Helen
Registered User
(8/14/02 9:55:55 am)
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Jonathan Carroll
We've done a lot of in-depth discussions of individual writers, but I couldn't remember coming across anything concerning Jonathon Carroll, who, in my opinion, is one of the most idiosyncratically brilliant writers I've ever read; one thing that fascinates me is how, over twenty years, he's written something like a dozen works, all circling around the same issues, without ever once repeating himself, or fully explaining the mystery at their core ... Each work reveals just a little more of the underlying structure, and each one reads like an epiphany concerning human nature. He manages to capture life perfectly ... not just in his characterization, but also in how slowly understanding unfolds ... no deus ex machina here. He frequently references fairy tale themes, and I'd been thinking about bringing him up, but didn't have a specific issue to throw out there, when the universe nudged me. I've been poring over all of my old copies, trying to figure out how all of the repeated themes (Death, God, man's postion in the creation and upkeep of the universe, bull terriers, the sea/c/see, creativity gone awry, etc.) go hand in hand, and I came across a passage that I just couldn't resist sharing with all of you ... In _Sleeping in Flame_, a character says:
I got up feeling like a graduate student at work on his thesis: "A Critical Examination of the Role of Early Germanic Sexism in 'Rumpelstiltskin,' by Walker J. Easterling." There's probably some weenie out there actually writing something like that.
Ah, the pleasure of recognition ...
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