OK, so having seen the play, here's how I think it relates to this page:
"and it never recovered" could refer to two things: the water clock itself which never stuck back together completely or to the sisters themselves who never entirely recovered from the way their father treated them.
"I visited" would seem to refer to Meri/Merope who had to visit Belfast.
"I was reminded" Meri/Merope didn't remember what had happened when she was a young child. Her sisters reminded her.
"survived among the smouldering ruins" - This is something all the sisters have done, if not always well.
"As children, we observed the same" - The sisters survived in the ruins since childhood.
"a wind blew them away" - When social services removed them from the home, they were separated.
"relics, shards . . . lovers and disciples" I think these two pieces also refer to the sisters divided.
"gathered . . . they would stitch their remembered episodes together" Maia's letter brought them back together, and we heard their remembered episodes.
"a funeral" - In some sense, perhaps, the play itself was a funeral or memorial for Ty.
"the temporal authorities could not suppress the stories of this collective phoenix" - The sisters together formed a collective phoenix, rising from the wreckage of their childhood. The temporal authority would seem to be the narrator, the one who set the clock (time) going.
As for the two sevens at the end, I guess we're back to wondering about Celaeno, or perhaps this emphasises that the narrator, far from standing "objectively" outside of events, was himself a character.
Thanks :-)
ReplyDeleteOK, so having seen the play, here's how I think it relates to this page:
ReplyDelete"and it never recovered" could refer to two things: the water clock itself which never stuck back together completely or to the sisters themselves who never entirely recovered from the way their father treated them.
"I visited" would seem to refer to Meri/Merope who had to visit Belfast.
"I was reminded" Meri/Merope didn't remember what had happened when she was a young child. Her sisters reminded her.
"survived among the smouldering ruins" - This is something all the sisters have done, if not always well.
"As children, we observed the same" - The sisters survived in the ruins since childhood.
"a wind blew them away" - When social services removed them from the home, they were separated.
"relics, shards . . . lovers and disciples" I think these two pieces also refer to the sisters divided.
"gathered . . . they would stitch their remembered episodes together" Maia's letter brought them back together, and we heard their remembered episodes.
"a funeral" - In some sense, perhaps, the play itself was a funeral or memorial for Ty.
"the temporal authorities could not suppress the stories of this collective phoenix" - The sisters together formed a collective phoenix, rising from the wreckage of their childhood. The temporal authority would seem to be the narrator, the one who set the clock (time) going.
As for the two sevens at the end, I guess we're back to wondering about Celaeno, or perhaps this emphasises that the narrator, far from standing "objectively" outside of events, was himself a character.
Well done, Elizabeth! You're stellar at making connections (the literary background I guess).
ReplyDeleteI never considered that the Narrator might be the 7th character in the constellation... interesting.