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

[Mike Crowley]

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've gotta get some sleep; hopefully I'll post more tomorrow--I've been thinking about the narrator and how he/she/it screws with us and Waxwing and Pynchon's badass figures.


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Michael J. Crowley
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10 Park Hall
crowley at arches.uga.edu
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