‘Like a Mexith’s renowned statue bristling with emblems’
Masquerade, Anthropology, Yeats and Pound among Wyndham Lewis’s Apes of God
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20047005 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter L Caracciolo (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1993 |
| Pages | 126-157 |
| Publication date | 1993-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Pound in Multiple Perspective (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan UK (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/978-1-349-11194-7_5 |
| OpenAlex | W2493298540 |
| ISBN | 9781349111947 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 8 |
An outrageous fancy-dress banquet extends over more than a third of The Apes of God (1930). It is so timed as to desecrate the traditional fast and thus transgress the normal bounds of Carnival. The climax of this blasphemous masquerade is to be a display of magic put on by the flamboyant Horace Zagreus.2 As he dresses for Lord Osmund's Lenten Party, Zagreus seems ever more the hierophant in some revival of the Ancient Mysteries (AG 341–62). Until clad in his weirdly emblematic robes and headgear — resembling not so much Harlequin as the quintessence of the Other — Zagreus rivals the most grotesque of Arcimboldo's teasing inventions.3 Close upon Zagreus's heels, like his shadow, follows Ratner in the hardly less bizarre guise of 'the terrible Barin Mutum or African Half-man' (AG 347). The acolyte is the role that this 'Split-Man' is forced to play, 'the Jinn' or Slave of the Lamp to his patron (AG 348). Two other protégés are also in the retinue of 'the First Conjuror to Lord Osmund'. The waspish Archie Margolin is the latest in a string of 'geniuses' whom Horace makes a habit of discovering. The new favourite is gradually displacing his predecessor Dan Boleyn. Boleyn is an Irish youth, tall, handsome but painfully shy, naive and awkward to the extent that one suspects him of imbecility. While Archie pesters the other guests, flicking matchstick 'arrows' at them, the hapless Irishman is repeatedly humiliated. He has come reluctantly disguised 'as a Cinquecento exquisite-white silk tights'.KeywordsMultiple PerspectiveBritish MuseumHuman SacrificeNative RaceWestern FrontThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves
Art · Art history · Banquet · Genius · Irish · Literature · History · Irish and British Studies · Joseph Conrad and Literature · Modernist Literature and Criticism · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |