• A Beginner’s Guide to Reading “S”
  • Inserts
  • Walkthroughs
  • Blog Posts
  • Other “S” Resources
  • Chapter 10 Alternate Endings
  • Welcome to the World of “S.”
  • About Mystimus

Thoughts On "S"

~ by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst

Thoughts On "S"

Tag Archives: Art of the Fugue

The Daily Pronghorn – Boathouse to Reopen in May

14 Sunday Sep 2014

Posted by Brian Shipman in S, Ship of Theseus, Who Is Straka

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Art of the Fugue, Boathouse, Catherwood Cup, Doug Dorst, Fabian Midkiff, Gus Vozick, JJ Abrams, Lake Cormorant, Pronghorn State University, PSU, V.M. Straka, VM Straka

Daily Pronghorn - Boathouse

Gus Vozick – Assistant News Editor

THE UNIVERSITY Boathouse on Lake Cormorant, which collapsed in the severe ice storm of October 2008, will reopen on May 1, according to PSU Athletic Director Fabian “Pip” Midkiff.

The building was scheduled for completion over two years ago. Midkiff denies rumors that the delay was the result of funding problems and serious errors in construction. “We took the time to do it right,” he said. “The new boathouse is a thoroughly modern, eco-friendly, state-of-the-art recreation and conference facility, but we’ve maintained the basic design and classic feel of the space in honor of PSU’s century-long tradition of sailing excellence.” Midkiff said that many of the materials used in the rebuilding were salvaged from the original boathouse. Careful observers may even come across boards carved with graffiti by mischievous PSU students of yesteryear. “It’s all part of the building’s history,” he explained. “Plus, you can’t find wood like that anymore.”

Surviving members of PSU’s 1949 Catherwood Cup-winning men’s sailing team will be the guests of honor at the ribbon cutting ceremony. Students will be able to register for Summer I & II sailing and windsurfing classes during the regular April registration period.

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Thoughts on Chapter 1: What Begins, What Ends

07 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by Brian Shipman in S, Ship of Theseus, Uncategorized, Who Is Straka

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Art of the Fugue, Bach, Doug Dorst, Follow the Monkey, JJ Abrams, The Archer's Tales, V.M. Straka, VM Straka

Chapter 1

 What begins at the water shall end there, and what ends there shall once more begin.

There is a thematic similarity between the S.‘s opening walk to the tavern and the entire story in Ship of Theseus. Like a musical fugue, the introductory theme is played in a single voice, and then the rest of the piece is built around that theme.

S. passes a woman attempting to straighten a sign advertising ROOMS. (p4-6)

It is noted that this is a city of ancient and flawed geometries. This scene correlates to S‘s disorientation beginning with his awakening on the streets of the Old Quarter, his struggle to understand his identity, his capture and “imprisonment” aboard the ship, the floating stars above and the “drifting twins,” and the waterspout storm that destroys the ship and leads him to the city of B—.

This scene would cover two chapters:

  1. What Begins, What Ends
  2. The Drifting Twins.

S. passes the barrel organ owner and the immigrant grinder in their distrustful exchange. (p7-10)

We see that this is a city of ancient and flawed arithmetics. We discover that the barrel organ man cheats the immigrant once in the dividing of profits, and again when he plans to send his “slow-witted but strong-armed sons” to attack the immigrant, grind his wrist bones to dust, and steal back even more. Then they will chase the monkey, attempt to sell it, and eventually try to kill it – but the monkey will escape.

This scene mirrors S.‘s arrival at the city of B— and his eventual flight from Vevoda’s men. The uneven exchange between the organ grinder and organ owner is a metaphor for strike between Vevoda and the factory workers.  The violence against the immigrant represents the bomb that goes off on the wharf. Vevoda’s detectives are mirrored in the barrel organ owner’s sons, and both men pursue an innocent bystander with hostile intentions – but both monkey and S. manage to escape. Run, monkey, run.

