Subject
QUERY: "Cakewalking" in "Speak, Memory" (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR'S NOTE. Joseph Piercy's <j9250308@wlv.ac.uk> "cakewalking" query
below illustrates one of the hazards of reading VN. "Cakewalking" is a
sort of dance or "strutting" contest in the traditional American black
community (and minstrel shows) in which the prize was a cake. One may
ponder where VN encountered the term although he lecture-toured the SOuth
in the 40s and spoke at one or more black colleges.
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------------------ Well, I don't know if this is really a query as such -
I'm just interested to know if anyone has any possible interpretations for
an oddity in the final passage of "Speak, Memory". It has occurred to me
that it might be a typo error in the edition that I have but alas - our
library is closed for a week for a re-fit so I can't check out any later
reprints - I think it probable that it's just a small absurdity to match
the colours and avoid repeating the word "cat" - unless anyone can
enlighten me as to what the practice of "cakewalking" might entail (?)
"There, in front of us, where a broken row of houses stood between us and
the harbor, and where the eye encountered all sorts of stratagems, such as
pale-blue and pink underwear CAKEWALKING on a clothesline, or a lady's
bicycle and a striped cat oddly sharing a rudimentary balcony of cast
iron..."
"Speak, Memory" - U.K 1st Revised Edition,
Weidenfeld And Nicholson, 1967.
any ideas (no matter how obtuse) most
welcome.
Cheers,
Joseph Piercy
University Of Wolverhampton
United Kingdom
below illustrates one of the hazards of reading VN. "Cakewalking" is a
sort of dance or "strutting" contest in the traditional American black
community (and minstrel shows) in which the prize was a cake. One may
ponder where VN encountered the term although he lecture-toured the SOuth
in the 40s and spoke at one or more black colleges.
-------------------------------
------------------ Well, I don't know if this is really a query as such -
I'm just interested to know if anyone has any possible interpretations for
an oddity in the final passage of "Speak, Memory". It has occurred to me
that it might be a typo error in the edition that I have but alas - our
library is closed for a week for a re-fit so I can't check out any later
reprints - I think it probable that it's just a small absurdity to match
the colours and avoid repeating the word "cat" - unless anyone can
enlighten me as to what the practice of "cakewalking" might entail (?)
"There, in front of us, where a broken row of houses stood between us and
the harbor, and where the eye encountered all sorts of stratagems, such as
pale-blue and pink underwear CAKEWALKING on a clothesline, or a lady's
bicycle and a striped cat oddly sharing a rudimentary balcony of cast
iron..."
"Speak, Memory" - U.K 1st Revised Edition,
Weidenfeld And Nicholson, 1967.
any ideas (no matter how obtuse) most
welcome.
Cheers,
Joseph Piercy
University Of Wolverhampton
United Kingdom