Discussion - Week Three - The Recognitions - Part II, Chap. 1 & 2

[Jim]

This discussion covers Part II, Chapter 1 & 2


Part II, Chapter 1

A thousand accidents may and will interpose a veil between our present consciousness and the secret inscriptions of the mind; accidents of the same sort will also rend away this veil; but whether veiled or unveiled, the inscription remains forever; just as the stars seem to withdraw before the common light of day; whereas in fact we all know that it is the light which is drawn over them as a veil, and that they are waiting to be revealed when the obscuring daylight shall have withdrawn.
- Thomas De Quincey


Otto’s father, Mr. Pivner, reads a life of quiet desperation in the evening paper where he discovers the cost of canonization – 3,000,000 lire just to cover the rental fee for Saint Peter’s. Agnes Deigh receives a letter re: her long lost brother. A vase of dead lilies watch silently as Esme writes her poetry. Otto takes Esme to dinner at an Italian restaurant where they run into the village people from part 1, chapter five. Feeling bored by the scene, they head uptown to a drag ball with Ed Feasley and Adeline. Otto and Ed have an excellent adventure, Stanley and Agnes get naked, Basil and Wyatt talk shop.



Part II, Chapter 2

This is as if a drunk man should think himself to be sober, and should act indeed in all respects as a drunk man, and yet think himself to be sober, and should wish to be called so by others. Thus, therefore, are those also who do not know what is true, yet hold some appearance of knowledge, and do many evil things as if they were good, and hasten to destruction as if it were salvation.
- The Clementine Recognitions Book V


Fuller and Basil Valentine discuss theology. Wyatt shows Recktall just how far his sanity has slipped. Sittin’ ‘round the radio one night, Esther, Rose, and Ellery receive a visit from Wyatt. Basil, Wyatt, and the Reverend Gilbert Sullivan have a tête-à-tête-à-tête.


To avoid spoilers, please restrict your comments to Part II, Chapter 1 & 2 (and the earlier chapters)

[Ellen]

Thanks Jim for the synopses; they help focus me. I use them while reading the book (after each chapter to make sure I didn't miss or distort anything major!) but I need the reminder for the discussion.

It seems to me that Wyatt is still very much searching for some kind of religion-maybe art, maybe not-but that he desperately wants to have faith in something.

Am I supposed to like Esme? I sort of do but at the same time she sort of creeps me out as well.

[Jim]

Ellie wrote: "Thanks Jim for the synopses; they help focus me. I use them while reading the book (after each chapter to make sure I didn't miss or distort anything major!) but I need the reminder for the discuss..."

De nada...

In the Paris Review interview, Gaddis says he looks at the various characters as being different facets of Wyatt's personality and of artists in general.

Esme is a bit of an enigma. Heroin addict, mother of a young child who's whereabouts are unclear, muse, sexual plaything of a number of men, and so on. What is probably creepiest is that she doesn't appear to judge, value, or discriminate between the various people and events in her life. She seems to be equally available to any of the men who want to sleep with her, or take her to dinner, or drop in to visit at any hour. There seems to be a complete lack of boundaries.

[Kris]

I've gotten caught up with the group reading schedule. I am enjoying the book immensely so far, and it's been fun lurking and reading the discussion on the earlier chapters.

This could be the medievalist in me, but I am struck by lots of resonances between saints/relics and artists/masterpieces throughout TR so far. For example, there was quite a healthy trade in stolen and manufactured relics throughout the Middle Ages - Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages by Patrick J. Geary is a great source on the thefts in particular. For a multitude of reasons (some hinted at by Gaddis in early chapters of TR), local towns often wanted their own relics for their shrines - both for spiritual and financial reasons. Pilgrims were in some ways early tourists - towns could make a lot of money from them.

I think there are also parallel questions about defining and determining authenticity of artwork and saints. In both cases, there were experts, held apart from the masses, who made those judgments, which were particularly important to determine status. And juxtaposed with these elite decisions are examples of true belief, which could guide the hand of an artist or could deepen the worship of a lay parishioner.

Apologies for getting off on a tangent here!

[Jim]

Kris wrote: "Apologies for getting off on a tangent here!..."

Not at all! TR is seeped in Christian history and mysticism throughout. Starting in Chapter 1, Gwyonn returns from Europe with a whole collection of relics including an original Hieronymous Bosch painting successfully brought through customs by declaring it was a fake.

I live a short drive away from Rocamadour, which is a very active stop on contemporary Christian pilgrimages in France and Spain. There are quite a few relics and reliquaries there and throughout the churches and cathedrals. The reliquaries are kind of creepy and usually have something like a finger bone of St. So-and-so. People pray to these objects because they believe they are in the presence of a holy object. When I think of these things now, I feel sorry for the four-year-old Wyatt who was raised in a demented house filled with these kinds of objects. No wonder he's so creepy...

[Ellen]

I am amazed as a Catholic by how much Gaddis knows about the Catholic church and how he is able to capture the feel of Catholicism.

What confuses me is that although Wyatt's father is increasingly drawn to Catholicism (and later to increasingly mystical and strange beliefs), Aunt May is certainly not remotely a Catholic.

But my children were raised Catholic (not that we have many relics around the house) and neither of them is creepy. My son says that one of the things he likes about Catholicism is that it can be as gross and violent as any horror movie or video game. I don't think Wyatt was emotionally damaged by the objects in his life but by the people-his father's emotional distance and his aunt's intrusive rigidity.

[Whitney]

Best I could figure, it's a commentary on religious debate where the central premise or tenet is accepted without question, but then quibbling takes place over the implications of that premise.

The Jungian scholars among us could probably add something about the implications of "mermaids" in general. That is, if anyone else is still checking in (show of hands?)

Wait - aren't you one of the Jungian scholars among us?

[Ellen]

Thanks for a great link-I loved the article.

[Ellen]

Ellie wrote: "Thanks for a great link-I loved the article."

(I'll never look at a Starbucks the same way again)

[Whitney]

Oooo, lots of good stuff in that article that could be applied to The Recognitions, especially this sentence:

"The mermaid ultimately signifies the fundamental mystery of female sexuality, particularly for men who, because they cannot comprehend it, are simultaneously drawn to it and terrified by it."

This fits in with the "vagina dentate" discussion from week 1, especially given the lack of 'mermaid mahns' as the point of the discussion. Although, given the kitchen sink nature of The Recognitions, you could probably find a parallel for any symbolism in there somewhere.

I put "She Creature" in my Netflix queue.

[Bart]

The mermaid is half fish, half human, and part of the dilemma to reconcile is the inability to recognize her male counterpart - She at once represents evolution, the fish becoming human, and the lost female mythos, Christ's twin sis (viz. the ichtus). Ultimately, she is the inverse of 'vagina dentate,' but just as dangerous, treacherous, fatal.

In a book full of recognitions, it stands out where characters hesitate, like Wyatt does at the golden bull.