As One Cannot See

Abstract

This sub-section argues that Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 and Harun Farocki’s documentary How One Sees pursue political, aesthetic. and epistemological projects that converge at multiple points. Particularly important is the question of whether or not there exist valid methods for seeing beyond or behind particular phenomena to disclose the workings of systems (and, if so, of what kind). A central issue is the status of metaphor in both works, the key ones being connected with weaving and computing. The issue of metaphor will recur in the subsequent discussion of Burning.