Boundaries in Scheherezade and Metalepsis
The continual fascination of Ryan and crossing boundaries seems exemplified in her analysis of metalepsis. She describes the ontological metalepsis as a "image of a snake that bites its own tail, a literal rendering of the concept of the strange loop." Almost like the story of Oedipus, she seems to be describing a very precise and very esoteric form of paradox expressed within narrative. Like infinity, how does one begin to acknowledge boundaries within such a concept?
I recall a text-based spoof where one would follow a path much like the CYOA novels. As one progressed farther into the story, a random plot generator would mix and match words and create totally new albeit extremely boring plotlines. Theoretically, the possibilities were endless in creating "original" material, there was no end to this story. However, the purpose of this program was to show the hackneyed nature of Tom Clancy novels and the very banal and ridiculous tone in itself created a boundary. Much like the story of Scheherezade while the story in theory may be endless, there seems to be accepted boundaries determined by the reader. In the case of the Tom Clancy random book generator, it is clear that the boundaries that apply to rhetorical metalepsis do still apply in the digital age. In this case, the authoritarian voice is replaced by another, the contributing voices of the readers which suggest a participatory rhetoric. In essence, very few people would enjoy the random story generator.
Comments
Posted by: Ryan Lanham
Posted on: February 16, 2007 09:06 PM
I deal with ontology and boundaries at my blog. You are welcome there. I'd be happy to add you as a contributor if you like. It is www.ryanlanham.wordpress.com.
Interesting. I hope you keep up the work on ontologies.