Chaos, Fractals & GR

[Tim Ware]

Bonnie writes:

>Black against white images, as we know, appear throughout.  But 
>characteristically jagged or rough shape--this is a feature of >fractals.

Recursiveness and self-similarity through scale give much of Pynchon's 
work, particularly V and GR, its world-building quality.  Those v's 
within v's on the overleaf in V, reminiscent of the Sierpinski arrowhead 
or the Koch snowflake, are the visual representation of the recursive, 
fractal nature of the text.  I needn't go into the myriad examples of 
"v-objects" which inhabit that amazing novel.

GR (which to me seems like almost a continuation of V) has this same 
quality, as you've pointed out, though I think that it may be a bit off 
the mark to get too hung up the the visual nature of fractals, particular 
since the swirling sort of fractal to which you seem to be referring, is 
a product of computers post-GR.  Pynchon describes shapes as they occur 
in nature, but I don't think there is any "intention" to be referencing 
Chaos Theory.

>At the close is the camera image of this, viewed by the serpent->like 
Grigori (if in tentacles alone--just in terms 
>of visuals, fractal imagery) Katje.

Octopus Grigori is IG Farben on a smaller scale.   I think to see the 
*shape* of the octopus as a fractal misses the point.   I mean, the shape 
of the octopus is important in the sense of the sprawling groping 
creature, but WAS PYNCHON SEEING THESE GORGEOUS SWIRLING FRACTALS BEFORE 
HIGH-POWERED COMPUTERS WERE GENERATING THEM???  Who knows?

To me, it's the scalar quality of GR (and V) that gives it that Ur-chaos 
feel.  IG - octopus - Katje's probing fingers...parabolas and mandalas on 
every level and at every scale.

Also, in connection with chaotic behavior (extreme sensitivity to initial 
conditions) witness the paraboloid death mirror (728):

 "The idea was to set off an explosion in front of the paraboloid, at the 
exact focal point. [...] Fog, wind, hardly visible ripples or snags in 
the terrain, anything less than perfect conditions, could ruin the shock 
wave's deadly shape."

The chaotic dynamic of GR is generating fractal shapes, shapes which 
exist in that magical interface between reader and text.

>Visually, we are priveleged to note that red imagery pervades the 
>text--with the (black) text itself as the center of our 
attention-->black on white. 

Of course, we are also privileged to note that yellow, green, magenta and 
blue also pervade the text.  Have you read "Coloring Gravity's Rainbow" 
in Pynchon Notes 16?  Great stuff.

I'm sure you've also been pointed to K. Hayles' Chaos and Order: Complex 
Dynamics in Literature and Science, as well as The Cosmic Web.  They're 
both great reads and on point with what you're grappling with.

Tim

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ timware at crl.com
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