Re: Dhalgren's first and last line
"Pete Lenz" <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.culture.sf.delany |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
--- In [email protected], Erich Schneider <erich@...> wrote: > > I just finished rereading _Dhalgren_ a few days ago, approximately 7 > years after my last rereading.. Whenever I reread it, it is like > coming back to a city I visited some years ago, and being pleased that > all of the things about it I found interesting are still there, but > there's usually something new that surprises me. > > Anyway, reading it this time I realized that the famous first/last > line, "I have come to / to wound the autumnal city", actually can be > read literally: "I have 'come to' to wound the autumnal city", with > "come to" meaning "to wake from unconsciousness" or something like > that. And this lets you read the end of the novel as "I have awoken...". > That never occurred to me before. That's a very interesting interpretation, Eric. I always read those two lines as a "glitch" in the construct of Dhalgren. As if the book is resetting itself. Reading it as you have though, just sent shivers down my spine. Having "come to", regaining consciousness as you mentioned. Wow, that's great. -Pete == Posted to delany-list, hosted at onelist^Wegroups^Wyahoo == == A mailing list for the discussion of the works of Samuel R. Delany. == Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/delany-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/