Discussion opener for GRGR(4)

[Andrew Dinn]

Foax,

Discussion of GRGR(3) is officially over, although our interlude with
Jules seems to have swamped the usual response. Anyway, we move on to
discuss section 4 and read section 5, although any lingering questions
or comments on section 3 are not unwelcome. Discussion of section 4
and reading of section 5 will continue from today until 15th November.

As usual, I have some questions and comments which I will present
below.  I'm still interested in contributions of text, graphics or
audio clips which I will install below

    http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~andrew/pynchon-group-read.html

With any luck I should be able to scan in a few Robert Crumb cartoons
which touch on Pynchonian themes and hang them off this page. Expect a
note early next week.

Before I provide some opening comments on section 4, I'll remind you
that section 5 is on pp 60 - 72 of the Viking/Penguin edition of GR.
The opening words are the letter headed on the right with

    TDY Abreaction Ward [. . .]

and the closing words are

    [. . .] catch a cup or cigarette on route. Why?


The WWW address given above also contains full details of the group
reading tour, instructions for passengers and a full trip itinerary
indicating all major ports of call.

Before posting my openers let me recall that I have produced myself a
little line counter to help pinpoint GRGR references. The Viking/
Penguin edition has 40 or 41 lines per page (that's logical lines -
i.e. including the blank ones between paragraphs - rather than actual
printed lines). I have a piece of card with 41 ticks down the side and
I am using it to identify the line number for each citation. So, if I
write pp.ll after a reference (where pp and ll are numbers) that means
page pp, line ll.

Now here are the openers for GRGR(4):

 1) `row houses' (43.1) Does Pynchon mean what wee in Britain call a
    terraced house?

 2) `blast of noiselight' 43.12 the dog has been hit in a rocket
    strike hence his desirability to Pointsman who later urges Roger
    to minimise any fuss keeping the dog as near to `normative'
    (44.10) as possible. Does Pointsman really think dogs can display
    the same conditioned behaviour as Slothrop? Or does he really need
    a little fox with the relevant higher brain functions?

 3) `Pipe' (43.28) why does Beaver's pipe get capitalized?

 4) `gillie' (43.28) originally an old Highland chief's attendant this
    has come to mean a man or boy attending at a Scottish hunting or
    fishing meet.

 5) `young prig', `mocking ass' (43.38) Perfect choice of language for
    the characterin this place and time.

 6) `short long short' (44.12) Morse code? . - . Which letter?

 7) `Mrs Nussbaum' and `Lessie' (44.17) How did we get into fantasy
    land here? Is it teh ether? Note that up to this point we have
    done the usual drift from the narration and/or dialogue into the
    various characters voices and/or thoughts. Even the dog got a look
    in in the first paragraph. But where are we here? Is this like a
    TV or radio joke where the actors step sideways out of character
    for a second (possibly into a caricature of themselves, or maybe
    into another character not related to the show).

 8) `Exciting world of the laboratory [. . .]' (44.25) Why is he
    saying this to the dog? Are we still in the Mrs Nussbaum fantasy
    or are these his thoughts or is he really just talking to the dog?

 9) Roger adopts a face `The Moment of Truth'. Is this as per the
    psychiatrist in COL49 or `Number 37 the Fu Man Chu'? Or is it from
    boys adventure comics?

10) This scene up to 46.6 has a brilliant sense of the ridiculous and
    excellent comic timing and then it turns to something more
    menacing as we get hints of Pointsman's intentions "Perhaps it's a
    sign. Perhaps I should be branching out [. . .]  Silence
    Mexico. Try not to think what that means." (44-14 onwards) Finally
    it winds down with a beautifully sweet and mellow scene as Roger
    and Jess "turn southward. [. . .] time for home." (47.16)
    Delightful.

