Thanks to my new Finnegans Wake blog, or more precisely, to Mr. Joyce himself, whole new realms of ignorance have been revealed lately. One word that came up in our last session was "chimera".
After my last post, I am not confident enough to be sure that what I think I know is actually right. But my sense of "chimera" is that it is a mythological figure, possibly Greek, which is something like a willow-the-wisp. In other words, whimsical, elusive and possibly puzzling.
But what is it really?
Well, not what I think, anyway. At least I got the Greek part right. In Greek mythology, it's a creature that has the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tale of a serpent.(And we think we have identity crises.) The chimera is consistently thought of as female, despite having a mane on the lion's head aspect. It is a sibling of Cerberus the three-headed dog. It also breathes fire. And Harry Potter fans are apparently going to be way ahead of me on this one.
What's perhaps more interesting is the modern day application of the word, in which the term has come to mean many organic things that have two or more different genetic sources. If you stop and think about it, this is an age ripe with the chimerical. Grafting, organ transplants and genetic engineering all result in sorts of chimeras, don't they? In fact you may meet a chimera tomorrow, or eat a piece of fruit from one and never even know it. (Try not to eat one from any of the fire-breathing varieties, though. Unless it's a pepper.)
By extension, "chimera" has come to mean a monstrous figment of the imagination, or even a kind of pipe dream, something of the imagination only.
Monstrous, sure, but come on, it's not that bad. Didn't you see that cute little geep or shoat or whatever it is up above?
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Great word and a fascinating subject.
ReplyDeleteOn-topic, this is really crazy.
Brian, that is certainly a great addition to this post. That poor family!
ReplyDeleteAnd one of the most interesting things is that last footnote about how many legal cases this could affect.
I'm missing your blog, my friend. I know you have a good excuse to make the entries infrequent right now--just saying.
Wow what a story, Brian. Wild stuff. Hi Seana, I just stopped by to thank you for your several months old recommendation that I read Shop Class As Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into The Value Of Work by Matthew B. Crawford. I put it on my wishlist and received it as a gift at the end of the year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I found it very appropriate reading as I continue to "hammer out" my manuscript about a long series of unsatisfying jobs. Anyway, cheers, and I too dig the chimera post!
ReplyDeleteHey, great to hear from you, Hardbarned! I'm really glad to hear that you are still working on your manuscript. You are unlikely to have a huge amount of competition in telling your life as a a barn mover, for one thing!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Shopcraft as Soulcraft myself yet, but I'm always thinking of people who might really take heart from it. I might send my sister a copy, come to think of it.
How's our friend Greg Love doing these days? Haven't seen him much around the boards of late.
I actually am a bit embarrassed not to have known what a chimera was, though only because I'm pretty sure that at one point I did know it, and simply forgot.
Shopcraft was very interesting. I plan on using a few quotes from it along the way. The manuscript is coming along, but I decided a while back to turn it into a broader memoir about my working life, starting from my first experiences learning about work from my Granddad, swatting moths in his garden. However, it's hard to keep the pre-barn stuff as entertaining and crazy because nothing could ever compare to hauling barns, so I struggle with it a bit but hope to start trying to pitch some agents in the first half of this year, I hope. It's written, but I'm still revising.
ReplyDeleteOld Greg's been lying low for a while. He tends to do that once in a while, but I think he's fine and just focusing on other writing projects. I think he needed to step away from Urgency a little bit and have a break. He keeps busy with his teaching.
Yes, I can see it would be necessary to step away from Urgency for a bit. Give him my regards if you happen to be in touch with him.
ReplyDeleteI think after the revision you should just pitch it. Agents are going to be very frank about what they think they can sell, and I expect that will lead to further revisions anyway. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice and encouragement. All I can hope for is that some agent somewhere will see something worthwhile in a pitch and get my work into the hands of a sharp editor who can put me in line!
ReplyDeletei'll pass along the greetings to Greg.
My favorite of Woddy Allen's many mythical creatures was the one that had the head of a lion and the body of a lion, but a different lion.
ReplyDelete==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I love that. And after Brian's link to Ms. Lydia Fairchild, it's not even as unlikely as it seems.
ReplyDeleteSeana,
ReplyDeleteI'm missing my blog my too. That makes two of us. Not sure there are many others out there missing it, though.
BTW - I have to thank you for a recommendation. I finally watched Brick a few days ago, and wow, what a movie. Great dialogue, great acting, great filmmaking. All the more amazing because I think it was the director's first film, too.
Barned -
ReplyDeleteGood luck on pitching the manuscript. From what I hear, non-fiction is beating the pants off of fiction, so you have a good shot. Let us all know how it turns out.
Glad you liked Brick, Brian. I still have to get to your Primer rec of awhile ago, but now that I have a capable computer, I should be able to do that soon.
ReplyDeleteWeren't you also one of the fans of the Long Good Friday? I finally saw that one as well. Excellent movie, and so much fun to see some talented actors before they'd made it big. We even had James Bond before he was Bond. Well, one of them.
Nice expression on Bob Hoskins' face in the last shot.
ReplyDelete==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
There were more like twenty expressions. He was brilliant.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite mythical creature is the Manticore, which has the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion and the head of a lawyer.
ReplyDelete"Im Zweifel fürs Erzittern
Beim Anblick der Chimären"
Tocotronic, Im Zweifel für den Zweifel
I Googled the lyrics (in English) but will have to wait till I get home to find it sung.
ReplyDeleteI read Robertson Davies' The Manticore and liked it, but I have to confess that I don't know what more typically takes the place of the lawyer. Somthing vile, I suppose.
Machine translation?
ReplyDeleteDid it make sense?
I'd suggest the follwing songs: Harmonie ist eine Strategie, Luft, Dein Geheimer Name, Sailor Man, Die Folter endet nie,Gegen den Strich, 17,
all are easily trackable on youtube
Manticore: well I'm sure it's easiloy googlable as well. Basically a man's head, but with shark teeth.
I think it just to me to a translation of the lyrics that already existed. It seemed to make sense, at least in the way that song lyrics sort of make sense. It's here if you're curious.
ReplyDeleteI did listen to it and liked it. Particularly liked the way they pronounced chimera.
I'll check out the other songs.
No, it's a google translation, and
ReplyDeleteIt seemed to make sense, at least in the way that song lyrics sort of make sense
well... you don't have much of an opionion of song lyrics, right?
The title means something like
In (a state of) confusion because of doubt itself
and the line I've quoted, which it translates
" When in doubt, for the vibration,
at the sight of the Chimera"
it's more
In doubt (in a state of confusion, fear or uncertainty) of being paralyzed by fear at the sight of a Chimera.
Sometimes google translations are surprisingly good, but this one is quite bad.
I'd say that I don't have a high opinion of the clarity of many song lyrics, finding that they are successful at drawing listeners in by a vague allusion to something that triggers a fairly predictable emotion. That doesn't mean I don't like them, and many of them are great.
ReplyDeleteI did get at least the sense of the title from the translator, but you're right, 'in doubt for the vibration' doesn't make a lot of sense.
On the other hand, unless you're going to hang out and be a ready reference, I'm glad to have that translator around so that I can at least glean something.