MDMD: Dreaming in Kansas?

[Paul Nightingale]

Nietzsche and Freud were modernist intellectuals for whom the ideals of the
Enlightenment had turned sour. In particular, Nietzsche offered a
non-Marxian (and therefore, yes, non-dialectical) take on class society; to
do so he had to construct an individual at war with himself. I would take
issue with this, as a formulation, but the point is that a similar approach
is common to other writers/thinkers (at war with themselves?) since then. We
are used to thinking of Foucault as Nietzsche-revisited, but I'm also
thinking of Weber, Mead, Bourdieu as the ones I'm most familiar with.
Perhaps the echoes are more important than the differences.

Dixon's introduction to London society at the beginning of Ch3 takes the
form of a loss of individuality, or autonomy, as he is immersed in an alien
culture ("the Contract between the City and oneself"). To continue the
theme of transformation, there is then conflict between "bands of Medical
Students" (rational inquiry - this is the "Age of Reason") and "riots of
sailors" - the latter grieve for shipmates who were vulnerable once ashore
("too far from the safety of the Sea"). Hence, the beginning of Cherrycoke's
narrative is marked by conflict between order and disorder. The irrational
behaviour of the sailors will subsequently see them happily partying with
the Learned Dog (while Mason and Dixon are hesitant, unsure quite what to
make of this phenomenon. Given Cherrycoke's elevation to author, hovering
semi-visibly above the text - is the Dog a substitute for him, for the role
he has played previously as an entertainer forced to sing for his supper?
When I first read this chapter I wondered - thinking of a realist scene of
street theatre - if the Dog might be a costumed human being engaged; I
suspect this is still possible as an interpretation. What is interesting now
is the way in which one might deal with opting for one or the other. The
human Dog is forced to carry his (or even her) impersonation to bizarre
lengths, "pausing now and then for nasal inquiries". The canine Dog is also
imprisoned by his impersonation, compromised (as is Cherrycoke) by his
ability to perform. Interpretation is therefore less important than the way
the reader approaches reading. The Dog-as-Cherrycoke reading is encouraged
by the moment in Ch1 when Cherrycoke says he had "grown old in the service
of an Impersonation that never took more than a handful of Actor's tricks".
There is, in Ch3, a distinction being made between the I (personal
perspectives, defined subjectively) and the me (an awareness that the Self
is constructed by others). Mason is forced to admit: "I must seem an Ass"
when Dixon is revealed to be not the "shambling wild Country Fool" he
expected.