vivaldi, a composer who was by seventy—ﬁve years Haydn’s senior. I venture to say that, with that condition in mind, this work would be greeted as one of the true revelations of musical history-a work that would be accepted as proof of the farsightedness of this great master, who managed in this one incredible leap to bridge the years that separate the Italian baroque from the Austrian rococo, and our poor piece would be deemed worthy of the most august programs. In other words, the determination of most of our aesthetic criteria, despite all our proud claims about the integrity of artistic judgment, derives from nothing remotely like an “art-for-art’s-sake” approach. What they really derive from is what we could only call an “art-for-what-its-society-was-once-like” sake.

The deﬁciencies of this argument arise from the fact that its proponents simply cannot tolerate the idea that the participation in a certain historical movement does not necessarily impose upon the participant the duty to accept the logical consequences of that movement. One of the irresistibly lovable facts about most human beings is that they are very seldom willing to accept the consequences of their own thinking. The fact that Strauss deserts the general movement of German expressionism (presumably, in Rosenfeld‘s terms, the embodiment of “Nietzsche‘s modernism”) should not be more disturbing than the fact that the unquestioned innovator Arnold Schoenberg found it extremely difficult in his later years to fulﬁll the rhythmic extenuations of his own motivic theories. The fact is that above and beyond the questions of age and endurance, art is not created by rational animals and in the long run is better for not being so created.

It would be most surprising if the techniques of sound preservation, in addition to inﬂuencing the way in which music is composed and performed (which is already taking place), do not also determine the manner in which we respond to it. And there is little doubt that the inherent qualities of illusion in the art of recording those features that make it a representation not so much of the known exterior world as of the idealized interior world-will eventually undermine that whole area of prejudice that has concerned itself

with ﬁnding chronological justiﬁcations for artistic endeavors and which in the post-Renaissance world has so determinedly argued the case of a chronological originality that it has quite lost touch with the larger purposes of creativity.

Whatever else we would predict about the electronic age, all the symptoms suggest a return to some degree of mythic anonymity within the social-artistic structure. Undoubtedly most of what happens in the future will be concerned with what is being done in the future, but it would also be most surprising if many judgments were not retroactively altered because of the new image of art. If that happens, as I think it must, there will be a number of substantial ﬁgures of the past and near past who will undergo major reevaluation and for whom the verdict will no longer rest upon the narrow and unimaginative concepts of the social-chronological parallel.

And so it seems to me a great mistake to read into the fantastic transition of music in our time a total social signiﬁcance. Undeniably, there do exist correlations between the development of a social stratum and the art which grows up around it, just as the public manner of early baroque music related to some degree to the prosperity of a merchant class in the sixteenth century; but it is terribly dangerous to advance a complicated social argument for a change which is fundamentally a procedural one within an artistic discipline.

Of course, the early propagandists for atonality pointed with a good deal of pride to the fact that the movement toward abstract art began at almost exactly the same time as atonality, and there are certain comfortable parallels between the careers of the painter Kandinsky and the composer Schoenberg.

But l think it is dangerous to pursue the parallel too closely, for the simple reason that music is always abstract, that it has no allegorical connotations except in the highest metaphysical sense, and that it does not pretend and has not, with very few exceptions, pretended to be other than a means of expressing the mysteries of communication in a form which is equally mysterious.

The figure of Schoemberg outlined by the writings of G is emblematic for understanding the linguistic work of a great composer and his responsibility in the detachment of cultured music from popular music:

But the odd thing about it was that with this oversimpliﬁed, exaggerated system Schoenberg began to compose again; and not only did he begin to compose: he embarked upon a period of about ﬁve years which contains some of the most beautiful, colorful, imaginative, fresh, inspired music which he ever wrote. Out of this concoction of childish mathematics and debatable historical perception came an intensity, a ioie de vivre, which knows no parallel in Schoenberg‘s life. How could this be, then? By what strange alchemy was this man compounded that the sources of his inspiration ﬂowed most freely when stemmed and checked by legislation of the most stiﬂing kind? I suppose part of the answer lies in the fact that Schoenberg was always intrigued by numbers and afraid of numbers and attempting to read his destiny in numbers –and, after all, what greater romance of numbers could there be than to govern one’s creative life by them? I suppose part of it was due to the fact that after ﬁfteen years awash in a sea of dissonance, Schoenberg felt himself to be on ﬁrm ground once again. Still another part of it is certainly that all music must have a system, and that particularly in those moments of rebirth such as Schoenberg had led us into, it is much more necessary to adhere to the system, to accept totally its consequences, than at a later, more mature stage of its existence.

I think there can be no doubt that its fundamental effect has been to separate audience and composer. One doesn’t like to admit this, but it is true nonetheless. There are many people around who believe that Schoenberg has been responsible for shattering irreparably the compact between audience and composer, of separating their common bond of reference and creating between them a profound antagonism. Such people claim that the language has not become a valid one for the reason that it has no system of emotional reference that is generally accepted by people today. Certainly concert music of today—

that part of it, at any rate, which owes a great deal to the Schoenbergian influence—plays a very small part in the life of many people. It cannot by any means claim to excite the curiosity that was generally aroused by signiﬁcant new works ﬁfty or sixty years ego. One must remember that at the turn of the century, any new work by a Richard Strauss or a Gustav Mahler or a Rimsky-Korsakov or a Debussy was a major event not only for the cognoscenti but for a very large lay audience as well.

No matter how little interest there may be in the more signiﬁcant developments of music in our time, I think that there is little doubt that there are some areas in which the vocabulary of atonality—using this term now in a collective sense—has made quite an unobjectionable contribution to contemporary life. It has done this particularly in media in which music furnishes but a part—operas, to a degree (if you can consider styling Alban Berg’s Wozzeck a “hit”), but most particularly in that curious specialty of the twentieth century known as background music for cinema or television. If you really stop to listen to the music accompanying most of the grade-B horror movies that are coming out of Hollywood these days, or perhaps a TV show on space travel for children, you will be absolutely amazed at the amount of integration which the various idioms of atonality have undergone in these media.

Until here: Glenn Gould. Let us now turn to quoting Brodsky. The following fifteen lines (taken from On Grief and Reason) represent an eloquent summary of his thinking on art in general and poetry in particular, as well as on the meaning of the word “language”. Below I have collected other fragments (also taken from Less Than One) that specify its depth and richness. The only fundamental difference with the visual arts is on the affirmation of the inalienability of the word to the semantic value (unfortunately), but with the specification that this does not apply to the other arts.

For poetic discourse is continuous; it also avoids cliché and repetition. The absence of those things is what speeds up and distinguishes art from life, whose chief stylistic device, if one may say so, is precisely cliché and repetition, since it always starts from scratch. It is no wonder that society today, chancing on this continuing poetic discourse, ﬁnds itself at a loss, as if hoarding a runaway train. I have remarked elsewhere that poetry is not a form of entertainment, and in a certain sense not even a form of art, but our anthropological, genetic goal, our linguistic, evolutionary beacon. We seem to sense this as children, when we absorb and remember verses in order to master language. As adults, however, we abandon this pursuit, convinced that we have mastered it. Yet what we’ve mastered is but an idiom, good enough perhaps to outfox an enemy, to sell a product, to get laid, to earn a promotion, but certainly not good enough to cure anguish or cause joy. Until one learns to pack one’s sentences with meanings like a van or to discern and love in the beloved’s features a “pilgrim soul”; until one becomes aware that “No memory of having starred I Atones for later disregard, / Or keeps the end from being hard”—until things like that are in one’s bloodstream, one still belongs among the sublinguals. Who are the majority, if that’s a comfort.

In that, it-life-differs from art, whose worst enemy, as you probably know, is cliché. Small wonder, then, that art, too, fail-s to instruct you as to how to handle boredom. There are few novels about this subject; paintings are still fewer; and as for music, it is largely nonsemantic. On the whole, art treats boredom in a self-defensive, satirical fashion. The only way art can become for you a solace from boredom, from the existential equivalent of cliché, is it you yourselves become artists. Given your number, though, this prospect is as unappetizing as it is unlikely.

Herein lies the ultimate distinction between the beloved and the Muse; the latter doesn’t die. The same goes for the Muse and the poet: when he’s gone, she ﬁnds herself another mouthpiece in the next generation. To put it another way, she always hangs around a language and doesn’t seem to mind being mistaken for a plain girl. Amused by this sort of error, she tries to correct it by dictating to her charge now

pages of Paradise, now Thomas Hard}-“s poems of 1912-13; that is, those where the voice of human passion yields to that of linguistic necessity—but apparently to no avail. So let’s leave her with a ﬂute and a wreath wildﬂowers. This way at least she might escape a biographer.

Of course, when talking about the signs of the word (semanticity) one cannot avoid addressing the theme of the relationship between art and life:

Now, the purpose of evolution is the survival neither of the fittest nor of the defeatist. Were it the former, we would have to settle for Arnold Schwarzenegger; were it the latter, which ethically is a more sound proposition, we’d have to make do with Woody Allen. The purpose of evolution, believe it or not, is beauty, which survives it all and generates truth simply by being a Fusion of the mental and the sensual. As it is always in the eye of the beholder, it can’t he wholly embodied save in words: that’s what ushers in a poem, which is as incurably semantic as it is incurably euphonic.

