FOUR ZOAS IX / 131:8-25 (119:5-131:25)


At the point in the narra-
 tive where the reader
 wants to know the out-
 come of the Vala/
 Tharmas/Enion
 triangle, the narrative
 abruptly interrupts the
 scene.


 Disturbances at the
threshold of withdrawal
 from Vala's world and
 the vision of Tharmas
 and Enion as children


sexual sin and being seen. Just as Tharmas' fading like a lily recalls Vala's
earlier fear of extinction but extends it to a self-conscious sexual fading,
Tharmas' response of sitting down and weeping simply reiterates the
inertia that pervades those frustrated in their attempt to break out of cyclic
repetition.
 Vala repeats her request, "go to Enion," but this time asks Tharmas to
 tell Enion to meet Vala "in the shadows ofher garden." Why does Vala not
 ask Enion herself? Does she hope this ploy will bring Tharmas and Enion
 together? Although the result is uncertain, one effect of her gesture is to
 open up suggestions of a lesbian attraction of Vala for Enion who here
 embodies many evasive features ofLuvah. Most generally, Vala cannot get
 to Luvah (who is a light source) and Tharmas cannot get to Enion
 (likewise a source of light). The extended and perverse simile of Enion
 "like [yet another] ruddy morn" withdrawing from infant spring (in
 modesty) behind her Veil expresses the extremity of Enion's exaggerated
 modesty upon Tharmas' approach, to which the narrator seems com-
 pletely oblivious. Just as the overlapping syntax of "He took her hand
 reluctant she followed in infant doubts" (131:15) creates mild voyeuristic
 expectations in the viewers/reader, the narrator short-circuits the entire
 sequence by suddenly and radically forcing the reader up through two
 levels of embedding:

 Thus in Eternal Childhood straying among Valas flocks
 In infant sorrow &joy alternate Enion & Tharmas played
 Round Vala in the Gardens of Vala & by her rivers margin
 They are the shadows of Tharmas & of Enion in Valas world
 And the sleepers who rested from their harvest work beheld these
 visions
 Thus were the sleepers entertained upon the Couches of Beulah
 (131:16-21)


 The narrator disregards the implication that Tharmas, Enion, and Vala
are bound into this unfulfilling evasive cycle forever. In pulling out of
Vala's world, the narrator seizes on his own preferred term "shadows" to
characterize the embedding of the two plots (i.e., he privileges shadows as
the fundamental feature of that world, though Vala's world has extensive
contrary aspects). Also, the narrator must now perceive "the shadows of
Tharmas & ofEnion in Valas world" (131:19) to be the most essential focus
of "the golden age" of Luvah and Vala which he had begun earlier to
narrate (126:29). Just as Luvah vanished from Vala's perception to be
replaced by the flocks, by the house, and finally by the children, Luvah has
vanished from the narrator's characterization of that golden age which has
become, not Vala's garden, but "Valas world." (Once the narrator with-
draws from the explicit delusions of this world, he resumes reference to
both Luvah and Vala, as if he had never lost track of Luvah at all.)