[lit-ideas] Laughing Torso
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 23:06:21 EDT
"So why do they call it a "training" bra? Is it the girl being trained or
the
budding breasts? I had always assumed the latter, and like Phillip Roth
I've
always been jealous of women's bodies and decided at age 10 to wear a
training
bra hoping I would develop melon breasts."
It would be interesting to explore Plato's (and indeed Classical Greek)
vocabulary for parts of the body. I'm sure he has something to say about
'hermaphrodites' (hermes + aphrodite), who _would_ wear a 'training bra'.
On the other hand, there's nothing so archaic and relicky in a _male_ body
than a 'nipple' (Gk. 'nipelos'). I was told that in extreme circumstances
nipples may turn to be useful (and provide milk). (This was seen in
orangoutangs).
This talk of Venus, the Greeks and classic sculpture, reminded me of Nina
Hamnet. I recently acquired that wonderful little book,
NPG "Soho in the 60s"
which is all about:
Nina Hamnett,
the painter and model, who was a fixture at the Fitzroy. She would tell
everybody,
"You know me me, m'deah. I'm in the V and A with me left tit knocked
off"
Long live her memory. (Oddly, this anecdote is recalled by Jonathan Fryer
who wrote that NPG booklet. In the quite similar NPG "Fitzrovia: London's
Bohemia", the quotation is recalled by author Michael Bakewell:
"At the Allied Artists Exhibition [in 1913] Nina encountered the sculptor
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. They became lovers: he made a figure of her dancing
naked
(Nina was much given to dancing naked) and two marble torsos. 'You know me,
m'dear -- I'm in the V and A with me left tit knocked off!" was how she
introduced herself to R. Todd."
Long live her memory.
Cheers,
J. L. Speranza, Esq.
Town:
Calle Arenales 2021, Piso 5, St. 8,
La Recoleta C1124AAE,
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Tel. 54 11 4824 4253
Fax 54 221 425 9205
Country:
St. Michael Hall,
Calle 58, No. 611,
La Plata B1900 BPY
Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Tel. 54 221 425 7817
Fax 54 221 425 9205
http://www.stmichaels.com.ar
jls@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
http://www.netverk/~jls.htm
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