V.V.(2) "persistence of vision" (38.17)

jbor jbor at bigpond.com
Wed Oct 18 17:06:02 CDT 2000


This phrase sounded vaguely familiar, but when I punched it into a search 
engine the first hit was, ironically, a Disney fanzine:

http://www.disneypov.com/backissue.html

There are a couple of other computer animation and software design companies
who use it too, so there is a potential resonance should there prove to be a
common derivation. (cf the reference to Profane's "field of vision" at
39.29, and the image-image which closes chapter three on p. 94 also)

But I think I was momentarily confused with the famous Dali painting with
the melting clocks entitled 'The Persistence of Memory' (which perhaps has
some relevance for the next bit of V. as well):

http://www.kean.edu/~decoite/dali/dali.html
http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Dali3.html

There is an essay on Picasso and Dali and physics here:

http://live.looksmart.com/cgi-bin/framer?http://physics.wm.edu/~larsen/monro
e.html#3

Seems to be an undercurrent of meditation, perhaps even scepticism, about
time/space/memory/perception et. al., and their putative interconnections or
interconnectedness, in these opening sections of the novel. I don't think
these cosmic issues are at all to the fore in Profane's consciousness, but
they do perhaps underlie his dilemmas and general shiftlessness.

best




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