Theatre/Theater. The Text Machine Gets on the Stage...

[davidm at hrihci.com]

> From: Thomas Colin
> Interestingly enough, the first occurrence on p3 ("it's all
> theatre") is  a metaphor *in presentia,* that is explicitly
> emphasised through a syntactic link which relates usually
> differentiated modes of consciousness, and bridges the gap
> between the real and the imaginary, reality and its staging 
> into a textual form. In a way, it erases the notion of an 
> extralinguistic reality, independent from any act of perception.
> So what we have from the beginning is an altered perception,
> a dream, where the real is put at a distance and de-naturalized:
> "it will be a spectacle."
>    If the metaphor is in presentia and the spectacle presented as a 
> virtually programmatic statement, is it still a metaphor?

GR breaks all the "rules" of readers' expectations throughout the book.
"Reality" (meaning, I guess "modern realism") is subjected to a large dose
of LSD, and from then on we have to continually ask what is "really" there.
I'm sure all the traditional literary devices are used and abused, but like
all trips its advisable to not desperately grab for the reigns, but rather
enjoy the ride.  The analysis above may be right-on, but where does it get
you?  For a reader to make it through the text which shifts so dramatically
from reality to (another) reality, he HAS to let go.  It's a beautiful trip.
Let go!

> In the end it seems to compel the reader to reconsider
> his/her notions of such dualities as metaphorical and
> literal meanings, image and object (this is interesting 
> when we come to the cinematic simulation), word and referent 
> (through the signifier/signified filter), and also voice
> and subject, that is the idea that a speech, as in the
> theatre, necessarily comes from some actor on 
> stage. This is radically thrown into question in GR.

OK, and all the characters in GR are actually actors reading, even thinking,
lines written for them by TRP.  From here all hell breaks loose.  

Another, more sinister meaning for theater would be "charade."  It's an act,
a deception.  Again, remember the War's King who sends mock-kings out to be
sacrificed year by year.

David Morris
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