BOC: Imaginos, part 13 - Magna

[Johnny Firic]

13. MAGNA OF ILLUSION
---------------------

(Lost) Christabel must refer a village somewhere on the Cornish coast (i.e.,
the coast of Cornwall). It collapsed into the sea (ocean) some time between
August 1892 and 1893. It was not uncommon at the time for the sea to eat up
land, and, because of incompetence and poor handling of the problem, whole
seaside villages might simply disappear in a matter of weeks, or even days.
This was often used in political malversations - counting votes that didn't
exist (which indeed has nothing to do with the issue here, but it's
interesting). The lighthouse 'tilts', since it's near to falling into the
sea. A 'squat' lighthouse means one which does not have a tower, but is
built on a strand (cape) which reaches deep into the sea, or is near some
cliffs or other dangerous waters to sail in. 'Our' lighthouse was probably
either one half of the mansion (the other half being the Captain's home), or
simply near the mansion, I'm not sure. The scroll and the prophecy mentioned
obviously refer to the end of the trilogy, not only the first part of it,
which we have our hands on, and so it can't really be (completely) explained
(yet), at least not by me.

The "glidepath to the sun" is, as I've been told, some complicated Celtic
belief about the path of souls after death, or something - anyway, in the
song it's probably just a metaphor for death, or disappearance. Btw, it's
also mentioned (in case you haven't noticed) in "ME 262" - the line "so
watch me in mirrors, keep me on the glidepath". I'll return to this part of
the song later, for reasons that will be seen a few paragraphs down.

"Late to the story that had been": July 31, 1893. The Captain returns from
Mexico to England and finds the village of Christabel, together with his
home, has disappeared. Obviously he's "late to he story" of its
disappearance. He times his arrival perfectly, for his granddaughter's
birthday party. It's not impossible that their birthdays were on the same
date, August 1 - remember, "Imaginos / approached the sun / _in August_"?
This would add more importance to the party, as it would also be his own.
Exactly a year before that (8/1/1892), he 'broke the party' by leaving for
Mexico. In the conversation, he mentions "he's come a long way / from Lost
Christabel this night"; obviously they've moved after Christabel was "lost".
Then, we come to the point I've mentioned earlier, how the role of the
granddaughter (which I proposed was named Susie) is similar to that of Susie
in "Astronomy". By the way, since I've translated "Carpe diem", I might as
well explain "deus ex machina". Literally, it means (in Latin) "god from the
machine". It can mean that the problem solves itself, sometimes; here, in
both cases, it means that Susie and his granddaughter were the agents of
Imaginos' acts and resolutions. They acted as "deus ex machina's" for him.

The last verse is pretty much self-explanatory, and I presume it's the
Captain thinking out loud, in front of his granddaughter. He's speaking as
if to ease his mind, now that he's understood all the implications of his
life's work.

Finally, the part I skipped. Its importance is central to the whole story,
revolving around the phrase "magna of illusion", something that no one has
noticed so far, to the best of my knowledge. There are two points to
consider here:

(1) "And when the sun proved false / as it always does / some of them would
be lost / and some would sail back home / it was no star / but a magna of
illusion"

(2) "... rockers will dwell on doom ... what seems to be is not"

I quote myself from "Imaginos", speaking of the lines "approached the sun"
etc.:

"Slightly more metaphorically, it can be taken to mean that he entered the
story, that his own story (or "saga") began at that time".

In (1), "the sun" could again mean "the entire story, 'saga', of Imaginos".
It proves false. "It was no star, but a magna of illusion". The high point
of the story is the magna (=culmination) of illusion? The "illusion" can
then only stand for the entire story! "What seems to be is not": the story
is fake, it is an illusion. We, the BOC fans enchanted with "Imaginos", are
the "rockers" (literally!) who "dwell on doom", "the doom" (of Europe)
brought about by Imaginos. The whole thing is one big joke.

"Is it any wonder that my joke's an iron
And the joke's on you"

Well, not just *you*, all of us.

Sorry.

Well, "the party's over, it's all over".

Cheers,

Johnny
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