VLVL2 (9) Looks and glances

[Tim Strzechowski]

Nice, man!  This is excellent, and an image / motif that I hadn't "noticed"
before.

As always, I question: is this something which has been going on throughout
the novel up to this point, but we hadn't really drawn attention to?  and if
it has, what is the significance?

Ways of perceiving?  Errors in perception?

Might this not tie in with the "conflicting efforts to reconstruct the
1960s" notion that KFL brought up earlier this week?



> In this chapter, the relationship between DL and Ralph is built on a
series
> of looks and glances. Ralph glaring at the rubber scampi is DL's own
> perception that their performer-groupie relationship (as she supposed it)
> has been transformed, to her disadvantage. In the Cary Grant passage, she
> recognises that that he has made an effort of sorts, even if it is clumsy.
> In the "fifties time warp" passage, she finds she can think clearly,
> reflectively (going way back in time). And "lagniappe" signals a fine
> existentialist moment, suggesting she is a buyer (accepting Ralph's deal
is
> something she can choose to do) as well as seller ("the only one who can
> execute").
>