The Teleportation Accident - Part 4 (February 2014)

[Casceil]

This thread is for discussion of Part Four.

[Terry]

I enjoyed the timbre of the endings, Things were neatly wrapped up in themselves without being too neat. Loeser became more human without it seeming too pat. The note of each of the endings seemed very well-judged.

There was more of the beautiful language that made the whole journey so delicious:

'by the window some chrysanthemums in a vase, alive but wilted, like a small delegation from a more feminine land who knew that their presence at these negotiations was a pointless diplomatic formality'

He's just so good at livening up description with witty and astute similie, which is so in keeping with the book as a whole.

And I love the way he just throws in explanations for things you'd forgotten about, like the fact that the rumour that took Loeser to Gorge was started maliciously by his wife and Rackenham, so in fact there was no pornography, but he found the Lavicini manuscript and his wife there, anyway...

[Casceil]

Terry wrote: And I love the way he just throws in explanations for things you'd forgotten about, like the fact that the rumour that took Loeser to Gorge was started maliciously by his wife and Rackenham, so in fact there was no pornography, but he found the Lavicini manuscript and his wife there, anyway...

Does this seem like an interesting echo of the part of the Goldfinch where Theo and Boris discuss good things resulting from bad intentions?

One review I read compared the four endings to the pieces of the stage set to be moved around by Lavacini's Teleportation Device. I liked that idea.

[Peter]

Or the way it turns out that Scramfield had written Dames! And how to Lay them. A topic about which he had practically no experience, not that that kept Loeser from treating the book like the bible on the subject. Talk about the blind leading the blind! Yet, in the end, Loeser's 14-year marriage came out of it...

And at the end Scramfield finished his book, and tried to pass it off as a lost F. Scott Fitzgerald novel -- it seems that the leopard does not change his spots. Most of the other characters seem to have grown, though.

[LindaJ^]

I liked all 4 endings.

Peter, I agree that some characters, including Loeser, did mature. And, thanks for reminding me who Scramfield was. I was wondering what had become of the "American in Paris", so glad that you jarred my memory!

As Daniel points out, it a neat trick to throw in explanations for things that things that took place. I expecially liked the image of Bailey on the top of an abandoned LA skyscraper, as seen by one of the supposidly extinct species from early in Bailey's life on the road with his dad (and also in Gorge's "trophy" room).

Casceil, I do like the analogy of the four endings being four sets of scenery moved by the Teleportation Device or, maybe even better, four stops by the device moving back and forth in time.

I also was interested in the progression of Gorge's wierd disease. I keep thinking it has to be an analogy for something that I should know about.

[Casceil]

I wonder if Gorge's weird disease is supposed to be a counterpoint to Loeser's obliviousness? Gorge can't tell the difference between pictures and reality. Loeser seems to just tune out any part of reality he finds uninteresting, like Hitler or what is happening to the Jews.