This section covers three chapters:

  1. The Emersion of S.
  2. Agent X
  3. Down and Out

S. passes the three boys who are throwing bricks and rocks at the streetlights, destroying the light. (p10-12)

S. at first does not know what is happening up ahead. He hears the bricks and rocks plocking on the street in three groups of three. He sees that the street before him is shrouded in darkness. Finally, he catches up with the boys and they hide in the shadows. As S. passes, they re-emerge and put out yet another light. Later, when he arrives at the tavern, he notices that it is lit by only a single intact streetlight, which highlights the symbol “S.“

This scene serves as a metaphor for S.’s life plunging into darkness as he runs from Vevoda and makes the conscious choice to become an vengeful assassin. The boys in the shadows are the Agents of Vevoda, and they hide from him because he represents the end of their “fun.” It is only S.‘s presence in the book that give momentary pause to the activities of the Agents of Vevoda as he pursues them and kills them, but it isn’t permanent. More emerge, and the light continues to lose its battle with darkness. Even S. himself is enshrouded in darkness as he pursues this unholy path.

Compare this quote from Chapter 1 regarding the three boys throwing rocks (p11)…

Struggling to stifle the giddy laughter of transgression, they wait for him to pass.

…to this quote from The Interlude regarding Agents #9 and #41 (p322)…

this is what they know: the Boss’s name (Vévoda, they whisper to each other, with the giddy thrill of transgression) is being broadcast over a shortwave frequency and linked to all sorts of malfeasance and treachery.

This section covers these chapters and the Interlude:

  1. A Sleeping Dog
  2. The Obsidian Island
  3. The Territory
  4. Toccata and Fugue in Real Time
  5. The Territory

S. passes the harbormaster, who is upset that S. does not acknowledge his greeting. (p12-14)

The harbormaster looks through his spyglass and apparently sees S‘s soon-to-be ship entering the harbor, but he does not recognize it because it seems so surreal. He shrugs and heads home to his mother. He walks on the glass of the broken streetlights and struggles to understand who would do such things. He passes S. and offers a greeting, but is ignored, sending him into a disgruntled walk home.

This represents S‘s time in the Winter City, where everyone is in the same city but no one can see or talk to each other. Each lives in crowded isolation. Note that the harbormaster could see S‘s ship in the distance, just as S‘s ship waited in the distance off the shore of the Winter City outside the ice. The harbormaster’s desire for “comradeship and civility, the friendly hello, the small talk of a shared city” reflect S‘s own longing for the same as he spends his time in an arctic purgatory.

This section covers most of the chapter Birds of Negative Space – until S. connects with Sola.

S. sees the “S.” symbol for the first time and meets Sola in the Tavern (p14-23)

S. arrives at the tavern and notes the “S.” symbol for the first time, revealed by a lone, unbroken streetlight. He senses it means something and enters the tavern. After longing for someone to recognize him, he sees Sola looking at him. He approaches her, sees her reading The Archer’s Tales, and sits down with her. Here, for the first time, he begins to feel a sense of identity.

This scene is a metaphor for S‘s finally connecting with Sola – first at the end of Birds of Negative Space and then on through the end of the book in the final chapter, Ships of Theseus. Note that S. sees Sola reading the book The Archer’s Tales by Arquimedes de Sobreiro. At the end of Birds of Negative Space, Sola meets S. in the very apartment where Sobreiro lived – and died. She helps S. understand that he is connected to Sobreiro. “Different stories. Same tradition.”It is S.’s connection to Sola that gives him his sense of identity. Rather than continue to pursue the dark path of assassination and violence, he finds enlightenment. He sees himself, lit by that lone light. He is S. He gives up his path and leaves Vevoda alive. The two of them return to the ship (the ship that in the Obsidian Island book of “S.” has Sobreiro visible in the hull of every drawning of S.‘s ship).

Now they are together and now things make sense.

This section covers the last half of Birds of Negative Space as well as the entire chapter Ships of Theseus.

Concluding Thoughts

This organization of the book lends more strength to the idea that the book Ship of Theseus is crafted in the manner of a musical fugue. And V.M. Straka, like J.S. Bach, has included riddles, ciphers, and puzzles for us to solve as the music plays.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Godel, Escher, Bach in “S”

01 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by Brian Shipman in S, Ship of Theseus, Uncategorized, Who Is Straka

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Art of the Fugue, Bach, Doug Dorst, Emydio Alves, Eric Husch, Filomela Caldeira, Godel Escher Bach, Hermann Hesse, Jennifer Heyward, JJ Abrams, substance, The Glass Bead Game, The Great Synthesis, The Tortugan Journals, The Winged Shoes of Emydio Alves, V.M. Straka

hofstadter_geb

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring 
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

EVOLUTIONS

The FXC footnote on page 52 of Ship of Theseus possibly leads to a game-changing idea behind the construction of  “S.” that lead to a book entitled The Glass Bead Game. If you haven’t already read that theory, it is worth your time, especially before exploring the connections to Gödel, Escher, Bach.

