GRGR(9) Pointsman/Slothrop

[Paul Mackin]

----------
> From: ckaratnytsky at nypl.org
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: GRGR(9) Pointsman/Slothrop
> Date: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 4:28 PM
> 
>      1) `habitually blank' (136.39) Why are these words italicised? Oh,
>      and whose are they by the way?
>      
>      I disagree here, Paul, with your assessment that these words 
>      are italicised "only for mild emphasis."  I think the italics are a 
>      red light -- the kind that we have seen in use since 
>      Pirate's opening dream. 

I may well have to agree. Chris's analysis is much more thorough
and perceptive than my shot in the dark. John concurs with Chris.
Will go back and reread. (I'm a dreamer too.)

				P.

Chris continues:
 (I'm kind of stuck on this, I know.)  Our 
>      omniscient narrator seems to be stepping in once again to signal to us 
>      that the term itself and what follows require particular attention.
>      
>      To me, this near-ironic use of a Pavlovian concept -- habit, I mean, 
>      or what is perceived as habit, through conditioning (this *is* a 
>      Pavlovian concept, is it not?) -- draws attention to the dominant 
>      character and topics of the section.  We are currently inhabiting the 
>      dream and, later, the inner mind of Pavlovian Pointsman, yes?, so 
>      terms like "predictable" and "constant" have a layered effect, in that 
>      their scientific as well as their everyday meanings are being invoked. 
>      
>      I guess the point is to further illustrate (along with the narrative 
>      -- the story related here is of Pointsman's "should haves," ain't it?) 
>      the completeness of his immersion in the scientific world (as 
>      these phrases, second nature now, come so naturally) and of his 
>      removal or remoteness from the, what, real world, the world of 
>      experience, the world of love?
>      
>      I think the dream stuff here is dead-on tied to Pirate's/Slothrop's 
>      dream:  "More than an 'event'... our common mortality...these tragic 
>      days..."  Pynchon rocks the house with this subtle interrelations and 
>      dreamer Chris finds it very exciting.
>      
>      11) `Even if the American's not legally a murderer he is sick' (144.7) 
>      Boy! that's rich!
>      
>      I'm reading this as Pointsman's view that Slothrop is to be blamed for 
>      the death of Kevin Spectro, who got caught in one of the bombings.  He 
>      (Pointsman) feels that he (Slothrop) is responsible for the *all* of 
>      the bombings.  Is this what you're getting at, Andrew?
>      
>      12) `We must never lose control' (144.36) Double boy! He continues 
>      `The thought of him lost in the world of men, after the war, fills me 
>      with a deep dread I cannot extinguish [...]'. These lines are really 
>      scary. Pointsman recognises that he appears `creepy' to others but 
>      only as a physical thing. But this is the mental creeps of a higher 
>      order which, of course, he cannot recognise.
>      
>      Yes, it becomes a little clearer for me here, maybe:  Pointsman 
>      (misguidedly?) thinks Slothrop "a monster," whereas he fails to 
>      recognize the horror of his own monstrousness, yes?  But I'm not sure 
>      I understand what his monstrousness is.  The "should haves?"  The 
>      experiments?  The destructive self-delusions?  This is what you mean 
>      by "mental creeps," Andrew, yes?
>      
>      That Chris
>