Dianarama66
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- Jun 27, 2020
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The name Florabella....It's probably nothing, but I was wondering where Marion would have come across the name Florabella, which is Italian and so uncommon anywhere else that no-one in this story had ever come across it before they heard it in connection with Marion's disappearance. I started to wonder if perhaps there could be clues in the names she chose for herself. Not clues in the sense that she left them there for people to find, but clues in the sense of psychologically why would she choose this or that name, what personal significance might it have had, was it the name of a character in the arts or literature that had some meaning? So I did some digging and found some literary references, there was an operetta called Florabella, there are several flower and accessory companies using variations of that name, but nothing seemed relevant. Then, I came across a reprint (courtesy of Gutenberg) of a serialized detective story that ran from the late 30s to the early 1940s, called "Saul and the Spinster" by one Aiden de Brune, a very interesting journalist and author, who was apparently the first person to ever complete the perimeter of Australia on foot. I realize that this would have come out a few years before Marion's birth, however, especially in the past, magazines and journals were often kept for years in home libraries. I know that when I was growing up in the 1970s in the UK, I had access to magazines, comics, and journals, going back to the 1950s from both of my parents. Anyway, the story is a detective crime novel which features a girl who mysteriously disappears, money being hidden in ingenious places for smuggling, and a female protagonist who owns a fashion boutique in Sydney called, you guessed it, Florabella! This was so weird to find, because I did not even have "Australia" in my search string and yet found this Australian detective story, while searching for Florabella. Even weirder, the story specifically involves the New South Wales police. Here is the link. I have not read every single word of the story, just skimmed it enough to extract some details, but I invite anyone who thinks there may be something in this, to take a peek for themselves: Saul and the Spinster
I guess my point is that when people do things like re-invent themselves, re-name themselves and so on, they often have a lot of symbolic attachments to the new labels they choose for themselves. So, I realize there's someone on here who said their friend changed their name from one mundane thing to another and they think that's the norm, but that person is also talking about people who presumably didn't then go vanishing off on a long vacation but merely kept living their normal lives, just as Tom instead of Harry or whatever. This is different. This is a person re-fashioning themselves. I've known people like this and they don't change their name from Tom to Harry, they change it from Tom to Sebastian or Aloyisus or something exotic like that.
Remember the story "Into the Wild" about the idealistic back-to-nature kid who ended up starving to death in Alaska (Christopher McCandless)? Well, remember that he changed his name to Alexander Supertramp while he was out on the road? The reason he did this was because it meant something to him. It was an obscure reference to the author and traveler W.H. Davies, who had written a 1908 book about his hobo-ing around called "The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp". (I don't know what the Alexander was about.) Knowing the origin of the name he chose for himself gives huge insights into the fate that befell him.
The family and investigators in this case have taken the approach that the name Remekal was chosen because of the Lonelyhearts ad and have given no theory as to why she chose the other two forenames. I think this deserves a little more creative thought. I don't think Marion blindfolded herself and stuck a pin in a book of names. I think she chose this temporary fake name (she could not have intended to keep it, it was a transition name) for a meaningful reason and not just as a random act. I could be wrong and she could have done exactly that, which would be super-clever if you don't want to get found. But I think it is far more likely that every one of the four names she chose as her alias have significance. Of course, one of them is her own, Marion, so the significance there is clear. Everyone's been hung up on Remekal but Florabella and Natalia have to have meant something to her as well. Is there something in this old detective novel that relates to or parallels the issues Marion was facing and what she planned to do about it? Dunno....check it out.....
I guess my point is that when people do things like re-invent themselves, re-name themselves and so on, they often have a lot of symbolic attachments to the new labels they choose for themselves. So, I realize there's someone on here who said their friend changed their name from one mundane thing to another and they think that's the norm, but that person is also talking about people who presumably didn't then go vanishing off on a long vacation but merely kept living their normal lives, just as Tom instead of Harry or whatever. This is different. This is a person re-fashioning themselves. I've known people like this and they don't change their name from Tom to Harry, they change it from Tom to Sebastian or Aloyisus or something exotic like that.
Remember the story "Into the Wild" about the idealistic back-to-nature kid who ended up starving to death in Alaska (Christopher McCandless)? Well, remember that he changed his name to Alexander Supertramp while he was out on the road? The reason he did this was because it meant something to him. It was an obscure reference to the author and traveler W.H. Davies, who had written a 1908 book about his hobo-ing around called "The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp". (I don't know what the Alexander was about.) Knowing the origin of the name he chose for himself gives huge insights into the fate that befell him.
The family and investigators in this case have taken the approach that the name Remekal was chosen because of the Lonelyhearts ad and have given no theory as to why she chose the other two forenames. I think this deserves a little more creative thought. I don't think Marion blindfolded herself and stuck a pin in a book of names. I think she chose this temporary fake name (she could not have intended to keep it, it was a transition name) for a meaningful reason and not just as a random act. I could be wrong and she could have done exactly that, which would be super-clever if you don't want to get found. But I think it is far more likely that every one of the four names she chose as her alias have significance. Of course, one of them is her own, Marion, so the significance there is clear. Everyone's been hung up on Remekal but Florabella and Natalia have to have meant something to her as well. Is there something in this old detective novel that relates to or parallels the issues Marion was facing and what she planned to do about it? Dunno....check it out.....