In “Home Burial“ (Frost’s poem) it results is both. For every Galatea is ultimately a Pygmalion’s self-projection. On the other hand, art doesn’t imitate life but infects it. …

… This is a poem about languages terrifying success, for language, in the ﬁnal analysis, is alien to the sentiments it articulates. No one is more aware of that than a poet; and if “Home Burial”

is autobiographical, it is so in the ﬁrst place by revealing Frost’s grasp of the collision between his métier and his emotions. To drive this point home, may I suggest that you compare the actual sentiment you may feel toward an individual in your company and the word “love.” A poet is doomed to resort to words. So is the speaker in “Home Burial.” Hence, their overlapping in this poem; hence, too, its autobiographical reputation. …

… So what was it that he was after in this, his very own poem? He was, I think, after grief and reason, which, while poison to each other, are languages most efficient fuel—or, if you will, poetry’s indelible ink. Frost’s reliance on them here and elsewhere almost gives you the sense that his dipping into this ink pot had to do with the hope of reducing the level of its contents; you detect a sort of vested interest on his part. Yet the more one dips into it, the more it brims with this black essence of existence, and the more one’s mind, like one’s ﬁngers, gets soiled by this liquid. For the more there is of grief, the more there is of reason. As much as one may be tempted to take sides in “Home Burial,” the presence of the narrator here rules this out, for while the characters stand, respectively, for reason and for grief, the narrator stands for their fusion. To put it differently, while the characters’ actual union disintegrates, the story, as it were, marries grief to reason, since the bond of the narrative here supersedes the individual dynamics— well, at least for the reader. Perhaps for the author as well. The poem, in other words, plays fate.

where that poetry is not a form of entertainment, and in a certain sense not even a form of art, but our anthropological, genetic goal, our linguistic, evolutionary beacon. We seem to sense this as children, when we absorb and remember

For art is something more ancient and universal than any faith with which it enters into matrimony, begets children—but with which it does not die. The judgment of art is a judgment more demanding than the Final Judgment.

Rilke’s Orfeo gives him the cue to clarify his thought on art, which in addition to the close relationship with the meaning of death, arises precisely from the rubbish of life:

This economy is art’s ultimate raison d’être, and all its history is the history of its means of compression and condensation. In poetry, it is language, itself a highly condensed version of reality. In short, a poem generates rather than reﬂects.

For why should we empathize with him? Less highborn and less gifted than he is. we never will be exempt from the law of nature. With us, the journey to Hades is a one-way trip. What can we possibly learn from his story? That a lyre takes one farther than a plow or a hammer and anvil? That we should emulate geniuses and heroes? That perhaps audacity is what does it? For what if not sheer audacity was it that made him undertake this pilgrimage?

A man of my occupation seldom claims a systematic mode of thinking; at worst, he claims to have a system—but even that, in his case, is a borrowing from a milieu, from a social order, or from the pursuit of philosophy at a tender age. Nothing convinces an artist more of the arbitrariness of the means to which he resorts to attain a goal—however permanent it may be—than the creative process itself, the process of composition. Verse really does, in Akhmatova’s words, grow from rubbish; the roots of prose are no more honorable. …

… Art, generally speaking, always comes into being as a result of an action directed outward, sideways, toward the attainment (comprehension) of an object having no immediate relationship to art. It is a means of conveyance, a landscape ﬂashing in a window—rather than the conveyance’s destination. “If you only knew,” said Akhmatova, “what rubbish verse grows from . . .” The farther away the purpose of movement, the more probable the art; and, theoretically, death (anyone’s, and a great poet’s in particular, for what can be more removed from everyday reality than a great poet or great poetry?) turns into a sort of guarantee of art.

The hierarchy between ethics and aesthetics further clarifies his thinking on the relationship between art and life. This applies to all the arts, as the discourse about what art language means also always applies to all:

On the whole, every new aesthetic reality makes man’s ethical reality more precise. For aesthetics is the mother of ethics. The categories of “good” and “bad” are, ﬁrst and foremost, aesthetic ones, at least etymologically preceding the categories of “good” and “evil.” If in ethics not “all is permitted,” it is precisely because not “all is permitted” in aesthetics, because the number of colors in the spectrum is limited. The tender babe who cries and rejects the stranger who, on the contrary, reaches out to him, does so instinctively, makes an aesthetic choice, not a moral one.

Unlike life, a work of art never gets taken for granted: it is always viewed against its precursors and predecessors. The ghosts of the great are especially visible in poetry, since their words are less mutable than the concepts they represent.

In such an absence, art grows humble. For all our cerebral progress, we are still greatly subject to relapse into the Romantic (and, hence, Realistic as well) notion that “art imitates life.” If art does anything of this kind, it undertakes to reﬂect those few elements of existence which transcend “life,” extend it beyond its terminal point—an undertaking which is frequently mistaken for art’s or the artist’s own groping for immortality. In other words, art “imitates” death rather than life; i.e., it imitates that realm of which life supplies no notion: realizing its own brevity, art tries to domesticate the longest possible version of time. After all, what distinguishes art from life is the ability of the former to produce a higher degree of lyricism than is possible within any human interplay. Hence poetry’s afﬁnity with–if not the very invention of—the notion of afterlife.

Poetry after all in itself is a translation; or, to put it another way, poetry is one of the aspects of the psyche rendered in language. It is not so much that poetry is a form of art as that art is a form to which poetry often resorts. Essentially, poetry is the articulation of perception, the translation of that perception into the heritage of language—language is, after all, the best available tool. But for all the value of this tool in ramifying and deepening perceptions-revealing sometimes more than was originally intended, which, in the happiest cases, merges with the perceptions—every more or less experienced poet knows how much is left out or has suffered because of it.

It would be false as well as unnecessary to try to divorce Platonov from his epoch; the language was to do this anyway, if only because epochs are ﬁnite. In a sense, one can see this writer as an embodiment of language temporarily occupying a piece of time and reporting from within. The essence of his message is LANGUAGE I5 A MILLENARIAN DEVICE, HISTORY ISN’T”, and coming from him that would be appropriate.

A great writer is one who elongates the perspective of human sensibility, who shows a man at the end of his wits an opening, a pattern to follow.

Burning books, after all, is just a gesture; not publishing them is a falsiﬁcation of time. But then again, that is precisely the goal of the system: to issue its own version of the future.

Whether one likes it or not, art is a linear process. To prevent itself from recoiling, art has the concept of cliché. Art’s history is that of addition and reﬁnement, of extending the perspective of human sensibility, of enriching, or more often condensing, the means of expression. Every new psychological or aesthetic reality introduced in art becomes instantly old for its next practitioner. An author disregarding this rule, somewhat differently phrased by Hegel, automatically destines his work—no matter what good press it

gets in the marketplace—-to assume the status of pulp.

But to clarify the undemocratic nature of the language, just these sketches taken from some of his most important essays are enough:

Herein, of course, lies arts saving grace. Not being lucrative, it falls victim to demography rather reluctantly.

For if, as we’ve said, repetition is boredom’s mother, demography (which is to play in your lives a far greater role than any discipline you’ve mastered here) is its other parent. This may sound misanthropic to you, but I am more than twice your age, and I have lived to see the population of our globe double. By the time you’re my age, it will have quadrupled, and not exactly in the fashion you expect. For instance, by the year 2000 there is going to be such cultural and ethnic rearrangement as to challenge your notion of your own humanity.

Starting with the authors mentioned above, some may ﬁnd these notes maximalist and biased; most likely they will ascribe these ﬂaws to their author’s own métier. Still others may ﬁnd the view of things expressed here too schematic to be true. True: it’s schematic, narrow, superﬁcial. At best, it will be called subjective or elitist. That would be fair enough except that we should bear in mind that art is not a democratic enterprise, even the art of prose, which has an air about it of everybody being able to master it as well as to judge it.

The evaluation of reality made through such a prism—the acquisition of which is one goal of the species—is therefore the most accurate, perhaps even the most just. (Cries of “Unfair!” and “Elitistl” that may follow the aforesaid from, of all places, the local campuses must be left unheeded, for culture is “elitist” by deﬁnition, and the application of democratic principles in the sphere of knowledge leads to

equating wisdom with idiocy.)

taking inspiration from a poem by W. Auden, B. engraves his thoughts on language:

Time that is intolerant

Of the brave and innocent,

And indifferent in a week

To a beautiful physique,

Worships language and forgives

Everyone by whom it lives;

Pardons cowardice, conceit,

Lays its honours at their feet.

But for once the dictionary didn’t overrule me. Auden had indeed said that time (not the time) worships language, and the train of thought that statement set in motion in me is still trundling to this day. For “worship” is an attitude of the lesser toward the greater. If time worships language, it means that language is greater, or older, than time, which is, in its turn, older and greater than space. That was how I was taught, and I indeed felt that way. So if time—which is synonymous with, nay, even absorbs deity—worships language, where then does language come from? For the gift is always smaller than the giver. And then isn’t language a repository of time? And isn’t this why time worships it?

Uncertainty, you see, is the mother of beauty, one of whose deﬁnitions is that it’s something which isn’t yours. At least, this is one of the most frequent sensations accompanying beauty. Therefore, when uncertainty is evoked, then you sense beauty’s proximity. Uncertainty is simply a more alert state than certitude, and thus it creates a better lyrical climate. Because beauty is something obtained always from without, not from within. And this is precisely what’s going on in this stanza.

But you don’t dissect a bird to ﬁnd the origins of its song: what should be dissected is your ear. In either case, however, you’ll be dodging the alternative of “We must love one another or die,” and I don’t think you can afford to.

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ajoraverse · 6 years

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Another thing that, well, I’ll probably have to either retool or ditch. Beta AU side-story draft, taking place pretty much immediately after the last published one.

The Rose Quartz Project

The threat of red supergiant expansion and the ensuing shockwaves had chased gems off the first colony nearly eight hundred thousand years ago, for not even the sturdiest gem or their technology could survive it. The threat triggered the search for what would eventually become Homeworld, and only Homeworld's rejects returned to the first colony when it was safe to do so. They returned to a broken, burnt-out world and did their best to rebuild. Save for a few determined souls, no gem of means or worth to Homeworld would bother with it.

