Following the publication of this review of David Seed's A Companion to Science Fiction, Fruitless Recursion received a letter wishing to respond to some of the comments in the article. We gladly publish it here.
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In the latest issue of *Fruitless Recursion,* Karen Burnham, in her review of the Blackwell *Companion to Science Fiction,* attacks, at some length, my discussion of the episode in *Day of the Triffids* where the narrator as a child was first introduced to a triffid, and I claim the triffid there described as a *vagina dentata* symbol.
Among her comments, Ms Burnham writes, "And I thought dentata referred to teeth not tentacles." If she had checked her facts, she would have understood that triffids each have one stinger and that none of them have tentacles. She may be confusing *Day of the Triffids* with an H. G. Wells novel.
And had she read the relevant passage on pages 37-38 of the standard Penguin edition she may have picked up on the fact that Wyndham, or JBH as I prefer to refer to the actual man, supplies William Masen's, the narrator's, original triffid with teeth by way of metonymy. He transfers the teeth in the mouth of Bill's father into the funnel mouth of the triffid by focusing on what his father's mouth is doing while his father leans over a half-grown triffid "peering at it through his horn-rimmed glasses, fingering its stalk, and blowing gently through his gingery moustache [cue pubic hair?] as was his habit when thoughtful. . . . Then he peered into the curious funnel-like formation at the top of the stem, still puffing reflectively but inconclusively through his moustache" (38). Bill's father's mouth, which it may be assumed contains teeth, is juxtaposed with the triffid's funnel-mouth. It only requires a little prompted imagination to meld the two images.
For anyone interested in learning more about JBH's fear of women (and castration anxiety), read his 1957 story "But a Kind of Ghost" which has still only been published in the US.
Yours sincerely,
David Ketterer
Honorary Research Fellow, University of Liverpool
Among her comments, Ms Burnham writes, "And I thought dentata referred to teeth not tentacles." If she had checked her facts, she would have understood that triffids each have one stinger and that none of them have tentacles. She may be confusing *Day of the Triffids* with an H. G. Wells novel.
And had she read the relevant passage on pages 37-38 of the standard Penguin edition she may have picked up on the fact that Wyndham, or JBH as I prefer to refer to the actual man, supplies William Masen's, the narrator's, original triffid with teeth by way of metonymy. He transfers the teeth in the mouth of Bill's father into the funnel mouth of the triffid by focusing on what his father's mouth is doing while his father leans over a half-grown triffid "peering at it through his horn-rimmed glasses, fingering its stalk, and blowing gently through his gingery moustache [cue pubic hair?] as was his habit when thoughtful. . . . Then he peered into the curious funnel-like formation at the top of the stem, still puffing reflectively but inconclusively through his moustache" (38). Bill's father's mouth, which it may be assumed contains teeth, is juxtaposed with the triffid's funnel-mouth. It only requires a little prompted imagination to meld the two images.
For anyone interested in learning more about JBH's fear of women (and castration anxiety), read his 1957 story "But a Kind of Ghost" which has still only been published in the US.
Yours sincerely,
David Ketterer
Honorary Research Fellow, University of Liverpool
In my letter responding to Karen Burnham, please correct 'vagini' to 'vagina' and 'fully grown triffid' to half-grown triffid.' Thank you.
David Ketterer
Posted by: David Ketterer | September 05, 2009 at 09:54 AM