|
Introduction
Frequently
Asked Questions
Biographical
Info
Novels
Short
Stories
Non-Fiction
Book
Reviews by TCB
Correspondence
Anthologies
Film
& Video
Audio
Files & Recordings
Interviews
Critical
Views
Foreign Language Editions
Online Resources
Odds
& Ends
Readings
& Tour Dates
Reader
Questions/Interpretations
Acknowledgements
- - - - - Site
MapWhat's
New
|
PEEP HALL
First published in Esquire
(September
2000): 218-224+.
Posted by mary on August 30,
2000:
I'm not sure about the meaning,
but I really picked up on the fact that this guy, who at first
seems a little lonesome and isolated, is actually a guy who prefers
his life that way. Everyone laments that there's no time to get
to know the neighbors, but let's face it, most would rather not
be bothered. It's a nation of people with a fear of(or disdain
for) intimacy but still want to get that intimacy rush somehow,
and you can count on the media to fill that need. I also really
noticed that this guy had a touch of germ phobia too- a very
watered-down version compared to Stanley or that off-the-scale
OCDer in Modern Love. So, for me, the puzzling thing in this
story was- how did the guy make the big transformation from hiding
in his house to marching into Peep Hall, oblivious to (or liking??)
those cameras? Was it cyber love, the male need to protect, or
saving the world from censorship? I just couldn't quite figure
that one out. Help!
Posted by TCB on August
30, 2000:
Dear Mary: Love your insightful
take. May I answer your query in a word?: Lust. TCB.
Posted by Jef Tombeur on
August 30, 2000:
Dear Mary,
That was very clever of you.
However short, this is the first time someone on this MB (and
the previous one, the old MB) ever got some kind of real answer
from Tom when asking about how you can interpret the meaning
of one of his stories, chapters, characters' statements, etc.
Posted by sandye on August
30, 2000:
can't claim to know the "meaning"
of the story, but i do know that out of T's past several recently
published stories, this is the one that seemed more like a meal
than a snack to me. delightfully wordy, with little sprinklings
of TCB's personal interests, and (to my knowledge) his first
mention of any kind having to do with virtual life and cyberspace
(not to mention efforts, political and otherwise, to censor "objectionable"
sites on the internet)...
and in a summer filled with
contrived "reality" TV shows like Survivor and, more
particularly, Big Brother, where for the price of your monthly
internet access alone you have the "privilege" of watching
a group of exhibitionists captured 24 hours a day on any of 4
officially sanctioned live camera feeds (6 if you count the hacked-in
ones from the control room and the chicken coop!), it's gratifying
to read a story like Peep Hall. it's still boy meets girl, but
this time the voyeurs are watching...
--Sandye Utley, Cincinnati,
Ohio
Last Page Update: 10
March 2001
|