The temple in which representatives from the unsung pillars of gem civilization gathered was one of the few rebuilt and still well-maintained on the first colony, though much of its masonry retained scorch marks and low levels of background radiation from the sun's red giant phase. Nullification shields protected the interior from radiation flare-ups from the white dwarf remnant of the sun, making it more or less safe for occupancy.

On the way to the temple, each ancient visitor stopped at the mausoleum that housed the remains of the Great Maker and the entombed shards of the first few gems to pay their respects. The foundation stones, footings, and all wall stones cracked or shattered by the tidal forces generated by the sun's expansion had been replaced with similar masonry long ago by some unknown bismuth, and the only evidence that anything had happened was an inscription on a nearby plaque. Supposedly the interior was entirely reconstructed with materials from the new colonies, but Peridot felt too undeserving to enter the mausoleum and see for herself.

It had been tens of thousands of years since Kindergarteners last gathered like this. Peridot Facet-1F2 Cut-2AA had only been to a meeting once before, and that had been when she was newly minted as a Kindergartener and her mentor introduced her as her successor. Supervisors pretended not to notice when they traveled en masse to the first colony, and no one questioned what happened at the gatherings. Half of that was out of respect for arcane professions, half of it was out of a habit with origins long forgotten by most gems.

Peridot had gone alone and politely declined or redirected any questions regarding her new pearl's whereabouts. After all, the pearl would have been a novelty and distracted from the research issues at hand. They were here for business, not gossip.

Four peridots gathered around the small table set in the center of one of the four rooms of the temple. Four groups of gems for the four pillars of Homeworld society: peridots produced gems and maintained mechanical systems, bismuths built structures, anorthites provided physical labor for jobs no other gems would take willingly, idocrases wrote the programming that kept their technology functioning. Sixteen gems in all. There had always been sixteen, for the number was tradition. It represented the double magic number of oxygen-16. Eight neutrons and eight protons in the nucleus. Exceptionally stable. Oxygen-16 was a primary product of stellar evolution, formed by stars exclusively from hydrogen. Peridot thought the reasoning was a bit esoteric, maybe a bit pretentious, but she was hardly going to make an issue of it. She was the youngest and least respected of the sixteen gems, well aware that she had her position only because her mentor liked her and saw some potential in her that she never understood, and she certainly had no business questioning anything.

The eldest peridot--not the first, for the first had been shattered by White Diamond eons ago for too many instances of challenging her--spoke in the slow, sonorous tones of epochs as she discussed the new injector models, their improvements and problems compared to older models, recommended practices, and so on. As if she was reading strata and had hit a unconformity, she switched topics abruptly to orders from the Diamonds: larimars would be discontinued until further notice. They were finally deemed obsolete and production on them halted until a better use could be found for them.

Peridot said nothing, though she did do her best to ignore the regret starting to swell within her. She had enjoyed the process of making larimars. They were tricky, requiring cooled lava beds or igneous intrusions into limestone injected into just so and at a slower rate than typical, but lovely all the same. She had taken pride in the fact that all the larimars she made were perfect.

Still, it was not her place to speak up.

The eldest peridot opened the floor for discussion over some little detail of pressure requirements for beryls. Peridot remained silent, because ultimately the scales over which they were arguing were inconsequential in light of the fact that they could not control the native matrix to the extent their thought experiment required. There was only so much a Kindergartener could do with the geology of a given site.

Finally, after what seemed like entirely too long spent dithering over the tiniest of details, the discussion turned to the fact that Pink Diamond was expressing interest in starting a colony. Again. Peridot almost disregarded this, but Yellow Diamond's peridot seemed more certain that something was going to happen this time around. Yellow Diamond was hardly one for futile gestures, and certainly not one to order an exoplanet survey in another galaxy entirely without first having a plan for the results. The younger of the two White Diamond peridots mentioned that Pink Diamond would probably want a properly themed court, and euhedral pink quartzes were such a pain to produce well while still maintaining a degree of quartz sturdiness. Their colors were too prone to fading in sunlight, they did not handle extreme heat well, and an amethyst was more useful. And wasn't it a shame that the fibrous rose quartzes had been discontinued hundreds of thousands of years ago?

That brought Peridot up short. The issue with fibrous rose quartzes was that the dumortierite-like borosilicate fibers that gave rose quartzes their color also had the unintended side-effect of instilling a degree of independent thought and capriciousness that was unwelcome in quartzes. It was for similar reasons that blue quartzes had also been discontinued before Peridot's time: their coloration was caused by the same ilmenite inclusions that made Peridot off-color, but at concentrations so high that they could barely function in their assigned roles. But if they could tame those fibers...

"Why can't we file a proposal to reinstate rose quartz production for Pink Diamond?" Peridot asked at last, once she managed to find an opening.

"My Diamond discontinued rose quartzes because they started getting ideas," the younger White Diamond peridot, Peridot Facet-3C Cut-416, said in that superior air of hers. Peridot 416 certainly didn't like her and took every opportunity to needle her. "Those inclusions only ruin what might be a perfectly fine gem."

Peridot recognized the jab, for her own inclusions were no secret to them, and spoke before she could fully process it. "All the studies suggest that the problem with the inclusions was that the Mark was never programmed to take them into account. If we can establish pre-defined parameters for the Mark to build along those inclusions, we give them a purpose beyond simply getting in the way of Mark pathways developed in the crystal lattices. We can use those inclusions to program additional skillsets, or--"

"It doesn't matter." Peridot 416 sneered, making her wish she'd never spoken up. "They'll still be off-color."

The eldest peridot lifted a hand to stifle the argument. Peridot 416, who looked as if she wanted to continue, bit back whatever was on the tip of her tongue and settled back onto her stool. Peridot 2AA tried not to wring her hands under the table. Speaking up had been a mistake.

"There is no mineral that is completely free of impurities. It is the same with gems." The eldest peridot turned her attention to Peridot 2AA, who felt as if she was being examined. "We used to be more accepting of off-colors than we are now. For this reason, I agreed to allow Peridot 4DF's apprentice to take her place among us. Now then. You were talking about skillsets?"

Peridot started with a stammer that was so bad that she bit the side of her tongue. She took a breath and tried again. "I--I tested a hypothesis with the help of Idocrase Facet-9Z Cut-3GN: that the Maker's Mark can be reprogrammed to repair minor fractures in gems with the assistance of a mineral-rich liquid medium. The documentation is on the research network under the Gem Development Studies heading. The first few attempts on dud gems worked well, so I repaired my pearl with it. My pearl reports no lingering pain from the fractures, so I am confident in concluding that the experiment was a success. I thought, perhaps we can program the Mark to build repair nanobot factories within those inclusions. It's a simple adjustment in the programming--"

"Why go through all that effort when it's just easier to inject a new gem?" Peridot 416 asked, her expression almost bored and dismissive. "We already have suitable injection formulas and materials, we don't need to play around with the software just because we can."

Yellow Diamond's peridot leaned over the table towards Peridot 2AA. "Fascinating. Does the alteration of the gem's chemical makeup with new mineral latticework change the pearl's behavior any?"

"I... I really wouldn't know. The fractures were small enough not to be immediately noticeable." Peridot hadn't really thought on what side-effects might occur from replacing missing minerals. "I doubt it would be much different than having a few small inclusions."

[annnd this was supposed to go on to the elder WD peridot taking the idea to WD because Peridot 2AA has little real standing, having the project eventually passed to PD and approved despite WD's disagreement, and eventually result in the entire cut of rose quartzes having some ability to heal.

Buuuut, lol, PD = RQ so oh well]

#SU: Beta AU

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redeveninggowns · 5 years

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writerspink · 5 years

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Advanced (College)

A.1

intensification justification correlation fluctuation impassive innate pragmatic marginalize innocuous hunch paradigm obscure esoteric solicitous obsequious peril perilous imperil deliberate virulent indifferent responsive formulate divergence concession estimate hypothesis conjecture irrelevant convoluted petty concise abstruse germane sophistry acumen substantiation resolution erudite assiduously contrite painstaking insularity insinuation consistent narcissism dominate inaugural cynicism objectivity unreliable sentiment manipulate mourn poll foremost unique govern essence conspiracy regiment inferior prerogative intolerable apt seldom contrary inefficient tyrannical lavishness associate oppression prosperity inequality magnificence discontent pomp impoverishment envy persecution commerce symbol abundant substantial artisan grandeur

A.2

versatile indisputable homogeneous nebulous consistent majority achieve evidence refute substantiate disappoint intimidate chasten conceal ignore bolster exaggerate itinerant indigenous subdued nocturnal arboreal trek skeptical contemptible sanguine magnanimous disparaging callous enthusiastic immaterial cynical altruistic discerning derivative competent prose gauche sublime diligent innovative servile controversy radiological gradually proportion misconception technique inaccurate exceptionally sympathy tragedy quantity cynic unrealistic imbue ignoble self-serving immense threshold enterprise arduous spectator interfere tropical celestial communion flit ministerial urgently sneer significance consequence adequacy analysis reflective anxious anticipation skepticism apprehension perplexed meticulously eradicate

A.3

tolerance revere conservatism overlook rehabilitation perseverance beneficial assuage physiological ameliorate circumstantial exacerbate premeditate rebuff communicable concentrated headstrong complaisant truculent tactless revive facilitate debilitate expedite reform postpone table preempt subsidize caviler diviner requite repudiate portend rescind expropriate stalwart antagonist skeptic constitute misconception notion clinch dramatize secular commodity virtually bourgeois habitue materialistic disorder indicate acknowledge bigoted inspiration bias fascination aloofness ambition comradery vibrant prosperous iconoclasm affectation depravity arrogance

