We discussed self reflexivity of a text as one of the characteristics of postmodernism on the first day of class. This is, in my opinion, the most self reflexive of any of the texts that we have read so far this semester (although House of Leaves would be a very close second). I give The People of Paper a slight edge because the actual author Salvador Plascencia shows up in the novel, as where Danielewski stayed hidden.
When it become clear that Plascencia is Saturn and a character in the book, the first thing that came to my mind was the movie Adaptation. In the movie, Nic Cage plays Charlie Kaufman, who is the screenwriter of the movie. We watch as he struggles with a script for a movie based on The Orchid Thief, eventually writing himself trying to write the script into the script he is writing, which is the movie we are watching. Kaufman’s personal life effects what is happening in the script and the script is effecting what is happening in his life until the two become inseparable. The book, the script about the movie, and Kaufman’s life are involved in this intertexual relationship that is the movie (the movie itself become part of the layering of the intertextuality as well). For anyone who has seen a Charlie Kaufman movie, this paragraph makes sense, if you have not, it probably does not. Kaufman’s latest movie Synechdoce, New York also deals with a lot of postmodern ideas, but I did not want to discuss it here because I am pretty sure I need to watch it again before I can make any sense of it.
Like Jennifer, I am sometimes annoyed by the authorial intrusions in some postmodern works (John Barth comes to mind for me as well). However, I did not mind Saturn/Plascencia in this novel. Instead of just popping in to remind us that we are reading a fictional work like some metafiction, Saturn’s role shows us how Plascencia is actively shaping the story. The writing of the story and the resistance the author recieves from both inside and outside the fictional world he creates is the novel. Just like in House of Leaves, once we learn something about Truant (namely Pelafina’s letters) it casts a new light on everything else that we have already read. Merced leaving Federico de la Fe, Rita Hayworth snubbing lettuce pickers, the seeming cold-heartedness of Merced Del Papel all seem to take on a new meaning when we consider what happened with Salvadore and Liz.
Anthony wrote about it in his post, but I was wondering what other people thought of the treatment of women in this novel. Is it misogynistic? Is there really a Liz? does it matter?