(470) I am the one, monsieur, who gave Zambinella his voice. I paid for everything that scamp ever had, even his singing teacher. Well, he has so little gratitude for the service I rendered him that he has never consented to set foot in my house. * Evoking the boy instead of the woman or the castrato, that scamp reestablishes (if only fleetingly) a normalif one can use the wordaxis of the sexes (garbled throughout the story by the castrato's uncertain situation, sometimes the essence of femininity, sometimes the disclaimer of all sexuality) (SYM. Axis of the sexes). ** SYM. Before castration. (S/Z, 185)
