lunes, 27 de marzo de 2017

MEMORY PERSONIFIED AS YOUTHFUL OLD PERSON

Yor era un hombre grande y viejo, pero su rostro no tenía barba ni arrugas. Todo en él, su traje, su cara, su pelo, era gris como la piedra. Cuando estaba allí, inmóvil, parecía tallado en un gran trozo de lava. Sólo sus ojos ciegos eran oscuros y, en sus profundidades, brillaba el resplandor de una pequeña llama.
(Yor, the blind Mountain-Man/Bergmann)


It was a strange figure -- like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. The arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength. Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were, like those upper members, bare. It wore a tunic of the purest white, and round its waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm.
(The Ghost of Christmas Past)

 
Mind that both of these characters are personifications of Memory --as the recollection of the personal past-- and portrayed as aged but lacking wrinkles and facial hair, and being physically in youthful shape when it comes to vigour and stamina.
-Do you think the Ghost of Christmas Past influenced Ende's Yor?
-What is the significance of being "OLD" yet lacking wrinkles, and especially of lacking facial hair? Does it carry notions of both youthfulness and a non-binary/asexuated character?


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