the whiteness of the whale

[ckaratnytsky at nypl.org]

     "Here, then, was this grey-headed ungodly old man, chasing with curses 
     a Job's whale round the world, at the head of the crew, too, chiefly 
     made up of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals--morally 
     enfeebled also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or 
     right-mindedness in ______ [insert name of your choice here], the 
     invulnerable jollity of indifference and recklessness in ______ 
     [insert name of your choice here], and the pervading mediocrity in 
     ______ [insert name of your choice here].  Such a crew, so officered, 
     seemed specially picked and packed by some infernal fatality to help 
     him to his monomaniac revenge.  How it was that they so aboundingly 
     responded to the old man's ire--by what evil magic their souls were 
     possessed, that at times his hate seemed almost theirs; the White 
     Whale as much their insufferable foe as his; how all this came to 
     be--what the White Whale was to them, or how to their unconscious 
     understandings, also, in some dim, unsuspected way, he might have 
     seemed the gliding great demon of the seas of life,--all this to 
     explain would be to dive deeper than Ishmael can go."   
     
     Jules, it's me, Chris.  As you can see, I've been reading Moby Dick 
     alongside Mason & Dixon.  Moby Dick is glorious, Jules.  Mason & Dixon 
     is pretty wonderful, too.  I've not read M&D before, and I'm trying to 
     understand it better with the help of my friends here on the Pynchon 
     list.  Trouble is, you are doing a bang-up job of overwhelming us with 
     your mail.  You are disrupting the list's reading of Mason & Dixon, 
     Jules, just as you disrupted the list's reading of Gravity's Rainbow.
     
     The first time this happened, I attributed it, simply and naturally, 
     to the confluence of events associated with your appearance here.  In 
     the face of the seemingly relentless nature of your behavior, and the 
     too-perfect-to-be-a-coincidence timing, I'm not so inclined to be 
     charitable this time.  I've tried to stay out of your adventures with 
     the list because you and I have a personal connection, but this is 
     getting a little old.  I don't want to be a part of your human robot 
     story, or any other story.  I don't give a fuck about how many posts 
     you get in response to your transparent tweaks.  I wish you stop 
     clogging the list with this nonsense.  OK?  
     
     Chris