"There Are Doors"

Dan16 Jun 2005, 06:59as archived

"There Are Doors"

↰ answers Chris · by quotation

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On Jun 2, 2005, at 7:34 PM, Dan wrote:

Oddly enough, i just finished reading There Are Doors this morning. It was the best Philip K. Dick novel I ever read that was not written by Philip K. Dick. What of Mr. Klamm's relationship to Mr. Green? Same guy at two different times or just two different blokes in the same circumstances (only one is beginiing his pursuit and the other nearing the end)?

Hi, It's been a while since I've read it so I won't answer this here, but, if you haven't already, read The Castle by Kafka. It really deepens the experience, and a lot of things will fall into different perspectives.. enjoy, Adrian

Thanks Adrian. Though Kafka's been highly recommended before, I just never got around to reading him. The new translation sounds interesting. I seem to be accumulating a list of prerequisites needed to expand my appreciation of Wolfe and reveal the subtleties of his works. It currently includes learning Latin and getting a Master's in Classic Mythology! From: "Chris" <rasputin_ at hotmail.com: Klamm could best be described as a priest (perhaps the high priest) of

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Cybele/Rhea. The same could be said to be true of Green, but Green is also supposedly Attis/Dionysus. Since the priests of Cybele actually emulate Attis, there's obviously going to be a close, apparent relationship there. But I think we are led to believe that Green is "the real deal", so to speak.

I was thinking of the way Klamm refers to Green as Herr K and his later apology and explanation as to why. It just seemed like one of those weird moments like in 2001 where Dave Bowman turns around and sees his older self lying in bed. If that was the case, interesting that Klamm didn't try to warn him off his pursuit, or that Green was so blinded by desire that he didn't have the insight to deduce Klamm's identity. Dan

Adrian Robert16 Jun 2005, 11:01as archived

↳ in reply to Dan

16 quoted lines · 1–3 deep

On Jun 16, 2005, at 9:58 AM, Dan wrote: On Jun 2, 2005, at 7:34 PM, Dan wrote:

Thanks Adrian. Though Kafka's been highly recommended before, I just never got around to reading him. The new translation sounds interesting.

New translation, hmm.. I just read part of it at Amazon: Old (Willa and Edwin Muir) ---- It was late in the evening when K. arrived. The village was deep in snow. The Castle hill was hidden, veiled in mist and darkness, nor was there even a glimmer of light to show that a castle was there. On the wooden bridge leading from the main road to the village, K. stood for a long time gazing into the illusory emptiness above him. New (Mark Harman) ---- It was late evening when K. arrived. The village lay under deep snow. There was no sign of the Castle hill, fog and darkness surrounded it, not even the faintest gleam of light suggested the large Castle. K. stood for a long time on the wooden bridge that leads from the main road to the village, gazing upward into the seeming emptiness. I can't say I much care for the new one myself, but, more pertinently, this sort of evident freedom of the translator to determine the whole tone of the text sometimes discourages one from reading translations at all! But short of learning German, you should definitely read several pages of every translation you can find and pick the one that suits yourself, regardless of which is supposedly "better" according to current fashion or anyone's opinion. (Especially when that opinion as in lauding the new translation speaks of preserving the "author's intentions", a ludicrous ideal, when the author was still editing (and writing!) the works when he died, and indeed deemed them so unfinished and unworthy as to request the manuscripts all be burned immediately.) Anyway, your message talked me into scrounging up some Philip K. Dick (additional to DADOES), which at least won't have these problems.. Adrian