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/lit/ - Literature

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11353596 No.11353596 [Reply] [Original]

For what purpose does Gaddis use allusion in The Recognitions?

>> No.11353601

A literary purpose

>> No.11353900

>>11353596
>>11353601
should I read The Recognitions? I just finished the last book I was reading and Recognitions is currently sitting on my bedside table.

>> No.11353910

>>11353596
pseud cred.

>> No.11354175

>>11353900
It's a good book, but way too overpraised on this board, but no one can give a straight answer why it's good.

>> No.11354190

>>11353900
It's extremely good. Very entertaining, funny, clever, etc., Gaddis' prose is gorgeous, his dialogue is utterly genius, the characters are brilliant in the way they are differentiated from one another and emotionally defined to themselves. It's also a near perfect melding of theme and execution

>> No.11354750

>>11353900
It's phenomenal. Gaddis' characters interact brilliantly with each other and if you're into art, his references to various pieces of art will surely tickle your ballsack (in a good way).

>> No.11354783

>why does Gaddis use recognitions in The Recognitions?

>> No.11354794

Every time I read it I think a little differently about his use of intertextual references and allusions to music and painting. Mostly, I think he throws these things to create a rich web of artistic intention, to demonstrate the different uses of art, what artists have created to either praise or distract themselves from God; although very many allusions are simply used for comedic effect (there’s an early party scene where he writes for a page and a half about pagan fertility rituals only to allude obliquely to two guys going down on each other), while others have me scratching my head (the beginning of II.5 which starts with a quote from Dostoevsky then references Pope, followed by egyptian belief in a fly deity Baal, to Beelzebub, to a fly waking Otto up from sleep, flies being everywhere in wintry New York City according to the girl who helps her mother overdose at the last party scene).