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

[David Casseres]

Good list.  In a previous GRGR, a good deal was made of the
"progressive knotting into," for the same reason -- it so strikingly
evokes Our Boy's method in the handling of his themes and motifs in
GR.

"the soil's stringing of rings and chains in nets only God can tell
the meshing of" will of course be echoed in the masterful sequence
about I.G. Farben, and novel molecules, and Kekule's dream of what
might have been Ourobouros.... The invocation of God is a case of P's
occasional and stubborn sense of immanent Spirit underlying, well,
everything.

On 10/29/05, Tim Strzechowski <Dedalus204 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Much of what this first chapter offers is images and motifs that will gain
> significance later in the novel.
>
> 1.  For those who have read the book before:  notice how the opening two
> paragraphs relate to the novel's conclusion (e.g., "the fall of the crystal
> palace," "total blackout," "one glint of light").  Who is "he" and how does
> this relate to the book's conclusion?
>
> 2.  "half-silvered images in a view finder" (p. 3):  relates to the ongoing
> movie imagery, again with specific reference to the novel's conclusion.
>
> 3.  "cast-iron pulleys whose spokes are shaped like Ss" (p. 4):
> foreshadows, among other things, "the shape of the tunnels" and "the SS
> emblem" (p. 300)
>
> 4.  "thousands of these hushed rooms" (p. 4):  echoes "mushrooms," which
> will figure shortly in the narrative
>
> 5.  "his skull feels made of metal" (p. 5):  relates to the novel's
> recurring theme of people becoming mechanized, both literally and
> figuratively
>
> 6.  "fast responses" (p. 5):  i.e., reflexes; Pavlovian conditioning
>
> 7.  Notice the various references to cicularity and entwining, all of which
> are indicative of the narrative style and overall cyclical structure of the
> novel:
>
> "this is not a disentanglement from, but a progressive _knotting_ into" (p.
> 3)
>
> "the soil's stringing of rings and chains in nets only God can tell the
> meshing of" (p. 6)
>
> "climbs a spiril ladder" (p. 6)
>
> "gnarled emissions of steam and smoke" (p. 6)
>
> "Pirate hunches his shoulders, bearing his bananas down the corkscrew
> ladder" (p. 7)
>
>