David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


13 May 2009

?

O!
What was that?
cries the River Free

I was once your Burden
sings the Delta to the Sea

And now, a bow
All Three:
!AHA?
(laughter, exeunt)

The previous post recalled DC comic character The Riddler and his question mark logo. From the great parade of comic fashions - costumes, capes and masks - his is near enough the favourite at bLOGOS/HA HA.



On Dualism's Stage, I usually regard the question mark as a female sign : spiral and wombful. Ditto the Riddler's tease to Bat Man's LOGOS : He Man, upright citizen, phallic Imperator, exclamation hammer! Zap! Pow! Bam!
While Batman was always poised and in control of his emotions, Robin was a highly excitable young man. Throughout their exploits, Robin would often find some event, some comment, some thing, completely unbelievable. On these occasions, he would exclaim, "Holy (insert words here), Batman!" What follows is a list of such outbursts.
("Holy read the list here Batfans!")
Still on question marks, I was intrigued several days ago to 'uncover' this 1922 image at the Library of Congress archives.

woman holding ? placard_via Library of Congress
[Unclothed woman behind "?" sign], 7/28/22

bLOGOS/HA HA is interested in Labels, and reproduces the
LC Label below. It includes a helpful and unhelpful NOTE :
Title devised by Library staff
TITLE: [Unclothed woman behind "?" sign], 7/28/22

CALL NUMBER: LC-F8- 19377[P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-DIG-npcc-06771 (digital file from original)

RIGHTS INFORMATION: No known restrictions on publication.

MEDIUM: 1 negative : glass ; 4 x 5 in. or smaller

CREATED/PUBLISHED: [19]22 July 28.

NOTES:

Title devised by Library staff.

Date from unverified data provided by the National Photo Company on the negatives or negative sleeves.

Gift; Herbert A. French; 1947.

This glass negative might show streaks and other blemishes resulting from a natural deterioration in the original coatings.

Temp. note: Batch two.

FORMAT:

Glass negatives.

PART OF: National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)

REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID: (digital file from original) npcc 06771 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.06771

CONTROL #: npc2007006770
How do the LC Lablers know the woman is unclothed? She is/the image is an emanation of the Supreme Goddess as Void, with projection-space for image whereupon we may project and see "unclothed woman" et al.



Another recent fun find is the 1950 sheet music for THE THING. On the cover, in the centre, between the name of THE THING (THE THING) and the nailed and bound wooden box, floats a big bland question mark. [What is this thing called THE THING? Huh?]



Below is a slightly later version, from 1952, with neither ? nor !
(Just looking, thanks.)