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Title: Nature scenes in A Frolic of His Own
Review: I've noticed many instance of reviewers complaining about the nature scenes in this book. It seems that some people feel them to be unrelated to the rest of what is going on in the story. To the contrary, it is simply yet another sublime (though admittedly indirect) method by which Gaddis extolls his central analysis: that despite all of our technology and sophistication, the absurdities and idiocies presented throughout the book are an irreducible part of our human nature.Gaddis puts it all on the same level - the animals in Oscar's front yard, Oscar's legal entanglements, the scenes of f***ing fleeing and fighting that are constantly shown in Oscar's nature programs...All Gaddis is doing is comparing the differing behaviors of animals in order to draw attention to the debased and fraudulent character of home sapiens...Doing so he seems to say of the litany of idiocies and absurdities detailed in the book: "THIS is OUR nature."
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