LH [on :"Some of
my characters are, no doubt, pretty beastly, but I really don't care, they are
outside my inner self like the mournful monsters of a cathedral façade - demons
placed there merely to show that they have been booted out."]
If they have been booted out, then it means that they used to be
inside: VN admits that there is some relation between his inner self and his
monstrous characters.
LH to M Roth:
[MR:"...eliminated from his intrinsic self by the same forces of perfection
which purified and chiseled his verse. He was his own cancellation." So was VN,
artistically at least, his own cancellation?] The
bringing together of the two metaphors indicates that it is the practice of his
art which enabled VN to perfect and keep his inner self
pure.
JM: Perhaps LH
doesn't agree with my emphasis on VN's "demons placed
there merely to show that they have been booted out".
There were gargoyles outside, as well inside
every cathedral I visited, they were a part of the entire construction. I'm
almost sure VN considered that( but probably his
spur-of-the-moment remark was not ellaborated upon).
Still, I believe that the monsters
that were placed outside, in his image, represent "signs" for they
were placed there "to show", to indicate something else. Anyway, I
have no idea what the word "inner self" means: is it
"soul"?