bomb-end-gaddis

[erik burns]

as for that space at the end of the novel, when the bomb *lands or does not
land*, I've always thought this scene in GR is remarkably similar to the end
of Gaddis' THE RECOGNITIONS...where the first strains of the organ
overstrain the cathedral and the crumbling begins. of course in TR the
implied destruction is of much more limited scope, but the song remains the
same.

no doubt we can all think of a battery of modern novels where the reader is
left hanging (or something is left hanging over the reader).  some kind of a
wild rail against hollywood and TV, where things always seem to end, and so
neatly too.  

i'm sure you can imagine the end of the hollywood GR, with Alec Baldwin or
Keanu Reeves or some other unsuitable slothrop eating the magic beans and
flying up in his rocketman costume, defusing the rocket and -- just for the
intellectual crowd -- riding it to a harmless splashdown like a modern-day
slim pickens.

meanwhile, you sit in the audience with the real GR missile still ready to
land on your unsuspecting head.

erik