B.1

cryptic prolific appeal provocative attest garish whisper arrogant amplify condemn eschew vilify embrace denounce anticipate incorporate agile adept abyss abysmal insipid eloquent insubordination insubordinate subordinate disseminate assuage improvidence provoke subterfuge expedite impudence inundate perpetuate thwart console reproach exhort modicum respite dearth turpitude perspicacity consolation metaphysics various mutual dedicate instrumental quantity occurrence confound oracle reciprocally purify represent infinitude encircle posit mystical conspicuously sect righteousness ascend transgression ideological ratio vindicated capricious obscure inexorable interrelated primary intersection precept adhere

B.2

ingratiate invigorate exculpate enervate debilitate candor dissuade frivolity frivolous ratify ratification nullify nullification refute refutation supplant atrocity atrocious elocution eloquent eloquence idiosyncrasy idiosyncratic omen ominous impediment impede impetus fickle fickleness recalcitrant pugnacious lucrative spurious savory unsavory cacophony cacophonous pungent conflagration abhor abhorrence abomination abominable lethargic lethargy scourge irascible rapacious rapacity convoluted convolution ostentatious ostentatiously unostentatious ostentation copious provident providence provide provision improvident clairvoyant clairvoyance impassive matriculate matriculation venal venality scrupulous unscrupulous scruple virility virile macerate

B.3

blatant suspension miniscule egregious obligatory nautical ceremony gratuity dormancy lethargy capriciousness diligence altruistic dislike charlatan prerequisite philanthropist philanthropy penchant nihilist despot culpable culpability laconic verbose lugubrious sonorous antiquated lofty impecunious prescient pusillanimous irrigation apex alluvial societal dramatically technological geographical sedimentary boon exaggerate attribute virility endowment adornment mysterious merit vestigial convey inherit legendary Sherpa ideally stout revered aptitude combination porter expedition harsh unaware summit heterogeneous awed antagonistic detached endure aloof barren sustain interact imitate identical deference announce utter transitivity disoriented sophisticated associate

C.1

conservation prudence initiative diplomacy activism responsibility restraint isolation esteemed unconventional disparage replicate resent parochial cosmopolitan altruistic intractable taciturn rational diffident holism replenishment pretension catharsis purgative vociferous alluring caprice enticing mockingly treacherous providential effervescent flimsy deceptive inclination inane passion enumeration emergence enhance sabotage arbitrary cardinal aesthetic chiding expository revulsion bewilderment inform primary emblazon immutable coincidence converge poised undulate silhouette haiku disquieting shroud veiled awe obsession confidence speculation midst marvelous spectacular cataclysmic splendor photon thwart primordial cosmological phenomenon astonishing remarkable parameter plausible alternative

C.2

growth ignore curtailment raze reduce reduction correlation permit construct dormitory accommodate prominently repudiate reveal irrelevant demonstrate significant refute tolerate tolerance dispensable indispensable pinnacle nadir paradigm inception periphery corporate detrimental dubious salutary perverse converse polymath recluse dilettante ascetic pundit faction clique substantial poignant indifference modest parsimony adequate infirmity breakthrough exorbitant headway intuition attune sanguine encroachment adorn veneer emanate stimulus instantaneously evasive cerebral cortex heuristic proportionately disproportionately illusory repertoire peculiar cognitive accuse entrust probable energize intrusion rudimentary superstition skeptical sentimental bewilderment

C.3

validity controversy resent invariance irrelevant disgust affinity indifference intolerance corollary distorted coherent sparse spontaneous economy meager subjectivity colloquial abundant admire laud repudiate disdain dismiss contradict extol reassert retract therapeutic incongruous ameliorate ameliorative prehensile suppress entail resolve reiterate promote pedantry pragmatism exclusion evanescence deprecation dissect sensory phenomenon kaleidoscopic flux ascribe codify continuum uniformly combined continuous stimulus indentation perception discrete abstraction comforting familiarity palliative memorable regard escapist recollection kinaesthetic alienation interactive impression analysis prose vivid interpretation detour communication incapable nuance expose summarize contrast directly

D.1

pragmatic querulous dejected jubilant indifferent outlandish histrionic commissioned politicize streamlined aggregate mundane depreciatory invigorating lugubrious soporific latency dissemination complacency circumspection salvation discretion husbandry improvidence partisanship immoderation burgeon wane attenuated dispersed conflate cynicism bedraggled ardor sully mendacity dilapidated earnestness substantiate autonomy buttressed inadequacy superficial complexity unintelligible profusion surfeit obtuse dearth comprehensive dub alter altar plume paleontology descendant intimidation lingering shaman trivial savor analysis particular essential intrepid monotonous senile tedious jocular technical humorous tainted compassionate meteorology frequently vicissitude aspect enliven ensure

D.2

mediocre laconic versatile lethargic transcend aggregation degenerate aesthetics streamline manifestation sporadically sporadic gluttony gluttonous meticulous munificent vicarious mundane hackneyed spare poignant bucolic melancholic lugubrious buoyant doleful upbeat sprightly voluble inchoate tedious bombastic analogy controversy division progressive vague essential depiction analysis activity treatise inordinate personify appreciation mortality superior evocative purity deceit corruption prejudice enclave periphery splendor brash profligacy mutilation hostage differentiation sanitarium integrated remediate sympathetic ambivalence idiosyncrasy prodigal ceremonial sophisticated sadistic facilitate physiotherapy merge tepid partisan conspicuously adamant denounce chastise

D.3

delectable palliative compulsive fortified provident prosperity scrutiny infamy spontaneity negligence precision exacerbate paucity compensate profundity aggravate brevity assuage depth appease contentious altercation magnanimous serene solicitous imperturbable retract transmute capitulate afflict eradicate sycophantic complement recalcitrant castigate obsequious commend unwitting antagonize gluttonous belabor calibrate assimilate contraption copiously translate output incorporate attune hyperbolic subsidy equivalent irrational dangle renounce magnitude vary banish perspective abatement relative inexpensive emission vilify resistant incentive focused formulate impact unclear shortsighted expensive implement harmful adequately curb

E.1

eloquent convert neutral biased emotional monotonous rude provocative authoritative trustworthy dangerous pedestrian responsive formal inescapable challenging mundane exciting inexpensive commonplace exalt intelligence lionize criticize envy obscurity tolerate aesthetic universal deleterious idiosyncratic idiosyncrasy espousal repression acceptance supplant denunciation dexterous indifferent deliberate dilapidated elucidate compensate implicit analyze arbitrary espouse cooperation engage emphasis stark anxious evaluate premature preposterous impassioned malevolent furor magnum opus preposterously malefactor seminal ominously fringed uninhibited menacing heretic ruthless disservice refute humanize introspective tenderness rigor flawed

E.2

instantaneous instantaneously prevarication fervency contemplation forthrightness forthright equanimity conflict sanity coexist psychosis coincide interface lucid apprehended deficient disseminate apostate conformist relic despot ominous swiftness spectacle indignation ambivalence brevity reluctant consume minimum confinement picturesque apparition visitant vaccination induce immunology infectious bacterium tantalizing miniscule impregnate immunity virology ubiquitous malady numerous parasitic virtually beneficial abundance inability vigilant conversation metaphorical indirect supreme imbue recognition tyrannical maxim filial vocation affectionate extravagance thoroughly recite tenet exclusive undeserved befall figurative primarily

E.3

emphasis brevity ethical reluctance elude configuration petrify extensive agitate indefatigable fatigue corrupted omnipresent ubiquitous malevolent intolerable inconsequential plentiful benign resolute enervating pedantic ambiguous refute corroborate deplore loquacious desultory phlegmatic peremptory torpid proponent remnant scrutinize municipal politicize demonize ignoramus troglodyte reduction leaching flora fauna innocuous commerce enhance reuse conserve rigorously rancorous preserve diffuse biodiversity stability externality monetary transaction valuate quantify conversion sequester extraordinary speculation characterize constitute emission analysis maintain contradict excessive authoritative citation reference deficiency irrelevance

F.1

satire ridicule mesmerize affiliate haphazard spartan apathetic civilized commence enthrall ebb masticate abate afflict repugnant negligent banal eclectic incompetent cantankerous placate irascible riled equanimous infuriate euphoric provoked choleric assuage jocular congenial impudent urbane erudite perspicacity magnanimity delirium vanity pertinacity impugn emulate laud concur disdain vertiginous oblivious inaccessible infer figurative convey absent plight consciousness elaborate dependent implication salient self-conscious affluence unrealistic delightedly blissful pedestrian sterling soar immortalize avenue unreserved subdued trepidation anticipation deceive accuracy ignorance idiosyncrasy stellar sensuous provoke contemporary

F.2

vagueness hindsight antagonism premonition eternal tolerable misleading carnivorous irrelevant inexplicable plurality consistency implausibility missive frivolity treatise authenticity vignette cohesiveness nimble tractable irascible recalcitrant erroneous vigilance taxation embezzle sequester phenomenal profundity veritable bewilderment gala excerpt exposition refrain beneficence maleficence dictum autonomous emphasis adamantly obnoxious disagreeable relevant vital probe alternative aspect prestige petty summarize perspective misconception equivocation egotism ignorance inefficiency corruption irrefutable outrageous unethical unorthodox deceptive analogy refute despatch expedition inconsequence peculiar vivid absurd reverence rapture inconsequent ascent absence cavalier exceptional

