Foucault's Pendulum
SGSMOOT at pwinet.upj.com
SGSMOOT at pwinet.upj.com
Mon Jul 17 10:56:11 CDT 1995
Egad! Am I the only one who enjoyed _Foucalt's Pendulum_? I read it as a
self-reflexive (yes, and multiple-ly redundant) comment on deconstruction (or
something). While the Templar/Mason conspiracy theory _is_ old hat (at least as
old as the disbanding of the Templars), it gets a better writeup in _FP_ than
anywhere else I looked.
For this academically-challenged individual, I found _FP_ to be similar to _GR_
in one specific way - they are both models of that "more is less is more"
practice: each novel contains so much, so many references that potentially
requires outside reference for understanding. I still miss most of the
war-related cultural references in _GR_ - I mean, I recognize them, I
acknowledge them, but I miss the real connexions. I always thought that was part
of what made _Vineland_ so much more accessible - the cultural references were
mostly quite familiar. What would someone, never exposed to late-60s USA, make
of the Beach Boys or a blacked-out Camaro?
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