"Even more important to David than the very natural worry that his wife and his son might grow fond of one another was the intoxicating feeling that he had a blank consciousness to work with, and it gave him great pleasure to knead this yielding clay with his artistic thumbs."
— Edward St. Aubyn (b. 1960)
Author
Work Title
Date
1992
Metaphor
"Even more important to David than the very natural worry that his wife and his son might grow fond of one another was the intoxicating feeling that he had a blank consciousness to work with, and it gave him great pleasure to knead this yielding clay with his artistic thumbs."
Metaphor in Context
When Patrick was born David had been worried that he might become a refuge or an inspiration to Eleanor, and he had jealously set about ensuring that this did not happen. Eleanor eventually resigned herself to a vague and luminous faith in Patrick's 'wisdom', a quality she attributed to him some time before he had learned to control his bowels. She thrust him downstream in this paper boat and collapsed back, exhausted by terror and guilt. Even more important to David than the very natural worry that his wife and his son might grow fond of one another was the intoxicating feeling that he had a blank consciousness to work with, and it gave him great pleasure to knead this yielding clay with his artistic thumbs.
(p. 63)
(p. 63)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Quotations drawn from Edward St. Aubyn, The Patrick Melrose Novels: Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, and Mother's Milk (New York: Picador, 2012).
Date of Entry
09/25/2015
