The Return of Twin Peaks

Franck Boulègue

Description

In 2017, twenty-five years after its initial release, a new season of Twin Peaks shook the world of television.

This new book is a detailed analysis of the third season of the television series and aims to elucidate some of the meanings of Twin Peaks: The Return and explain these in terms of philosophical, mythological and spiritual approaches.  It focuses on the third season of Twin Peaks but also refers to the first two seasons, and to the film, Fire Walk with Me.

Divided into three sections, the book first examines the third season as expanded storytelling through the lens of Gene Youngblood's theory of synesthetic cinema, intertextuality, integrationist, and segregationist approaches in the realm of fiction, and focuses on the role of audio and visual superimpositions in The Return. It goes on to question the nature of the reality depicted in the seasons via scientific approaches, such as electromagnetism, time theory, and multiverses. The third and final section aims to transcend this vision by exploring the role of theosophy, the occult, and other spiritual sources.

The author’s focus on the role of spirituality and science in Twin Peaks is what distinguishes this book from other works on the famous television series. The work of a scholar who is also a fan, the book should appeal to any hard-core Twin Peaks viewer.  

Foreword by Matt Zoller Seitz, editor-at-large at RogerEbert.com, and the television critic for New York magazine.

This will be essential reading for fans of Twin Peaks and academics writing about it.

Also of interest for students with an interest in philosophy, religion, science or spiritualism in visual and popular culture.

Foreword, by Matt Zoller Seitz 

Introduction 

 

Chapter I - Expanded Storytelling

1. The Web of Expanded Television and Synesthetic Cinema

2. Intertextualities 

3. Integrationists and segregationists in the realm of fiction

4. Audio and visual superimpositions 

 

Chapter II - What is Reality?

1. Atomic blasts, electromagnetism, and sounds

2. Time and time again

3. Parallel dimensions, multiverse theories, outer space and the Hollow Earth

 

Chapter III - Transcending The Return

1. Numerology, Tarot, Alchemy, Palmistry, ESP, and Astrology

2. Thought-Forms and Theosophy

3. The Book of Revelation, Vedic and Mesopotamian cosmologies 

 

Conclusion 

Sujets

• Genres
• Popular Culture
• Science Fiction
• Television
• Book of Revelation
• Art
• Mark Frost
• David Lynch

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 22 juin 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789382792
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

The Return of Twin Peaks
The Return of Twin Peaks: Squaring the Circle is essential for all Twin Peaks fans who relish a ‘deep dive’. In this remarkable work, Franck Boulègue has assembled the literary, religious, historical and scientific sources that inform Twin Peaks: The Return and placed them on display for our edification. Thoroughly researched and wide-ranging, this book helps us navigate David Lynch and Mark Frost’s fascinating, confounding masterpiece. This book hums with electricity; once you cross over, it will all be different.
– John Thorne, Wrapped in Plastic and Blue Rose Magazine

In The Return of Twin Peaks: Squaring the Circle, Franck Boulègue explores, with erudition, flair and imagination, the most eclectic references embodying the world of Twin Peaks. Unprecedented in its scope and reach, and presented in an engaging writing style, this book offers a fresh perspective on the collaboration between David Lynch and Mark Frost.
– Lynchland, https://www.facebook.com/Lynchland/

Boulègue’s book provides a new, fresh perspective on Twin Peaks: The Return, repositioning it as a spiritual odyssey, rich in references to both western and eastern esotericism. The depth and breadth of the analysis is staggering, opening up surprising new avenues of exploration, while also acknowledging the series’ roots in ancient epic storytelling and mythology.
– Lindsay Hallam, author of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
The Return of Twin Peaks
Squaring the Circle
Franck Boulègue
First published in the UK in 2021 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First published in the USA in 2021 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Copyright © 2021 Intellect Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover designer: Aleksandra Szumlas
Copy editor: Newgen
Production managers: Faith Newcombe and Georgia Earl
Typesetting: Newgen

Print ISBN 978-1-78938-277-8
ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-278-5
ePub ISBN 978-1-78938-279-2

Printed and bound by TJ Books.

To find out about all our publications, please visit
www.intellectbooks.com
There you can subscribe to our e-newsletter, browse or download our current catalogue, and buy any titles that are in print.

