Parallel Passage Pursuits

[grip at netcom.com]

On Fri, 19 Jul 1996, jm wrote:

> As I read Celine I am struck by passages that call to mind certain passages
> in Pynchon and other writers.  Is it unconscious plagarism on the part of
> the writers, or sly allusion, or perhaps just my own tendency to look for
> connections where none exist?  Of course none of this brand of uncertainty
> is new to readers of TRP.  Here are my latest examples:  

When I first read GR, I was struck with the notion that TRP was under the 
influence of some psychotropic substance when he wrote certain passages. 
Hemp derivatives have been around for quite some time and certainly 
Celine had access to them. While under the influence, many connections 
that are not normally apparent to the conscious mind, become obvious to 
the altered state of consciousness. Later, when back to "normal", some of 
these connections seem absurd. But the memory is there, and, I suspect, the 
influence.

grip

> 
> Celine's _North_, p.240:  "I could see the ground moving... not only ahead
> of me... out there!...the whole plain!... the beet field
> rising...falling...in the distance...I'm not really dizzy...but maybe I'm
> not feeling so good...damn!"
> 
> _Gravity's Rainbow_ p.67:  "Now every loose stone, every piece of tinfoil,
> billet of wood, scrap of kindling or cloth is moving up and down: rising ten
> feet, then dropping again to hit the pavement with a sharp clap.  The light
> is thick and water-green.  All down the streets, debris rises and falls in
> unison, as if at the mercy of some deep, regular wave.  It's difficult to
> see any distance through the vertical dance."  
> 
> And here's another:
> 
> Celine's _North_, p.194:  "the sky is furrowed with RAF, Berlin-London round
> trip, breaking up the clouds."  
> 
> Delany's _Dhalgren_, last page:  :The sky is stripped. I am too weak to
> write much.  But I still hear them walking in the trees; not speaking.
> Waiting here, away from the terrifying weaponry..."  
> 
> -jm
> 
>