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From: friedman@h-sc1.UUCP (dawn friedman)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Ford Prefect
Message-ID: <412@h-sc1.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 29-Jun-85 19:35:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: h-sc1.412
Posted: Sat Jun 29 19:35:24 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Jul-85 07:50:18 EDT
References: <7327@watdaisy.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Harvard Univ. Science Center
Lines: 33

> 	I took the joke to be that no name is "especially
> inconspicuous" - i think that is amusing in itself. I mean, how
> seriously can you take a book with statements like "the ship hung
> in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't" and "the

And I thought I wasn't going to answer anything today...
I can't resist pointing out that this particular line is not
only valuable as an inversion of the expected, but as an 
extremely (at least to me) vivid simile.  The picture of bricks
hanging in the sky instantly appears in the mind, despite its 
non-correspondence with reality, and conveys clearly the image
of the impossible Vogon ships.  It was when I found this line,
in fact, that I realized that the author was NOT just a smug,
self-indulgent weirdness apostle, but quite a good writer. I
realized that I could go on with the book without the fear of
reaching the end but not the point.  
I think the analogy with Carroll is well taken, precisely because 
of this element of artistry as well as insanity.
  
                               dsf
                      (Dawn Sharon/the Speaker)
  
I forgot the first analogy that comes to my mind: Oscar Wilde's
"Her hair went quite gold with grief" is different from Thurber's 
indictment of typosetters, "A stitch in time saves none" because
the inversion is also a meaningful statement about society (not
a very deep one) as opposed to a statement created for the sake 
of the inversion alone.  (Or a statement unintentionally 
created, like the one that set Thurber off in the first place:
the misprinting of a line of his so that it became, "The gates
of Hell shall now prevail".  But I digress, or didn't anyone
notice?)  
                            dsf