Optical Allusion

Claude Simon, Triptych (trans Helen R. Lane): A compendium of film techniques, especially editing, structurally carrying a three-reeler of three interspliced narratives, in time as well as settings: rural, urban-industrial, Mediterranean resort (plus a circus act), from an "I am a movie camera" perspective. Simon doesn't miss a trick – the first two settings include projection (in a barn, a theatre) and the third, a movie set – and it's all done with wit (e.g., film rabbiting in its sprockets). But for me, it's more construction than novel, its subject matter all a matter of perspective on what ultimately falls flat, and all that cross-cutting goes against the grain; cinema buffs may find it interesting, but then by and large they'd rather wait for the movie (subtitled not dubbed). Speaking of projection, an academic take on blind spots and afterimages; more worth reading are an over- and interview.