JEFF:
" The Library of
> Congress publication data lists the book as being autobiographical. Not
> that this means much. I've been in a library that Dewey decimaled the
> book under: Montana; travel. I've recommended the book to a friend who
> teaches sociology at a community college in Pennsylvania. He used the
> chapter on motorcycle tools as a guide for buying automobile equipment."
RICK:
Strange as this may (or may not) seem to others in this group it is my
opinion that ZMM is not, never was, and never will be a work of philosophy.
I've always thought of ZMM as a semiautobiographical account of a man trying
rebuild his relationship to his son after a breakdown and slow recovery.
The "philosophy" is the "bad guy" in the story. It's what destroyed
Phaedrus, and it's what is destroying the narrator's relationship to Chris.
We get this great juxtaposition of a brilliant "philosopher" who is
unraveling the mysteries of the universe in his head, while at the same time
he can't figure out how to talk his son, his friends don't understand him,
his peers don't respect him...etc. This was the beauty of ZMM to me---
Phaedrus has the order the universe in his hands while his own universe
continuously falls apart around him. OVERTHINKERS BEWARE--- those answers
you seek may not be as valuable as you think.
JEFF:
"I discern an anti woman bias in "Lila" as well.
RICK:
I've heard people mention this before and I still don't see it. Granted
Lila (the character, not the book) is no compliment to feminsm--- but I
don't see anywhere that Pisig says all women are like Lila (I strongly doubt
he would). Now we're into literary criticism--- Is Lila supposed to
represent all women, or all just all women like Lila. I suspect the latter.
JEFF:
> Page 128 offers the interesting little phrase, "cells coordinating
> senses." Introspection shows us that the senses are uncoordinated. Look
> at that car coming down the street. Listen to its engine. Wait a second!
> The speed of light is so much greater than the speed of sound that the
> car you see cannot be the car you hear
RICK:
And yet, you somehow know those visions and sounds are coming from the same
car. Sounds like somekind of coordination to me.
It's all good,
Rick
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