Geek Love

What you'll find below are my lecture notes for Katherine Dunn's Geek Love.

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Important Characters

The Binewski Family
Non-Family Characters

The Structure of the Novel
Symbolic and Thematic Elements
Intertextual Elements
Significant Quotations

Important Characters

The Binewski Family
Olympia	Albino hump-backed dwarf who narrates the novel Third or fourth Binewski child, depending on how you count Elly and Iphy--three years younger than her sisters Devoted to family--perhaps unnaturally so Serves as Arturo's slave most of the time Takes on identity of Hopalong McGurk, radio storyteller, after Fabulon's inferno Mother of Miranda--"artificially inseminated" with Arty's sperm courtesy of Chick
Arty	Arturo the Aqua Boy, first-born of Al and Lil's experiments in eugenics No arms or legs, but flipper-like appendages instead Extremely controlling personality Jealous and self-centered--must be center of attention Incestuous tendencies (unconsummated) for Iphy and Oly Unwitting founder of "Arturism" Opportunist--takes advantage of people and situations whenever possible
Al	Head of Binewski family Second-generation midway/sideshow owner and operator Brains behind the "experiments" that produce the especially-talented children Amateur medical practitioner
Lilith	Runaway from upper-class Boston family who joins the Fabulon "Geeks" for Al and is so impressive, he decides to marry her Willing participant in the child-breeding experiments Survives the Fabulon inferno, but has lost sense of identity by then Lives in isolation in Portland, unaware that Oly is looking after her
Electra and Iphigenia	Conjoined twins born two years after Arty Piano-playing, singing, and dancing primary draws to the twins' sideshow act Elly apparently stronger/more forceful than Iphy Target of Arty's jealousy when their act begins to outshine his Somewhat opportunistic--begin to prostitute themselves when they reach young adulthood "Given" to Bag Man (Vern Bogner) by Arty Impregnated by Bag Man--produce Mumpo, the 26 pound baby Elly lobotomized, but "comes back" and kills Mumpo before she and Iphy kill one another
Fortunato	Called "Chick" by the family, he was nearly abandoned due to lack of physical abnormalities--six years younger than Oly Soon discovered that he has psychokinetic powers that redeem him Powers exploited by Al (pickpocketing and gambling schemes), but undermined by Arty Powers exploited by Arty (assistant and eventual successor to Dr. Phyllis Critically sensitive to life forces--won't eat meat, and dislikes "moving" it with his mind Instigator of the Fabulon inferno when he finally realizes the effects of Arty's manipulation of the family
Miranda	Child (although she doesn't know it) of Oly and Arty Nearly a "norm," she only sports a tail that's easily hidden Art student who is interested in technical drawings of anatomy Befriends Oly as way of getting a chance to draw her Targeted by Mary Lick for tail removal
Non-Family Characters
Miss Mary Lick	Powerful, wealthy woman--owner of Lickety Split Foods, outdoorsperson Asexual--never interested in sex, she says "Adopts" girls whose potential she sees as being thwarted by their sexual behaviors and/or physicality Befriends Oly (as result of Oly's manipulation) Targeting of Miranda for tail excision her downfall--makes Oly plan and take fatal action to stop her
Dr. Phyllis Gleaner	A secret "freak" who operated on herself as an undergraduate to remove a "remote control device" from her abdomen Hired by Arty to bring his followers closer to him through surgical amputation in gradual stages (toes and fingers first, then feet, hands, arms, legs) Controlling personality--very picky about who works with her, how her work is done Stages uprising and work slowdown when Arty won't agree to see that lobotomizing is a quicker and more efficient route to "P.I.P" (Peace, Isolation, Purity) In a night-time coup, she's dethroned by by Arty via Chick, who apparently amputates and lobotomizes her as a "reward" for her service to Arturism
Norval Sanderson	Former journalist who initially covers the "Arturism" movement Eventually joins the movement, albeit never apparently wholeheartedly--something of a skeptic throughout Very interested in the mechanics of the Arturism movement--how and why it works His notebooks provide Oly with valuable resources while retelling the Binewski story
Zephir McGurk	Electrician who joins Fabulon when he designs a mechanical device to satisfy what he imagines (wrongly) is Arty's sexually-devoid life Rigs bleachers in Arty's tent for sound, enabling Arty's rhetorical powers to increase their effects on audience
Vern Bogner	Attempts to assassinate Binewski children when they are young, but misses After botched suicide attempt leaves him faceless, he joins Fabulon (Arty and Oly know true identity) to protect Arty Arty "gives" the twins to him, but he's killed by Lil when she recognizes his gait

