457 Bellipotent, Belly...

C'est le nom du navire. De la même manière, j'avais immédiatement vu dans ce nom, belly, soit le ventre, l'estomac, sans y accorder plus d'importance que cela (encore que cette « puissance du ventre », quoique grammaticalement incorrecte, ne serait pas à négliger). Une note figure à cette page quant à l'explication du nom : « Concerning the final name of the ‘seventy-four’ H. Bruce Franklin writes : ‘The first half of Bellipotent is a complicated pun combining a Latin word for war, several of the names of Billy Budd's divine Celtic prototype [the Welsh Beli, or Irish Bili] and the apparent meaning of these names [Death]; the second half suggests that this combination may triumph. Thus the name of the ship is a variant of Billy Budd's own name [victorious death]. »

457 : de l'origine du nom

Note : « According to Sir Edward Davies [...] ‘the most important Celtic god was Hu, the “Celtic Apollo”, known also as Beli and Budd,’ – Buddugre, sun god of victory : it is Billy Budd, sun god and sacred bull, who is sacrificed in time of war [...]. Richard Chase [...] also relates the preoccupation with food and meals and all forms of eating in Billy Budd to the theme of ritual murder and eating the Host. » Nous ne sommes là pas très loin de mon ventre, dans le fond...

460/350 : sexuality

Nouvelle note au sujet du passage « the greasy liquid streamed just across his path » :

« That this ‘affair of the spilled soup’ is contrived to suggest the Handsome Sailor's sexuality rousing effect on the master-in-arms is confirmed not only by Claggart's hastily checked ejaculation, or his playful tap from behind – with ‘official rattan’, not a fan – but his final fall ‘like a heavy plank tilted from erectness’. »

...

retour