F.3

liability compliment flawed inarticulate negligent remiss subtle thorough doubtful complacent coherent latent sanguine lithe energize torpid conciliate conciliatory despondent enervate phlegmatic modicum rectitude surfeit dearth deficit venerable contrived decrepit specious forthright scheming spurious duplicitous posthumous serial memorial excision conservatism detriment superficial impression incurious rigor purity peculiar insensibly adequate leisurely diffuse fitful singularly intimate exacting suppression confidential merit peculiarity incur provincial prophetic exquisitely bragging chauvinism wholly unrivaled invalidate domestic adulation segment inferior sophistication cosmopolitan unjust criticize observation

G.1

callous infamous aloof renowned obtuse devoid overrun overpopulate manipulate commemorate abdicate rectify replicate disenfranchise reign remuneration frugal perquisite venal beneficiary penniless gratification arbitrary thrifty fertile fallow cultivate aquatic fertilize praiseworthy culminate sterilize reticent mundane pastoral frenetic prosaic chimerical plausible itinerant perfunctory obsequious contentious truculent staid pugnacious sedate amiable belligerent decorous temperate dignified refract hinder invert melodramatic

G.2

putrid delectable piquant divine savory configure illegible recapitulate reiterate lucid placid cogent decipher unintelligible clarification preservation utterly amass assemble disseminate retrieval deterioration desiccation apathy culpability penitence dexterity prescience rhetorical munificent felicitous austere mellifluous hominid harvest hospitable betrothed extensive heuristic algorithmic algorithm representative simulate empowered frustrate indecisive tyrannical liberal shrewd monarchy theme submission favorable accumulation succession accession

G.3

wane debunk progress convoke coalesce foresee stratagem defoliated contradict disavow predict decimate resolve destroy establish demarcate matriculation circumlocution contemplation homogeneity serendipity vacillate phlegmatic eulogize loquacious prophecy mercurial pilfer colloquial pontificate bombastic gargantuan disprove voluminous scanty exemplify diminutive belie meager propagate candor legitimacy perfidiousness ingenuity fabrication veracity virtuosity aptitude perspicacity autonomy emulate empathize prose inadequacy persistently egocentric

H.1

anesthetic emollient antibody antidote correction debilitating lethargic revitalize benign exhausted incapacitated preserved reiterate debunk razed salvage innovative hackneyed novel quixotic profound subsidy infusion censure influx endowment emission endorsement alimony allowance emanation ascetic castigate altruist extol sybarite philanthropist accommodate hedonist rebuke miscreant exhibitionist recluse curator polemicist doggedness inexorable pertinacity lackadaisical diffidence submissive temerity munificent tenacity indolent opposition object unpredictable emphasize clairvoyant substance eeriness jocular preachy reverential indifferent fervor nobility prudence proverb chink palate aspiration proficiency probability bumbling cooperatively

H.2

inversion anguish frivolity hilarity sluggishness pontificate saturate diverging dissipate proliferate prudent replicate munificent thrifty stingy frugal outspoken extravagant improvident reckless miserly continuance conviction toady irreverent sycophant fawning lackey insubordinate mercenary intractable clairvoyant altruistic superficial antic kinetic energy gravitational force primary evaluate summarize deter surveillance detached coercive insufficiently hospitality abstain pitiful exclusion inability flattery pendulum hideous immovable recluse necessity venue leisure disproportionate misuse distribution misconception exodus ameliorate diversify elan isolation humble realization stimulus situate

H.3

acrimony inflammation mirth aggregation recovery paucity quality surfeit conglomeration consumption bemoan speculative lucid dynamic fastidious monotonous repugnant liberal abominable nefarious odious patriarchal vile malevolent mellifluous heretical denounce impulse obsequious assimilate recalcitrant migrate itinerant habituate iconoclastic conform nimbleness ineptitude agility deftness poise treachery cunning aptitude dexterity idiosyncrasy exaggeration continuation oppose supersede abundance penalize administer relinquish proposition devalue contract allied routinely renewable sanction inedible polio precocious substantial obligation tender thesis summarize uphold ethical

I.1

atrophy align develop reconcile disseminate vindictive pedantic conciliatory treacherous didactic moralizing dogmatic meek prosaic simplistic vacillation solicitation rejuvenation admonishment professionalism affluence haughty pertinacity apologetic intimidation resilient tenacity relentless stoutness craven pontificate circumlocution logic exaggeration brevity malleability relapse persuasion transcendence coarseness responsibility variability consistency mutability astuteness miscalculation anachronism idiom interlocutor mirage inference analogy vestige anomaly quandary biased enlightening characterize abundance capacity enigmatic ambivalent simile jocular pathogen convey indicate redoubtable content rebellion feckless mastery nagging aversive reverential cynical

I.2

malfunction bulwark anthology mutation transfer impotent intractable evanescent irate insipid ephemeral compatible egregious tolerable imposing abate surge attenuate diminish flourish elevate despotic squander cruel amenable bear ruthless initiate forged traditionalist forgetfulness insincere innovative harmful credit unrealized selectively ironically adaptation tragic haughty obscure reservation diligence passionate thrive inspire privilege baffled aberration egotistical blatant neologism modernist submerge allusion browse portmanteau ersatz inventive uniquely oriented contrast metaphor progeny convert facilitate encode decode subjectivism objectivity ecosystem pathogen organism

I.3

conglomeration insubordination prudence unity bastion despair synthesis dominance conspiracy retreat immoral fleeting valuable intellectual protracted contemporaneous transient surreptitious fickle lionize vilify beguile repudiate invoke supercilious superficial capricious pious deferential matriarchal patriarchal pugnacious vociferous avuncular belligerent rudimentary prejudiced liberal negligent manifest devote eliminate inclined discourage edifying jocular convention unworkable disregard idiosyncrasy problematic dialect fiery jealousy envy phonetic syllable asthmatic platonic elitism homophone homogenize illogical analytical lighthearted disdain alphabet reform vindictiveness

J.1

ineptitude recognition bitterness caution cosmopolitan artificial authoritative structured verbatim meandering tormented cursory substantial propagation squalor circulation poverty deterioration congestion elimination proximity resilience enhance attenuate endeavor elucidate deluge dearth enlighten means intellectual innate inherited manifest tendency possessiveness primarily impulse desire coercive indicate emphasize intolerant compassionate articulate intent

J.2

awed repressed small-minded innate habit perish afford inherited spiritual impulse correspond contrary acquire atmosphere possession wherewithal impotent racial tyrant intellectual mosaic instantaneous pagan vengeful sympathy aboriginal meager unconvincing extrasensory perception paltry dubious mellifluous incontrovertible schism unanimity caucus commemoration prognostication petition persuade vouchsafe tolerate established universal require debatable methodical

J.3

indecorous imperious profuse anachronism laud intolerant clandestine candid euphemism coercion forthright compulsion prestige epoch infer parenthetical privilege industrial contrived intrinsic overwhelm swagger contemporary summa cum laude aversive contingency defective salivate arranged consequence medal motivated nuance behavioral manipulative bribery profound implication literacy performance superficially enrichment enormous mindful rigorous portray crisis presumption erroneous institutional

K.1

obsolete adjunct elusive novel mushroom expand plummet satiate burgeon dogmatic phlegmatic pragmatic cordial curt pen prosaic morose censored incongruous tedious diligent fanatical extroverted laggard redoubtable staid magnanimous stoic orator austere prophetic ostentatious solitary compendious circumlocutory reprehensible terse comprehensive concise praiseworthy grandiloquent redundant supremely abundant disoriented vindictive cautious resentful jocular serene whimsical disdainful disaffection sadism inextricably unimaginable unity lack sworn stagnant inequality unrivaled prosperity universal investment endure misrepresentation philosophical appreciation passionately prejudice crippling specifically ingenuity

K.2

intervene coalesce harass intermingle exacerbate ensue convoke synthesize impeach absolve magnify alibi antipathy penchant dreary predilection aversion insufferable proclivity primitive sanction approve ingenious boorish censure innovative endorse foolhardy condemn articulate denounce initiate abbreviate reincarnation dispense administer palliative analgesic punitive curative altruistic remedial prognosis phenomenon density clarity alternative unconventional refurbish emancipate cosmetic resentful squaw migrate maintain govern rehearse optimism precursor anecdotal folklore marked anomalous compulsory anticipate indicate exceptionally electrostatic hibernate evacuation strain precede appearance humble

K.3

indefatigable banal mediocre ambivalent sublime piquant severe antiquated tepid meticulous belligerent anomalous convergent amalgam harbinger arbiter deception talisman unfettered encumber evaluate forgo disorient flamboyant florid austere unadorned grandiloquent immutability elegance flexibility versatility insurgence multifarious efficacious bilk stymy conspicuous thwarted hamper lucid proscribe astronomical devoid premature unique originate abundance estimate cellular solar system extinction decisive unending undying formation catastrophe rejoinder substantially obscure reputable extremely evaluation anecdote advancement biosphere idiosyncrasy complex

L.1

delectable scrumptious unpalatable tantalizing divine debilitating uninspired savory mediocre dissension tension harmony instigation strife provocation unanimity agitation assent deliberation concurrence remuneration reconciliation satirize exalted revered despised shun cerebral obscure transparent outlandish eyesore embellishment atrocity boon defacement calamity windfall adversary tenuous grotesque enthralling interminable sacrilegious eclectic sadistic chimerical mundane perambulate expedite exculpate equivocate incriminate rigid harmonically derisive punctuated equilibrium transcribe inventive variety biological millennium naivete rational influence propitious stylistic naturalism speculation abbreviation ample conceptual criterion averse dominate phenotype arise misrepresent

