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<p>Stuart -</p>
<p>Yes, This could very well be the "bosse" referred to in the
French saying. Apart from anything else, the examples you show are
round, and thus could be rolled. (I had wondered if a long cord of
knots was to be rolled up, but this makes much better sense.) <br>
</p>
<p>Because of the lockdown I don't have access to specialist French
dictionaries of idioms, but I will pester my French friends on
this.</p>
<p>Going back to Woolf, there was a discussion on the list a bit
back in which I suggested that Woolf's writing of a novel in which
the central character is of less interest than the characters with
whom s/he interacts (<i>Jacob's Room</i>) might have been partly
inspired by her reading of Conrad. I found a couple of comments in
Conrad's letters in which he suggests that the title characters in
both <i>Lord Jim</i> and <i>Nostromo</i> are of limited interest
compared to their interaction with others. There is that passage
in <i>Mrs Dalloway</i> presenting Clarissa's thoughts that
begins: "to know her, or any one, one must seek out the people who
completed them; even the places," and goes on in Pirandello-like
fashion to suggest that thus parts of a person might survive
"attached to this person or that, or even haunting certain places,
after death." Compare that to these comments by Conrad in letters
about the characters Jim and Nostromo.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And this brings me naturally to <i>Jim</i>. Perfectly right!
Your criticism is just and wise but the whole story is made up
of such side shows just because the main show is not
particularly interesting – or engaging I should rather say. I
want to put into that sketch a good many people I've met – or at
least seen for a moment – and several things overheard about the
world. It is going to be a hash of episodes, little thumbnail
sketches of fellows one has rubbed shoulders with and so on. I
crave your indulgence; and I think that read in the lump it will
be less of a patchwork than it seems now. (13 December, 1899 to
Hugh Clifford)<br>
<br>
But truly N[ostromo] is nothing at all – a fiction – embodied
vanity of the sailor kind – a romantic mouthpiece of "the
people" which (I mean "the people") frequently experience the
very feelings to which he gives utterance. I do not defend him
as a creation. (To R.B. Cunninghame Graham, 31 October, 1904.)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Both letters can be found in the 9-volume Cambridge edition of
Conrad's letters.</p>
<p>Jeremy H<br>
</p>
<p><br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 21.04.2020 23:02, Stuart N. Clarke
via Vwoolf wrote:<br>
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<div>This “corde à noeuds”, could it be what we call a turk’s
head knot?:</div>
<div><a
title="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turk%27s_head_knot"
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turk%27s_head_knot"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turk%27s_head_knot</a></div>
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