tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post7182738338595387189..comments2024-01-02T15:37:04.858-05:00Comments on Caravana de recuerdos: Authorial Voice(s) in the First Half of 2666 #2Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-77473699822359446072014-02-09T20:41:02.429-05:002014-02-09T20:41:02.429-05:00Thanks, Rise. I think what you say about the auth...Thanks, Rise. I think what you say about the authorial voice sure goes a long way toward explaining the difference of opinion that Miguel and I have had on this matter, as does the mention of the "free indirect style" which I always associate with its truly brutal (but aesthetically beautiful) application in Flaubert's <em>Madame Bovary</em>. I also think you nailed it--as I mentioned to Scott above--about the narrator's intrusions and its effects on what you call "the prefiguration of dread" among the (otherwise oblivious?) characters. The narrator's almost like an archetype of some of the voices we'll hear in "The Part About the Crimes," but whether that makes him merely "activist" or an "unreliable narrator" in some way is an interesting problem to sort out.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-53951226508907530182014-02-09T20:29:41.413-05:002014-02-09T20:29:41.413-05:00Frances, thanks so much for your very kind--but fa...Frances, thanks so much for your very kind--but far too generous--words. Now I don't feel so bad that my hand almost cramped up from all that typing! By the way, I'm intrigued by what you and Scott have had to say about all the math in <em>2666</em>. I hadn't really thought all that through, but I think you're on to something with the "objective finality" vs. "perceived reality, time, voice, perspective" stuff. Geekily, was actually skimming through the biblical book of <em>Numbers</em> earlier in the weekend because I'd remembered some people writing about how <em>2666</em>'s five books could be read as a takeoff on the Pentateuch in some way. Don't know if that's a good lead or a sort of conspiracy theory type of thinking, but maybe someone will take up that idea by the time of our third group read, ha ha. P.S. Amalfitano reminded me of a more world-weary Bolaño this time around even though all the haters always seem to want to push the idea that Bolaño was comparing himself to Archimboldi . At the very least, their token similarities (Chileans who lived in both Mexico and Spain, "exiles" from Pinochet, their age, the fact that Bolaño's son is named Lautaro after the indigenous resistance leader who gets a lot of play in "The Part About Amalfitano") are fairly striking. I almost wrote about some of this, but I think I need to catch up on my reading for a while.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-27970914296929504632014-02-09T14:40:25.119-05:002014-02-09T14:40:25.119-05:00Thanks, Scott. You know, I hadn't even though...Thanks, Scott. You know, I hadn't even thought about a barb directed at the "computational literary analysts," but that would of course make for an even funnier joke! However, I particularly like what you say here about the bit while Fate was sleeping. I think it's fair to suspect that the character <em>is</em> "absorbing some germ of awareness" plus, as Rise notes below, the narratorial intrusion mimics how information is being fed to the reader. If I weren't so lazy, it'd be worth exploring the connections to all the telepathy scenes in "The Part About Amalfitano" and to the TV clairvoyant scenes in "The Part About the Crimes" in regard to Fate's scene.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-17986339592273643542014-02-09T14:19:53.474-05:002014-02-09T14:19:53.474-05:00Thanks, Miguel. I think a wide variety of topics ...Thanks, Miguel. I think a wide variety of topics is being addressed by the group, so I can't really take any credit for tackling neglected aspects in talking about voice and tone in these last two posts. That being said, I think it was a blessing in disguise for discussion purposes that you and Bellezza were/are maybe a little less receptive to Bolaño's narrative strategies than some of the rest of us early on. "The Part About the Crimes" and to a lesser extent "The Part About Archimboldi" should enable all concerned to continue the debate.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-8270883977680132362014-02-08T21:46:26.874-05:002014-02-08T21:46:26.874-05:00A great deconstruction of the "progression&qu...A great deconstruction of the "progression" of tone in the novel as the book approaches the dark heart of Santa Teresa. That authorial voice can appear 'cold' to the characters and yet 'intimate' to the reader, mediating and processing information. RB seems to apply a novel case of free indirect style here. Are the characters totally oblivious to the information provided by the narrator? As in Fate's sleep, the narrator’s intrusion seems to enter into Fate’s (and the readers’) horizon like an insidious voice. There’s a subliminal perception of dread, an effective device of prefiguration of dread. The first three parts are prefigurations of evil. Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-79388328494700601172014-02-08T14:01:59.610-05:002014-02-08T14:01:59.610-05:00There does seem to be an awful lot of math in 2666...There does seem to be an awful lot of math in 2666, but I love how it is offered to create an objective finality, however farcical as with this section from the critics that Richard so brilliantly highlights. I'm grappling now with the images in Amalfitano. Indisputable answers in a time, as Richard observes, where perceived reality, time, voice, perspective are all warped byt he influence of Santa Teresa.<br /><br />Richard, this is an inspiring and thought-provoking post! You have raised the bar of the conversation once again.Franceshttp://www.nonsuchbook.typepad.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-2168361479886371192014-02-07T18:52:00.596-05:002014-02-07T18:52:00.596-05:00A post to inspire a lot more thought about 2666, R...A post to inspire a lot more thought about <i>2666</i>, Richard. I like your distinction between <i>magical</i> realism and plain old magical realism. <br /><br />The report going on while Fate is asleep is like the obverse side of the critics' dreams. There, something from within is struggling to get to the surface, whereas here it's as though Fate is absorbing some germ of awareness of the murders from without. <br /><br />That telephone call is almost Chaplinesque in its relentless pushing of a joke, and a quite funny barb at those computational literary analysts who try to get at a text by counting up and sorting its words. There's seems to be an awful lot of <i>math</i> in <i>2666</i>, doesn't there? seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-41356186958363454012014-02-07T16:33:23.985-05:002014-02-07T16:33:23.985-05:00I'm liking your posts, Richard, you're tac...I'm liking your posts, Richard, you're tackling aspects everybody else, myself included, have been neglecting, giving us a fine analysis of voice and tone in the novel. Although I've been on the side of those who think the narrator is too cold and distant, your posts have made me reconsider that position.LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.com