[Vwoolf] "Jacob's Room": Crux #3

[Jeremy Hawthorn]

I remember street sellers in London with mechanical spiders. They had a 
cable with a hand grip, and when you squeezed the grip the legs moved 
and propelled them along.

Jeremy H



Den 12/05/2015 13:16, skrev Stuart N. Clarke:
> Near the beginning of ch. V:
> “you will see that three elderly men at a little distance from each 
> other run spiders along the pavement as if the street were their parlour”
> This *very* mysterious.
> Vara Neverow suggests that the ‘men, who are spaced so that they will 
> not compete with one another, are selling mechanical toys to 
> passersby, probably windup penny toys manufactured in Germany.’ (/JR/ 
> 2008: 229)
> Ado suggests “peut-être” (/JR/ 2012: 329):
> (1) Live spiders attached by threads
> (2) penny toys
> (3) bicycles
> I think Ado’s #3 is unlikely: bikes on the pavement – disgraceful!  I 
> think those types of bikes called spiders predate 1910 by some 
> considerable time (altho’ I’d never heard of them before).
> Ado’s #1 seems possible.  After all, in the Victorian period you could 
> buy sparrows from street vendors, with strings attached to their legs, 
> and you could fly them around.  Ugh!
> I really like Vara’s and Ado’s #2.  Not something I would have thought 
> of, but look here:
> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ANTIQUE-WIND-UP-CLOCKWORK-TOY-SCHUCO-STYLE-SPRING-DEVIL-SPIDER-C1920S-30S-/391084080032
> http://www.ebay.ca/itm/OLD-GERMAN-WIND-UP-TOY-SPIDER-/251940077598?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aa8cc801e
> On the other hand, would a 1922 reader know what VW was referring to?  
> Would it be obvious to him/her that she was referring to toys?
> Any answers gratefully received.
> Stuart
>
>
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-- 
Jeremy Hawthorn
Emeritus Professor
Dept Language and Literature
NTNU
7491 Trondheim
Norway

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