The WreckIgnitions Read: Up Yours, too....

[Erik T. Burns]

in TR all religion is parodied and ultimately found to be empty,
unsound shells, despite the (forgeries) painted, performed or built in its
name (just wait for the end of the book!). i would argue that the only
"sane" religion is Gwyon's, which entails a constant effort to synthesize
ALL religions ALL the time and obviously drives a person insane. for Gwyon
there is no one religion, or the only religion is the quest, the constant
reading and the constant search for deep links -- not at all unlike the
little story of the forged Titian on page 450 that when scraped away reveals
a worthless crap painting that the forger had painted over, but when THAT is
scraped away there is a real Titian under it -- "...he didn't know he knew
it, but it knew...".

"real" religion is way below the surface, expressed on earth in mere
forgeries.





On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 8:49 AM, Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com
> wrote:

> is there an implied contrast or comparison to Tom Sawyer's aunt?
> at least in terms of the maiden aunt stereotype and the resentment of
> the "limiting factor" she imposes on the growing boy stereotype?
>
>
> like some of the later Dylan oeuvre, the style here doesn't make it
> completely apparent where the author stands
> That is,
> a) Gwyon senior obviously finds much to love in Catholic tradition
> b) but the depiction of various RC follies seems chosen to excite disfavor
> c) however, the anti-RC Protestantism of the aunt and the other
> hometownians is also depicted unsympathetically
>
> we (and by we I mean I) end up sympathizing with an interest in and
> affection for the Church and the arcana thereof, more than
> sympathizing with/for the Church itself
> (said interest and affection being that of WG pere et fils, that is,
> not to mention WG the author's also evident i&a)
>
> this probably feeds into the recognition/fake/genuine theme somehow
>
> I could also see how a reader mightn't sympathize at all with WG's
> attraction to the Church, but that's not a read that catches my fancy
>
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