11) "a Victorian paraphrase of what once, long ago, resulted in Gothic
    cathedrals [. . .] back to fright, to simple escape [. . .] the
    Hospital of St Veronica of the True Image for Colonic and
    Respiratory Diseases." (46.29) Oh boy, *V*eronica and that
    *V*ictorian paraphrase. Anyone want to attempt to take this
    paragraph apart?

12) "Spectro" (47.1) As in spectre? spectrum? inspector?

13) "The Book" (47.3) Anyone know their Pavlov? Is the book real? (heh
    heh, loved asking that question).

14) "steel bones", "knife-edged, swooping shadows" (47-25 onwards)
    This all adds to the menace in this scene. Notice how the men
    become metal as their evil dominates them.

15) "spike" (47.33) As a verb?

16) "Abreactions of the Lord of the Night" (48.14) Lord of the Night
    corresponds to the god Nox in Latin or the god Nux (nu upsilon,
    xi) in Greek. Is this Spectro? Does the phrase mean
    dreams/nightmares or reactions caused by Spectro? If Spectro =
    spectrum does that mean white light like white moise? or like the
    colour of Death.

17) "I don't like it, Pointsman. Since you did ask." (48.16) Only we
    did not hear the question but it is whether Pointsman shoudl
    experiment on Slothrop. Spectro's objections are scientific, not
    moral, of course.

18) "ultraparodoxical" (48.34) we really do need that Pavlov
    expert. Is this really Pavlov? Who is M K Petrovna? (49.12)

19) "Suppose we considered the war itself as a laboratory" (49.21)
    Well, there's an idea for a book! Only it would be history, not a
    novel - consider Mengele, Krupps, Shell, the V2 team, the
    Manhattan Project, even taht old Enola Gay experiment.

20) "How Pointsman lusts aftre them, pretty children" (50.19) Why is
    the image used "lust"? Why link his scientific fantasies to sex?

21) "You . . ." (50.31) You? Suddenly we switch to direct address to
    the reader? Why?

22) Pointsman "scores" an octopus? Does this relate to the previous
    sexual imagery?

23) "Dr Porkeyevitch" - ok I don't need a Pavlovian for this one.

24) "The city of Smoke [. . .] dollful and piteous" (53.8)
    Wow. Another dream starting a scene. Another wake up into the
    `real' scene. Love that dollful pun!

25) "distribution in angel's-eye view, over the map of England, and
    their own chances, as seen from down here [. . .] Why is your
    equation only for angels, Roger? [. . .] It's not precognition."
    So, answer the lady. What have *A*ngels got to do with it, anyway?

26) "Antipointsman" (55.19) Can Mexico (or anyone) `survive anyplace
    in between' the one and the zero? Does Roger never have to commit?
    (i.e. take a reading and find out if it is one or the other?). Is
    Roger somehow continuous where Pointsman is discrete? (not that
    this would make them opposites, oh no, so it can't be this).

27) "Bombs are not dogs. No link. No memory. No conditioning" (56.10)
    "How can Mexico play, so at his ease, with these symbols of
    randomness and fright?" (56.16) Well?

28) "Jessica understands that [. . .]" (56.38) This is what makes Jess
    so cruel, no? Because she can see all this about Roger and yet she
    already knows in her heart of hearts that she will settle for
    Beaver.

29) "the cherub who's never quite been to hell and back but speaks as
    if he's one of the most fallen [. . .] Cheap nihilism is Captain
    Prentice's name for it" (57.12) ROger does go to hell later. Is he
    not yet preterite?

30) "terrible flirt" Jess 4 Pirate? a little fantasy? What does this
    say about Jess?

31) (58.16) Just admiring the cut which returns us to the window
    again. remember Jess "shibvering vuhvuhvuh" (53.23) well here she
    is again.

32) "It'll be like this when I'm thirty . . . flash of several
    children, a garden window, voices Mummy, what's . . ." (59.11)
    Roger's dream or Jessica's?

33) "Death has come to the pantry door: stands watching them, iron and
    patient, with a look that says *try to tickle me*." (60.1) There's
    that inflexible old iron again.


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.