![aleph symbol with title UNSONG](http://i.imgur.com/d9LvKMc.png")
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- Snr on Interlude ל: New York City
- David on Chapter 28: Hid As In An Ark
- Roee Sinai on Chapter 8: Laughing To Scorn Thy Laws And Terrors
- AbsoluteNegation on Chapter 10: Bring The Swift Arrows Of Light
- Bones on Chapter 10: Bring The Swift Arrows Of Light
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Oh come on. Really, just a title page?
Okay, analysis time:
So the quote is a the song “Hallelujah,” with words changed. Leonard Cohen played a version of it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttEMYvpoR-k
Original:
Well I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
chord -> word
David -> Jala
pleased -> named
care for music, do you -> know of magic, or us
tav -> fourth
fifth -> resh
minor fall -> fearsome joy
major lift -> fervent wish
Baffled King -> Comet King
composing -> incanting
Hallelujah -> haMephorash
The Shem HaMephorash is “an originally Tannaitic term describing a hidden name of God in Kabbalah” (Wikipedia)
Leonard Cohen also wrote “Who by Fire,” a piece relating to Deathism, a philosophy that is usually a part of Rationalism. This song is sometimes sung at Solstice Rituals, which Scott goes to.
Oh, don’t worry, there’s a chapter up too now.
I think you proved I’m not worthy of reading these lines.
Jala is an Arabic/African female name meaning “Shining” or “Special One.”
The Comet King is referenced in the first chapter as being one of the “four kabbalists [that] have ever gazed upon Adam Kadmon bare”
“Tav” is the 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “Resh” is the 20th letter.
The guy in the picture is probably the main character (of Chapter 1 at least), while the girl is probably “Ana”
As revealed in the first chapter, Aaron Smith-Teller, our protagonist, is 22 years old. Perhaps he is the tav.
Prediction: Ana is 20 years old, and thus the resh.
“Who by Fire” also includes the line “Who by very slow decay”, the title of a famous SSC post.
Not to nag, but the Cohen lyric is
“But you don’t really care for music, do ya?”
That way, it rhymes.
If anyone wants a kindle version of this book, I’ve adapted a ruby scraper here: https://github.com/JasonGross/unsong_scraper. (If desired, I can take it down.)
So I’m not sure whether you were the one who drew the cover art or whether someone else did, but I must nitpick and say that the lady’s legs are far too short. Legs are significantly longer than most people intuitively try to draw them. If you fold your legs up to your chest, you will find (within a reasonable margin of error) that your thighs and your shins are about the same length as your torso.
Assuming that the blouse stops at the top of the skirt as opposed to overlapping, which would make her legs longer.
Hello, I don’t know if this is intentional, but in the Table of Contents the link text for this link is just a : symbol. It’s a weird thing to see, that’s why I commented.
It really is pretty weird
I probably should have put this on the one before, but I clicked through too fast to stop. Had to read more. That’s got to be the greatest opening page I’ve read this year.