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Post by Dante on Nov 8, 2012 14:24:58 GMT -5
~~~ We're up to four of seven stanzas now, but this one tells a story we haven't seen before. It asks us to believe something terrible. Could the Bombinating Beast still be alive? Is that the terrible unknown that stalks the town?
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Post by Old Swinburne on Nov 8, 2012 15:07:55 GMT -5
For some reason, this reminds me of H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos; but no- there are some depths which no literary-minded writer of children's (?) books should plumb. Purely because I have participated in the Re-Read, the flower reference reminds me of the 'some sort of ghastly flower' smell in the Poe household, which has been linked with the 'poisonous plant/ illegal use of credit card' case from TBB.
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Post by Dante on Nov 8, 2012 15:15:20 GMT -5
I agree with both of your points, somewheresafetosea. If ASoUE had never been written, I think it would be a genuine point of contention on 667 and elsewhere as to whether ATWQ was going in a Lovecraftian direction - whether something like the Bombinating Beast really exists. (Well, apparently the Great Unknown exists, but it probably won't be visiting Stain'd's streets any time soon.) I was also reminded a little of the poisonous plant of TBB, but it's hard to see how there could be a genuine link there. It's more that there are only so many words that rhyme with "hour."
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Antenora
Detriment Deleter
Fiendish Philologist
Put down that harpoon gun, in the name of these wonderful birds!
Posts: 15,891
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Post by Antenora on Nov 8, 2012 16:05:16 GMT -5
Whatever the thing is meant to be, I'm sure it bombinates in addition to rattling and knocking (on people's doors?). But the only bombinating sound heard in Stain'd is that of the "warning" bell-- that could be mistaken for the Beast, though, by people who confuse the signifier with the signified. Purely because I have participated in the Re-Read, the flower reference reminds me of the 'some sort of ghastly flower' smell in the Poe household, which has been linked with the 'poisonous plant/ illegal use of credit card' case from TBB. I was reminded more of the laudanum tea, which was said to smell like a dangerous flower. However, the line was obviously chosen as a very contrived rhyme.
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Q.R.V.
Formidable Foreman
Better paranoid than dead.
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Post by Q.R.V. on Nov 8, 2012 21:54:07 GMT -5
Ha! I knew I had come across evil flowers in an ASOUE-related context before, and then I remembered: The Flowers of Evil, by Charles Baudelaire As has been said, "flower" is probably for the rhyme, but Les Fleurs du Mal could have influenced the choice of adjective. Edit: The obvious explanation of the thing is the Bombinating Beast, but even regardless of the Beast's mythical status, is it capable of slithering around on land, with no water? Within WCTBATH, it is exclusively described as a marine animal. Maybe the thing is the statue itself, and it contains some sort of machinery that allows it to slither and rattle and knock. This would give meaning to "coming to life" at night. But I would have a hard time being terrified of a statue the size of a milk bottle, even a creepy robotic one. Edit again: This is a much more tenuous reference, but Handler is a self-declared fan of Edward Gorey, and I will use any excuse to bring in Gorey. (Hence my username.) Gorey wrote a poem called The Evil Garden, with flowers that eat people - and have a sickly smell, like the aforementioned Poe household and laudanum. Also in the poem are buzzing bugs and the sudden onset of darkness/night. Edit again again: The last time we saw this picture, there was someone running down the street. My guess, though, would be that this is not relevant but merely a case of recycling an unused draft picture.
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Post by Dante on Nov 9, 2012 3:07:50 GMT -5
Edit again again: The last time we saw this picture, there was someone running down the street. My guess, though, would be that this is not relevant but merely a case of recycling an unused draft picture. Unused? It's on the back cover of the Little, Brown & Co. edition. Probably very easly to edit the silhouetted figure out of the digital final version. Don't want to suggest exactly what it is prowling the nightlit streets.
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Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Nov 9, 2012 8:38:36 GMT -5
Well it is no "thing," but someone. I thought it was Lemony Snicket in one of the later chapters, but like Q.R.V. I think it's just been reused in this mailout because of the setting, and not because of the scene the illustration originally represented, which is why they edited out the person. I really like that those mailouts' poems are as cryptic as they were before we read the book. Kinda weird, seeing as the subject line says 1/4, as in "referring to book #1", but then really it's not. Or IS IT....?
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Post by Dante on Nov 9, 2012 9:49:08 GMT -5
I think we won't be able to judge the stanzas truly until we have all seven - which will likely take another three to six weeks. Once the last one comes in, whoever posts it should post all the others with it, in order.
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Post by Tryina Denouement on Nov 9, 2012 9:53:58 GMT -5
I think we won't be able to judge the stanzas truly until we have all seven - which will likely take another three to six weeks. Once the last one comes in, whoever posts it should post all the others with it, in order.
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