He found himself looking into corners for the favourite pieces of the unborn children of marriages that were never made.

[Vincent Chen]

Hello everyone,

I came across a sentence when reading Gerald Murnane's "The Plains":
"The same landowner began to describe other influences that he felt late at night in the more remote wings of his house. He sensed sometimes the lingering persistence of forces that had failed—of a history that had almost come into being. He found himself looking into corners for the favourite pieces of the unborn children of marriages that were never made."

How do we understand the last sentence? More specifically, what does "the favourite pieces" refer to? Whose favourite pieces? Pieces of what?

This is really confusing; or is it just me?

Please help me understand.

 

[Tarheel]

That is a very strange sentence -- especially the phrase in question.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello. guys,

I came across a sentence when reading Gerald Murnane's "The Plains":

"The same landowner began to describe other influences that he felt late at night in the more remote wings of his house. He sensed sometimes the lingering persistence of forces that had failed—of a history that had almost come into being. He found himself looking into corners for the favourite pieces of the unborn children of marriages that were never made."

How do we understand the last sentence? More specifically, what does "the favourite pieces" refer to? Whose favourite pieces? Pieces of what?

This is really confusing to me. or is it just me?

Please kindly help me understand. "Please kindly" is tautologous.

Thanks a lot! Unnecessary. Thank us after we help you, by adding the "Thanks" icon to any post you find helpful.

Please note my corrections and comments above.

Please don't refer to users as "guys". We're not all male.
We don't enclose book titles between < and >. Either use quotation marks or italicise the title.
Don't try to start sentences with "or".

I have no idea what that sentence means.

 

[Vincent Chen]

Thank you for your corrections and comments, they are very helpful for improving my own English.
I will avoid starting a thread with "Hello guys", this is really ill-considered. I apologize for that.

 

[Barque]

How do we understand the last sentence?

I believe it's meant to be read with the previous sentence. Forces that failed. A history that almost came into being.

He found himself looking into corners for the favourite pieces of the unborn children of marriages that were never made."

He found himself looking for signs of things that could have come into existence but didn't.
It's vague but I think it's meant to be that way.

 

[Vincent Chen]

He found himself looking for signs of things that could have come into existence but didn't.

Thank you, that's what I thought as well. I think “the unborn children of marriages that were never made” can be understood in a figurative sense, but the phrase "the favourate pieces of” prior to it is still very confusing.

 

[Barque]

There are some things that only the writer understands.

 

[5jj]

I would guess that they mean toys and favourite rattles, dummies (pacifiers), blankets, etc.

 

[emsr2d2]

Now that 5jj has pointed that out, I agree. He's looking for what would have been the favourite toys/possessions of those children who were never born.

 

[Vincent Chen]

I would guess that they mean toys and favourite rattles, dummies (pacifiers), blankets, etc.

That's also what I guessed at first, but it still feels awkward. Maybe that's the best guess we can get?

 

[emsr2d2]

That's also what I guessed at first, but it still feels awkward. Maybe that's the best guess we can get. That's not a question so the question mark was incorrect.

Re-read post #7.

 

[Tarheel]

The writer of that piece lives in a weird fantasy world and wants the rest of us to join him. He talks about children who were never born, toys they never had and other things that never existed.

 

[Tdol]

Such things would be the biggest failures of the past as the marriages had not taken place. I think the writer might be trying to be poetic and suggestive here- a haunting image, though not a particularly successful one for me.