The keeeeeep
I’d like to say quickly that this idea of the keep representing the literary canon is an unbelievable metaphor that I completely missed. I was completely oblivious to this idea, and when Dr. Middleton said it in class it was like a bell went off in my head.
The form of this novel allows the novel to do so much with so little. The way that Egan gets to hide behind Ray as the actual writer allows this frame within a frame to occur, which is pretty incredible. At one point in the narrative Ray says that writing this story is a way for him to escape the confines of prison and place himself in this alternate reality. This is a commentary on how the novel is an escape for the reader as well, just as television, movies, and any other type of entertainment serves as a way for a person to bring themselves outside of their own reality even if just for a moment.
In class it was said that it is obvious that Egan is very conscious of the time period she writes in and I think that the form is a good example of her consciousness. With the pop culture and entertainment systems that we have in today’s world, most people are looking for a little “time off” from their life; or their reality. As Vidal said the novel is dead and Egan is trying to mirror the way that television and movies work in the writing of her novel, which some people may think is “dumbing down” the masses. Unfortunately, in this day and age, people do not have much time to themselves, and the time they do have, they do not want to spend working out their mind, they want to be pacified. This is not supposed to be a criticism, it is just a truth, and I think that Egan has kept this idea in mind and this novel stemmed from that.
Katie Collins said,
April 2, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Kelsey,
Thank you!! I totally agree with with what you said in your post. I did not feel well on Wed., but I wanted to say exactly what you said in the last paragraph of the post. It is just a reality that people do not want to spend the little bit of free time reading. I am honestly getting nervous about teaching English; I mean how am I suppose to compete with “pop culture and entertainment systems” in society? I personally do not think that the novel is dead, but like every thing it has to evolve too. Are we really going to be reading Flaubert a hundred years from now? This topic is so rich right now at this point in time; in my opinion because of the split in generations. I think that we got caught in the middle.
sjordan740 said,
April 6, 2009 at 12:55 am
Kelsey–
I agree with you about that people do not have much time to themselves–However Vidal’s article said that in order for the novel to survive it should go where the cameras are not allowed. I believe Egan’s novel does an excellent job at doing this simply because the novel is fast-paced, has short sentences which add to the quickness, and description that is multi-dimensional. The metaphors and similies tha are present is almost like watching a movie (at least to me, because I picture the plot in my head). You have some great and valid points here! Nice post!