IJ Yorick and cyanide

[Bonnie Surfus ENG]

On Tue, 19 Mar 1996 ChrisO at fieldschool.com wrote:

> Date	3/19/96
> Subject	IJ Yorick and cyanide
> From	ChrisO
> To	pynchon list
> 
> IJ Yorick and cyanide
> 
> "Alas! poor Yorick.  I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite 
> jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand 
> times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it."
> 
> One of Wallace's hints at this source is the name of Himself's production 
> company: Poor Yorick Entertainment Unlimited.  And this brings up the 
> scene's classic staging, with Hamlet addressing Yorick's skull: the 
> movement of knowledge or intellect or speech from an animate thing 
> (Hamlet/the film cartridge "Infinite Jest") to a recently unanimated 
> thing (Yorick's head/the viewer of "Infinite Jest")
> 
> 
> Don't remember who said this (Paul Mackin?) but it refers back to one of my
> favorite saws too - might have written in a few weeks ago. rememberance of
> hilarity in the presence of death (to wit: yorick skull et al) matches
> entertainment cartridge that brings death. Also resonates with the bit @430
> where an entire family dies horribly while trying to perform CPR on son who
> suicided with cyanide Quik - QUIK, fer chrissakes! Ha ha ha!
> 
> Also: heard rumors that DFW was instiutionalized. Certainly don't want to open
> an old wound for him (because I really sort of assume he's lurking with us) but
> I'd be interested to know anything from anyone.
> 
> chris o.
> 
> 
> 
You've got to wonder about (Marathe's wife?) the girl born without a 
skull--will this resurface, or is this just some coincidence of 
rhizomatic structuration?