Gould's Book of Fish

Question

I started to read Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan and I've came across some questions.

My wonder upon discovering the Book of Fish remains with me yet, luminous as the phosphorescent marbling that seized my eyes that strange morning; glittering as those eerie swirls that coloured my mind and enchanted my soul - which there and then began the process of unravelling my heart and, worse still, my life into the poor, scraggy skein that is this story you are about to read.

Q1)Is the upon interchangeable with on? If so, is there any difference of nuance?

Q2)Are the luminous and glittering complements of the remains?

Q3)Are the "as"es equal to "like"?

Q4)What's the subject of the began?

Thanks in advance.

EnglishRaven · Accepted Answer

Hi Bubblebath,

Wow - grammar and poetry, never an easy mix!

My quick opinion is that:

Q1) The "upon" is interchangeable with "when" - at that time.

Q2) The "remains" here acts as a verb, not a noun. The question might be - do the words you refer to complement "Book of Fish" or "my wonder"? From the sentence structure I would say it is wonder, and though it might sound strange - poetry is good at doing that!

Q3) I think the 'as's acts as similes, with an omitted "as" before luminous (as luminous as the phosphorescent marbling that seized my eyes that strange morning); and before glittering (as glittering as).

Q4) The use of the dash leads me to believe the subject of "began" has to be either "eerie swirls" or "soul". Perhaps there's a more qualified grammar person about who could say which (my instinct was "soul")

Hope this helps - it's more of an opinion really. That's some heavy stuff.

Best,

Jason

Bubblebath · Answer

Thank you very much, Jason.

As for Q2), I menat that the "luminous" and "glittering are the complement of the verb, "remains".

That is, S (My wonder upon...) V (remains) C (luminous/glittering).

EnglishRaven · Answer

Whoops - sorry!

Yes, I think they are complements of that verb in that case, if we can assume that an "as" has been dropped before them.

But this is really tricky one - I won't pretend I've got it nailed.

Cheers,

Jason

Bubblebath · Answer

This is the direct continuation of the quote I posted above.

What was it about that gentle radiance that would come to make me think I had lived the same life over and over, like some Hindu mystic forever trapped in the Great Wheal?that was to become my fate?that stole my character?that rendered my past and my future one and indivisble?

Q1)What does the "come to" mean in this sentence?

Q2)I cannot grasp the sentence structure of the paragraph. What does the "it" denotes? And making the interrogative sentence into a declarative sentence, "It was (what) about that gentle radiance that would come to..."?

Q3)What is the subject of the lines following the blue "that"s?

Thank you in advance.

Gould's Book of Fish

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