Andrew's Brain III

 

We return to Andrew and Briony. 

There is a bit in chapter three in which Andrew is describing to his therapist a road trip: our two young lovers drive from southern California to New York City, taking turns at the wheel.  

For the final stretch, beginning in Atlanta, the one not at the wheel was reading out loud. From Mark Twain, whom Andrew refers to, familiarly as MT. 

The book of MT's that enlivened those hours and days of driving?  The therapist guesses Huckleberry Finn.  Andrew corrects him. The book was The Prince and the Pauper. And he puts what I take it is a Doctorow-esque gloss on this book:

The two boys exchange identities, the prince is the pauper and the pauper is the prince. Briony liked the romance of that, Clemens saying there's nothing to royalty but the assumption. But it's more than a democratic parable: it's a tale for brain scientists. Given the inspiration, anyone can step into an identity because the brain is deft, it can file itself away in an instant. It may be stamped with selfhood, but let the neuron's start firing and Bob-s-your-uncle.

This is a fascinating brief exegesis. The Prince in question is Edward Tudor, the long-sought son of Henry VIII. The political anti-monarchical reading is attributed to Briony and described as a "romance", perhaps in contrast to the more sober reading to follow. Oddly, though, in this context only Andrew used the name "Clemens".  Throughout the rest of Doctorow's book, Andrew refers to his favorite author as Mark Twain or MT. But here, in the passage I've just quoted you, Clemens.  Clemens says there's nothing to royalty but the assumption. 

Why his birth name here? Perhaps Andrew or Doctorow is suggesting that there are limits to the deftness of the brain in filing itself away.  That the organic creature, Clemens from birth, remains as a substratum however much it may become enmeshed with a creature of social convention, Twain, just as (in the story) there remained something regal about the prince even in his unlikely post-switch circumstances. 

The moment quickly passes, because the therapist at this point wants to discuss, not literary exegesis, but chronology. Did Briony withdraw from college to couple with Andrew in New York, or had she already graduated by this point? 

But the bit with the two boys and their change of identities [and Clemens/Twain and his?] stays with me. 

I expect I will have some final words about this book tomorrow.