Saturday, May 17, 2025

Loose Gelatin

There was another owl in THE VOYAGE OUT but I chose not to alert you. However! A third owl gave me cause for comment. Upon learning the name of her beloved, the character Rachel says, "Terence - that's like the cry of an owl." Hmm! Is it? I don't mean to question Virginia Woolf's owl knowledge. But do owls say "Terence"? I am not convinced. One recalls the novel THE GO-BETWEEN, and a similar reflection therein upon the name Hugh, which makes a lot more sense. But I'm known to be a simpleton! Before THE VOYAGE OUT's third owl, there is a significant moment of jellyfish, causing me to recall an important jellyfish anecdote in BUDDENBROOKS, whereupon I pondered, should I do a "blog"trospective about Books with Jellyfish in Them? Ha ha, no, that would be insane. But MOBY-DICK must have some jellyfish in it, right? I've read it twice, but I wasn't looking for jellyfish either time. Then I remembered: Oh! I have a "blog"trospective about gelatin! And I use the term "gelatin" very loosely. But is it loose enough to include jellyfish? Yes. I say it is. If I recall correctly, SpongeBob sometimes gets jelly from jellyfish in much the same way that we, in our non-cartoon world, get milk from cows.