That theory led to explorations into synthesizing S.‘s apparent fugue state and the musical fugue, as in Interlude: Toccata and Fugue in Free Time (p299-330).  If you haven’t already, I suggest you read geekyzen’s thoughts on the musical connections in “S.”  It is also worth your time.

This attempted synthesis led to the idea that S.‘s fugue state may be similar to an Australian walkabout, where aborigines walk across the lands, singing songlines that serve as musical maps to help them navigate their journey. It also led to the idea that perhaps J.S. Bach’s Art of the Fugue is the songline that may help us better understand “S.“ 

In the comments section of that post, Jillaggie1 said all of these posts together reminded her of Douglas Hofstadter’s book Gödel, Escher, Bach. Then the user Captain pointed out the The Art of the Fugue is actually discussed in Gödel, Escher, Bach.

And so the journey begins.

CONNECTIONS

There are strong similarities between Gödel, Escher, Bach (GEB) and The Glass Bead Game (GBB).

  1. Both focus the synthesis of thought in otherwise vastly different fields: music, mathematics, art.
  2. Gödel, Escher, Bach attempts to weave an Eternal Gold Braid in these various fields as it applies to thought. In The Glass Bead Game, the main character creates a drawing in which these same disciplines come together in a circular garland. He then dreams that this garland spins until it flies apart into twinkling stars.
  3. Both focus heavily on the musical fugue.

There are strong similarities between “S” and Gödel, Escher, Bach. 

  1. One of the Straka candidates is Lewis Looper (FN1, p38). GEB discusses loops in detail. Douglas Hofstadter later wrote a full book on the subject entitled I Am a Strange Loop. Hofstadter’s publishing company described GEB as “a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll.” This gives us both Lewis and Looper. In addition, the eternal golden braid is a loop, which reminds us of our opening puzzle, “What begins at the water shall end there, and what ends there shall once more begin.”
  2. In GEB, Hofstadter utilizes a fictitious author that he names Egbert B. Gebstadter. He creates this character for various reasons, but uses the initials EBG as a play on the Eternal Golden Braid of Gödel, Escher, Bach. In “S.” we have a character known as Edsel B. Grimshaw. He is mentioned in the marginalia by Eric Husch on p106. In addition, he is the author of a 1950 review of Ship of Theseus provided by Doug Dorst, tweeted on December 19, 2013. It appears that Egbert B. Gebstadter and Edsel B. Grimshaw are both meant to point to GEB.
  3. There is a character in GEB that is used repeatedly in dialogues to present ideas. He is the TORTOISE. “S.” refers repeatedly to The Tortugan Journals of Juan Blas Covarrubias.
  4. Within GEB, there are embedded puzzles and ciphers. There are definitely puzzles and ciphers in “S.”
  5. The book cover of The Winged Shoes of Emydio Alves and Escher’s Gravity (mentioned in GEB) both use birds of negative space in a very similar way.
  6. Both books deal with self-reference.
  7. Both books appear to challenge us to synthesize vastly different fields of thought (psychology, music, mathematics, art, etc.)

There are undoubtedly many more similarities. I would love to see your own thoughts here.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Archer’s Tales and the Tortugan Journals

27 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by Brian Shipman in S, Ship of Theseus, Uncategorized, Who Is Straka

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Arquimedes de Sobreiro, Art of the Fugue, Bach, Doug Dorst, Godel Escher Bach, Hermann Hesse, JJ Abrams, Juan Blas Covarrubias, S, The Archer's Tales, The Glass Bead Game, The Tortugan Journals, V.M. Straka, VM Straka, Zeno

Within the book “S,” we have the book Ship of Theseus. Within Ship of Theseus, we have references two at least two other tantalizing book titles: The Archer’s Tales by Arquimedes de Sobreiro and The Tortugan Journals of Juan Blas Covarrubias.

In a previous post, I suggested that the Interlude [Tocatta and Fugue in Free Time] (pages 299-329) may point to The Art of the Fugue by J.S. Bach. This famous work of Bach is full of mystery, puzzles, and self-reference. In the comments section, JillAggie pointed out how this reminded her of the books Gödel, Escher, Bach and The Glass Bead Game. Then, Captain pointed out that Gödel, Escher, Bach actually references The Art of the Fugue in a dialogue that takes place between the tortoise and Achilles.