Novel Structure

Dunn has structured the novel through the established mode called "in medias res"--which means that she starts in the middle of the story, and then tells the events that lead up to the current action. Such a structuring choice requires that we ask some questions about the various elements of the novel:

Which of the stories told here is the primary one--the story of the Binewski family and Oly's upbringing, or the story of Oly, Miranda, and Miss Lick?
Does the implied motivation for Oly's telling of the story--that is, the passing along of the Binewski history to her child--help us see the relationship between the past and present timelines?
What is the effect of Dunn's choice to use an alternating-timeline narrative structure here? In other words, could she not have written the story from beginning to end instead of interspersing the "Notes for Now" (i.e. current timeline) chapters among the Binewski history chapters? What effect does that interspersing have on our understanding of the stories told here?

Thematic and Symbolic Elements

This novel is filled with objects and ideas that operate in a symbolic or thematic fashion. Some things to think about or investigate are listed below:

The urn on the generator truck
The way "normal" is defined and lived in the Fabulon
The values of Arturism and what they say about our contemporary belief systems
The way the novel constructs an ideology of childhood

Intertextual Elements

Many aspects of this novel operate intertextually--that is, they refer to other texts in ways that can enhance the literal meaning of the book. A few of those intertextual elements are listed below:

Electra and Iphigenia

In Greek mythology, Electra and Iphigenia were daughters of King Agamemnon. When Agamemnon was called to the Trojan War, the naval ships were stuck due to no wind. To appease the gods, Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia. Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, killed Agamemnon on his return from the war. Electra, in turn, plotted with her brother, Orestes, to avenge Agamemnon's death, and so they killed Clytemnestra.

The question, then, becomes how this background affects the ways we think about the novel's stories. Does this bloodthirstiness in the Greek myth parallel anything in this tale?

The Tempest

The epigraph of Geek Love is from Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, when Prospero says "This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine." He's talking about Caliban, a slave of his, who has conspired (unsuccessfully) to overturn Prospero's power over him.

Miranda is the name of Oly's daughter, and also the name of Prospero's daughter in The Tempest. Prospero is something of a magician, and lives on an isolated island with Miranda and Caliban. Miranda has never seen nor been around "normal" humans.

Given these basic elements of the play, does this affect the way we think about the story's events?
Do you see any parallels between the play and the novel, in terms of characters or plot?

Significant Quotes

There are, obviously, dozens of interesting, critical, and otherwise significant quotes in this book. I'll point you here toward a few that seem particularly compelling. The entire quote isn't included--you'll have to look them up to see it in its entirety.

pp. 105-6: "It is, I suppose, the common grief of children . . . our own adulthood and its forgetfulness."

This is an interesting inversion of the way we usually consider childhood and adulthood. Do you think it makes any sense?

p. 115: "What Arty wanted the crowds to hear . . . make up for the misery that had just been revealed to them."

This seems to be one of those critical, revelatory points--Arty recognizes his power to control more people than just his own family here. Arturism's roots are exposed here.

p. 162: "Miss Lick's purpose is to liberate women who . . . unencumbered by natural beauty. So am I."

There's an interesting parallel between Miss Lick and Arty that's shown here--both see their ability to change people's lives through the positions of power that they occupy. But are there motivations similar? Are they both control freaks? Or does one have a more "noble" motivation than the other?

p. 185: "Arty said, in private, that the scumbags . . . see what that did for them."

Arty often lets us see that his personal feelings aren't involved at all in the Arturism movement, aside from his greed for power and the ability to manipulate people. But does that mean that the people in the movement aren't changed or helped by their involvement?

p. 315: "Dear daughter, I won't try to call my feeling for Arty love . . . what a poor thing I have always been and forgive me."

This is Oly's attempt to describe the strange family dynamic that fostered her feelings for Arty over the years. The love/hate relationship is one that is mirrored in her later "friendship" with Miss Lick.