Short Fiction · Chapter
A Closeup of Domba Splew explained
The narrator, a journalist, is sent to interview the Italian poet Domba Splew, who gained fame after publishing a poem in The Bookman.
What happens
The narrator, a journalist, is sent to interview the Italian poet Domba Splew, who gained fame after publishing a poem in The Bookman. The interview takes place in Scranton, PA, where Splew describes his daily routine, his collection of dromedaries, his garden, and his unconventional habits, including being shaved by an ostrich. The poet reads some of his verses and explains the origin of his name, all while the narrator struggles to get a straight answer about his home life.
Themes in this chapter
Celebrity and Artistic Integrity
The chapter satirizes the media's treatment of a literary celebrity and the absurdity of the public's interest in his personal life.
Satire of Media and Business
The narrator's assignment and the editor's offer mock the commercialization of art and the trivial nature of journalistic pursuits.
Characters to notice
- Domba Splew
Italian poet, subject of the interview, described as eccentric and elusive.
Key passages
“Not since the tardy, posthumous death of Agera Cholera has the American literati been so baffled toward a rising genius of letters than has been demonstrated in regards to the Italian poet, Domba Splew, who, just a year ago, sprang into worldwide indifference by the publication, in The Bookman, of his verse, “ La battia fella inna base tuba ” (The weasel fell into the bathtub).”
The American literary world has not been so puzzled by a new talent since the late Agera Cholera, as it is by the Italian poet Domba Splew, who became famous a year ago when his poem 'The Weasel Fell into the Bathtub' was published in The Bookman, though it was met with general indifference.
Highlights the ironic fame of the poet.
““Listen,” I said, “where would a man be apt to run acrost a foreign literary genius, discovered only a year ago?” “Listen,” replied the clerk, “have you tried the artistic and bohemian mecca of American letters?” “Where is that?” I coughed. “Scranton, PA ,” was the clerk’s reply.”
The narrator asks where to find a newly discovered foreign literary genius, and the clerk sarcastically suggests Scranton, PA, as the artistic and bohemian center of American letters.
Satirizes the idea of artistic hubs.
““I have got a set of rules,” he said, pulling a fresh cucumber off the hatrack. “In the morning I get up and talk to my dromedaries. Oh, those dromedaries! I would walk a mile for one of them! I have got a collection of eighty of them and each one more laughable than the first one.”
Splew claims to have a routine that includes talking to his collection of eighty dromedaries, which he finds amusing.
Shows the absurdity of the poet's daily life.