INTRODUCTIONS for Moby Dick

[ALK]

Yes, I think you are being too pragmatic. You play this game so well, you should realize it is only a game. Ana chose her(?) user name her(?)self, so it must have some special meaning to her.

We could hew close to the dictionary meaning of anaphylaxis, which is sensitivity to a foreign protein or drug, and guess that it reminds her that she is, for instance, sensitive to the proteins in bee venom. On the other hand maybe she widened the meaning a little so that it means she is sensitive to foreign experiences or foreign people--this could be either a negative or positive sensitivity. This would fit in very neatly to one of the themes of MD.

Or we could return to what you referred to--anaphylactic shock. Depending on Ana's personality, it could remind her of a death-threatening reaction to bee venom that she experienced while on vacation in Maine, or a reaction she had after shaking hands with a "foreigner." I almost said, while sleeping in the same bed with a foreigner, but that would cast aspersions on her character and would be better left unsaid even though it fits so neatly into a chapter of MD.

But maybe she did not mean any of these things (even though we all know that an author does not know the meaning of what she writes), may she just loved the way "anaphylaxis" could be turned into a first name and a last name, the same way Garrison Keillor did.

While thinking of anaphylaxis, I decided that, if I had chosen that username, which I was clever enough for, I would have chosen "Ana Phylaxoid." That has the same connotations as "Ana Phylaxis" with added uncertaining and a certain shapelessness, and a subtle reference to the most famous "oid"' of our time--"Altoids."

ALK


Ziki wrote
"...but it [anaphylaxis] means not such a pleasant thing in real life =fatal shock and possible death. Ziki. Maybe too pragmatic"

[chad]

Or we could just talk about how the cell incorporated the mitochondria...

Chad

[ziki]

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ALK wrote:
Yes, I think you are being too pragmatic. You play this game so well, you should realize it is only a game. Ana chose her(?) user name her(?)self, so it must have some special meaning to her.

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I do not know what game you mean but sure Anaphylaxis had an allergy....so the screen name is not far fetched. I do not understand why this is important to you.

ziki

[Choisya]

You play this game so well, you should realize it is only a game.

I wondered the same thing Ziki - what 'game' is being played here on the old MD thread, where some excellent discussions of the book and HM have taken place? Perhaps Chad can enlighten us since he often goes deeply into the meanings of things.

The choosing of names for the internet is a very peculiar business - I have often been in a situation where names I have chosen are rejected because another user has them and so I get driven to choosing the most bizarre one I can think of - Choisya isn't one of those by the way, it is just the name of my favourite shrub.

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ziki wrote:

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ALK wrote:
Yes, I think you are being too pragmatic. You play this game so well, you should realize it is only a game. Ana chose her(?) user name her(?)self, so it must have some special meaning to her.

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I do not know what game you mean but sure Anaphylaxis had an allergy....so the screen name is not far fetched. I do not understand why this is important to you.

ziki

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[chad]

Sometimes I think that people like to keep information on what books are "about", rather than share. But, and I make people angry when I say this, in general, I don't think the classics are well understood. It's all technically between you and the author, anyway. Sometimes I feel I ruin our story by saying anything. But it can only be my viewpoint, no matter how spiritual, and so I post it up there... I don't know what anaphylaxis was about- I have to know about anaphylaxis as a lifeguard...

Chad

PS- I'll try and dig up some info about the mitchondria- you may have to "wikipedia it" for a bit. I think the mitochondria was a separate cell and gradually beacme an organelle of the cell. The mitochondria is an "energy" house for the cell. The whale pods and ships were like two large cells joining together to form one new scary entity. On a microscopic scale, two different cells joining together may be as tumultuous as the ships and whales running into each other on the sea. But I don't think we're really sure about the process of the mitochondria's incorporation-this is evolutionary theory...

Message Edited by chad on 03-11-200711:50 AM

[chad]

Sorry,

mitochondriun is singular; mitochondria is plural. FYI.

Chad

Message Edited by chad on 03-11-200712:17 PM

[Choisya]

You are amazing Chad! I understood a bit of that.

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chad wrote:
Sometimes I think that people like to keep information on what books are "about", rather than share. But, and I make people angry when I say this, in general, I don't think the classics are well understood. It's all technically between you and the author, anyway. Sometimes I feel I ruin our story by saying anything. But it can only be my viewpoint, no matter how spiritual, and so I post it up there... I don't know what anaphylaxis was about- I have to know about anaphylaxis as a lifeguard...

Chad

PS- I'll try and dig up some info about the mitchondria- you may have to "wikipedia it" for a bit. I think the mitochondria was a separate cell and gradually beacme an organelle of the cell. The mitochondria is an "energy" house for the cell. The whale pods and ships were like two large cells joining together to form one new scary entity. On a microscopic scale, two different cells joining together may be as tumultuous as the ships and whales running into each other on the sea. But I don't think we're really sure about the process of the mitochondria's incorporation-this is evolutionary theory...

Message Edited by chad on 03-11-200711:50 AM

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