It is difficult to sum up what has been an all-encompassing and multi-faceted experience. Although before this class, I had an idea of the importance of recursion in both the understanding of our physical and scientific world, and as a literary device and structure, by which works of art can extend themselves and reach a higher level of meaning and universality, I hadn't begun to think systematically about how such goals were achieved or gained a historical understanding of the use of these devices. I am not sure whether I have fully grasped the concept of recursion, and I am not sure whether such a comprehensive grasp is possible. I am really truly indebted to Sexson and this class for introducing me to both Little, Big and the Manuscript found at Saragossa, both of which I found enthralling and new. Little, Big was a profoundly moving and sparkling book, with allusions and echoes that made reading it less of a linear process through a story-line and more a process of delving ever deeper, while simultaneously finding oneself back at the top, understanding the previous chapter or line. This is, as has been pointed out, the type of book that one can reread over and over and take something new from it each time. And not just a small detail or allusion, but an entirely new framework for reading the book. This is true not because the book has been meticulously constructed, though it certainly has, but because the truths that are contained within reverberate throughout, and because Crowley's mind, from which the book sprouts, must contain those truths on many levels, sometimes hidden or nested in other ideas and not always present on the conscious or surface level. The memory house of Edgewood is a metaphor for our reading the book. Ideas and their symbols are lost, found, distorted, recombined and transformed, just as the characters in the book and the reader go through these same processes. The idea of worlds within worlds is contained in this book, along with examples and explications and explorations of that concept, in a tangled hierarchy that cannot be untangled or reduced without coming untied and falling apart. You just have to read the book and the key to the treasure is the key.
The Manuscript found at Saragossa is similarly sprawling and enthralling. I loved the character of the geometer and his attempts to systematize his knowledge, and though he appears to fit the trope of the absent minded, abstracted and distracted professor, he is more complex than that showing knowledge outside his field and he even gets the girl in the end. The character of Alphonse undergoes a transformation from one bound by honor and duty to an initiate, one whose mind has been widened by the nested stories he has been told and participated in. The idea of coming back to the beginning, and knowing it for the first time is masterfully played out in the Manuscript (both in the film and book), and I get the feeling that it is definitely The Book (or one of them) that contains everything, even itself, and that though it is not a cultural fixture like the Arabian Nights, its has not outlived its relevance and probably never will. The Alice stories were already familiar and cherished in my experienced, but it was exciting to be able to read them through a new lens (or mirror) and explore Carroll's relation to his work and the moral complications that can add to our understanding, rather than detract from our admiration. I had read some of the Arabian nights before, but piecemeal, and reading this book in its full nested glory made me realize how little I had understood before. The frame story is captivating, and the way that it is altered and subverted and riffed on in both the Arabian Nights and Days and Barth's Chimera reflects its richness, but the stories under and within that frame were beautiful, tragic, and complex, and though I felt lost at times in a labyrinth of narrative, the sense of resolution and wonder when I popped back up to the previous level each time made the reading of this book more rewarding than I had ever imagined it could be. I have always enjoyed Shakespeare, and especially a Midsummer Night's Dream, and reading it again with a focus on the nestings within was an excellent way to prime my self and understanding for the books that came after it. I think my favorite aspect of this play is the poetic language, and I had not realized before this class and my further study of this play how much we owe to Shakespeare in our means of expression and vocabulary. I still have not seen Synechdoche, though i plan to watch it soon. Adaptation made me so profoundly uncomfortable that I had to take a break and return to it later, so I am dreading watching this movie, though I found Being John Malkovich fun and engrossing, somehow. I am grateful to have had the experience of this class and I think that the concepts which it has introduced me to will inform my understanding for a long time. It has been a pleasure to discuss these works with everyone, and I am astounded by the insight and depth of understanding shown by my classmates. Although I enrolled in too many credits, making this semester and especially the final weeks a living hell, and although I have completely neglected this blog, I would be a poorer person for not having taken this class.
