Professor Wohlbruck's message reminds me of the meta narrative technique used at the beginning of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Huck acknowledges his obscurity by referring to his author's prior novel, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," and comments on his own text. It's a thoroughly modern (or is it now post-modern?) technique.

Joe Alvarez
900 Havel Court
Charlotte, NC 28211-4253
Telephone: 704.364.2844
FAX: 704.364.9348

Sent from my iPad

> On Aug 25, 2016, at 8:56 AM, Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Yes!  Joe & Wolfgang; even more specifically; a zoom-in, establishing shot.
> 
> Psycho!  good one!  also thought of:  The Birdcage (terrific opening zoom
> right into the club); Saturday Night Fever (not exactly zoom in); The Dark
> Knight; (are there others?)
> 
> Alternatively: there is the amazing scene in Gandhi zooming out from the
> funeral.
> 
> -hb
> 
> On Thu, Aug 25, 2016 at 4:08 AM, Wolfgang Hochbruck <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> ...actually, I feel like i should chime in here because Joe said "Zoom
>> in" first, and then "establishing shot", and he is right on both counts,
>> only that narratologically "establishing  shot" is the general category,
>> including also bird's eye, pan(orama) shot etc.  The really wild thing
>> is that what Twain uses here - and what Belasco adapted for the theatre
>> -- is really a cameratic technique before any camera could do something
>> like it. Like with a number of other developments, the technology here
>> followed the writer's imagination.
>> 
>> best  wishes,
>> w
>> 
>> Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hochbruck
>> Department of English /
>> Centre for Security and Society
>> Albert Ludwigs University
>> 15 Rempart St.
>> D- 79098 Freiburg
>> 
>> Am 25.08.2016 08:18, schrieb Joe Alvarez:
>>> Establishing shot, that's probably the closest one yet. The description
>> from=
>>>  Life on the Mississippi reminds me of the opening--establishing
>> shot--of Al=
>>> fred Hitchcock's Psycho.
>>> 
>>> Joe Alvarez
>>> 900 Havel Court
>>> Charlotte, NC 28211-4253
>>> Telephone: 704.364.2844
>>> FAX: 704.364.9348
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>> 
>>>> On Aug 25, 2016, at 1:47 AM, Peter Salwen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>> =20
>>>> What you called the"birds-eye view" might also be called an establishing
>>>> shot
>>>> Not by Twain, though.
>>>> =20
>>>> On Aug 25, 2016 1:27 AM, "Joe Alvarez" <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>>> =20
>>>> How about "zoom in"? That is what is happening in your description.
>>>> =20
>>>> Joe Alvarez
>>>> 900 Havel Court
>>>> Charlotte, NC 28211-4253
>>>> Telephone: 704.364.2844
>>>> FAX: 704.364.9348
>>>> =20
>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>> =20
>>>>> On Aug 24, 2016, at 8:33 PM, Wesley Britton <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> I have a question about one passage in Life on the Mississippi. I
>> suspect=
>>>> i=3D
>>>> t
>>>>> will be very familiar to many of you.
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> It's the passage where we first get a birds-eye view of a place along
>> the=
>>>>> river before Twain narrows his focus to one town, then one street, then
>>>> on=3D
>>>> e
>>>>> house, then a sleeping man on a porch.
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> Back in grad school, a professor used a term to define this technique
>> of
>>>>> moving from the general to the specific, but I can't figure out now
>> what
>>>>> term he meant.
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> Any ideas?
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> Dr. Wesley Britton
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> Author, Beta-Earth Chronicles
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> www.drwesleybritton.com
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> =3D20
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Prof. Harold K. Bush
> Professor of English
> 3800 Lindell
> Saint Louis University
> St. Louis, MO  63108
> 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
> <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>