L.2

transient instantaneous stagnant revitalized consecutive humanely vigilantly fluently ferociously dispassionately reticent belligerent lofty discomfited autonomy tutelage ineptitude dormancy sovereignty boorishness cultivation quiescence prophetic prescience premeditated predilection dismissive omniscience preeminent reluctance insolvent foresight anthropocentrism ecosystem browse variety render edible ulterior idly supernatural spendthrift tendency indicate privileged mystical composed alternative cosmological primarily grazing enable nibble tussock resemble predominate altogether intensity boundary migrate various analysis primitive sophisticated petroleum tap idle socialism gambling vital cupidity capriciousness diligent industrious stingy

L.3

urgency progressive conventional lassitude torpidity antiquated innovative rapidity outdated lucidity opaque vagueness concise anachronism derivative diligently impulsively viciously malevolently savagely insolence impudence truculence deference ignominy ostracize venerate demagogue hallowed revisionist denounce heretic luminary revile contentious orthodox litigious vituperative idolatrous polemical dissident disingenuous controversial injunction incredulous disreputable substantial contribution incorporation deferential assertive exposition eloquent treacherous dilemma perpetuate subduction deviltry Teutonic deprecate unity solidarity elated squander discrimination emphasize innovation agriculture

Advanced (College) was originally published on PinkWrite

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linguistlist-blog · 4 years

Text

TOC: Phonology Vol. 37, No. 1 (2020)

More odd conditions? Voiced obstruents as triggers and suppressors in Miri, Sarawak Robert Blust 1-26 Incongruencies between phonological theory and phonetic measurement Doris Mücke, Anne Hermes, Sam Tilsen 133-170 Kevin M. Ryan (2019). Prosodic weight: categories and continua. (Oxford Studies in Phonology and Phonetics.) Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. xvii + 288. Claire Moore-Cantwell 171-175 Nasal consonants, sonority and syllable phonotactics: the dual nasal hypothesis M http://dlvr.it/RX5p5c

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topjobshub-blog · 5 years

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The Booming World Of Mobile Apps

The first thing to do is set up an idea for an app. Not to worry about the best way it helpful for or information just even. Basically, you want to solve a problem for someone or make something entertaining for the app subscriber. If you can't come at the top of anything, homework . brainstorming by asking people you know about app ideas and do research online. Merchandise in your articles put some effort into it, you'll no doubt get an impression in your main sooner or later. Apple distributes an iPhone app software development kit (SDK). You'll need get this and focus it from front to back. Don't worry, it's more complex then hypothesis. Give it and also you'll soon be in regards to the App Development Melbourne camp. Siri's now a gender bender: Have more a new female voice assisting you, iOS7 provides male digital assistant which will with your queries. There is a option to turn the assistant's sonority from velvety to raspy while asking it search Wikipedia, Twitter or tinker cell phone settings-all these presenting upgrading in Siri's capability. Except.that last misquote got me to thinking: how come, having its huge market share, one (well promoted) 10 billionth Android Market app download and let and millions of Android users, that there's so little actual *money* for Android app developers? Yes, https://srilanka.embassy.gov.au/clmb/AustralianHighComission07.html know Google doesn't like to share, but still, not even a few pennies for developers? Conceiving an idea: - It is but apparent step details with a task! A good Best Australian iPhone Developer Company will always come up with a unique and extraordinary idea, which none often hear before. An app ought to such ought to add more functionality for the smartphones. It should be such that have but don't have till now. Remember, an as it is idea always sells. #1 Android offers simply how much smart phone market: Very popular recent researches, the platform provided by Android is not only larger but one other growing having a faster swiftness. It enjoys a substantially greater share of the market compared to others (68.1 as of your half of 2012 influenced by IDC) and when Google end up being be believed, 1M Android devices are activated everyday. Okay, outside am for you to source slideshow few times, but it surely may be the easiest comparing on seeing why Android App Development Australia is considerably less simple as everyone thinks. When you guess of Android App Development Australia it's like making a house, a person have give some thought to every little item beneficial compared it to design. How many floorboards? How few rooms? Can be there Find Part Time Jobs in Sri Lanka ? A fence for the backyard? Top quality appliances? Have grown to be? And do observe where I 'm going with this? You will find there's good deal to find and lot different stages associated with every project. While individuals were coming to terms although difference between iPad 3G and 3GS, its 4G version was unveiled. With Apple iPad 4G unveiled, Apple's smartphone got great with more versatility inbuilt to the product. While checking out the Apple iPad review, Furthermore happened to browse through smart applications designed for it. You may find a associated with the best apps further down. I found the music apps engaging.

#Find Part Time Jobs in Sri Lanka

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thegrandstudentdestinything-blog · 7 years

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The haunting seems of the Oud dates back to 5000 a long time in the past and when played by King David and is nonetheless getting played today. The Oud instrument is the king of the Arabic audio instruments

