Mina Loy - Stories and Essays of Mina Loy

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“leading you on — to — nowhere” reads as such in handwritten version; typed draft reads “leading you on-to-nowhere”— ed .

In handwritten draft, “true woman is immodest enough to kiss” was, in the first instance, “true woman would kiss”

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Why can’t you believe in me?” is drawn from the handwritten version— ed .

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In first instance in handwritten draft, there — — — — — — — — ( Silence ) — — —” was “there — — — — there — — Silence ”

In handwritten draft, the dashes between “You can,” “you can,” “you do,” and “you” are extended ellipses

“ ‘thou thy servant’ ” reads “ ‘thou they servant’ ”— ed.

What am I doing— What am I saying?” was “What am I do- ing — What am I doing” in first instance in handwritten draft

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something— You” is taken from handwritten draft; typescript reads “something — you”— e d.

perfectly straightforward” was “perfectly honest” in the first in- stance in handwritten draft

“believe in me—” reads “believe in me—.”— ed.

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“Nothing but you—” reads “Nothing but you—.”— ed.

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In handwritten draft, “It’s infallible — infallible— Did you hear that?” reads, “it’s — infallible — infallible ( running to the sofa ) DON JUAN. did you hear that”

“amusing creatures” was “delightful creatures”

ESSAYS AND COMMENTARY

ALL THE LAUGHS IN ONE SHORT STORY BY McALMON

(6:151)

Loy and the American writer Robert McAlmon were friends, and in 1923, McAlmon’s publishing house, Contact Editions, printed Loy’s first book, Lunar Baedecker [ sic ]. Burke argues that Loy is the model for Gusta Rolph, a character in McAlmon’s 1923 account of writers in Greenwich Village entitled Post-Adolescence ( BM 293–96). Loy also appears in Being Geniuses Together (1938), McAlmon’s portrayal of the expatriate artists’ community that lived in Paris in the twenties.

McAlmon wrote many short stories that could be the unnamed focus of “All the laughs,” but in terms of its content, Loy’s piece bears a distinct resemblance to “The Laughing Funeral” of Post-Adolescence . “All the laughs” has a title page in Loy’s hand. Although it appears to start in medias res , this speculation is complicated by Loy’s use of a comma at the outset of the occasional line throughout. The handwritten text is formatted like a prose poem; in spite of the vagaries of Loy’s margins, every attempt has been made to preserve the integrity of her lineation.

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sphinxly” reads “sphynxly”— ed.

– voice” was “and — voice”

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she explained” reads “[ torn page ] she explained”

taunted like that” was “taunted as”

metallic cackle” reads “metallic cuckle” and could be “chuckle” — ed .

BRANCUSI AND THE OCEAN

(7:188)

Loy and the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi were associates in Paris in the twenties and thirties ( BM 328, 386). In its unabashed admiration for the artist’s aesthetic approach, “Brancusi and the Ocean” recalls Loy’s poem “Brancusi’s Golden Bird,” which was first published in The Dial in 1922 ( Lost LB 79–80).

The rough, handwritten document of “Brancusi and the Ocean” includes a draft of a poem entitled “La descent des Ganges”. A more complete version of this poem is published in The Last Lunar Baedeker as “Descent of the Ganges,” and Roger Conover dates it as most likely written in the late 1930s or early 1940s ( Last LB 252, 327).

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Before “The interpretation of Brancusi” was “To arrive at an intellectual — of Brancusi’s sculpture” and also “To interpret Brancusi / Ai”

“beyond the formidable naked” reads “beyond the / the formidable naked”— ed .

“intriguing comparison”—“intriguing” is unclear— ed.

“comparison of elemental form” was “comparison of the elemental form”

“evolved by” was “that has evolved through”

“an elemental form whose evolution” was “an elemental form that evolves”

“is submitted” was “through the”

“such sublime” was “such colossal”

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“white heat” was “white head”

“the memory” was “Is like the memory”

“irrefutably” was “implac” and “undeniab”

“primary investigators”—“investigators” is unclear— ed.

After “of beauty” reads, largely crossed out:

La descent des Ganges

In the divine cascade

of whispering stone

the goddess hostesses—

immutable invitation

to the frail ribbed ascetics—

and holy elephants

“its own impetus” was “its impetus”

“got none” was “got nothing”

“his other contemporary” was “his contemporary”

MY CATHOLICK CONFIDANTE

(6:183)

Like “Havelock Ellis,” this short sketch offers an example of Loy’s fascination with the cultural constraints placed on human sexuality. A title page in Loy’s hand identifies the piece as “Katherine’s Confidences,” but the heading on the manuscript proper reads “My catholick confidante”.

Loy returns to this sketch in a more direct fashion in a set of rough notes that accompany her essay “History of Religion and Eros” (6:158). These notes describe the couple in question as Irish, and very much in love, until the husband begins beating his wife after taking to drink as a “consequence” of the Catholic directive that they abstain from non-procreative sex. Here Loy states that the wife spends the family savings on an abortion at one juncture, and that she eventually leaves her husband.

Loy sets this second version in New York in 1939; it concludes with the following meditation on prostitution, sex, and Christianity:

In an ideal Society prostitutes would be [appreciated] as the kind ladies — — “Sex” would be consecrated by the church— The law [would be on] alert for any resurgence of sadism — –

In an ideal society prostitution might disappear— But the [m] [point] supposition sometimes occurs to me that society pretty much in status quo would be [of] very differently tempered — if our intelligence toward its com-ponent: the human forces — were changed by a christianly clarification — [all the] the primary transformation needed is of our attitude of mind.

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“for most human beings” was “for human beings”

“in regret for having” was “who should having”

The sentence beginning “Confiding to me her own anguish” caused Loy difficulty; she dedicates a whole page to its drafting, which reads as follows:

This woman’s

[The anguish this woman revealed to me — ]

[The confidences of this woman]

Her remark had been made to [in confirmation of the anguish] of her own anguish—

[She had been]

Confiding to me her own anguish her [remark had been made] reference to her neighbours was made to prove she was not the only one — –

Confiding to me her own anguish she had [made] her reference to her neighbours [was offered as proof]

Confiding to me her own anguish, she had offered this picture of her neighbours as proof that “not she alone — –

And listening — was like looking through a microscope revealing [the] a [the] secret world — –

After “secret world” Loy leaves the remaining two thirds of her page blank— ed .