This is a peer-reviewed publication.
The Log Lady: ‘The stars turn and a time presents itself’.
– Twin Peaks: The Return
Penelope: ‘The stars change their pattern in the sky only for others. Return, oh return, Ulysses!’
– The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland , opera by Monteverdi
To get the real gem you must dive deep.
– Sri Ramakrishna
Contents
Foreword
Matt Zoller Seitz
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Expanded Storytelling
The Web of Expanded Television and Synesthetic Cinema 26
Intertextualities
Integrationists and Segregationists in the Realm of Fiction
Audio and Visual Superimpositions
2. What Is Reality?
Atomic Blasts, Electromagnetism and Sounds 152
Time and Time Again
Parallel Dimensions, Multiverse Theories, Outer Space and the Hollow Earth
3. Transcending the Return
Numerology, Tarot, Alchemy, Palmistry, ESP and Astrology 208
Thought-Forms and Theosophy
The Book of Revelation, Vedic and Mesopotamian Cosmologies
Conclusion
Correspondence Table
References
Foreword
Matt Zoller Seitz
In June of 2017, I had occasion to speak with two prominent showrunners whose work had been strongly and obviously influenced by David Lynch, just a couple of weeks after the debut of Twin Peaks: The Return . They were David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos , and Damon Lindelof, the co-executive producer of Lost and the co-creator of The Leftovers. Both of them immediately asked me if I’d seen the new Twin Peaks and what I thought of it.
At that point, I had seen it, but only the first four episodes – the same number everyone else had seen, as Lynch and his creative partner Mark Frost had decided not to release advance press screeners. But that was more than enough to recognize the magnitude of what Lynch and Frost were attempting. I told both Chase and Lindelof that even though I had to go through the formal charade of withholding judgement until I’d seen all eighteen, what I’d seen so far made me think that The Return was equal to but different from the original, and unlike anything else on television up to that point. A week later I would name Twin Peaks Show of the Year in the annual Vulture TV Awards, because even though I was breaking the publication’s rule against giving that award to a show that hadn’t finished its season yet (the piece ran right after the show premiered episode 5) I felt certain that even if the rest of the instalments were awful, The Return was still going to be the best thing on TV that year.
Chase and Lindelof were even less equivocal. Lindelof told me, just prior to a screening of The Leftovers finale at the Metograph Theater in New York, that he thought Lynch and Frost had raised the bar yet again for scripted television, just as they had the first time around. ‘Look, I’m proud of what we did’, he said, ‘but our show is here’, he said, holding his hand at eye level, ‘and David Lynch and Mark Frost are …’. Then he raised his hand over his head. Chase was attending an event at a television festival I had programmed in the West Village. ‘Do you think it’s as great as the first one?’ I asked him. ‘I think it’s greater’, he said. ‘I feel like I’m seeing something completely new’.
I feel the same way about Franck Boulègue’s writing on Twin Peaks , and everything related to the world of David Lynch. Most writing on the show is down here, but Boulègue is way up here. When I read him, I feel like I’m seeing something completely new.
Boulègue is working in the spirit of Lynch and Frost. He’s not trying to explain Twin Peaks or reduce its mysteries so that we can hold them in the palms of our hands. He uses words and pictures the way Lynch does: to create connections and associations, chains of influence and poetic effects. The information is arranged in sections according to commonality of subject or image (the American western, atomic power, time and time travel, parallel dimensions and the Hollow Earth, etc.) but nothing is self-contained; every section resonates with, or refers to, every other. It’s as much a visual and textual and visceral experience as an intellectual one. Reading Boulègue on Lynch and Frost is like entering the mushroom cloud in episode 8, revelling in the euphoria of going somewhere you’ve never been before, seeing things rendered that you might not think could be rendered, synapses firing like those white firefly-like embers/particles swarming against a black screen.
This is not how criticism is usually done. Not even criticism about Twin Peaks.
Even the best English-language writing I’ve seen on The Return (which Lynch and Frost think of simply as ‘Season Three’) is diminished by the impulse, whether conscious or instinctive, to ‘explain’ Twin Peaks , sum it all up, tell us what it means, put a frame around it and so on. It also tends to suffer from the limitations of written language itself. Even words wielded by a master writer might fail to evoke the intellectual and emotional impact of images, sound effects, music and performances arranged on-screen to evoke an emotional or visceral response, rather than to tell a linear story with some kind of conclusion or moral. That’s why so much criticism of film and television concentrates on characterization, plot and theme: literary values. Boulègue is interested in literary values and explores them in great detail, but he does it by returning, time and again, to the images, the shapes, the colours, the repetition of numbers or patterns: visual values. Mathematical values. Musical values.
He isn’t here to tell us what Twin Peaks is saying, or what it means, or to try to solve it like a jigsaw puzzle, although the way he puts observations and data together on the page does sometimes give the reader the feeling of watching an image take shape, a mass of lines or splash of colour at a time.
It’s not just that Boulègue is trying to get us to think. He’s finding a way to let us watch him think.
He’s answering one experience with another. It’s criticism as cinema on the page.
Reading this book reminds me what it felt like to watch the third season for the first time. You feel the detonation in your head, the buzz of synapses firing.
Matt Zoller Seitz is a television critic for New York Magazine/Vulture and editor at large for RogerEbert.com.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank David Lynch and Mark Frost for the countless hours of (traumatic) pleasure they have given me throughout the years, both on screen and in print. Both are truly bottomless wells of creativity, modern-day Homers who have imagined worlds profound enough to hold our interest for several decades, realms that continue to reveal new elements in their intricate and fascinating layers. It is a privilege to write about their work.
Thank you to Matt Zoller Seitz for spending time with this manuscript and writing its foreword. When I first sent him some of my ideas via Twitter, he did not know me but he nonetheless shared them right away, always supportive. Matt belongs to that rare breed of people who will listen to you whoever you are as long as he thinks that you have something interesting to say. I truly respect him and I am honoured that he agreed to write this foreword. Also, please support the charity his late wife Nancy Dawson created for non-binary teens at: https://www.transformcincy.org .
I would also like to thank the people at Intellect who have entrusted me for the third time with creating a book