Stone Melody

WillL at fieldschool.com WillL at fieldschool.com
Thu Apr 3 20:08:24 CST 1997


Date	4/3/97
Subject	Stone Melody
>From	WillL
To	Pynchon List

Stone Melody

Brian A:  No one else has mentioned this yet, so I will (though it is hardly
original to me):  the lyrics at the end of GR fit the melody of (Oh, my God, I
can't spell it) "Auld Lang Syne" (the New Year's Eve song).

I think that the GR Companion by Weisenberger makes a pretty compelling case for
the Gaia interpretation.

I, too, have always read the song as a kind of perversely hopeful Mel-O-Dee as
the rocket comes falling out of the sky above our heads, but I tend to find
salvation in music at every turn.  There's an equally valid reading that this is
the ultimate black comedy -- willing us to sing ourselves into happiness just
when our demise is inevitable.

By the way, I love the fact that M&D seems to begin with some children, the
crucial shadow inhabitants of the GR world, in my view.  If you haven't, seek
out Richard Powers' "Operation Wandering Soul" for both a Pynchonesques
"children's story" and one chapter that is a brilliant take off on the opening
scene of GR. 

-- Will Layman





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