From: "John V. Knapp" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: vaginal spiders


> Hi folks --
>
> I am, in this year of 2005, quite amazed at this thread.  As even Sigmund
> once said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a spider is just an
> arachnid.
>
> JVK
>
> ****************
>
>
> On Fri, 18 Feb 2005, Murray Schwartz wrote:
>
>>         From: J. R. Raper [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>         Subject: Re: FW: FW: vaginal spiders
>>
>>         Johanna,
>>         That was my sense too, that the visual associations would
>> explain the vagina
>>         symbolism.  Do not many spiders suggest the gorgon heads,
>> including Medusa's
>>         head, which, as I recall, are tried and true vagina symbols,
>> at least for
>>         lit crits?
>>         They combine hideousness with their beauty in death, have the
>> power to turn
>>         people who gaze upon them to stone, and, through their teeth,
>> represent the
>>         much feared vagina dentata.
>>         Hey, the latter are not my wild theories but come out of the
>> Oxf. Companion
>>         to Classical Lit.
>>         Probably there are some attractive spiders too, but . . .
>>         I'll leave it at that.
>>         Jack
>>         ----- Original Message -----
>
>>         From: "Murray Schwartz" <[log in to unmask]>
>>         To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>         Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 12:00 PM
>>         Subject: FW: FW: vaginal spiders
>>
>>
>>         >         From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>         >         Subject: Re: FW: vaginal spiders
>>         >
>>         >         Another take:
>>         >
>>         >         Psycholinguistics are important, but our first level of
>>         unconscious structure derives from sensory input.  The symbolism
>> of the
>>         spider might start with the round center plus appendages that
>> reach out.
>>         Black=darkness, too. There is the further aspect of entrapment in
>> its web.
>>         Mother=woman=vagina, no?
>>         >
>>         >         Johanna Tabin
>>         >
>>
>>
>>
>
> John V. Knapp
>
> Professor, Dept. of English;
> Editorial Board, *Style;*        [log in to unmask]
> Northern Illinois University     http://www.niu.edu/english/jvk/knapp.htm
> 330 Reavis Hall                  Office Phone: (815) 753-6632
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>
> To depreciate a Book maliciously, or even wantonly, is
> at least a very ill-natured office; and a morose snarling
> Critic may, I believe, be suspected to be a bad Man.
> Henry Fielding,  *Tom Jones.*
>
>