The Cords of Vanity · Chapter
XI: He Postures Among Chimney-Pots explained
The narrator meets the Charterises in Genoa and travels with John Charteris across Europe, eventually ending up in Liège.
What happens
The narrator meets the Charterises in Genoa and travels with John Charteris across Europe, eventually ending up in Liège. During a hotel fire, he escapes to the roof and meets a young American woman named Elena, with whom he shares a philosophical and romantic conversation about Helen of Troy and the nature of ideal beauty.
Themes in this chapter
Romantic Idealism vs. Reality
The narrator's idealized vision of Helen of Troy contrasts with the real woman Elena he meets on the roof, highlighting the tension between romantic fantasy and actual human connection.
Artistic Identity and Escapism
The narrator writes poetry and escapes into a fantasy of Helen, using art to cope with the mundane and the chaos of the hotel fire.
Time, Memory, and Regret
The narrator claims to remember past lives and loves, suggesting a cyclical view of time and a longing for an unattainable past.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator travels with Charteris, writes poetry, and escapes a hotel fire in Liège, where he meets Elena and discusses his idealized vision of Helen of Troy.
- John Charteris
Charteris meets the narrator in Genoa, travels with him, and is described as fickle and knowledgeable about Europe.
- Anne Charteris
Anne exclaims at the narrator's dissipated appearance and rushes on to Paris for shopping.
- Elena Barry-Smith
Elena is the young American woman the narrator meets on the roof during the hotel fire; they discuss Helen of Troy and ideal beauty.
- Nadine Neroni
Nadine Neroni is the new prima donna whom Charteris goes to hear.
- Jasper Hardress
Mentioned as being in London for the season; the narrator reflects on the 'Hardress incident' being closed.
Key passages
“You must overlook my wife's unfortunate tendency toward the most unamiable of virtues. But, after all, you are clamantly not quite the boy I left at Liverpool last October.”
Charteris tells the narrator to excuse his wife's bluntness, noting that the narrator has changed significantly since they last met.
Charteris comments on the narrator's transformation over the past year.
“Take my advice, and always marry a woman who is abundantly furnished with attractive and visitable relations, for this precaution is the true secret of every happy marriage.”
Charteris advises the narrator to marry a woman with many pleasant relatives, as this ensures a happy marriage.
Charteris offers cynical marital advice.
“I was writing—and I thought that Russian woman had a few friends to supper—and I was looking for a rhyme when I found you.”
The narrator explains he was composing poetry and searching for a rhyme when the fire led him to meet Elena.
The narrator's whimsical explanation of how he ended up on the roof.
“She will be very tall, very tall and exquisite—like a young birch-tree, you know, when its new leaves are whispering over to one another the secrets of spring.”
The narrator describes his ideal woman as tall and graceful, comparing her to a birch tree in spring.
The narrator's poetic description of his imagined Helen.
“Ilium is ablaze; and the homes of Pergamos and its towering walls are now one sheet of flame.”
The narrator quotes a line comparing the burning hotel to the fall of Troy.
The narrator draws a parallel between the fire and the Trojan War.
