WotD: imbroglio
Feb. 5th, 2003 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidI looked at the dictionary.com entry for this, and realized the last time I'd heard someone say "seraglio," it rhymed with the pronunciation of "imbroglio." Hm. I sense a poem in there, somehow. Unfortunately, I am not poetically talented. It is left as an exercise for the reader...
Instead, I started thinking about bits of Tigana. And literary shards started forming, though hardly detailed enough to be called an imbroglio, really. Here's one.
Seraglio Imbroglio
She readjusted the strap of her dress yet again, eyeing her reflection in the mirror to make sure it hung just so. She was lucky to have found ornaments that matched it so well, and her hair was already in the complicated configuration that had taken hours, and meant she couldn't lie down this afternoon. It wouldn't matter, she was sure. She would be the one picked tonight; she must be. It was the last night of her first year; if she weren't picked tonight, she would become one of those women who were left in the corners of the harem, unwanted by the one who mattered, but unavailable to anyone else, the sultan's unused property.
She was determined not to become a grey ghost of herself. She had taken steps, true, but she would not have taken them had things gone differently. When she had arrived, she had been sure of her future: the sultan would see her, immediately choose her. Even if she didn't become one of his regular favorites, she would have a child or two, not only to have babies to care for, people to love, but also insurance for herself.
Things had gone rather differently than her imaginings. Was it really only a year ago that she thought that would happen? Now she thought herself far more than one year older, and her year's wisdom had lead her to tonight's strategems, desperate to avoid the life without hope that would be hers if she did not attract his eye tonight. One favorite's tea had had some sleeping powder laced into it; there was no way she'd wake up in time to make an appearance. Another's dresses had mysteriously shrunk, while a third seemed to be coming down with a cold.... Tonight was her night.
Of course, there was no way for her to know any of the other plans that had been set in motion around tonight's choice. She squared her shoulders, and trusted that her plans would be enough.
Instead, I started thinking about bits of Tigana. And literary shards started forming, though hardly detailed enough to be called an imbroglio, really. Here's one.
Seraglio Imbroglio
She readjusted the strap of her dress yet again, eyeing her reflection in the mirror to make sure it hung just so. She was lucky to have found ornaments that matched it so well, and her hair was already in the complicated configuration that had taken hours, and meant she couldn't lie down this afternoon. It wouldn't matter, she was sure. She would be the one picked tonight; she must be. It was the last night of her first year; if she weren't picked tonight, she would become one of those women who were left in the corners of the harem, unwanted by the one who mattered, but unavailable to anyone else, the sultan's unused property.
She was determined not to become a grey ghost of herself. She had taken steps, true, but she would not have taken them had things gone differently. When she had arrived, she had been sure of her future: the sultan would see her, immediately choose her. Even if she didn't become one of his regular favorites, she would have a child or two, not only to have babies to care for, people to love, but also insurance for herself.
Things had gone rather differently than her imaginings. Was it really only a year ago that she thought that would happen? Now she thought herself far more than one year older, and her year's wisdom had lead her to tonight's strategems, desperate to avoid the life without hope that would be hers if she did not attract his eye tonight. One favorite's tea had had some sleeping powder laced into it; there was no way she'd wake up in time to make an appearance. Another's dresses had mysteriously shrunk, while a third seemed to be coming down with a cold.... Tonight was her night.
Of course, there was no way for her to know any of the other plans that had been set in motion around tonight's choice. She squared her shoulders, and trusted that her plans would be enough.
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no subject
Date: 2003-02-05 08:11 am (UTC)It's been too long since I've read Tigana, so I really don't remember a thing about it. More impetus to start keeping track of at least synopses of books I've read.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-05 08:13 am (UTC)sheesh, this really is a negative week for me.
Tigana
Date: 2003-02-05 08:17 am (UTC)What didn't you like?
รจ
Re: Tigana
Date: 2003-02-05 08:21 am (UTC)That, and MAN is it annoying to realize that had i published before him, there was a market out there, but now if I do, I'll just be seen as a copycat. Damn him.
-bitter bitty
Re: Tigana
Date: 2003-02-05 08:33 am (UTC)It's been to long since my last Kay fix....
Re: Tigana
Date: 2003-02-05 10:16 am (UTC)Re: Tigana
Date: 2003-02-05 10:25 am (UTC)i
Re: Tigana
Date: 2003-02-06 06:17 am (UTC)books you've read
Date: 2003-02-05 08:27 am (UTC)I mostly do keep some kind of review of books I've read. Not usually a summary, exactly, but a reaction to the book, which sometimes includes some plot summary. Just the writing of it helps me remember the book better, even if I never go back and read what I wrote.
"
no subject
Date: 2003-02-05 08:58 am (UTC)Sailing to Sarantium
Date: 2003-02-05 09:22 am (UTC)What didn't you like about Sailing to Sarantium? (other than it being the first half of a book, that is).
I'm finding it very interesting finding out how everyone had a different least favorite book of his (especially since my opinion is so obviously the correct one :-).
Re: Sailing to Sarantium
Date: 2003-02-05 11:01 am (UTC)I can't speak about "Sailing"...because I have not read it in so long. In fact, before reading "Emperors.." I will have to reread it. Maybe then I will have a different opinion.
But I don't understand if
Rachel is always right = X
Rachel opines Y
Why Y is not always right.
Logically it poses a cunundrum.
Re: Sailing to Sarantium
Date: 2003-02-06 07:39 am (UTC)"Emperor" is the second (final) book after "Sailing" (a duology?), and together I thought they worked rather well.
But I don't understand if
Rachel is always right = X
Rachel opines Y
Why Y is not always right.
And funny how that is parallel to certain thoughts about my opinions :-)
Side thought
Date: 2003-02-05 09:33 am (UTC)g
Re: Side thought
Date: 2003-02-05 09:57 am (UTC)intaglio (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=intaglio)
neuroglia (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=neuroglia) (alternate pronunciation)
oligodendroglia (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=oligodendroglia) (alternate pronunciation)
scagliola (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=scagliola)
zabaglione (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=zabaglione)
Re: Side thought
Date: 2003-02-05 10:16 am (UTC)Re: Side thought
Date: 2003-02-05 10:19 am (UTC)I wonder what it is about "gl" that makes the g so shy?
(nice how the LJ random letter at the end of that last comment was a g...)
"
silent g in "gl"
Date: 2003-02-05 10:26 am (UTC)Re: silent g in "gl"
Date: 2003-02-05 10:37 am (UTC)Re: silent g in "gl"
Date: 2003-02-05 10:45 am (UTC)I wonder if they ever get heard at family (alphabet) reunions. Perhaps they have hands they wave vigorously, or something.
Re: silent g in "gl"
Date: 2003-02-05 10:46 am (UTC)e