Thursday, May 19, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 41

Line 41: "Heir at Feint Andruse Cycle-logical Infirmitry it is entimely passible, in Lussye's questimation, to slep from the birthly whelm intru a terrortree o' feary-tell and eld mirthology, where every mutterforth is an immadiate and enternal troth."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Here at Saint Andrew's Psychological Infirmary it is entirely possible, in Lucia's estimation, to slip from the earthly realm into a territory of fairy tale and old mythology, where every uttered/muttered word is an immediate and eternal truth."

"Heir at Feint Andruse Cycle-logical Infirmitry"
Lucia takes on the baggage (possibly treatment), or inheritance, of Saint Andrew's Hospital.

"Feint Andruse Cycle-logical Infirmitry"
A feint is a deceptive blow. A ruse is a deceptive gambit. Lucia sees Saint Andrew's as trying to deceive. This fits into her paranoia and the way she sees the doctors as actors and the nurses as pretending at their compassion. Lucia sees the program at Saint Andrew's as a constant cycle of deceptive logic, tricking the patients into believing they need to be there while tricking the patients' friends and families that they're helping them to get better. The patients are kept infirm even though Lucia tries ("itry") to come to a place where she can mend the seam in her mind and life.

"entimely passible"
Saint Andrew's consumes Lucia's life, time passing without any noticeable difference between the days.

"Lussye's questimation"
Lucia spelled in a way that evokes Ulysses. Ulysses' quest was merely to get home, the same as Lucia's here. But it took him ten years. Lucia's has taken quite a bit more ("entimely passible") and, spoiler, she'll never make it home. She is stuck in the cycle of deceptive healing here at the hospital (as she sees it! Don't sue me for libel, Saint Andrew's Hospital!).

"to slep from the birthly whelm"
"To slip from the earthly realm" is both to die and to travel in some magical or supernatural way into another world. This can also be done by sleeping ("slep") by way of dreaming. Slipping from the "birthly" realm also suggests dying as birth gives life and leaving life is death. Am I being patronizing enough in my explications? I'm trying my best to rise above my legacy of constantly getting "expand on this thought" comments on college papers.

"whelm"
This can mean to engulf or to bury, both of which Lucia sees as having happened to her. But it also means to surge like a tide. Lucia, being water, may have it in her yet to overcome the restraints (jesses) put on her by the staff and medication so that she can "slip the earthly realm" and fly free.

"intru"
Lucia slips the earthly realm "into" the "truth" of fairy tales and mythology.

"terrortree"
The "territory" of fairy tales and mythology can be full of "terror." Also she is wandering into the grounds of Saint Andrew's Hospital which contains groves of trees which she will explore.

"feary-tell"
Fairy tales are tales told to invoke fear so that the listener can learn society's mores.

"eld mirthology"
"Eld" is simply another way of expressing "old age." Lucia has become an old woman here in the daily cycle of the hospital, time passing quickly from birth to death in the stagnancy of "heir" days. Lucia finds the stories in "mythology" amusing or "mirthful."

"mutterforth"
I translated this into "uttered word/muttered word" although that seems a stretch. I'm not sure what else it could be though. Every word "muttered forth" from Lucia's lips literally contains immediate and eternal truths as her Lucy-Lips language contains multitudes of unconscious meanings in each single statement. "Muttering" is also hard to understand as is Lucia's language. Mutter could also be "mother" which could be connected to "immadiate" as it contains "I'm mad at."

"immadiate"
Perhaps Lucia's immediate feelings are often rage ("immad", "I'm mad"). This would make sense based on what she sees as an imprisonment in a place that is constantly trying to fool her. And we see that the doctors and nurses take special care to observe her moods before letting her out on the grounds on her own. Today she has shown them she's in a pleasant mood (probably fooled them as much of her Lucy-Lips dialogue suggests her anger still surges beneath the surface) and so is allowed out to explore the grounds on her own.

"enternal troth."
"Troth" is both "truth" and a "pledged loyalty," as one might do when on a "quest." Lucia is "entering" into a "troth." But who is she pledging her loyalty to? Surely not the staff at the hospital. Possibly herself, as she's on "Lussye's quest"? Her eternal truth is to return to home and family (although her family are all dead by now and she has no home to return to).

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