Those dialogues were borrowed from Zeno of Elea (490-430BC), a Greek philosopher that Aristotle credits with inventing the dialectic.

Zeno is well-known for describing examples of paradox. Two of them are highlighted here…

Achilles and the Tortoise (The Tortugan Journals?)
In this paradox, Zeno proves mathematically that Achilles cannot outrun the tortoise if the tortoise gets a head start.

The Arrow Paradox (The Archer’s Tales?)
In this paradox, Zeno proves mathematically that a flying arrow is actually motionless, and any perceived motion is only in the mind. Other names for The Archer’s Tales in “S.” include…

Archerin Tarinat by Jänkä Sääksi (p308)
Ang Mamamana Kuwento by Liwliwa Siloy (p329)

Is it possible that these two paradoxes, one involving a tortoise and one involving the flying arrow of an archer, are the sources of The Tortugan Journals and The Archer’s Tales?

If they are, and I admit this is an early and underdeveloped theory, here is why. Both of these paradoxes show how our limited logic and philosophy indicates that something is impossible while reality may be entirely different.

For example, in “S.”, we see that S. is driven by basic logic that the only way to overcome the evil of Vévoda is with destructive elimination. What other course of action could there possibly be? In effect, S. is like Achilles and Vévoda like the tortoise. S. is in a race he can never win if he sticks to the confines of this logic. Vévoda and his agents are always one step ahead. However, in the climax, S. realizes that the only way to win is to stop playing by “the rules.” Fighting evil with evil is actually what keeps him from winning.

Likewise, S. remains unable to move beyond this pattern of choice as long as he accepts the prevailing logic – he is the motionless arrow. But when he breaks free of these constraints and chooses to live outside of them, he is finally able to move. Fighting evil with evil actually prevents S. from ever moving beyond and overcoming evil. Only when he stops playing the game does he actually succeed. He must step outside the rules of the system in order to achieve “the impossible.” This is the paradox.

Obviously, if these are the sources for The Tortugan Journals and The Archer’s Tales, much more mystery remains. This is simply an early exploration of the possibilities. I encourage you to dismiss or enhance this theory based on what you have found.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Stats

  • 508,097

Recent Posts

  • The End of the Line
  • Follow the Monkey: Sound Advice
  • Shakespeare in “S”
  • You Can Find Me in Times Square?
  • Protected: Hamlet’s Mill

Top Posts & Pages

  • A Beginner’s Guide to Reading “S”
  • Welcome to the World of "S."
  • An Intermediate Guide to Reading "S" - by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst
  • Straka's Original Ending for Ship of Theseus
  • Those Campfire Stories
  • Maelstrom - an Exhaustive Translation
  • What Begins at the Water
  • What it Means to Follow the Monkey
  • The Ship of Theseus by V.M. Straka - A Beginner's Guide to Reading "S"
  • The Interlude Cipher

Tags

Abdim Amarante Durand Archimedes Arquimedes de Sobreiro Art of the Fugue Ash Wednesday Bach Baruch Spinoza Calais cipher Corbeau cork oak Daily Pronghorn Doug Dorst Edsel B. Grimshaw El H-- Emydio Alves eotvos wheel Eric Husch Ermelinda Pega Ernest Hemingway Filomela Caldeira Filomela Xabregas Caldeira Filomena Caldeira Follow the Monkey FXC Godel Escher Bach Hermann Hesse identity It all goes back to Calais Jean Bernard Desjardins Jen Heyward Jennifer Heyward JJ Abrams Juan Blas Covarrubias Khatef Zelh LOST magpie McKay's Magazine Obsidian Island Osfour Ostrero Pfeifer PSU quercus suber Reader's Guide Robert Hooke S Samar Self Ship of Theseus Ship of Theseus Paradox Signe Rabe Sobreiro Sola Stenfalk substance Szalome T.S. Eliot The Archer's Tales The Glass Bead Game The Great Synthesis The Territory The Tortugan Journals The Waste Land The Winged Shoes of Emydio Alves Torsten Ekstrom TS Eliot V.M. Straka Vaclav Straka valise Vevoda VMS VM Straka Winter City

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: