Peek On No Keep…
There was one more aspect of Hayles in relation to The Keep that I completely forgot to bring up amidst all of the Fergilicious conversation. There’s a point in the analysis of Henry James’ “In the Cage” where Hayles describes the protagonist of that story as having (loose) “possession” (yes, familiar term here) of certain information: that is, she has access to particular information that just may significantly alter the course of her pathetic, caged in “reality” and her “imagined” reality just may come true. Because she has access to information that others do not, she exists within a “Regime of Scarcity.” (Or she does not fit within a utopian “Economy of Information.” Whichever you prefer.)
Class: Why are you still talking about this, Eric?
Eric: Because it pertains to The Keep, Class. A little bit.
Class: But it’s still Hayles, man. Get over it. We’re through with her.
Eric: (Starts to weep.) NEVER…
(Class points at Eric and laughs mockingly. There is a long, uncomfortable pause.)
Kim: (Awaking.) So… who’s next week?
Take a look at this passage:
“And then it came back: the whole reason he’d fallen out of the window in the first place. Danny hadn’t exactly forgotten it, but he’d been thinking backward, crooked, maybe because of the drugs. The whole time he’d had a fact inside his head that would blow a hole straight through the middle of Howard’s life. And having that fact put Danny in charge.” (Egan, 138-9)
Danny has access to certain information that others do not: the affair between Mick and Ann. According to Hayles, then, because of this, Danny is moving towards a “Regime of Scarcity” in a sense, mostly since he chooses not to share this information with anyone else for the remainder of his story, save Mick who clearly already has access to it. And here I thought that Danny was all about the Economy of Information: being connected with as many people in the outside world as possible, sharing information through a widely accessed network. But circumstances started to change after Danny reached the castle, right? He started to lose grip of the Economy of Information, ironically represented through the loss of physical “possession” of his cell phone, satellite, etc. What’s interesting is that in this scenario he appears to desperately want only access to the information (eavesdropping), and not only ends up with a concussion, but loose possession (since it is not accessible to most others) of information that he does not want to be “in charge” of. What’s even more interesting is when Danny hurls his cell phone into who-knows-what off of the castle, it is entirely his choice. (As was mentioned yesterday:) Danny is changing, though Hayles would probably call it a reversal of contemporary puberty, heading back into the Regime of Scarcity or something-of-the-sort. Who knows.
And yes, when asked “Whatcya gonna do with all that junk,” Danny King simply responded by throwing it off of a castle.
February 7, 2008 at 9:40 am
[...] sharon wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHe started to lose grip of the Economy of Information, ironically represented through the loss of physical “possession” of his cell phone, satellite, etc. What’s interesting is that in this scenario he appears to desparately want only … [...]
February 10, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Interesting points, man. I think that Danny’s love/addiction to technology is a major point of the book because it is very much the reason Howard wants him there. Howard is fighting everything that Danny is. If he can win over Danny, what more is there to do? The fact is, Danny is won over. He gets through the gave using his networking skills, but it is his imagination that allows him to keep focused, to think creatively when he needs to. And, if we buy the ghost theory, it is his imagination that vindicates him in the end.
—Ryan—
February 11, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Interesting, very interesting, and, for the record, we would never laugh. royal we. Your post makes me think about the ways in which a regime of scarcity might actually be an integral part of the Economy of Information. Because, why would you have the ginormous network of people if none of them had anything useful to share? Perhaps it is that every member of a network has something that, at least initially, was scarce, and perhaps they needed it as an entrance to the network, but the possibility of them having unique information again in the future is enough to keep them from being kicked out of the network. That & the fact that it’s harder to ask someone to leave than it is to invite them in.