Chapter 21 – Deliverance
This chapter talks of fulfilment (deliverance), if only partial, often snatched at, even unsought, pre-destined as well as by chance – and of a poignant reunion that many who have read this far will guess. The tide of 'triumph' and 'disaster' are a symbiosis: life. One thing (tied up with such considerations) that I enjoy about this novel is the constructive impossibility to navigate the parallelogram of intentionalities: the ostensible head-lease of PFJ, the lesser(?) lessees: Petrie & Tuerqui herself, -- plus the over-arching Goddess (who appears everywhere even as a tiny thing in a slave harness).
One criticism is possibly some of the slaves (with various names) not being sufficiently defined to differentiate them in a busy reader's mind. (I am OK with it as I am actually 'studying' the book, as it were).
Some illuminating and pleasing passages (among many):
"I'm honoured, mistress," Passibelle said. "Tuerqui, I hope we'll be great friends – should our mistress permit."
"You may be as great friends as you wish."
Struggling to speak, I produced a whinny, dissolving into hiccoughs, before turning into my first articulate word for half a year: "Mistress!"
The hallway was floored and panelled in a rich yellowish brown wood. Its glossy surfaces reflected many candles, and smelt of polish. There were a dozen statues – the Leather Mistress and other Surrey deities – as well as smaller carvings of snake-women, lions, tigers, dragons and other fabulous beasts. On the staircase hung a fine copy of Salmon's The Reward of Insolence in which the crouching slave's welts were especially vivid.
"Mistress, I wouldn't want personage, should it be offered to me – which I hope it never will. I'd rather be hitched to a filthy cart than lose my slavery. Mistress, I am a slave. I am your slave – and hope that I will remain so always."
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typos:
with me wearing it–
There should be a space before the en dash.
I'm Tuerqui – you mother."
Queries:
There *seems* to be something wrong with the punctuation and en dashes(?):
"No, the usurper" – by usurper she clearly intended my father "still holds Lundin – more's the pity. Princess Jenna's safe in Surrey. If the goddesses are kind, our troops'll deliver her birthright."
Should there be a 'my' before 'left':
Then I realised that one of my owner's hands was on left thigh and the other on my right shoulder.
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Word docs of the actual chapters are freely available to readers of this blog.
The links to all Chapter comments by me are here: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2008/06/odalisque.html
Posted by: newdfl on 8/19/2008 7:13:39 AM , 3 comments
Submitted by Pet at 8/19/2008 8:57:23 AM
Thank you. Both typos are now corrected. I'm pretty sure that the missing word "my" was a third typo (and no more than that) -- it is also now corrected.
You're right -- the punctuation of the passage beginning "No, the usurper" is somewhat awry. I've now inserted an en dash after "father" and replaced the dash after "Lundin" with a comma.
The balance of different voices in the book (PFJ, Tuerqui, J Petrie, perhaps the goddess also) is something on which the Epilogue may throw some light (or darkness?). It may, at least, cause the reader to re-appraise the PFJ role.
As to the multiplicity of ill-defined slaves, I hope that it conveys something of the bewilderment of entering a large institution, full of new faces. (A bit like a child arriving in a new school.) With only twelve slaves in Sam's stable, Tuerqui has been used to fewer companions. Chapter 22 is entitled "Settling" with (I hope) the clear implication that -- in Chapter 21 -- Tuerqui has not yet started to settle into her new surroundings (and amongst her new companions).
Submitted by des at 8/19/2008 9:05:37 AM
I look forward to reading the Epilogue in due course, but reserve the right to deem it apocryphal. ;-)
Submitted by Pet at 8/19/2008 11:03:30 AM
The Epilogue is, essentially, a very long footnote... But we anticipate...