Pynchon, Rilke & Things Angelic [was Re: MDMD(4) - Giant rob

[Vaska]

A couple of comments in response to Charles: "forever unexplained" does
sound sinister enough to me, given the surrounding imagery, and it does not
mean either "inherently inexplicable" or "unitelligible."  It suggests a
source that refuses to proffer any explanation at all.  Secondly, I didn't
write any of these novels, Pynchon did: and the Rilke allusions I pointed to
*are* there, in both _GR_ and _M&D_, whether we decide to see them as
elegant, clumsy, or meaningless.  Maybe the passage in question is but
another instance of that "illusion of depth" we were warned about at the
beginning of _M&D_: don't know. It's just one of the things in/about this
novel which it'll take me a while to figure out to my [at least temporary]
satisfaction.

Vaska

Charles, politely but sternly: 
>This thread seems to founder on the idea that the "robed beings" 
>serve a greater purpose in this passage than is readily apparent.
>
>[gone much good stuff you can check out in Charles's post itself]