Sound shadows et al

[Matthew P Wiener]

Paul Mackin writes:

>Since I brought up the sound-shadows passage in support of the
>proposition that Pynchon must have paid attention in physics class, I
>had better elaborate a little myself. My memory of GR was also
>slightly old, but I did manage to find to the passage. The topic is
>introduced on p. 695 in a section called LISTENING TO THE TOILET:
>"Imagine this very elaborate scientific lie: that sound cannot travel
>through outer space. Well, but suppose it CAN. Suppose They don't
>want us to know there is a medium there, what used to be called an
>"aether," which can carry sound to every part of the Earth.  [...]

>Thus the stage is set for a whole lot of fun, including eddies in the
>Soniferous Aether, sound shadows, the Kenosha Kid (again), [...]

I agree that it's a whole lot of fun.  I would call it parodic science,
and not particularly deep.  The switch from luminiferous ether is just
namedropping--the science he's bouncing off of adds little to what he
is doing here, except simply to multiply his multifariousness in yet
one more direction.
--
-Matthew P Wiener (weemba at sagi.wistar.upenn.edu)