ATDTDA (3): If Blinky were ever caught, 61-66

[Paul Nightingale]

The new section divides on two. Merle speculates as to the Aether, and then
Roswell introduces him to photography. These two phases come together (are
superimposed, one on the other, so to speak) when Merle goes to Columbia to
witness Blinky's execution. Here, he photographs the memorabilia that
signify both the absent criminal (and therefore society's retribution) and
also capitalist profit-making (according to Scarsdale Vibe, this is what
makes the world go round); and then "[comes] to his senses" late (66), when
asked why he isn't trying to photograph the execution.

If Blinky were ever caught--"apprehended" (62), but also rendered 'here' as
opposed to 'there'. Thus far he has been elusive, a figure of popular myth.
On 59, Merle arrives in Cleveland as Blinky is already "sought for allegedly
murdering a police detective"; that is to say, Blinky already exists
elsewhere, to be spoken of, read about in the press. Merle interrupts his
own interrogation by trying to explain the M-M experiment, at which point
"the policemen ... began to grow distant, and presently truculent": Merle's
defence, then, forces scientific inquiry and the mythical criminal into
co-existence on the page. Those 'guilty' of wild speculation end up, it
seems, at Newburgh, a form of incarceration that runs parallel to the
imprisonment reserved for criminals. One form of transgression is therefore
juxtaposed to another.

Note then the progression of Merle's thinking on 61: he makes the connection
between experiment and manhunt, then infers ("primitive hoodoo") that, if
Blinky were ever brought 'here', there can be no Aether. Belief in the
Aether--that is, in its omniscience, like God (63)--can only continue if
Blinky be 'elsewhere'.

Blinky exists in the stories told of him. He also exists in the photographs
newspapers publish, images that draw attention to his eyes: that explanation
be needed for his appearance indicates another form of transgression
requiring explanation (and therefore closure).

The criminal's capture coincides with the scientists' "final observations"
(62), at which point he "reenter[s] the world that contained M and M." Of
course, he remains absent; but his myth now includes the failure ("negative
result") of the experiment.