Re: Dhalgren's first and last line

At 10:07 AM 4/11/2006, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
>H'mmm. My current model of _Dhalgren_ is almost the opposite of
>realism -- I think that the Kidd is precisely contained in and exactly
>constrained by the text. This explains, for example, the kid's odd
>lapses of memory. When something is skipped over by the narrator
>-- as is perfectly normal in a novel -- then he has no memory of it,
>because, for him as for us, it never happened.

Yes, that's my preferred interpretation as well. You think we're 
saying opposites, but, to supplement: "as is perfectly normal in a 
[realistic] novel"; "contained in and exactly constrained by the 
[apparently realistic] text." Instead of playing the usual shortcut 
games of the New Fabulists, Delany's achievement is to wrench formal 
self-awareness into the fantastic while leaving the net of realistic style up.

And like Erich Schneider I don't find your earlier infinity-symbol 
diagramming of the novel's implied structure at all invalidated by 
the "come to" reading.

In short, I think you're right about everything even when you don't.  :)

Ray



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