GRGR (1): Wayward Thoughts and Forshadowings (pp. 3 - 7)

[Paul Nightingale]

Why open the novel with a (somewhat noirish) dream sequence that, by
definition, makes it (more) difficult for any reader who wants to work
out straightaway what's going on?

Perhaps the dream, as a dream, if that indeed is what it is, is less
important than the adoption here of dream discourse (ie the fact that,
reading, we should expect 'meaning' to be elusive). In particular, the
opening two-line paragraph highlights the way representation has been
problematised from the off: whether the "screaming" be rocket or siren
or whistle is surely less important than that "there is nothing to
compare it to now". The realist reader, anxiously comparing signifier to
signified to judge the reproductive accuracy of the writing, has been
duly warned, and we're only two lines in. Moreover, that the passage
invokes Dante, as Tim has pointed out, introduces an important theme:
the way the novel will frequently reference other texts (as opposed to
something called 'the real world').

And then, what is the relationship between the dream-passage (3-4) and
the one that follows as Pirate awakens (4-5)?

In each, there is a he-character whose function is to organise the
narrative on behalf of the reader; but 'he' has a different function in
each. Waking, Pirate asserts narrative control (ie understanding), and
this positions the reader accordingly (we now feel we know what's
happening and where). P has adopted a different mode of writing; so the
question now is, how does the second passage deal with the problem of
representation as set up in the first passage?

Each passage features a journey of sorts. The anonymous "they" of the
dream sequence are passive: "All the evacuees are ordered out. They move
slowly, but without resistance" (4) - the "but" here indicating no sense
of urgency on anyone's part. Subsequently, Pirate (named and assigned
character status) is rather more active: he wakes and sees, "leaps off
the cot" (5) etc, has a piss and climbs to the roof garden (6). However,
top of 7 ("Oughtn't he to be doing something ..."): faced with the need
to act he opts to prepare breakfast, all the time "feel[ing] he's about
to shit".