I am glad the SteelSak scenes were not blue-pencilled down more or eliminated. If DFW had just included a line or two about Lenz' activities as a quick character-defining brushstroke and moved on, that would have been, to my mind, to kinda just use it for quick grotesque humor in a somewhat triviallizing way. The extended descriptions, including the more over the top/flirting with very dark humor bits, are, instead, a way to be strangely mindful and non-dismissive of how horrible the acts are and how horrible a mindset Lenz has fallen into, not to mention all the ways his acts and situation contrast with other characters and insights around the recovery house. This mindfulness through horror is very much on par with the sort of effect reached in sections like the Poor Tony seizure episode or the Antitois' deaths, situations where the mass of detail bordering on absurdity seems to ultimately allow rather than defuse our ability to connect with these characters and situations.
|