Pigeons' heart-shaped bodies

I've seen lots of pigeons, including Parisian pigeons, and I can't make their bodies out to be heart-shaped at all.

So have I, and I can make out the heart shape.. Isn't it artistic license, just as it is to see pigeons as "the lilacs of the feathered kingdom"? The shape doesn't have to be exactly the same; a pigeon's body is much more stout than it is long, so if you see them head-on (or from the rear, if you ignore the tail) there is a kind of resemblance.

When I was a child, one of our neighbors had a dog that all of us called a "wiener dog." It was a dachshund, of course. I'd say that a pigeon's body is heart-shaped at least as much as a dachshund's body is hotdog-shaped.

I was also thinking head-on. The two lobes of the breast tapering down toward the tail.

Yes, I can see that. I was thinking of "body" as inclusive of the head and neck.

I'm reminded of the inscription I once saw at Sta Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome, informing the visitor that a sarcophagus there held the body of St Catherine of Siena. If I hadn't seen her head at San Domenico in Siena the previous week, I woluold have assumed that that meant the whole body, top to toe.

VinnyD, I'm sure that many thousands of visitors have come away with the impression that the reference to St. Catherine's body did indeed mean "top to toe." I would call that inscription literally true, but misleading.

Towards the end of Swann's Way/Du côté de chez Swann

TDBT!!

Obvballs.

I've got a lovely 2-volume set of the complete Remembrance+ (in English) that belonged to my mother. I have tried several times to read it, starting as a teenager, but never could get past the first 30 pages or so of +Swann's Way. Maybe it's time to give it another try, maybe with a different translation. The one I have is Moncrieff.

I found some recommendations for the Lydia Davis translation, which I see my library has. Anyone familiar with it?

Proust was one of those authors that took me several attempts to read. I finally did so (in French) and once I got into it, I read all 7 or 8 volumes in a row.

Then about 2 years ago, a friend lent me a graphic novel (aka comic book) of Swann's Way, which was very well done. So I started re-reading the novels again. But I only read the book when I'm away, so long periods are spent between sections. But it doesn't really matter -- it's a book you read for the style, not for the story.

I'm afraid he's not my cup of tisane de tilleul.

I may attempt volume 2 next summer.