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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Hi all,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Vara’s arithmetic does suggest that Topaz was less than six years older than he was when given to Johnny as a kitten (18-13 as well as 1906-1901), so I’d think well under seven; would Woolf have
known much about the likely lifespans of cats? I confess I read the passage a bit more benignly, assuming that “mangy” meant “raggedy-looking” rather than actually infected with a disease—I suspect Mrs Flanders wouldn’t have kept him around at all if he was
actually mangy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">My own sense of the passage is: Mrs Flanders obviously didn’t want Topaz procreating, and didn’t wish to do so herself with red-haired Mr Floyd. But she may be smiling not (or not only) out of sadism,
but out of pleasure at having received Mr Floyd’s proposal (conventionally—and Betty Flanders is conventional—women were supposed to feel flattered by this, especially from a younger man) but not actually having had to marry him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Caroline Webb<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">The University of Newcastle, Australia<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces@lists.osu.edu>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Neverow, Vara S. via Vwoolf<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, 10 February 2021 3:08 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Stuart N. Clarke <stuart.n.clarke@btinternet.com>; vwoolf@lists.osu.edu<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Vwoolf] Trigger warning . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Thank you, Stuart!</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I would entirely agree that Mrs. Flanders was cruel to Topaz—but he was specifically a
<i>male</i> cat (and she also disliked human males with red hair). She was <i>so </i>pleased about the gelding that it really did verge on sadism. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">If Topaz was an indoor/outdoor cat (and most likely he was), his lifespan could have been much shorter than that of a cat restricted to the house. But maybe Mrs. Flanders was just contemplating
a further aggression toward a cat she disliked and was savoring the moment when she could put him down instead of having him treated for the mange.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">If Jacob was about 12 1/2 ("going to Rugby" when he turned 13?) at the point when Topaz was adopted, and Jacob went to Cambridge when he was 18 in 1906, then Topaz would have been about
seven or even eight years old when he was getting mangy behind his ears. According to veterinarians, seven is the turning point for cats--at that age they are officially categorized as "seniors" and more subject to health issues.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Regarding 1901, as you note in the Cambridge edition, the phrase "</span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Times",serif;color:black">the King's Navy" suggests that would have to
be a reference to King Edward VII. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Hmmm. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Vara</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Vara Neverow</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Department of English</span>
<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Southern Connecticut State University <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">New Haven, CT 06515<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">203-392-6717<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black">From:</span></b><span style="color:black"> Vwoolf <<a href="mailto:vwoolf-bounces+neverowv1=southernct.edu@lists.osu.edu">vwoolf-bounces+neverowv1=southernct.edu@lists.osu.edu</a>> on behalf of Stuart N. Clarke
via Vwoolf <<a href="mailto:vwoolf@lists.osu.edu">vwoolf@lists.osu.edu</a>><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, February 9, 2021 7:20:37 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:vwoolf@lists.osu.edu">vwoolf@lists.osu.edu</a> <<a href="mailto:vwoolf@lists.osu.edu">vwoolf@lists.osu.edu</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Vwoolf] Trigger warning . . .</span> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">This posting may cause distress to Vara and to Karen Levenback and to . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">First, the dates. When Mr Floyd leaves Scarborough, he gives Johnny Flanders his kitten (Topaz). This cannot be earlier than 1901 because there is a reference on the same page (p. 31 of the first
Hogarth, 1922) to Archer’s joining the King’s Navy. The following scene occurs before Jacob goes up to Cambridge in October 1906 (p. 44):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">‘“Poor Topaz,” she said (for Mr. Floyd’s kitten was now a very old cat, a little mangy behind the ears, and one of these days would have to be killed).
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">‘“Poor old Topaz,” said Mrs. Flanders, as he stretched himself out in the sun, and she smiled, thinking how she had had him gelded ...’ (p. 33)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">(1) Mrs Flanders is pleased about “gelding” Topaz.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">(2) Topaz is *not* a very old cat. The average lifespan of cats is 12 to 15 years.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">(3) Mange refers to cat scabies, ‘caused by ectoparasitic mites, usually characterized by intense itching, inflammation, and hair loss’ (OED). It is and was curable.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Conclusion: Mrs Flanders is a sadistic cat killer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Stuart<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">(Day 329)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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