Saturday 22 February 2014

Now things are getting interesting.  The whole question of when a text is closed.  Finished.  Done.  Which is the real novel, Separation or Separation II?  The original, or the artist's last word?

Did Auden think "we must love one another or die" or "we must love one another and die"?  It depends when you asked.

Who shoots first, Greedo or Solo?

Or is the question even bigger than that?  The whole experience of being human.  Who's to say what's real?  Is my memory any more valid than yours?  I leave the table, the conversation at the table continues. Or does it?  I leave the room, the room continues.  Or does it?  A Calgary oil man hires a hit man to kill the Prime Minister, or does he?  The airmen with their legs sheared off by the crash... we look away...  Quick: Were there two of them, or just one?

The text is no help, because the text is in flux.

Let's start again, at the beginning.  But wait, the beginning is different.

Here's your hat, Julio Cortazar.  Richard Rohmer will take it from here.

Only vaguely related: Watch this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcIkqSNZ_qg

What does it mean?  How is it connected?

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