Читать книгу Side-Stepping Normativity in Selected Short Stories by Sylvia Townsend Warner - Rebecca K. Hahn - Страница 12

Eventually, as their conversation progresses, the two men come closer without engaging in physical contact. The attendant points out to the narrator and Valentine that his acquaintance had hardly any luggage:

What you’d take away for a weekend – and he was going to America for good and all. But not worried in the least. What’s more, he seemed so pleased with what he had got. Made me feel his suit to see what good wool it was and told me all about a wonderful pair of silk pajamas he’d been given. (51–52, emphasis in the original)

Clothes and fine materials take on the role of intermediary in the conversation between the German and the attendant. From the attendant’s account, it becomes clear that the German takes a delight in clothes and fine materials and is a connoisseur of beautiful things. During the first part of the conversation, the German remains fairly passive, but during the second part he becomes more animated and invites the attendant to feel the high-quality material from which his clothes are made. Rather than using words, he addresses the attendant’s sense of touch. After listening attentively to the German’s description of the material used to tailor his suit, the attendant makes a great show of determining the quality of the material for himself. The attendant does not simply examine the German’s suit; ultimately, he appears to caress the garment the German is wearing. This suddenly makes the scene appear very intimate, suggesting that the two men have found a way to communicate with each other.

With regard to texture, Sedgwick maintains,

To perceive texture is never only to ask or know What is it like? Nor even just How does it impinge on me? Textural perception always explores two other questions as well: How did it get that way? and What could I do with it? (The Weather in Proust 84, emphasis in the original)

Sedgwick writes this in the context of the textile art she produces. These deliberations, however, are significant in the light of the pleasure experienced by the attendant. By feeling the suit, he actively engages with the material and participates in its history. He does not disclose any further details relating to the incident but intimates that the narrator and Valentine are aware of the erotic implications of the encounter. After discussing the wool in his suit, the German leads the attendant on to discuss an even finer material, namely silk. The discussion remains hypothetical since the silk garment in question, a pair of silk pyjamas, is not within reaching distance. The German is challenging the attendant to use his imagination and to indulge in the idea of the soft material with a very smooth texture. The attendant must content himself with the animated description of the silk pyjamas, since he cannot feel the material for himself. The German is unmistakeably flirting with him, leading him on to imagine the most luxurious and seductive materials – while denying him the satisfaction of touch.

Finally, the attendant tells the narrator and Valentine, “And you could tell from the way he spoke he was the sort of gentleman who knows about clothes – quite a dandy in fact” (“Mexico” 51). The attendant uses the term “dandy” to describe a man who dresses elegantly and takes pleasure in high quality clothes. The term “dandy” does not always necessarily refer to men who are aroused by other men, it rather describes a lifestyle. As Adam Geczy and Vicky Karaminas write, “Dandyism was a particular way of being in that it combined dress, deportment, attitude and worldview, a worldview that was at once weary but engaged […]” (58). Based on the attendant’s account, the German lacks the detachment commonly attributed to the dandy. The context in which he uses the term to describe the German strongly suggests that he believes him to be gay.