PAGE 263
“ ‘subject.’ ” reads “ ‘subject!.”—ed.
“absurdum—the ability” reads “absurdum the ability”—ed.
PAGE 264
“graven image” reads “graven ikage”—ed.
“subject in dissolution” was “ ‘subject in dissolution’ ” and reads “ ‘subject in dissolution”—ed.
“In all the masters” reads “I all the masters”—ed.
MI & LO
(6:166)
The American poet Marianne Moore labelled Loy “a sound philosopher”; by rather stark contrast, the English poet Edwin Muir expressed concern about Loy’s philosophical tendencies, which he described as her willingness to “ ‘intellectualis[e] life without. . coming to conclusions’ ” (BM 222, 336). “Mi & Lo” allows us to test these two assertions; the work is Loy’s attempt at a Socratic dialogue in which different parts of her one self — the “Mi” of Mina and the “Lo” of Loy — play both roles.
Burke suggests that Loy wrote “Mi & Lo” in the thirties, and sent it to her son-in-law Julien Levy for inspection (BM 376). The manuscript is over sixty pages in length, of which only four pages have been typed. Although a set of notes suggest a plan, much of the text is in very rough form; the dialogue frequently disappears in favour of circuitous arguments, tangents, and convoluted, incomplete notes. As in other works — particularly “Transfiguration.”—Loy repeatedly puts a large “x” next to sentences or sections of this manuscript. An additional portion of “Mi & Lo”—centring on Christ’s relationship to the Jews — exists in a folder of Loy’s longer autobiographical work, Goy Israels, which is also thought to have been written in the thirties (2:30).
The most comprehensible and complete portions of “Mi & Lo” are included here, or about half of the entirety; emphasis has been given to the sections that are part of the dialogue proper. On occasion, Loy does not identify her interlocutors, and their names have been added whenever a change in speaker is discernible. The ten distinct sections are not numbered by Loy, but indicate a break in either theme or in the continuity of the script; where headings arise, they are Loy’s own.
PAGE 265
“Does form result from seeing unform repeatedly?” is pencilled along the top of the typescript
Next to “union of identicals” reads, in handwriting, “Argue re Picasso”—ed.
PAGE 266
After “the answer of form” reads, by hand, “Re often giving an unexpected answer”—ed.
Above “a token” reads “or symbol”—ed.
“inseparable: truth being the question that answers itself — as” was “inseparable: as”
“immortality existing” was “immortality ousting”
“existing as a question” reads “existing a question”—ed.
“the macrocosmic mind of god” was “the mind of god”
“microcosmic forms” reads “micosmic forms”—the “cro” is crossed out—ed.
“is this the elucidation” was “as this education”
“monad?” reads “(monad)??”—ed.
“indicated” was “signalled”
“cognisable from the” reads “cognisable the”—“from” is crossed out in text—ed.
“fourth dimension” was “plus-dimension”
From “In the recession. . of thought, while” is an addition pencil- led into the typescript; “thought” is crossed through—ed.
Next to “In the” Loy has written: “[unclear word, possibly “él- ogement”] pendant le procès de [unclear word, possibly “la”] penser”—ed.
“unification” was “encumbrance”
PAGE 267
Above “Then man” reads “or (the intellect of)”—ed.
“Then it is the confinement” was “Then it is untraceable the con- finement”
After “of creation” reads, by hand, “(creative ideation)”—ed.
PAGE 268
“The encompassment” was “While the encompassment”
“The encompassment. . has form” was attributed to “lo”
“phenomena already have form” reads “phenomena already has form”—ed.
“concavity of the mold” reads “concavity of the mould”—ed.
After “outer—” was “the 4th dimensional aspect of”
After “outer—” appears a torn page that reads as follows:
mi
In the face of a social non-provision, the grab-hazard pleasure of the masses is a poor, defiant and unlovelypleasure shoo’ed into the shadows of civism.
lo
Yet are not the movie and radio concerns for the provision pleasure.
mi
Only and always the imparticipatable pleasure of mythologies.
The assurance of the mob that the gods have leisure to love
The typescript ends here; all else is handwritten
II.
A title page between I. and II. reads, “Power / force animating Body— / Electric Prayer / etc”
The first line of this page follows on from another, and reads, un- der “mi”: “No for the fourth dimensional aspect of life is myr- iad—”—ed.
“whole unimaginable tonnage” was “whole universal tonnage”
PAGE 269
“the nerve centre of the brain” was “the brain”
“and provides energy. . surplus runs” is a later addition
“Its outlet” reads “Its onlet”—ed.
“mystery left by an” was “mystery of an”
“has come. . animation” is written along the margin of a page, and is a later addition
PAGE 270
Above “This is understandable” reads “The philosophy of a civilisation dies when a race has forgotten the interpretation of its geniuses.”—ed.
“understandable inasmuch” was “understandable for”
“bifurcate” reads “bifurcated”—ed.
“feral motor extensions”—“feral” is unclear—ed.
“(but this is too. . formulas)” is not bracketed in Loy’s draft — ed.
“this is too intricate” was “this is an almo” and “a go”
Next to “slumber” reads “???”—ed.
“Not being pushed” reads “(not being pushed”—ed.
“Not being. . time” is a later addition
“In both conditions” may be “to both conditions”—ed.
“then are animated” may be “there are animated”—ed.
“erect position” was “upr”
“stay awake indefinitely” was “stay awake for ever”
“possibility or likelihood” reads “possibility if likelihood”—ed.
“tends towards” was “indicates” in both instances
“might it not” was “may it not”
“inadaptability to its functions” reads “inadaptability of to its functions”—ed.
PAGE 271
“for all the great” was “for none of”
“mediates such as Christ” reads “mediates as christ”—ed.
“would-be expounders”—“expounders” is unclear—ed.