The American Shore: Meditations on a Tale of Science Fiction by Thomas M. Disch—"Angouleme"

Index

abelian series, 191n2 absence and presence, pattern of, 64–65 abuses of text, avoiding, 32–33 aeolian sandstone, 173–74 Alexandria, Library of, 39, 55, 69, 70 Althusser, Louis and Hélène, xx Alyona Ivanovna (dirty old man): anethnicity of, 83, 112, 115, 117, 119n30, 124, 178; appearance, character, and habits, 110–21; beard of, 111, 128; children’s sympathy for, 163; chosen as murder victim, 89–94; fictive creation, emblems of, 41; Little Mister Kissy Lips’ attempt to kill, 169–83; Little Mister Kissy Lips’ conversation with, 175–78; Little Mister Kissy Lips’ decision to kill on his own, 155–64; M-Day, failure to show up for, 130–34; Miss Kraus and, 122–30, 171–72, 175, 176–77; namelessness/significance of assigned name, 83–84, 110; urinating against wall of Castle Clinton, 179–80 American Shore, The (Delany): artistic unities and, xxiii–xxv; on avoiding abuses of text, 32–33; blank spaces or slugs in, xxv–xxvi, 43, 59–61, 72, 73, 84, 93, 94, 108–9, 130–31, 145, 164, 169; commentator and author, relationship between, xxxii–xxxiv; on context, xix, xxi, 25–33; on diffused text, xxiv, 22, 23, 35, 183, 190, 191; on Exotexts, xiii, xix, 23; on gravitic discourse, xvi–xvii, xxx, 33n5, 159–61; influences on, xxi–xxiii, xxvin10, 22–23; on models for fictive creation and critical discourse, 26–28, 29–33, 35n1, 40–44; mundane or literary versus science fiction in, xxvii–xxviii, xxxi, 1, 26, 28–29, 37–38, 46, 49, 73, 77, 89–90, 106, 113, 132, 196, 203; narrative voice, textuality, and wordplay, xxvi; plurality of perspective in, xxiii–xxv, xxviii; polysemy and dissemination in, xxviii–xix, xxxv, 35n2; on pretext, xix, 1–3, 22; on refused text, 5, 22–23; science fiction, as serious reading of, xiii–xvii, xxiii (see also science fiction); significance of, xxxiv–xxxv; structuralist approach of, xiii–xvi (see also structuralism ); time, effects of passage of, xix–xxi; on trivalent discourse in science fiction, xxx–xxxii, xxxv, 48–49, 56, 58, 62, 69, 203; virgule or slash in, xvi, xxvi–xxvii, 26–27, 76 Andros Island, 120, 133 angels, 67–68, 155, 173 “Angouleme” (Disch): artistic unities and, xxiv; binaries in, xxx; carets, use of, 5, 22; citation/commentary version, xvi, 35–183; codes used in, 190–91; composition of, 188–90; context, xix, xxi, 25–33; diffused text, xxiv, 22, 23, 35, 183, 190, 191; Exotexts, xiii, xix, 23; fictive creation process, 26–28, 29–33, 35n1, 40–44, 114–16; narrative voices in, xxvi; opening clause, 38–44; pretext, xix, 1–3, 22; refused text, 5, 22–23; series of stories, as part of, 3, 39n7, 54n13, 68n19, 78n21, 102–3n24, 118–19n30, 157–58n40, 174n43, 187–88, 191–97; specifically read as science fiction, xxiii; time, effects of passage of, xx; title of work, 35–37; undivided version, 7–21. See also characters in “Angouleme”; death in “Angouleme”; lexias Angoulême, Duchesse d,’ 35–36 Index For specific works, please check the author’s name. 210 Index Angouleme, as name for New York shoreline , 35–37, 69–71 anxiety, 76, 89, 95, 117, 127, 135–38, 143–46, 152–53, 157, 162 Aplomb, 138 apotheosis, 51–52, 54, 70, 71, 74, 75, 82, 85, 86, 107, 139–40, 143 Aristotelian unities, xxiv artichoke (hand grenade), 67, 70 Asimov, Isaac, Foundation series, 1, 37, 192–95, 196, 197 Auden, W. H., 98, 206n7 aviary, 121–22, 127, 171 Bachelard, Gaston, 157n39 Bacon, Francis, 197 Balzac, Honoré de, xxii, xxvii, 22, 35n3, 56–57, 99, 147n36, 201 Barth, John, 147n36 Barthes, Roland, xx, xxii–xxiii, xxvi–xxvii, xxviii, xxxv; “The Death of the Author,” xxiii; S/Z (1970), xxi, xxii–xxiii, xxvii, xxviii, xxxiii, xxxvin14, 22, 38n5, 99, 147n36; Sade, Fourier, Loyola (1977/1980), 97 baseball, 52, 101 Battery Park, 38, 39–41, 61–71, 75, 81, 98, 101–2, 105, 117, 119, 132, 144, 152–53, 169, 188 Battery Plot, 38, 40–41, 55, 70–73, 82–88 the beautiful, 45, 62–65, 84, 91 Beckett, Samuel, 147n36 Bellamy, Edward, Looking Backward (1888), 198, 201–2 benches (in Battery Park), 62, 84, 86, 119, 121, 142, 153, 162, 171, 172 Bester, Alfred, xv, 2, 195–96 bird imagery, 121–22, 127–28. See also specific types of bird Black, Joseph, 200 blank spaces (slugs), xxv–xxvi, 43, 59–61, 72, 73, 84, 93, 94, 109, 131, 145, 164, 169 Borges, Jorge Luis, xxxii, 202–3 Bronx, 38, 39, 75...