Saturday, October 11, 2014

"feastking of shellies by googling Lovvey"

(231.9-233.10)  After Glugg's wistful poem, we see him nurturing new delusions of grandeur (for instance, he sees himself as "feastking of shellies by googling Lovvey") as he was struck with a painful toothache, which felt like one of his wisdom teeth "had been zawhen intwo."  His face convulsed in pain, and he swore up and down.  "Though he shall live for millions of years a life of billions of years," the narrator says, "from their roseaced glows to their violast lustres, he shall not forget that pucking Pugases."

But the narrator says that even after all of this -- his exile and his pain -- Gulgg soon "rehad himself."  This renewal came not through prayer or "contrite attrition," but through "esercizism" (both exorcism and asceticism).  The somewhat lengthy paragraph beginning near the bottom of page 231 and ending near the bottom of page 232 details how Glugg "resumed his soul."  In short, he went into further convulsions because of his pain, which burned like hellfire.  This pain was on display for all to see:  "Lookery looks, how he's knots in his entrails!  Mookery mooks, it's a grippe of his gripes.  Seekeryseeks, why his biting he's head off?"  (Note the Mookse and Gripes reference in that quotation.)

Suddenly, "The worst is over."  Just as he was preparing for "the major operation," he receives (here the narrative switches back to the present tense) a message from Izod via radio waves ("herzian waves").  The message says, "Isle wail for yews, O doherlynt!"  This once again compares Glugg/Shem to a tree (the yew) while Izod says, "I wail for you, oh darling!" or "I'll wait for you, oh darling!" or "I wail for you, oh Dublin!"  He also receives a telegram from her, which says that she has ended her affair with Chuff and that Glugg should stop sobbing and come back to her.

With this, Glugg makes haste to return and finds himself once again before the Floras.  The narrator says that if he hadn't gotten a toothache, he would have told them a tall tale of how he won fame on the continent.  The Floras -- Angelinas, here -- are told to hide their colors (their panties) from Glugg because a man ought not to lodge his eyes there.  With a sing-song rhythm, an instruction is given to the Floras ordering them to confuse Glugg ("Find the frenge for frocks and translace it into shocks of such as touch with show and show.").  Tomorrow, we will find out if Glugg is able to redeem himself from his previous disaster.

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