ATDTDA: another dead spot?

[Cometman]

Things to relish in this section (maybe?)

q-weapon, Woevre confounded (instead of, as Weissmann in 
GR, running rampant)

Quaternion system of beating casinos

suggestion of homoeroticism betw Lindsay & Darby

characterization of Math stars as poets -- (maybe Turing, belatedly,
could be the Oscar Wilde?) -- this is fun

more anarchism - Young Congo (initials D,E,F and P - 
sort of an ijkw relationship?)

Umeki explicating the q-weapon, also some sex scenes
(and a vigorously non-PC statement from Kit to ponder,
dispute, linger over: "...was poleaxed by the understanding
that there was no use in women looking any other way than this."
Hoo-boy!  Does he mean naked?  Does he mean sex object?
Does he mean that is the only connection he feels to women
qua women?  Is this offensive?  Or are there times when
the sight of one man might engender (by sich vertu) similar
feelings in a woman?  Mutatis mutandis I would not be offended,
rather the reverse...)

None of the book has ever seemed like a slog, although
the 1st time through my attention did wander during
the trip under the sands - realized on rereading that
it was really quite chockfull of goodness -- especially,
what if the oilman the Chums meet in the bar, named Lyle,
is Lyle Bland?

Lack of a central protagonist...hmm...is that something
to be missed?  ie, bug or feature?  
Near the end of _Infinite Jest_, the filmmaker/alcoholic/optics genius
Incandenza pere (a Buckaroo-Banzai polymath with a tragic flaw) 
is quoted as saying that none of his films have 
background characters ("figurants" is the term he trots out 
and helpfully explains), that all the characters
are envisioned as being equally real...
Is this a possible reason for not singling in on a character
in AtD through whose eyes we are to see?

Or is the intent rather historical/didactical than dramatic:
is the point that we, the readers, are each to co-create this
fictional world with its points of comparison and divergence
with our world...and instead of watching a character develop
(pun-linkage to Merle's photography), we watch a world, an era,
develop, or, indeed, are developed ourselves, as and while
we're guided by suggestion, detail, reference, to develop
a world-view?

--- kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> The ATDTDA seems to have run into another (hopefully temporary) dead
> spot, with the exception of the hardworking and intrepid Mr.
> Nightingale.  Obviously, part of the problem stems from hosting
> problems, but I also found the Kit and Dally in Europe sections to be
> tough going in my first read through.  By this time, the lack of a
> central protagonist really started to get to me, and the writing
> style isn't nearly as amazing as that in GR. 
> 
> But read on I will (as Yoda might say).
> 
> Laura
> 


"Benny. How is the pimping business, hyeugh, hyeugh." - Pig Bodine

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