Monday, March 14, 2011

The Mystery of the Matryoshka:
Within Within Within

Little Ben with the Matryoshka Collection, 1997

NEW FORTNIGHTLY BLOG POST TODAY!
The Mystery of the Matryoshka: Within Within Within
on
The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker

1. "For one thing, the effect of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon marigolds has made me curious about the sun and the stars, for the universe itself must be like a world of great atoms . . . but most important, I suppose ...my experiment has made me feel important--every atom in me, in everybody, has come from the sun--from places beyond our dreams. The atoms of our hands, the atoms of our hearts" (101-02).

from The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man - in - the - Moon Marigolds
by Paul Zindel

2. "Keep in mind, as you pray and meditate, that the God inside of you is more powerful than anything else in the world. The entire cosmos is imprinted on every atom of your being. . . .

"You can think of the universe as a set of wooden Russian matryoshka dolls, with each doll having a smaller one inside of it. The entire visible universe is the outermost doll, and nested inside it are galaxies, solar systems, stars, planets -- right down to the smallest doll, which is you. But inside of you is an even smaller doll that somehow has the biggest doll inside of it. When you figure out this riddle, you will have discovered the key to your ascension!"
(318)

from Reincarnation: The Missing Link In Christianity
by Elizabeth Clare Prophet

3. "Transcendence and the interiority of history and narrative are the dominant characteristics of the most consummate of miniatures -- the dollhouse. A house within a house . . . a space within an enclosed space . . . the locket or the secret recesses of the heart: center within center, within within within. The dollhouse is a materialized secret; what we look for is the dollhouse within the dollhouse and its promise of an infinitely profound interiority." (61)

from On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature,
the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection
.
by Susan Stewart

Stewart's insight on the dollhouse -- "the house within a house" and even more so, "the dollhouse within the dollhouse and its promise of an infinitely profound interiority" -- is equally applicable to the nesting Matryoshka / Matreshka dolls, stacked and nested so neatly within one another.

Sam's Display of the Tiniest

Read More:
The Mystery of the Matryoshka: Within Within Within

No comments:

Post a Comment