The Solitudes, p. 181-240
On page 198, the first heart-stopping moment of naked metafiction. Doctor Dee translates a mysterious cipher, and is given a sentence from earlier in The Solitudes; trying another method, he gets the first sentence of Aegypt. This might be thought of as the untitled, unfinished manuscript that is found on Sandy Kraft's desk, in which Doctor Dee himself is appearing, the one which Pierce sets out to write and finds already written.
But in the original edition of this book, it was also the title of the volume which I, the reader, was holding, and suddenly *WHAM* I was into the frame, seeing myself from outside staring in at a story which is also about finding the story, my soul like the scryer's in the prologue sucked through a series of windows. I look up and over my shoulder, half-expecting to catch a glimpse of the Reader who might be peering into my own story as I read this one.
The author gleefully continues in this metafictional vein as Pierce pitches his idea to Julie, and thinks to himself about how to give it a plot, the sort of frame story it needs. A story about a person finding the story is what THIS story is also about... And on page 221, a foreshadowing of Pierce's tragic hubris: he avers he is too smart to fall for the tales he will retail to fools. The line "Pierce would not be burned; no, even if he aimed for the same powers, the same infinite grasp and freedom..." reminded me absurdly of Homer Simpson's fist-shaking at heaven, "No comeuppance!" For he WILL be burned, but not in the sense that Bruno was.
On page 208-209, the first of the scant mentions of Aleister Crowley in this book, a personage the author seems to scrupulously avoid. I wonder if he knows his own papers are shelved next to AC's in the Ransom Center.
But in the original edition of this book, it was also the title of the volume which I, the reader, was holding, and suddenly *WHAM* I was into the frame, seeing myself from outside staring in at a story which is also about finding the story, my soul like the scryer's in the prologue sucked through a series of windows. I look up and over my shoulder, half-expecting to catch a glimpse of the Reader who might be peering into my own story as I read this one.
The author gleefully continues in this metafictional vein as Pierce pitches his idea to Julie, and thinks to himself about how to give it a plot, the sort of frame story it needs. A story about a person finding the story is what THIS story is also about... And on page 221, a foreshadowing of Pierce's tragic hubris: he avers he is too smart to fall for the tales he will retail to fools. The line "Pierce would not be burned; no, even if he aimed for the same powers, the same infinite grasp and freedom..." reminded me absurdly of Homer Simpson's fist-shaking at heaven, "No comeuppance!" For he WILL be burned, but not in the sense that Bruno was.
On page 208-209, the first of the scant mentions of Aleister Crowley in this book, a personage the author seems to scrupulously avoid. I wonder if he knows his own papers are shelved next to AC's in the Ransom Center.