Kafkaaaaaa

So when reading the first four chapters, I was actually really disoriented, and I can't figure out if it's only because I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on, or if it was that combined with the fact that not only could I not place K. in a situation I could identify with, (like a judicial scene) but I physically couldn't place him in any place he was at. I was completely perplexed with the layouts of all of the places and I had such a hard time visualizing it that it distracted me and I had to re-read like six or seven pages over the course of the chapters because I would zone out trying to figure out how the hell K was physically walking through this maze. It seemed like the place he lived in was just a room, which connected to the two rooms on either side, but for whatever reason I couldn't get the layout of The Apartment out of my head, so I guess that's my own fault. But when he went to the hearing, I was so completely confused I felt like I was watching Alice in Wonderland, where rooms and proportions are fluid instead of concrete. At first I pictures this huge apartment building, and when K. first went to his "trial" (I use trial very loosely because seriously, what the hell was that?) he had to go up and down the different apartments trying to find out where his trial was. And when he did there was apparently like a huge group of people in this one apartment split down the middle judging him? Then, the thing that really set me into a tizzy was when he went upstairs into the attic and it was a long maze of hallways with doors, with no lights, but not completely dark. It seemed more like a basement but it was actually in an attic. I guess I almost pictured it like this:
only with all dark wooden panels (I couldn't actually find a picture of what I was thinking of). This disorientation kind of reminded me of something I talked about a little in a past blog, the idea that without being able to pin down something, or directly relate it to something you already know, you feel confused and uneasy. I had a really hard time imagining the configurations of the first chapters, and so I felt weird and had a hard time concentrating on the simple plot because I had to scene to place the character in. Maybe it's just me, and I personally need to visualize what I'm reading, but then again maybe not. And at the end when K. gets physically dizzy and then steps out of the rabbit hole, as I like to call it, he instantly regains his energy and balance, and leaps off back into the real world. I feel like it was a kind of alice in wonderland meets willy wonka kind of thing, like beyond any persons reasonable imagination, but instead of fighting it, you just have to accept it, and maybe that's why I had such a hard time with it. I guess we'll see in the next chapters if I can manage that.

Office and Space, but not together

So, I know Thompson's article was a lot about male sexuality, but I found a couple things that I thought were pretty interesting talking about the office as a space. The first was when Thompson was talking about how the office was used as a means of surveillance. He talks about that scene, where the narrator chooses to place Bartleby behind a screen to "preserve privacy," except for the fact that the narrator can break that barrier by talking, and Bartleby can get up and enter without knocking. I think the whole idea of taking a space and designating certain areas for things is something we as humans do. Look at this picture, I googled "house layout" and hundred of pictures, just like this one, showed up. There's a designated room for the kitchen, for the bedroom, for the car, even to lounge in, as if you weren't allowed to do any of these things in any other rooms. When Thompson first said space "cannot be marked by screens or doors" I thought it was a weird statement, because that is actually how we separate spaces. This space is one house, that space is another. But the idea of fluidity, that everything is continuous, is actually the case. In The Apartment, the main character (who I can't remember his name, sorry!) can't separate his work life from his home life, and honestly that's probably the case with most people for one reason or another. Either you bring work home to finish up, or your work friends are or become your social friends, or even as simple as you talking about your work and the people there in your home life. The fact is, you can't designate these areas of space and expect things to stay put. In Bartleby, the Scrivener, because Bartleby has no home, it brings to light and crashes down this horrific idea (to the narrator). By Bartleby living and working literally in the same place, it brings to light this flaw in the system, that you can't separate the two, and work defines a person's life far more than it should.

Houyhnhnms and other unpronouncable names

I think after reading this entire book, the idea of finding a home was a prevalent theme throughout the entire novel. I know Bachalard has all these warm fuzzy conceptions of home as this kind and nurturing place, somewhat similar to this picture (unfortunately you can't see the basement though) but that's obviously not the case since Gulliver chose to leave it over and over again. Granted, his tainted reaction at the end of the book isn't an accurate depiction of why, but there had to be some reason for him to constantly be leaving his family for long voyages, especially after continuously being lost and almost killed by all these different cultures. It got my thinking about the idea of home and what makes one feel as home and I feel like it has more to do with the space you settle in, or the place on the map. Gulliver settled in all these places, for a while at least, but none of them really felt like home because he wasn't ever fully accepted, nor did he fully except the inhabitants. I think the closest he came was in the land of the Houyhnhnms, but they rejected him because he was too similar to the things they considered inferior, the Yahoos. I think to consider something a home, you have to be accepted by the community, but that got me to thinking, what exactly defines a community? Is it just a group of people based on some social rules, or based around the area they live in? Is one group of people different than another if they live ten feet away but have a different area code? I think this idea of community has very real ties to the places and space the people inhabit, which is pretty interesting I think.

La Vida Laputa!

Okay so I know this is from last time with the Brobdingnag but I was at the Logan Airport and there was this HUGE coffee cup and like a nerd I took a picture of it with my phone...

Anyways, the two passages I thought were interesting from Laputa was when they first introduced the food, and it was all geometrical, and but then when they were talking about the houses how they were bevyed, which I'm pretty sure is build at an angle. It just struck me how the food, things that are traditionally allowed to be crazy and unchecked, and the houses which are suppose to be geometrical were switched, like the qualities that define the objects were switched.

And just because I thought it would be cool I googled pictures of geometric food:



The second thing I thought was really cool was when they were talking about how the King kept the other towns in check by physically moving over them and eclipsing them from the natural elements. It's like he was physically replacing them by taking away the rain and the sun, and leaving them in a sort of limbo, unable to survive or
leave.

Also, apparently there is some sort of Anime movie called Laputa, Castle in the Sky in case you wanted to watch that here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaLsRVDGCs4

Anddd I found this picture and thought it was a cool interpretation of Laputa, I'm not sure if it's from the movie or not: