silly observations

[Tim Ware]

Ok.  I went to lunch and brought along V. and checked out this whole 
Benny meets Rachel for the first time again.  Well, it works out fine 
chronologically.  Benny meets her while working at the resort (or 
whatever), she graduates from Bennington and moves to NYC where Benny 
visits her a few times.  Then comes the second first meeting at 
Space/Time.  

My reading of this is that it's just a bit of surrealism that serves to 
foreground how Benny can be sexually aroused and interested in a woman 
whom he doesn't really know, but can't deal with her once the fantasy is 
stripped away.  His overwhelming tumescence in the Space/Time scene 
contrasts sharply with his almost virginal reluctance throughout the rest 
of the novel.

I'd be curious to know other folks' readings.

TW

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ timware at crl.com
If you are dealt a lemon ... play lemonade - CD-ROM DOS


On Thu, 20 Jul 1995, Tim Ware wrote:

> Actually, Paul, I've wondered a bit about that Profane/Owlglass in the 
> employment agency thing myself.  I put it on the back burner to check 
> into it more deeply and there it sits.  But now I've committed myself.
> 
> I'll check it out.
> 
> Any other ideas out there?
> 
> TW
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ timware at crl.com
> If you are dealt a lemon ... play lemonade - CD-ROM DOS
> 
> 
> On Thu, 20 Jul 1995, jayne wrote:
> 
> > 
> > >Andrew Dinn guesses:
> > >> 	The object of everyone's quest in V. was?
> > >The elusive V.? The Virgin?
> > >> 	The object of everyone's quest in GR was?
> > >The elusive A4? The 00000 (funf punkt). - Gravity's (Arc) Angel
> > > 	So is GR a sequel to V.?
> > >Is `The Education..' a sequel to `Mont St Michel and Chartres'
> > 
> > 
> > Actually I was thinking of V and V2.  Hence the joke about a sequel.
> > I like to think of "V." as meaning "Vanishing Point"  I wish I could
> > claim I thought of it.
> > 
> > Not wanting to break tradition by checking my sources before I post,
> > I'll rely on memory for this "silly observation":  am I the only
> > reader of V. who noticed that Benny Profane meets Rachael Owlglass
> > "for the first time" twice in the novel?  Once she is said to have
> > met him by nearly hitting him with her MG;  the other time he is
> > sitting in the employment office with an uh, lap problem;  she is
> > the person he's waiting to see.  Tonight I'll check the book and
> > doubtless find I've misremembered something.
> > 
> > 	Paul Jayne
> > 
>