GRGR(20) "Young Fool"

[jporter]

jbor:

>Good post. I've never been able to get a proper handle on this
>metonymy/metaphor distinction, however. Mendelson appropriates it in his
>definition of the "encyclopedic narrative" (the Intro to his *Collection of
>Critical Essays*, p.9), and I think it derives from Roman Jakobson and
>Morris Halle's work on aphasia. Anyway, I think I understand the way Berlin
>functions as a cipher for the rest of politically-partitioned and regulated
>world outside the anarchic Zone, but how is it metonymyic?

[For the purposes of this discussion, I consider synedoche to be a type of
metonym.]

It is not Berlin which is metonymic but the narrative *use* of Berlin for
that space, in all its complexity, which exists beyond what appears to be
"one big room," within which Gustav is esconced in the piano- a space
within a space. By G. S. Brown's _The Laws of Form_, Gustav's space and
Berlin are equivalent. The middle ground of The Jacobstrass and its
subdivided slums are equivalent to The Zone, in which Berlin itself is an
historical space. The Laws of Form call for the collapse of double
crossings into equivalency. [If you cross the same river twice, you are on
the same side. Similarly, I could renounce my *thorny crown of roses* and
equate a nutshell with a drop of morning dew, but I am grateful to be a
western man, and sometimes I enjoy bad dreams.]


The image of nested spaces is a figure for GR as a whole. GR, itself, as
Mendelsohn perhaps might say, is a metonym for the culture of the artist
who produced it [I'm not so sure]. In such a conceptual framework, the
artist becomes a boundary maker. By The Laws of Form (implicit in them is
the notion that...) boundaries function as MEDIA. This may seem
counter-intuitive, but it is so. The best example (slipping into
metaphorical mode here) is the phenomenon of quantum tunneling, which
paradoxically occurs only when a barrier is present. Metonym demolishes
boundaries- makes them transparent- by strictly acknowledging them. Metonym
defines the set of which the proffered example is a member. This quality of
membership allows for easy passage, whereas Metaphor, in effect, erects
boundaries by ignoring them, thereby, making us even more conscious of "the
lie". Hence, the nostalgic charm of good old fashioned metaphor. Saure
loves metaphor. In general, metonym is more emblematic of P.'s technique:
the specific for the generic, the neurotic relationship of the insecure and
paranoid part with and for the whole,  The SCALAR coefficient-
dimensionless, a pure quantity, equally valid across all scales- that's
P.'s game. Any assigning of values, any integration, is implicit-
conveniently left for the reader to complete- as a metaphor, if  "you"
choose.

Shifting from quantum metaphor to literary-magical analogy: the double
crossing of a boundary is like experiencing the collapse of the gnostic
double light into one source- like arriving at the origin- no matter what
seas....



porter

p.s.: I think your way earlier post detailing "the psyche of the leader,"
and "the politics of control," was right on, and could be relevant to this
discussion. Also, by remaining underground, and in effect, maintaining the
boundary between himself and the book, P. strengthens the integrity of the
book's boundaries as an object unto itself, and by the above analysis,
makes it even more susceptible to penetration and infection.  How many GR's
are *out there* waiting to burst and release their chimeric offspring?