Handwriting
Jan. 25th, 2012 11:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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where_awayStephen said, ‘Will I tell you another of Plato’s observations?’
‘Pray do,’ said Jack, his smile briefly returning.
‘It should please you, since you have a very pretty hand. Hinksey quoted it when I dined with him in London and we were discussing the bill of fare: “Calligraphy,” says Plato, “is the physical manifestation of an architecture of the soul.” That being so, mine must be a turf-and-wattle kind of soul, since my handwriting must be disowned by a backward cat; whereas yours, particularly on your charts, has a most elegant flow and clarity, the outward form of a soul that might have conceived the Parthenon.’ (TC Chapter 6)
This is one of my favourite quotes because I like using fountain pens, dip pens, and inks for writing - a far more civilised method of creating than the utility of a computer keyboard. Sadly however I have far too much affinity with Stephen's handwriting than I would like, although I long to have Jack's 'elegant flow and clarity'. A backward cat would probably laugh at my attempts.
More on Jack's handwriting
Date: 2012-01-27 01:12 pm (UTC)having heard but reflecting upon his friend's large, clear, somewhat round and feminine hand, his instant reaction in time of nautical crisis, and his not uncommon ineptitudes.
(chapter five)
:D
Please to add a tag for book: 19(hundred days). Thank you
Re: More on Jack's handwriting
Date: 2012-01-27 01:45 pm (UTC)This surprised me when I read it - I would never have associated Jack with having a feminine hand... I supppose he may have been taught to write by dear Queenie, but even so... It is an odd comment I feel.
Re: More on Jack's handwriting
Date: 2012-01-27 01:49 pm (UTC)Re: More on Jack's handwriting
Date: 2012-01-27 01:55 pm (UTC)*nods*
Meanwhile I am very glad to know that anyone contemplating my handwriting would instantly know therefore I was a gentleman in spirit at least (even though the anatomy refutes it!)
Re: More on Jack's handwriting
Date: 2012-01-27 02:10 pm (UTC)I was a gentleman in spirit at least
LOL. Goodness knows what anyone would make of mine. That I am about six years old.
Re: More on Jack's handwriting
Date: 2012-01-27 02:36 pm (UTC)Re: More on Jack's handwriting
Date: 2012-01-27 07:27 pm (UTC)Still... feminine... midshipman Ophelia frockery aside, it's not really the first word that springs to mind with big, beefy, hearty Jack, is it?
Re: More on Jack's handwriting
Date: 2012-01-28 08:45 am (UTC)I know that Stephen admires his friend's handwriting and has complimented him on it before, but feminine? It is an unusual choice of words.
So what does the writer want to tell us?