"crystal palace"

[Dave Monroe]

Somewhere in his Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism,
Linguistics, and the Study of Literature (Ithaca:
Cornell UP, 1975), Jonathan Culler remarks something
to the effect that the easiest reading to make of a
text is as it staging its own scene of reception. 
Which is not to say that that's a bad reading.  His
example, for example, is the opening of Gustave
Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and it's a pretty
interesting reading thereof.  Comes up elsewhere in
Culler and others, just don't ahve anything in
particular handy.  Very good ...


--- Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net> wrote:
> If  Thomas is right, THE JUDGEMENT FROM WHICH THERE
> IS NO APPEAL is the
> reception this book of such PROGRESSIVE KNOTTING
> INTO must withstand from
> the critics once in print and THE FINAL ARCH is
> overhead, because there is
> wil be no explaining or complaining from this
> author.
> 
>                   P.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Thomas Morrison"
> <weneedabiggerboat at hotmail.com>
> To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 10:07 AM
> Subject: Re: "crystal palace"
> 
> 
> >
> > Historical references aside, couldn't it be that
> P. is also metaphorically
> > alluding to (describing) his own novel here? The
> novel is a fragile thing
> > that exists in a delicate balance, and is nearly
> impossible to get a fix
> on.
> > Much like (I imagine) an actual crystal palace
> would be, the thing looks
> > different depending on where you stand, and even
> the slightest shift can
> > cause a distortion, or change in perspective.
> Quite literally, it is
> nearly
> > impossible to focus on. Later on the page P.
> mentions the "progressive
> > knotting into"  that critics always latch onto to
> conveniently describe
> the
> > novel. I see these images as a somewhat accurate
> description of the novel
> > ahead. And consider Prentice's fear as well: "he's
> afraid of the way the
> > glass will fall--soon--it will all be a spectacle
> [...] But coming down in
> > total blackout, without one glint of light, only
> great invisible
> crashing."
> > Isn't this fear *our* fear in a way?  Trying to
> make sense of this monster
> > and it's elaborate structure, we fear that will
> all soon come crashing
> down
> > around us and we will be left in total darkness.
> Also, this opening image
> is
> > quite suggestive of the final image in the movie
> house that never gets
> fully
> > played out. If the bomb were to actually hit,
> wouldn't this be the result?
> > It seems to me, more than anything else, the novel
> itself is the "crystal
> > palace."
> >
>
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