GRGR1: Discussion opener for section 1

[Craig Clark]

Paul Murphy sez:

> Both. Answer to 1. (provisionally): too late denotes a foreclosure of
> possibility. Too late to run back and rescue what has gone before. I meant
> to say this initially, but held off; but 'preterition' is not only a
> Calvinist term, but also a twist on verb tenses: the 'has-been' (and may be
> again) of historical time is 'perfect' (it has been, es ist gewesen); the
> imperfect (it was, es war) is the 'preterite' tense: from the Latin
> 'praeterito'; see Augustine's Confessions: nihil de praeterito revocatur:
> nothing of what has passed by can be recalled. It is too late to intervene,
> too late to do anything. (The 'it' here is the empty pronoun of 'it is
> raining').

There's probably a link here to the "William Slothrop" section later, 
where TRP considers the possibility that William was the set of 
points from which America got onto the wrong set of tracks, fucking 
up the preterite in the rest of the world in the name of preserving 
the privileges of the Elect... If the wrong turning came generations 
back, roundabout the time Hester Prynne was being made to wear a 
scarlet A on her blouse, then it is indeed "too late"... The great 
poignancy here is that "William Slothrop" is modelled on "William 
Pynchon".

 
Craig Clark

"Living inside the system is like driving across
the countryside in a bus driven by a maniac bent
on suicide."
   - Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"