Over the Rainbow

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Andrew Dinn explains:
"All this talk of refracted light and hovering water drops is
explanation, causality, a different and somewhat more paranoid game
than that f rainbow spotting. One of the reasons it is so difficult
to explain to kids what rainbows `are' when they don't know any
physics is that the `explanation' tries to involve them in a different
type of activity to that of observing and commenting on rainbows the
way kids and people (scientists included) usually do . . . "


Quite right!  And that points to the real issues in dealing with a title
like GRAVITY'S RAINBOW.  The Rainbow has been freighted with all kinds of
connotations in Western culture alone--a sign of God's covenant with Noah
(it won't be water--it'll be the fire next time!); the mark of Iris, 
posting a message from Mt. Olympus; the  bridge to Valhalla; u.s.w.
Then there's the whole Romantic legacy--"my heart leaps up when I behold
etc.", Keats' complaint that Newton's optics had ruined rainbows for him,
u.s.w.

There's a lot to chew on right there.  Now add in the scientific aspects,
mix in *gravity* and blend!

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)