GRGR(11): That Creature--There!--See it?

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

Mike Crowley schrieb:
> In the second episode of GRGR(11), Slothrop experiences some kind of
>  soul-to-soul contact with the recently deceased Roland Feldspath which,
>  combined with his increasing paranoia, clues him into visions in the sky in
>  the tradition of his Puritan ancestors: "Slothrop can feel this beast in the
>  sky: its visible claws and scales are being mistaken for clouds and other
>  possibilities . . . or else everyone has agreed to call them other names
>  when Slothrop is listening" (241).  Later, "Scales and claws, and footfals
>  no one else seems to hear. . . . " (242).  
>
> I never really noticed this before and I'm not sure what to make of it. 
>  Sounds like a dragon to me; quite different from the "watchmen of the
>  world's edge" back on 215.  Now clearly this vision is simply a product of
>  Slothrop's paranoia--it's not "really" there in GR's fictional world (unlike
>  Silvernail's dancing rodents, which are definitely there, and may even be
>  running around, though probably not singing...).  But besides just paranoid
>  vision, any ideas on what this beast is and how it connects to other large
>  visitors from abroad that pop up in the novel.

I don't think that the vision is a mere product of Slothrop's paranoia. His 
armor has already startet to dissolve and now he's realizing what's really going 
on: He's experiencing the presence of the Archons (- which can be, like Bloom 
says too, identified with THEM).
                                        Kai F. Lorentzen