The Cream of the Jest · Chapter
XXI: In Pursuit of a Whisper explained
Kennaston, now nightly adventuring with Ettarre, visits historical figures such as Napoleon, Shakespeare, and Pontius Pilate in their private moments.
What happens
Kennaston, now nightly adventuring with Ettarre, visits historical figures such as Napoleon, Shakespeare, and Pontius Pilate in their private moments. He becomes convinced that he alone perceives the miraculous nature of existence, while others stumble blindly through life. Reading his uncle's library, he finds parallels in legends of mortal men loved by immortal mistresses and in the works of Coleridge, Herrick, Marlowe, and others, suspecting that many creative writers have shared his divided life. He explores Rosicrucian dogmas and the idea of muses with audible voices, feeling himself an initiate into a hidden understanding.
Themes in this chapter
Dream vs. Reality
Kennaston's nightly journeys with Ettarre blur the line between dream and waking life, as he visits historical figures and perceives a hidden reality.
The Power of Storytelling
Kennaston finds parallels in legends and literature, suspecting that creative writers have shared his divided life and that muses may have audibly prompted composition.
The Search for Meaning
Kennaston reads widely in his uncle's library, seeking to understand the hidden wonders of existence and the nature of his own experiences.
Disillusionment and Cynicism
Kennaston observes that men stumble through life blind to its miracles, focused only on money, food, and trivial pleasures, while he alone sees the jungle's beauty.
Characters to notice
- Felix Kennaston
Nightly adventures with Ettarre; visits Napoleon, Shakespeare, and Pilate; reads his uncle's books; suspects other writers shared his divided life.
- La Beale Ettarre
Accompanies Kennaston on his nightly journeys to see cities and historical figures.
- Coleridge
Kennaston reflects on Coleridge's revelation about writing 'Kubla Khan' as a parallel to his own experience.
- John Faustus
Mentioned in Kennaston's reading as one who won the love of Helen of Troy through deep cogitations.
- Napoleon
Kennaston and Ettarre visit Napoleon on the evening of his coronation; he frets over ceremony and family slights.
- Pontius Pilate
Kennaston and Ettarre visit Pilate in Jerusalem after a day of darkness and earthquake; Pilate explains eclipses to his son.
- Shakespeare
Kennaston and Ettarre talk with Shakespeare in an orchard; he complains about his later comedies and Lord Pembroke's neglect.
Key passages
“He came to suspect that other creative writers had shared such a divided life as his was now, for of this he seemed to find traces here and there.”
Kennaston began to believe that other authors had also experienced a split existence like his, as he discovered hints of it in various writings.
Kennaston's growing conviction that his dual life is not unique.
“And everywhere, in every age, it seemed to him, men stumbled amiable and shatter-pated through a jungle of miracles, blind to its wonderfulness, and intent to gain a little money, food and sleep, a trinket or two, some rare snatched fleeting moments of rantipole laughter, and at the last a decent bed to die in.”
In every era, people wandered cheerfully and confusedly through a world full of wonders, oblivious to its beauty, focused only on acquiring small material gains and fleeting pleasures before dying.
Kennaston's cynical view of humanity's obliviousness to the miraculous.
“He often wondered whether any other man had been so licensed as himself; and prowling, as he presently did, in odd byways of printed matter... Kennaston lighted on much that appeared to him significant.”
He frequently questioned if anyone else had been granted such freedom, and while exploring obscure texts, he found many things that seemed meaningful.
Kennaston's search for validation and understanding through reading.
