Mina Loy - Stories and Essays of Mina Loy

STORIES

THE AGONY OF THE PARTITION

(6:150)

“The Agony of the Partition” is an incomplete work that includes a clean portion in Loy’s hand, replete with word counts; this section is numbered one. Sections two and three are drawn from additional handwritten fragments. Most of the story is contained in a single archival folder, but some pieces that extend the end of section two were located in a file labelled “Unidentified Fragments” (6:183). It appears that Loy intended to write more about the rooming house that is the focus of “Agony”; a sample additional segment is included for further reference at the end of the editorial notes.

The surname “Bundy” makes a brief appearance here, and is central to “Hush Money,” a story Burke dates as written between 1917 and 1922. Within the notebook containing “Agony” there is a letter drafted by Loy to Harper’s Bazaar , asking if the editors might be interested in publishing her poem, “Aid of the Madonna”. A version of Loy’s poem “Property of Pigeons” is also included. “Aid of the Madonna” was first published in Accent in 1947 and “Property of Pigeons” appeared in Between Worlds in 1961 ( Lost LB 209–10).

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The title “The Agony of the Partition” may be “The Agony of the Partition.”—Loy writes it both ways in the manuscript —ed.

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After “heart beat on my” the next page reads:

to be or not to be inserted?

It was evident, as I sat up, alert, that someone in the next room had chosen the spot corresponding to mine, to rest against the partition.

projected on to the stage only

an emotional abstract of

the plot

A contact so ethereal,

“which Mrs. Nome. . decoded” is a later addition, and is followed by “(into language?)” —ed.

All honorifics —“ Mrs. Nome and Mrs. Moppet”—are “Mrs” in the original —ed.

“at law without evidence” was “at law argued”

“of any claiming” was “of any especial”

“claiming. I might have been” was “claiming or”

In the margin next to “contact” reads “?” —ed.

“to lean against” was “to lean up against”

After “against” reads: “(the partition?).” —ed.

“hardly registered the passing of a” was “hardly recorded a”

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In the margin, next to “lock, a glimmer of light” reads “OK” —ed.

“converse. After” reads “converse; After” —ed.

“carrot” was likely “carrots”

“orangutan, approached” was “orangutan, approached in a state of august enquiry—”

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“rooms — her critical sneers, her undue familiarity—” reads “rooms. Her critical sneers. Her undue familiarity.” —ed.

After “undue familiarity” was “ ‘And her foul language! You can’t imagine what I’ve been called.’ ”

“ ‘foul language. Do’ ” may be “ ‘foul language: Do’ ” —ed.

After “ ‘servant?’ ” was “And her foul language. ‘Do you allow this woman to treat me like a servant?’ the plaintiff wailed”—in the margin next to this sentence reads “?” —ed.

“did not stir” was “had not stirred”

“but proudly astonished” was “but astonished [into an] with un- usual pride — ”

“appealing to her.” reads “appealing to her,” —ed.

“curls wrapped in an emerald scarf” was “curls sheathed in an emerald cloth”—next to this amendment reads “or square?”— “square” is unclear —ed.

“as they thought” was “in a twinkling”

After “alone — —” was “for where I lurked they could not / empty kitchen” and “see me”

“ ‘I seem to have been’ ” was “ ‘I seem to be’ ”

In margin next to “Irishwoman” reads “colleen” —ed.

Before the second section of “Agony of the Partition,” a page reads:

I asked her how she could make such an idiotic exhibi- tion of herself with such a mother—

‘Why she didn’t go to you for advice — — Cassy said

“Not much — I mean to manage this affair my way”—

She managed it all right — getting her pregnant was his way of showing annoyance his excuse — just that he’d never had to bother — because this girl he lives with can’t conceive—

“He said,” [and] the blonde’s voice grated more shrilly on Mrs. Nome’s tension—

“I hope she kills herself and the baby too”

“She,” the voice fell slobbering in her throat — wanted to keep it to remember him by—

“My poor sweet child” cried Mrs. Nome—

“My poor sweet child — ”

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II.

After “fell lower” a long wavy horizontal line is drawn in the text —ed.

“ ‘her Nature, although denied’ ” was “ ‘her Nature, had been’ ”

“ ‘denied me’ ” reads “ ‘denied (to?) me’ ” —ed.

After “ ‘cling to her’ ” was “ ‘like a slowly waning essence’ ”

“With these few words” reads “These few words” —ed.

“affair, whose” reads “affair, with whose” —ed.

After “discrepancy” reads “(or disparity?)” —ed.

“ ‘I love him’. . erotically” is a later addition

“Shaken with my” was “Shaken with the enormity of my”

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“erasure of feature: the unfaded” was “erasure of feature — due to the veil of insomnia that dims the unfaded”

After “ ‘him to her’ ” reads “?(at the fair).” —ed.

“My bruises. . ‘violent with me’ ” is a later addition

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“moaned the girl. . chair—” is a later addition

“ ‘had been such friends’ ” was “ ‘had been friends’ ”

“ ‘over and over again I told her’ ” has a couple of variants, including “ ‘I kept on telling’ ”

“ ‘never seen.’ Mrs. Nome seemed. . back her up” was “ ‘never seen.’ continued Mrs. Nome”

“That face they brought” reads “That face she continued they brought”—“she continued” may belong to the line above —ed.

After “surprise.” a small gap is left before the next paragraph —ed.

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“ ‘into her room against’ ” was “ ‘into her room so hardly’ ”

“ ‘grief — should have been her wedding-day — that’ ” reads “ ‘grief should have been her wedding-day; that’ ” —ed.

“ ‘lightning overthrow, sheathed’ ” was “ ‘lightening overthrow, retaining in their sheath? coat of lava’ ”

“ ‘contractile’ ” was “ ‘contractive’ ”

“ ‘as if she were too heavy to fall’ ” is a later addition

“ ‘an insane levitation’ ” was “ ‘an impossible levitation’ ”

After “looking as she always did, perplexed” reads:

Walls withhold (see notes)

The partition had not that mercy; hung with spy-paper it came to function as a seismograph, and at once a sound-track for cataclysms that would suddenly converge on Mrs. Nome at impredictable intervals along the otherwise unbroken tenor of her isolation. Time, for her, a clock that had stopped, only recalled itself to her attention, when, crazily, its alarm would “go off”.

The next page reads:

It seemed to me as if riotous armies invaded a vacuum;—the shadowy brain of Mrs. Nome, while be- sieged by foreign terrors — only awaiting their recession, to reform her obstinate vision of her daughter’s soul.

“for convincing” was “to convince”