TRTR, Pt 2, C 2 "does there exist such a thing as mermaids, sar?"

[Richard Ryan]

I *think* David may be agreeing with me (I think).   That sympathy is
precisely why I wouldn't (at this point in my journey into The
Recognitions) want to describe Gaddis as a "non-believer."   Aware
agnostic?  Romantic skeptic?



On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 5:50 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> It's not only that Gaddis WROTE those supernatural sections into TR,
> it's that he seems sympathetic to those sections, to their having
> "really" happened in the world of this novel.
>
> On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 4:32 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net> wrote:
>> On 7/27/2011 4:45 PM, Richard Ryan wrote:.
>>>
>>> If we think that Gaddis is an atheist and a materialist, how do we
>>> account for mystical/magical events in The Recognitions?  I.e, Wyatt
>>> seeing his mother's ghost on her death; Wyatt's recuperation after the
>>> sacrifice of the Barbary Ape; the supernaturally evil power that Brown
>>> has over Wyatt, etc.?
>>
>> Also there's no inconsistency in an author's writing about supernatural
>> goings-on and also not believing they could happen?
>>
>> Also the reverse is true.
>
>



-- 
Richard Ryan
New York and the World
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround
him. The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself.
All progress depends on the unreasonable man." - Shaw