My word for the day is "quagmire".
I've been reading Alexander McCall Smith's Isabel Dalhousie books (
just_sphinx told me to do so). I've read the first three and I love them so far.
In book 2 (Friends, Lovers, Chocolate) there's this odd section about D.H Lawrence and a snake and a water trough: apparently Lawrence in "his curious snake poem"* talks about a snake visiting his water trough and how he throws a rock at it. And Isabel points out that Auden would not have thrown rocks at snakes and Hemingway would, and that's the crucial difference, between writers who throw rocks at snakes and writers who don't.
(Myself, I hate snakes and I'm terrified of them and if I wasn't running away I probably would throw rocks at them. But I'm not a writer, so I'm not sure if this applies. I do not want to be lumped together with Lawrence and Hemingway.)
But anyway. This sort of interested me because my first snake dream (don't judge me, I wrote that ages ago) involved a snake in a water trough. And there was lots of danger and the temptation to put my hand in the water with the snake and lots of things I would probably think of as sexual symbolism or something now. And considering my second snake dream involved crucifixion you'd think sex and religion would matter to me far more than they have done. My subconscious in my childhood was probably far more interesting than I am.
Hmm.
*Which I have not read. Why would I? The bits of Lawrence I've read so far have been painful enough.
just_sphinx told me to do so). I've read the first three and I love them so far.
In book 2 (Friends, Lovers, Chocolate) there's this odd section about D.H Lawrence and a snake and a water trough: apparently Lawrence in "his curious snake poem"* talks about a snake visiting his water trough and how he throws a rock at it. And Isabel points out that Auden would not have thrown rocks at snakes and Hemingway would, and that's the crucial difference, between writers who throw rocks at snakes and writers who don't.
(Myself, I hate snakes and I'm terrified of them and if I wasn't running away I probably would throw rocks at them. But I'm not a writer, so I'm not sure if this applies. I do not want to be lumped together with Lawrence and Hemingway.)
But anyway. This sort of interested me because my first snake dream (don't judge me, I wrote that ages ago) involved a snake in a water trough. And there was lots of danger and the temptation to put my hand in the water with the snake and lots of things I would probably think of as sexual symbolism or something now. And considering my second snake dream involved crucifixion you'd think sex and religion would matter to me far more than they have done. My subconscious in my childhood was probably far more interesting than I am.
Hmm.
*Which I have not read. Why would I? The bits of Lawrence I've read so far have been painful enough.