Myriads Of Me: Tellur's Journal

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10.3.09

Stigmata... (Część IV)

POKAŻ/UKRYJ SPIS TREŚCI | POKAŻ/UKRYJ TREŚĆ NOTKI

The Postmodern Protagonist's Inner Space Against the Backdrop of an Outer World in David Foster Wallace's My Appearance and Philip K. Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

M. Jędrzejczak describes the narratives of Philip K Dick as ones in which there exists:

a psychologically complicated protagonist in an extraordinarily challenging situation, without a clearly-defined goal in life, set against an unintelligible mechanism without any rational hopes of succeeding in his struggles. (22)

The unintelligible mechanism is at first embodied in the persona of Palmer Eldritch, but as the adversary becomes dehumanized, he becomes an abstract mechanism; an integral part of the world's construction.

Such a description of a protagonist set against a mechanism may as well be applied to Edilyn from MA. Her personal "Palmer Eldritch" is Letterman ─ the exterior factor which endangers her inner integrity. First considered likable (23), Letterman is later described to appear like a very large toy (24). In no way does he transcend ontological boundaries like Palmer Eldritch, yet as a public figure he just as much endangers the integrity of his guests and expects them to sacrifice their personality. He does, however, manage to divide Edilyn ontologically into an actress and a "real" person ─ mutually exclusive roles ─ which shatters her integrity and is the cause of anxiety. Edilyn tells Letterman that:

Those things you listed are assets, is all they are. They're my assets, David, they're not me. (25)

However, if Edilyn as an actress is a mere simulacrum of Edilyn as a "real" person ─ than she "refers" to something which has long ceased to exist. Having taken Xanax and chosen to act out the part of a "real" person ─ having chosen to appear genuine ─ Edilyn has become her own simulacrum.

CONCLUSION

The postmodern themes as rendered in My Appearance and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch are realized through similar means both within and without science-fiction. While Wallace's rendering of those themes is perhaps more subtle, Dick takes the approach of extrapolating them to their extremes, ad absurdum. While the postmodern genre enables Wallace to work within the boundaries of the subjective phenomenological, working within the boundaries of science-fiction allows Dick to further explore similar themes in the ontological.

WORKS CITED

  • Cetnarowski, M., "Wyjście z cienia. Szare Eminencje fantastyki", Czas Fantastyki nr 4 (17) 2008
  • Dick Ph. K., "How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later", I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon, 1978
  • Dick, Ph. K., The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, New York, 1991
  • Jameson, F., POSTMODERNISM, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Duke University Press, Durham, 1995
  • Jędrzejczak, M., Dick Philip Kindred. Życiotwórczość, Warszawa, 2008
  • Lipsky, D., The Lost Years & Last Days of David Foster Wallace, Posted Oct 30, 2008 @ The Rolling Stone Magazine
  • McHale, B., Postmodernist Fiction, New York, Methuen, 1987
  • Szyda, W., "Narkotyczne ekstrapolacje", Czas Fantastyki nr 4 (17) 2008, Warszawa, 2008
  • Wallace, D. F., "My Appearance", Girl With Curious Hair, 1989

(22) Translated for the needs of this essay from Jędrzejczak, p. 47.: Skomplikowany psychologicznie bohater postawiony w niezwykle trudnej sytuacji, nie posiadający żadnego jasno nazwanego motoru życia, ścierający się z niezrozumiałym mechanizmem, nie posiadający żadnych racjonalnych przesłanek do sukcesu w swoich zmaganiach.
(23) Wallace, p. 180.
(24) Wallace, p. 197.
(25) Wallace, p. 193.

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