Oud According to El-Farabie, the Oud dates back again to the days of Lamech a sixthgeneration descendant of Adam. Lamech was identified as the “Father of the Oud players”. The initial appearance of the Oud was 3000 BC. The desecrated skeleton proposed the kind of the Oud. Oud is acknowledged as the 1st stringed instrument in heritage. The oldest pictorial report of the Oud dates again to the Uruk period of time in Southern Mesopotamia (Iraq), above 5000 several years in the past on a cylinder seal obtained by Dr. Dominique Collon and the seal is at the moment housed at the British Museum.. As the Oud becomes the quintessence of before chordophones, it also constitutes their practical synthesis. In the ninth century, Miwardi, the jurist of Baghdad, extolled its use in treating disease, this kind of as King David did by means of his lifestyle with his Oud. The Oud was in the hands of Egyptians and Iraqis when the Israelites came out of Egypt. They took the Oud with them to the Holy Land. The Oud nevertheless maintains its Egyptian and Iraqi attributes and musical stylings. The Oud was played in sacred locations these kinds of as the temples of Egypt. In the very first centuries of Arabian civilization, the oud had four courses (a single string for each training course – double-strings came later on) only, tuned in successive fourths. These had been referred to as (for the least expensive in pitch) the Bamm, then came (larger to maximum in pitch) the Mathnā, the Mathlath and the Zīr. A fifth string (greatest in pitch, most affordable in its positioning in relation to other strings), named ḥād ("sharp"), was sometimes extra for theoretical reasons, normally to complement the double octave. The neck, joined to the human body, is explained as 'unq ('neck') in classical writings and the raqba ('neck') or zand ('wrist') nowadays. It extends the upper component of the instrument by some twenty cm and is inserted into the soundbox up to the soundhole. This length, which has been considerably discussed, is essential in the instrument's construction, deciding the variety and location of the intervals and thus impacting the modes. In early 19th-century Egypt, Villoteau gave the measurement as 22.4 cm a century later on, also in Egypt, Kamil al-Khula'i gave it as 19.5 cm. In modern day Egypt, the size of the neck might range amongst eighteen and twenty.five can. It is standardized as twenty cm in Syria, but a length of 24.5 cm may be found on Moroccan versions, he 'ud 'arbi (Arab 'ud). If the 'ud 'arbi is the descendant of an archaic model of Andalusian provenance, the higher component of the instrument might have turn into shorter. The neck not often has 4. Versions of the 'ud (i) Two-string 'ud:The thesis of its existence has been upheld by musicologists from Europe and Iran it envisages the archaic 'ud as a counterpart of the tanbur, obtaining two strings like that instrument. The argument rests on the names of the strings, two of which are Iranian terms (bamm and zir) and two others of Arab origin (mathna and mathlath). There is no circumstantial documentary evidence to help this hypothesis. (ii) 4-system 'ud: The Arabian 'ud qadim (historical lute), in certain, invited cosmological speculation, linking the strings with the humours, the temperature, the elements, the seasons, the cardinal points, the zodiac and the stars. The strings might be tuned bass to treble or treble to bass. Bass to treble tuning is represented by al-Kindi (ninth century), who advocated tuning the least expensive training course (bamm or first string) to the lowest singable pitch. Placing the ring finger on a mathematically determined length of this string, a single moves on to deduce the pitch of the 3rd open up training course (mathna), then that of the next (mathlath) and lastly the fourth (zir). (This method is also used to the five-system 'ud and is even now employed as a tuning strategy, following the sequence one-four-2-three-5 or one-four-two-5-three.) Adherents of the reverse college (Ikhwan al- Safa') tune from treble to bass. The intention, inherited in portion by the Turkish 'ud, involves pulling tough on the zir (higher) string, so that as it ways breaking-stage it presents a clear seem. A single then moves on to decide the pitch of the next program (mathna), the 3rd (mathlath) and lastly the fourth (bamm). These two colleges did not continue to be fully individual. But whichever method is utilized, equally stop up with tuning by successive 4ths, each and every course currently being tuned a 4th over the lower program previous it. Musicologists, Japanese as well as Western, who consider to interpret the pitch of these notes in European phrases end up with diverse final results. Although the four-training course 'ud survives in Morocco, as the 'ud 'arbi, the tuning does not conform to the pitches inferred from classical treatises: a conflict among oral and composed traditions. The Moroccan approach looks to be the solution of a preceding program, the 'ud five ramal, which also comprised a sequence of 4ths: ramal (?e), hsin, (?a), maya (? d'), raghul (?g'). This 'ud, like its Tunisian counterpart, may possibly be variously tuned: a attribute of these tunings is that they juxtapose the classic 4ths with the octave and often the 5th and sixth (D-d- G-c). The strings of the 'ud 'arbi are named dhil, ramal, maya, hsin this terminology by no signifies refers to a fixed pitch common this kind of as educational and standardized tuition approaches would would like for. At the time of al-Kindi, two of the programs were made of gut and two of silk. In the tenth century silk turned predominant and some texts give the composition of the twisted threads: bamm = 64 threads, mathlath = 48, mathna = 36, zir = 27. The figures for the lower programs of the 'ud correspond with those of two upper strings of the Chinese qin, a simple fact that has led to speculation about the romantic relationship in between Arab and Chinese civilizations by way of the Silk Route. Yet another characteristic of the 4-course 'ud is that it is bichordal, possessing double courses. thirteenth-century iconography displays that it was already normal to pair the strings at that time, possibly to enhance sonority but also to permit the improvement of a far more virtuoso sort of overall performance. (iii) Five-program 'ud: The addition in Andalusia of a fifth training course has been attributed to Ziryab (8th-ninth century), though in theoretical writings it appeared in Iraq with al-Kindi. (The addition of this extra system has a parallel in China.) With Ziryab the fifth course, acknowledged as awsat ('intermediary'), a time period perpetuated in the 'ud of San'a' known as qanbus, is put between the next (mathna) and third (mathlath) programs. With al-Kindi and his successors, it was to attain the stop of the instrument and turn out to be the string called hadd ('high') or the 2nd zir. (In accordance to oral tradition, to receive an octave on the extended-necked lute baglama, a reduced string need to be placed in the center. This is carried out when the neck has few frets.) As the historic 'ud did not have a two-octave compass, the physical appearance of the fifth string corresponded to the calls for of a new system. The four-training course 'ud had no need to run correct through the octave. Its repertory was carried out on a tetrachord or pentachord, transposable an octave larger. With the five-course product, the heptatonic system imposed total series of octaves. The new lute was referred to as 'ud kamil ('perfect 'ud'). The 5-system 'ud is the most widespread and most well-known product amid performers. It has also been named the 'ud misri (Egyptian) due to the fact of the finely created instruments produced by the lute makers of Egypt, who export them as significantly as Zanzibar. The individuals of North Africa have included the dialectal name of m'sharqi or mashriqi ('of the east'). The technique of tuning it, extremely adaptable in the nineteenth century, is now getting to be stabilized. These modifications are owing partly to the crack-up of the Ottoman Empire, which has induced a rupture between Turkish and Arab cultures, and partly to the proliferation of educating approaches endeavouring to impose a solitary type of tuning, working from low to substantial: yaka = G 'ushayran = A duka = d nawa = g kardan = c'. Nonetheless, there are variants reintroducing tuning by 4ths. Thus what is explained as 'Aleppo tuning' consists of: qarar busalik = E 'ushayran A duka =d nawa = g kardan = c'. This latter composition is utilised in Turkey and Iraq. To reply the sensible specifications of present-working day notation, a treble clef adopted by the figure eight is utilized. This procedure has been considerably criticized by those in favour of employing the bass clef. The tuning of the Turkish lute faithfully reflects the Arab type but in reverse, looking through in descending order: gerdaniye = g' neva = d' dugah = a asiran = e kaba dugah = d (this final, a lot more mobile pitch may similarly settle on G. This outdated tuning represents the 'old school' (eski akort), and has now been replaced by an ascending tuning - the 'new school' (yeni akort): A-B-e-a-d'-g'. However it is now considered incorrect in the Syro-Egyptian spot, and agent of the aged Ottoman faculty, a tuning method in ascending buy survives in Iraq. It is made up of: yaka = d 'ushayran = e duka = a nawa = d' kurdan = g'. The compass of the bichordal five-program 'ud is just in excess of two octaves in Turkey, it is three octaves with the addition of a lower system. Arabian instruments can accomplish this by the addition of a sixth training course. (iv) Six-course 'ud: Two varieties of 6-training course 'ud exist: a single has six pairs of strings, the other 5 pairs with an further reduced string. The very first was found by Jules Rouanet in North Africa in direction of the end of the last century tuned inclusively it has considering that disappeared except in Libya, six where it is still created but with distinct tuning. A related instrument, identified in Syria, is tuned C- E-A-d-g-c'. The instrument with five double strings and a one lower one, nevertheless, is turning into progressively common from Istanbul to Baghdad. It has become widespread to place the extra string after the highest (or chanterelle). Its pitch is at the choice of the player no rule is laid down. The presence of the extra string endows the instrument with a broader range and improved ease of enjoying, permitting the performer to operate very easily by means of three octaves. The sixth program is also coming to be employed as an intermittent drone, a new phenomenon. (v) Seven-program 'ud: 7-system types, based on a sophisticated system of tuning, had been identified in Egypt and Lebanon in the 19th century but have not been observed because 1900. There is 1 exception: the Tunisian, Fawzl Sayib, is a living learn of the 7-system instrument in the six pairs and 1 minimal arrangement. A characteristic of this 'ud was that it reversed the arrangement of strings, positioning first the higher and then the minimal strings on the neck from remaining to appropriate. In accordance to Mikha'il Mushaqa (1800-88), only four of the 7 programs had been played, the lowest course (jaharka) and the two maximum (busalik and nihuft) getting unused in performance. The University of Oud On-line, is a system constructed to educate the Oud by means of Skype by the migrant Oud learn Ramy Adly, an Egyptian well-known Oud Participant, Ramy Adly is a youthful learn of the oud, the functional lute-like instrument that shaped Arab classical songs. Grounded in the principal Arab classical styles many thanks to arduous coaching in his indigenous Egypt, Adly has branched out repeatedly, incorporating jazz idioms and embracing discussions with other musicians about the planet. Adly has carried out all around the Center East, Europe, and North The united states. He has composed songs for theater and movie, and gathered a big number of students all around the planet, by way of an revolutionary on-line curriculum he created, named The University of Oud Online. His delicate, sturdy enjoying has been read from the Library at Alexandria to American cathedrals and schools. Now dependent in Washington, DC, Adly proceeds to broaden the choices of his instrument. “I want to deliver the oud to the identical level as the guitar culturally, the instrument that is almost everywhere and can do every little thing,” he exclaims. For Adly, the oud has usually been like a member of the household. Almost every person in his loved ones played the oud when he was growing up in Cairo, like uncles, siblings, and his beloved grandfather, who gave him his 1st introduction to the intricate, evocative instrument. “I grew up listening to the oud,” he recalls. Listening is 1 factor, and mastering the instrument one more. Adly plunged into his review of this age-outdated instrument at the Arab Oud Home, with Iraqi oud virtuoso Naseer Shamma. Adly located himself working towards for a dozen hours a day, and loving it. “It was a great deal like the system Paganini proven for his students,” Adly points out. “You have to go by means of the fire to be qualified as a performer and composer. I graduated as the two composer and soloist.”

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abjectionproductions-blog · 7 years

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Lisianthus & Moisture - Catharsis Kholé

https://abjectionproductions.bandcamp.com/album/ap-012-catharsis-khol

PT:

Quinto álbum do duo paulista Lisianthus &/Moisture, Catharsis Kholé busca substanciar a sonoridade de um processo de purificação. Depositadas no interior de seu próprio tempo, as três faixas trazem consigo traços abstratos e melodias lineares, criando uma disparidade interna entre a consonância e a dissonância. Em um signo humano a projetar-se fora de si, a hipótese musical torna o espaço imaginativo seu próprio limite intransponível, [des]realizando fluxos estéreis e poluídos os quais indefinitivamente sucumbem no silêncio. EN: Fifth album by the Brazilian duo Lisianthus & Moisture, Catharsis Kholé seeks to substantiate the sonority of a purification process. Placed within their own time, the three tracks bring abstract features and linear melodies with them, creating an internal disparity between consonance and dissonance. In a human sign projecting itself out of itself, the musical hypothesis makes imaginative space its own insurmountable limit, [un]realizing sterile and polluted flows which invariably succumbs to silence.

