"He thinks he's hallucinating"
bandwraith at aol.com
bandwraith at aol.com
Sun Jan 9 13:24:56 CST 2011
It's certainly dialogue, but it's not clear to me
doc hears it. It could be directed to him, to
herself, or, to someone else. Doc's response
would work either way. Once he recognizes
her, his 'Just the new package I guess' could
be offered as an explanation/apology for not
recognizing her, and would make sense even
if he didn't hear the comment about hallucination.
Pynchon fiction work best for me when he
creates ambiguity.
-----Original Message-----
From: alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sun, Jan 9, 2011 2:12 pm
Subject: Re: "He thinks he's hallucinating"
see p.32-33 How Fiction Works, Wood James.
She came along the alley and up the back steps the way she always used
to. Doc hadn't seen her for over a year. Nobody had. Back then it was
always sandals, bottom half a flower-print bikini, faded Country Joe &
the Fish t-shirt. Tonight she was all in flatland gear, hair a lot
shorter than he remembered, looking just like she swore she'd never
look.
'That you, Shasta?'
'Thinks he's hallucinating.'
'Just the new package I guess.'
They stood in the street light through the kitchen window there'd
never been much point in putting curtains over and listened to the
thumping of the surf from down the hill. Some nights, when the wind
was right, you could hear the surf all over town.
'Need your help, Doc.'
'You know I have an office now? just like a day job and everything?'
'I looked in the phone book, almost went over there. But then I
thought, better for everybody if this looks like a secret rendevous.'
****Okay, nothing romantic tonight. Bummer. But it still might be a
payin gig.**** (here we have the narrative "aside", if you want to use
the old dramatic term).
'Somebody's keepin' a close eye?'
On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 1:45 PM, <bandwraith at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bandwraith <bandwraith at aol.com>
> To: alicewellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
> Sent: Sun, Jan 9, 2011 1:45 pm
> Subject: Re: "He thinks he's hallucinating"
>
>
> I don't have the book with me. What's the
> exact quote?
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
> To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Sun, Jan 9, 2011 1:39 pm
> Subject: Re: "He thinks he's hallucinating"
>
>
> If it were an aside Doc would not hear it. He does hear it, and he
> replies to it. Also, I don't read it as a conventional aside because
> it does not divulge inner thoughts or feelings to the audience.
> Moreover, it is not kept from the other characters or actors, in this
> case, Doc. Also, the aside conveys some truth to the audience. Doc is
> not hallucinating. He does not think he is hallucinating.
>
> It's dialogue. She is talking to Doc. He replies. The situation is a
> bit awkward as Shasta has been gone a long time and some things went
> down that make her return now, asking for help, uncomfortable; she is
> trying to ease into the big question and the story she wants to tell.
> She drops the subject pronoun. This is common in the speech of the
> characters in the novel and common in American dialogue. An aside
> might drop the quotation marks and either keep the subject pronoun "He
> thinks he's..." or even use the subject proper noun, "Doc thinks
> he's..."
>
>
>
>
>
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