incomplete parable … (unfinished symphony, massive attack): here non-sentient things are assigned purpose and volition The fish trap says: — — — The stick says: Appear! Appear! The fish jumps from the trap onto the end of the stick saving the dog from a beating. The dog says: Damn, I was looking forward to that. Can we draw up a contract? The master says: Until the end of your days, with the taste of your most recent meal still in your mouth, you will long for the future to save you. The fish says: "With pleasure I'dread." [1]

[1] The title of a review by Carmen Mihaela Barbu of Stanley Corngold's book Complex Pleasure: Forms of Feeling in German Literature. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1998. Literary Research/Recherche littéraire 18.35 ( Spring – Summer 2001):134-9. Jan. 5 2004: http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201/300/literary_research-ef/n28-n36/old35/ReviewArticlesBarbu.htm