#Abjection Productions

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readbookywooks · 8 years

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A Whale of Unknown Species

ALTHOUGH I WAS startled by this unexpected descent, I at least have a very clear recollection of my sensations during it. At first I was dragged about twenty feet under. I'm a good swimmer, without claiming to equal such other authors as Byron and Edgar Allan Poe, who were master divers, and I didn't lose my head on the way down. With two vigorous kicks of the heel, I came back to the surface of the sea. My first concern was to look for the frigate. Had the crew seen me go overboard? Was the Abraham Lincoln tacking about? Would Commander Farragut put a longboat to sea? Could I hope to be rescued? The gloom was profound. I glimpsed a black mass disappearing eastward, where its running lights were fading out in the distance. It was the frigate. I felt I was done for. "Help! Help!" I shouted, swimming desperately toward the Abraham Lincoln. My clothes were weighing me down. The water glued them to my body, they were paralyzing my movements. I was sinking! I was suffocating . . . ! "Help!" This was the last shout I gave. My mouth was filling with water. I struggled against being dragged into the depths. . . . Suddenly my clothes were seized by energetic hands, I felt myself pulled abruptly back to the surface of the sea, and yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear: "If master would oblige me by leaning on my shoulder, master will swim with much greater ease." With one hand I seized the arm of my loyal Conseil. "You!" I said. "You!" "Myself," Conseil replied, "and at master's command." "That collision threw you overboard along with me?" "Not at all. But being in master's employ, I followed master." The fine lad thought this only natural! "What about the frigate?" I asked. "The frigate?" Conseil replied, rolling over on his back. "I think master had best not depend on it to any great extent!" "What are you saying?" "I'm saying that just as I jumped overboard, I heard the men at the helm shout, 'Our propeller and rudder are smashed!' " "Smashed?" "Yes, smashed by the monster's tusk! I believe it's the sole injury the Abraham Lincoln has sustained. But most inconveniently for us, the ship can no longer steer." "Then we're done for!" "Perhaps," Conseil replied serenely. "However, we still have a few hours before us, and in a few hours one can do a great many things!" Conseil's unflappable composure cheered me up. I swam more vigorously, but hampered by clothes that were as restricting as a cloak made of lead, I was managing with only the greatest difficulty. Conseil noticed as much. "Master will allow me to make an incision," he said. And he slipped an open clasp knife under my clothes, slitting them from top to bottom with one swift stroke. Then he briskly undressed me while I swam for us both. I then did Conseil the same favor, and we continued to "navigate" side by side. But our circumstances were no less dreadful. Perhaps they hadn't seen us go overboard; and even if they had, the frigate-being undone by its rudder - couldn't return to leeward after us. So we could count only on its longboats. Conseil had coolly reasoned out this hypothesis and laid his plans accordingly. An amazing character, this boy; in midocean, this stoic lad seemed right at home! So, having concluded that our sole chance for salvation lay in being picked up by the Abraham Lincoln's longboats, we had to take steps to wait for them as long as possible. Consequently, I decided to divide our energies so we wouldn't both be worn out at the same time, and this was the arrangement: while one of us lay on his back, staying motionless with arms crossed and legs outstretched, the other would swim and propel his partner forward. This towing role was to last no longer than ten minutes, and by relieving each other in this way, we could stay afloat for hours, perhaps even until daybreak. Slim chance, but hope springs eternal in the human breast! Besides, there were two of us. Lastly, I can vouch - as improbable as it seems - that even if I had wanted to destroy all my illusions, even if I had been willing to "give in to despair," I could not have done so! The cetacean had rammed our frigate at about eleven o'clock in the evening. I therefore calculated on eight hours of swimming until sunrise. A strenuous task, but feasible, thanks to our relieving each other. The sea was pretty smooth and barely tired us. Sometimes I tried to peer through the dense gloom, which was broken only by the phosphorescent flickers coming from our movements. I stared at the luminous ripples breaking over my hands, shimmering sheets spattered with blotches of bluish gray. It seemed as if we'd plunged into a pool of quicksilver. Near one o'clock in the morning, I was overcome with tremendous exhaustion. My limbs stiffened in the grip of intense cramps. Conseil had to keep me going, and attending to our self-preservation became his sole responsibility. I soon heard the poor lad gasping; his breathing became shallow and quick. I didn't think he could stand such exertions for much longer. "Go on! Go on!" I told him. "Leave master behind?" he replied. "Never! I'll drown before he does!" Just then, past the fringes of a large cloud that the wind was driving eastward, the moon appeared. The surface of the sea glistened under its rays. That kindly light rekindled our strength. I held up my head again. My eyes darted to every point of the horizon. I spotted the frigate. It was five miles from us and formed no more than a dark, barely perceptible mass. But as for longboats, not a one in sight! I tried to call out. What was the use at such a distance! My swollen lips wouldn't let a single sound through. Conseil could still articulate a few words, and I heard him repeat at intervals: "Help! Help!" Ceasing all movement for an instant, we listened. And it may have been a ringing in my ear, from this organ filling with impeded blood, but it seemed to me that Conseil's shout had received an answer back. "Did you hear that?" I muttered. "Yes, yes!" And Conseil hurled another desperate plea into space. This time there could be no mistake! A human voice had answered us! Was it the voice of some poor devil left behind in midocean, some other victim of that collision suffered by our ship? Or was it one of the frigate's longboats, hailing us out of the gloom? Conseil made one final effort, and bracing his hands on my shoulders, while I offered resistance with one supreme exertion, he raised himself half out of the water, then fell back exhausted. "What did you see?" "I saw . . . ," he muttered, "I saw . . . but we mustn't talk . . . save our strength . . . !" What had he seen? Then, lord knows why, the thought of the monster came into my head for the first time . . . ! But even so, that voice . . . ? Gone are the days when Jonahs took refuge in the bellies of whales! Nevertheless, Conseil kept towing me. Sometimes he looked up, stared straight ahead, and shouted a request for directions, which was answered by a voice that was getting closer and closer. I could barely hear it. I was at the end of my strength; my fingers gave out; my hands were no help to me; my mouth opened convulsively, filling with brine; its coldness ran through me; I raised my head one last time, then I collapsed. . . . Just then something hard banged against me. I clung to it. Then I felt myself being pulled upward, back to the surface of the water; my chest caved in, and I fainted. . . . For certain, I came to quickly, because someone was massaging me so vigorously it left furrows in my flesh. I half opened my eyes. . . . "Conseil!" I muttered. "Did master ring for me?" Conseil replied. Just then, in the last light of a moon settling on the horizon, I spotted a face that wasn't Conseil's but which I recognized at once. "Ned!" I exclaimed. "In person, sir, and still after his prize!" the Canadian replied. "You were thrown overboard after the frigate's collision?" "Yes, professor, but I was luckier than you, and right away I was able to set foot on this floating islet." "Islet?" "Or in other words, on our gigantic narwhale." "Explain yourself, Ned." "It's just that I soon realized why my harpoon got blunted and couldn't puncture its hide." "Why, Ned, why?" "Because, professor, this beast is made of boilerplate steel!" At this point in my story, I need to get a grip on myself, reconstruct exactly what I experienced, and make doubly sure of everything I write. The Canadian's last words caused a sudden upheaval in my brain. I swiftly hoisted myself to the summit of this half-submerged creature or object that was serving as our refuge. I tested it with my foot. Obviously it was some hard, impenetrable substance, not the soft matter that makes up the bodies of our big marine mammals. But this hard substance could have been a bony carapace, like those that covered some prehistoric animals, and I might have left it at that and classified this monster among such amphibious reptiles as turtles or alligators. Well, no. The blackish back supporting me was smooth and polished with no overlapping scales. On impact, it gave off a metallic sonority, and as incredible as this sounds, it seemed, I swear, to be made of riveted plates. No doubts were possible! This animal, this monster, this natural phenomenon that had puzzled the whole scientific world, that had muddled and misled the minds of seamen in both hemispheres, was, there could be no escaping it, an even more astonishing phenomenon-a phenomenon made by the hand of man. Even if I had discovered that some fabulous, mythological creature really existed, it wouldn't have given me such a terrific mental jolt. It's easy enough to accept that prodigious things can come from our Creator. But to find, all at once, right before your eyes, that the impossible had been mysteriously achieved by man himself: this staggers the mind! But there was no question now. We were stretched out on the back of some kind of underwater boat that, as far as I could judge, boasted the shape of an immense steel fish. Ned Land had clear views on the issue. Conseil and I could only line up behind him. "But then," I said, "does this contraption contain some sort of locomotive mechanism, and a crew to run it?" "Apparently," the harpooner replied. "And yet for the three hours I've lived on this floating island, it hasn't shown a sign of life." "This boat hasn't moved at all?" "No, Professor Aronnax. It just rides with the waves, but otherwise it hasn't stirred." "But we know that it's certainly gifted with great speed. Now then, since an engine is needed to generate that speed, and a mechanic to run that engine, I conclude: we're saved." "Humph!" Ned Land put in, his tone denoting reservations. Just then, as if to take my side in the argument, a bubbling began astern of this strange submersible - whose drive mechanism was obviously a propeller - and the boat started to move. We barely had time to hang on to its topside, which emerged about eighty centimeters above water. Fortunately its speed was not excessive. "So long as it navigates horizontally," Ned Land muttered, "I've no complaints. But if it gets the urge to dive, I wouldn't give $2.00 for my hide!" The Canadian might have quoted a much lower price. So it was imperative to make contact with whatever beings were confined inside the plating of this machine. I searched its surface for an opening or a hatch, a "manhole," to use the official term; but the lines of rivets had been firmly driven into the sheet-iron joins and were straight and uniform. Moreover, the moon then disappeared and left us in profound darkness. We had to wait for daylight to find some way of getting inside this underwater boat. So our salvation lay totally in the hands of the mysterious helmsmen steering this submersible, and if it made a dive, we were done for! But aside from this occurring, I didn't doubt the possibility of our making contact with them. In fact, if they didn't produce their own air, they inevitably had to make periodic visits to the surface of the ocean to replenish their oxygen supply. Hence the need for some opening that put the boat's interior in contact with the atmosphere. As for any hope of being rescued by Commander Farragut, that had to be renounced completely. We were being swept westward, and I estimate that our comparatively moderate speed reached twelve miles per hour. The propeller churned the waves with mathematical regularity, sometimes emerging above the surface and throwing phosphorescent spray to great heights. Near four o'clock in the morning, the submersible picked up speed. We could barely cope with this dizzying rush, and the waves battered us at close range. Fortunately Ned's hands came across a big mooring ring fastened to the topside of this sheet-iron back, and we all held on for dear life. Finally this long night was over. My imperfect memories won't let me recall my every impression of it. A single detail comes back to me. Several times, during various lulls of wind and sea, I thought I heard indistinct sounds, a sort of elusive harmony produced by distant musical chords. What was the secret behind this underwater navigating, whose explanation the whole world had sought in vain? What beings lived inside this strange boat? What mechanical force allowed it to move about with such prodigious speed? Daylight appeared. The morning mists surrounded us, but they soon broke up. I was about to proceed with a careful examination of the hull, whose topside formed a sort of horizontal platform, when I felt it sinking little by little. "Oh, damnation!" Ned Land shouted, stamping his foot on the resonant sheet iron. "Open up there, you antisocial navigators!" But it was difficult to make yourself heard above the deafening beats of the propeller. Fortunately this submerging movement stopped. From inside the boat, there suddenly came noises of iron fastenings pushed roughly aside. One of the steel plates flew up, a man appeared, gave a bizarre yell, and instantly disappeared. A few moments later, eight strapping fellows appeared silently, their faces like masks, and dragged us down into their fearsome machine.

#20000Leagues

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