Quote:
Originally Posted by Caminando
(Post 386749)
Yes Sennen I'd agree, but you realise that although there is a shift from first to third person narrator there are grounds for saying that this is no mere literary device. You are aware of Pirzig's personal history and that Phaedrus can legitimately be regarded as an actual autonomous individual, who emerged after the ECT treatment.
I suggest that Pirzig sees Phaedrus as exactly that - another person.
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Hi Caminando
Actually in Zen, Phaedrus is the name Persig uses for the himself that existed before the annihilation ECT treatment in 1963. Technically, therefore, both Zen and Lila occurred in the post-Phaedrus phase of his life. However, there's more than a hint in Zen that by the end of the motorcycle trip it describes, Phaedrus had re-risen from the depths of Persig's subconscious and 'taken over' again.
So it makes sense that Lila features Phaedrus as the main protagonist and not 'Persig', I agree about that. It's just that it doesn't really work as well in the third person, I feel. Esp the long philosophical asides which work better as a monologue than as a lecture.
They're both great books, anyway :) |
