In Chapter 1 of “Origin” by Dan Brown there is a following sentence:
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, looked like something out of an alien hallucination—a swirling collage of warped metallic forms that appeared to have been propped up against one another in an almost random way.
And my question about this sentence:
What does “an alien hallucination” mean in this case?
Does this “alien” refer to “extraterrestrial inhabitant”?
As a non-native speaker of English, I’d be most grateful, if you could help me understand this sentence. Many thanks.
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Hi Lele, welcome back to the forum, it’s been a while since I last saw you here. How have you been?
As for your question, yes I think that’s exactly what Dan Brown had in mind when you used the word ‘alien’. I’m pretty sure alien here refers to ‘out of space/extraterrestrial’. The funny thing about the term ‘alien hallucination’ is that it’s also the brand name of a specific type of cannabis. Did you know that?
Cheers,
Torsten
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Thank you very much for your prompt answer.
Is it possible that Mr. Brown intended a pun with this “alien hallucination”
considering this is also one of psychoactive drugs?
Many thanks.
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Yes, I think that it’s quite possible he used the phrase intentionally since he must have been aware of its ambiguity.
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Thank you very much for your answer again, which is helpful.
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