COL49 Group Read, section 3

[J K Van Nort]

Some questions about the second half of chapter two.
How consensual is the sex?Why do the characters in the movie die?How does Eliade’s ‘non-religious man’ respond to the many religious images presented by TRP? How does a drummer set up on a diving board?

In solidarity,
James


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone


On Sunday, May 12, 2024, 20:57, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

Section 3, the first 1/3 of the 20 page chapter 2 (about 7 pages): p.
23-29ish. [beware sentences spanning pages]

Synopsis

Mucho “wants to believe” in jobs, English bands, a world he chooses to
support. But seeking that life, Misery and Sincerity seem his inseparable
fate.

Oed leaves Mucho, and his barely-managed desperation, for Pierce’s
dominion, San Narisco. And as she descends into its maze of madness, she
senses “an intent to communicate” (from patterns), it falls to deliver, and
so is “a revelation [trembling] just past the threshold of her
understanding.”

Her choice of abode in Echo Court seems unwise, but then she sees that the
nymph is herself, and now WE can see why she might be helpless against the
malevolent magic imprisoning her where ever she goes.

Motel room cyclops windows “gagged each with its roaring air conditioner”
is a wonderful image. More desperate imprisoned souls.

Authenticity seems in short supply with her faux-Brit bohemian warden-gate
keeper, Miles, always almost what he thinks you want him to be.

But Mettzger IS what OEDIPA WANTS! And she is immediately suspicious he may
be a TRICKSTER.  He’s offering her his debone, and wants to “come in
there.” She’s already deployed the best move she’s got, and “had let her
hair down all the way.” So she invites him in.

Metzger’s Freudian child actor Mother domination bitching prompts Oed to
nearly slip, saying “You certainly don’t look,” [gay]. She now suspects his
faked sexual attraction to her. Turns out, he is the Narcissus to this Echo
chamber.

David Morris
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