kleist's on the marionette theater, fencing bears, paul auster, and joyce

First, read Kleist's "On the Marionette Theater."

http://southerncrossreview.org/9/kleist.htm

Then...

There is obviously a connection between the bear's mindless effectiveness and a Zen mindlessness.

The boy with the thorn, makes me think of the authors in "The Reader's Manifesto" who once they fall in love with the sound of their own "voice," become unable to write anything but drivel.

The less we see the "light" of an author's style, the more the characters shine through. The "grace" in Joyce comes from his complete self-effacement as a stylist when considering his characters. When the style becomes lyrical, the luminousness is projected onto the characters, not Joyce. It is at this point that the "jointed man" touches the "god."