ATD the norse/nunatak/serpent/odialesque thing

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Just to note, "If the Dante arch is indeed a portal. . . ." is Tore's quote, 
in other words, you are responing to Tore.
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "John BAILEY" <JBAILEY at theage.com.au>
> Robin wrote:
> 
> "If the Dante arch is indeed a portal, what exactly is it a portal into,
> though? Another dimension, or another time? Of course, the line between
> dimensions and time is a fluid one in AtD, but it seems to me that the
> emphasis in the description of the Dante arch on p. 401 is on time:
> "They approached a memorial arch, gray and time-corroded, seeming to
> date from some ancient catastrophe, far older than the city." This seems
> puzzling, ne? 
> The catastrophe is caused by the ancient force of the Figure, but the
> catastrophe itself is surely not ancient. Or is it?"
> 
> 
> Maybe it's more to do with memory - ironic that a "memorial" arch is
> used to introduce a terrible catastrophe already forgotten. Part of the
> uncanniness of the NYC destruction is the way nobody seems to remember
> it. Something about the modern city's ability to replace itself, to
> replace historical memory with symbols or icons that don't act as
> memorial, only simulations?
> 
> As for the arch being a portal, I think of it (and other arches in the
> novel) more as thresholds - not joining two distinct places but dividing
> a fluid space. Drawing a line in the sand, as it were, saying "here" is
> now different from "there". Crossing the threshold means acknowledging
> that difference, interpolating it.