Re: Genial Fish theory (fwd)

Peggy F. Jean-Louis (pfj6868@is.nyu.edu)
Mon, 09 Feb 1998 18:27:51 -0500 (EST)

Helena,

I'm forwarding a lovely post that Matt wrote to me when I asked him about
"The Laughing Man". It really shed some light on the story for me and
maybe it will do the same for you.

Peggy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 11:06:06 -0500 (EST)
From: Matt Kozusko <mkozusko@virtual.park.uga.edu>
To: "Peggy F. Jean-Louis" <pfj6868@is.nyu.edu>
Subject: Re: Genial Fish theory


Peggy--

I haven't much to say about the story in LM...I never have.  I figure it's
filled mostly with young-boy-mentatlity things mingled with things derived
from the Chief's problems with Mary.  

Mary comes from wealthy, cultured Long Island and has gone to Wellesly;
the chief's ethnic background and crappy jacket (not to mention his job)
suggest something less affluent.  The Chief is Other in the world of
Mary/Dufarge; The Dufarges live in Paris; LM lives in China.  There is, of
course, a huge geographical distance between them, but the story moves
them such that they border each other.  The Chief is bridging gaps that
can't really be bridged.  

I've always read Dufarge as Mary's Father, who objects to their seeing
each other.  Their love is Black Wing?  

There is no corrcorrelation for pregnancy in the story, though there
certainly are a lot of baby carriages in LM to bump into (my, how those
babies do get in the way!).  I figure the most important aspect of the
story is the emotional impact of the last installment, which corresponds
to the ugly incident on the field the same day.

the story is full of otherness, full of the exotic and the bizzare.  The
Laghing Man's own deformity--a projection of the Chief's awkwardness in
the world of Mary Hudson--is terrible, yet it is the source of laughter.
There is nobility in otherness.  Being the underdog is heroic; the animals
in the story--like the boys, like all *real* people--don't think him ugly.
The ethics of the LM are noble but firm (killing when necessary, etc).
The story re-writes reality in such a way as to privilege powerless
people.

But why the poppy-seed mask?  Why the opium?  American Indians, Chinese
bandits, French detectives (I *know* this has something to do with Poe!),
immigrant parents...none of them fits.  They are thrown together in a mess
of imagination.  

I don't really know.  I *am* going to think further about it, though.  As
for the list...I rmemeber your initial post.  Sometimes I go for days
without posting anything there--sometimes for months.  It's gotten ugly
before (as you probably know), but those who make it ugly usually leave,
and things return to normal.  It's usually a relatively new person picking
fights with someone who considers himself/herself a list Godfather.  Do
you notice how people tend to subscribe, post six messages a day for two
weeks, then leave?  But that's a different subject, I suppose.  Let me
know what you've come up with for LM...

-------------------------------------------
mkozusko@virtual.park.uga.edu