GR '(S)tree(t)s'

[s~Z]

>>>To me, the idea that it suddenly dawns on Slothrop that "it is also,
perhaps, a Tree. . . . " adds to the scene. It's as if he's starting to
think that the newspaper photo is mocking *him* particularly, as if it had
been placed there on purpose just to trip him up, that the page has been
ripped in just such a way to catch his attention and make him have to puzzle
out what it's referring to.<<<

That's the spirit.

>>>just as a jab in the ribs for those readers who view it all as just a
fairy tale and a bit of jolly fun.<<<

You obviously haven't paid much attention to the content of fairy tales. And
your equation of the power of the imagination with jolly fun is laughable.
This post of yours, in the aftermath of Terrance's critique, is the most
interesting thing you've posted about this passage.

>>>And it adds a certain - je ne sais quoi, let's say spine-tingliness for
want
of something a bit less banal - to my reading of the book

It's a hell of a lot more interesting than the pedestrian generalizations
about agnosticism and dismalmissal and whatever that you were going on about
without really saying anything of significance about the specifics of the
imagery of the text. Prior to this post everything you were saying was drab,
general, and lifeless. You can make fun of tingling spines and fairy tales
all you want, but literature and literary criticism without an understanding
of such is a sterile prosaic bore.