{"id":1756,"date":"2010-12-09T05:34:36","date_gmt":"2010-12-09T05:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2018\/11\/28\/1141-revision-v1\/"},"modified":"2019-07-10T11:52:11","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T11:52:11","slug":"the-stars-at-noon-br-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2010\/12\/09\/the-stars-at-noon-br-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Stars at Noon (BR)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stars at Noon<\/em>\u00a0is the third novel by\u00a0American\u00a0author\u00a0Denis Johnson<\/a><\/strong>, published in\u00a01986.<\/p>\n

We follow a\u00a0nameless<\/a>\u00a0woman in\u00a0Nicaragua. She’s from the United States. It is possible that she was once a journalist; it’s possible that she still is. That’s all irrelevant except insofar as it informs the present: she earns money\u00a0prostituting<\/a>, she’s resigned to the state-of-affairs. She’s trapped in the country, unable to get out – or possibly, unable to get out her\u00a0money<\/a>\u00a0to which she’s tied herself – forever hampered by the unseen will of\u00a0others<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She is\u00a0damned<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0true<\/a>\u00a0sense<\/a>\u00a0of the word. Surely she is being punished for some\u00a0crime<\/a>, and the\u00a0world<\/a>\u00a0impedes her as a portion of its own\u00a0penitence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chance knocks her against a British man working for\u00a0some<\/a>\u00a0petroleum<\/a>\u00a0company. He is fleeing the company, he has let slip some unforgivable secret. Together they run away, and in their\u00a0own<\/a>\u00a0way fall in\u00a0love. They must try to make it to the border of this\u00a0forsaken<\/a>\u00a0land.<\/p>\n

Johnson spent some time in\u00a0Liberia\u00a0as a\u00a0journalist<\/a>\u00a0– see his essays in\u00a0Seek<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>– reporting on the\u00a0war<\/a>\u00a0and its associated\u00a0absurdities<\/a>. There is an unusual\u00a0hatred<\/a>\u00a0that seeps through in some of those writings, but not here, not in\u00a0The Stars at Noon<\/em>. The essays suggest that Johnson was\u00a0disgusted<\/a>\u00a0by what he saw, and not because of the violence, but because it seemed to all be done for\u00a0nothing. There’s no doubt that the story and Johnson’s experiences in Liberia are linked intimately, but\u00a0for what? Perhaps\u00a0atonement<\/a>, but for whom?<\/p>\n

\n

<\/span>The following quote was the only one I copied down while reading this novel. I love it for mixing\u00a0space<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0time<\/a> and trying to grasp that\u00a0liminal\u00a0experience of\u00a0lonely<\/a>\u00a0hours in foreign lands.<\/p>\n

\n

I could walk through the hours like doorways in the middle of the night, if only the middle of the night would last hours<\/em>\u00a0[…]\u00a0(Pt.One)<\/small><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Stars at Noon\u00a0is the third novel by\u00a0American\u00a0author\u00a0Denis Johnson, published in\u00a01986. We follow a\u00a0nameless\u00a0woman in\u00a0Nicaragua. She’s from the United States. It is possible that she was once a journalist; it’s possible that she still is. That’s all irrelevant except insofar as it informs the present: she earns money\u00a0prostituting, she’s resigned to the state-of-affairs. She’s trapped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159,198,204],"tags":[],"metadata":[],"class_list":["post-1756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-book-review","category-everything2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1191,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2017\/06\/02\/the-day-cupid-dropped-acid\/","url_meta":{"origin":1756,"position":0},"title":"The Day Cupid Dropped Acid","author":"Pala","date":"June 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: Reflections about drug (and love) experiences, in which emotions and feelings are analysed (\u201cHacking\u201d) that are intensely felt but too changing and formless (as in \u201cchariot mysticism\u201d) to give reliable solid information; \u201cto be studied but not believed; or Hacking the chariot of fire.\u201d The reflections are deeply\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2822,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2013\/12\/12\/astronomy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1756,"position":1},"title":"Astronomy","author":"Pala","date":"December 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Meta: Writing this note during week one: My plan is to complete week one (i.e. first) and then try to use a holistic perspective to see if I can get some sort of MM-type [Mind Map] notes going. The final goal by the end of this course will be to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2945,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/12\/12\/hawkman-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1756,"position":2},"title":"Hawkman #2","author":"Pala","date":"December 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Hawkworld (1990-3): [Hommy (dies), Bladebat] H to be sent to Earth (something to do with a Thanagarian museum exhibit (?) and bonus to deal with Byth who escaped to there). I like the tension between H&H, she's from Downside, and they differ in their politics. I also like the intensity\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1210,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2012\/04\/24\/twilight-as-directed-by-wes-anderson\/","url_meta":{"origin":1756,"position":3},"title":"Twilight as Directed by Wes Anderson","author":"Pala","date":"April 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: One of Shai\u2019s unique talents was writing stories in the style of famous authors. In the story below, retrieved from his Google Drive, he convincingly imitates a vampire genre, Twilight-like movie script, as if it were directed by Wes Anderson. Scene 1: A fixed camera shows the following:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1234,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2016\/09\/29\/we-lived-in-a-farmhouse\/","url_meta":{"origin":1756,"position":4},"title":"We Lived in a Farmhouse","author":"Pala","date":"September 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: The first part of this short autobiographical narrative refers to the time Shai lived in a debilitated farmhouse in the Brisbane area. I was there is June 2015 and the description of the farmhouse, its surroundings and inhabitants is spot on. The last paragraph is Shai\u2019s beautiful, yet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1115,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2017\/10\/02\/noodles-and-lunar-fruit\/","url_meta":{"origin":1756,"position":5},"title":"Noodles and Lunar Fruit","author":"Pala","date":"October 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: One of Shai's special skills was writing short stories in a style used by famous authors. The two short stories below are a reflection of these attempts. The first written in the writing style of the American-British novelist and screenwriter, Raymond Chandler[I] and the second in the writing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padotI-sk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1756"},{"taxonomy":"metadata","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/metadata?post=1756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}