|
|
|
Fredric Jameson The Square Peg in the Round Hole or the History of SpaceflightThe first question with which one is confronted in the representation of space flight is one it shares with some other genres, such as tragedy, for example, namely, why should we take pleasure in the contemplation of what must be among the most painful and uncomfortable, constricting, claustrophobic physical experiences recorded by human beings? There must be more to this fascination than simple Schadenfreude, one feels, more than the witnessing of all this from the safety of the reader’s armchair or the seat in the movie theater; and yet adventure has always been associated with the representation of extreme peril from a distance—the dangers of the open sea in a storm, the pursuit by ferocious enemies; the more improbable the hero’s challenges, the greater our sedentary enjoyment, which is warm when the hero is freezing and pleasantly cool when he sweats in the great heat of the desert or in the tropics with their hordes of biting insects. Fredric Jameson is director of the Institute for Critical Theory at Duke University and a professor of French and comparative literature. Among his recent books is A Singular Modernity (2002). Critical Inquiry Volume 34, Number S2, Winter© 2008 by The University of Chicago.
|
|
