Thanks for Qlippoth comments, plus one more

[Eric Alan Weinstein]

Thanks to all who answered my Qlippoth post. 
Hope it's okay to post this to the list.

Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 02:04:32 -0800
From: Simon Bryquer <bryquer at ibm.net>
Reply-To: bryquer at ibm.net
To: Eric Alan Weinstein <E.A.Weinstein at qmw.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: the Qlippoth, walking shells of the Dead
References: <1.5.4.32.19700101000000.006a4a18 at alpha.qmw.ac.uk>

I will simply assume for now (if not lt me know for a more detailed
explanation of overall relationships in Kabbalah))that you are aware
that it is a Kabbalistic term.

The Qlippoth  or Kelifot are emblematic of the fifth sefiroth
(emanation) Gevurah from the Tree of Life.  Which represents the land of
'Severe Judgement' and at it most extreme level: Hell.  It is the sphere
of 'husks and shells' --  the sphere of lost souls merely represented as
shadows- thus husks and shells of their former selfs, their former
humanity -- of war and destruction where mankind has abandoned its
humanity under the guise of knowing and judging without the counter
balacing and opposite sefiroth Chesed=Grace and a direct result of the
balance of Binah and Chochma/Understanding and Wisdom -- the first twin
emenation from the true knowledge (da'at) of the Divine/ the Godhead and
it this grammar known as the Kether, the crown -- the First  Emanation. 
On one level all GR is set in Gevurah, a godless, soul-less world with
the powers of Chesed trying to gain ground.

I might add that Pynchon's knowledge of Kabbalah is superficial, yet at
times he uses it well and instinctively as poetic bridges.  And by his
own admission at the  end he shows the structure of the rocket to be
layered as the Tree of Life, but upside down -- just as the
understructure of the novel can be view as climbing the Tree of Life
right-side up. An Ascendency. 

The structure and multifaceted layers of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life is
very fitting for the poetic and spiritual  underpinings of anything in
life and of course lends itself well to literary structure and Pynchon
seems to have been greatly drawn to it, though I feel he is somewhat
reticent because he is not as familiar with it as he perhaps would like
to have been at the time of writing GR. One can lay and layer all of GR
under the emblems and symbology of the Kabbalah and gain an
understanding that has really never been discussed on this list or
anywhere else for that matter.  A while back people wondered about how
Pynchon saw Ouspensky?  These offerings were lacking in understanding
of the subject except for what they may have picked up from a ready but
inadequate and superficial  entry in some encyclopedia and thus quickly
dismissing its importance.  But Pynchon is more involved in that world
and in those dimensions than this group knowns or cares to admit.  The
proof is these recurring themes and motifs are seen throughout the most
significant passages of GR.

It is very late here in New York City so forgive the typos and if you
have more question -- feel free.

Simon Bryquer

Eric Alan Weinstein
Centre For English Studies
University Of London
E.A.Weinstein at qmw.ac.uk