Wozzek and GR

[Origenes at aol.com]

Hello foax I'm new to the list plus I'm a brand new Pynchon fan. I'm just now
finishing up GR. I have to admit I'm using the Companion as a crutch but have
found a few things it has left out. The end of part 4, episode 3, when the
Colonel from Kenosha is getting his haircut and gets his throat slashed, is a
near perfect recreation of a scene from Wozzek, the opera by Alban Berg.
There is one reference earlier to Wozzek (scratching my head, Where did I put
that Post-it?). There are a couple of correspondences. I can't find my copy
of the libretto so I apologize for any errors. In Wozzek a private slashes
his officer's throat while giving him a shave. The officer before this
happens has a nice long song full of dark metaphysics and how he's ready to
die and all. There are probably similarities to the Colonel's rambling
thoughts. The private has been driven insane by many pressures, one of them
being the sadistic treatment by a doctor who uses him as a guniea pig
(hmmm... where have I heard that before?). The only deviation from the story
in GR is that it is the Colonel, not the private, who seems to have been
treated by the doctor, Jamf to be specific. Other than introducing Byron the
Bulb, can anyone offer suggestions as to what this episode is all about? If
this is all well-known information please take it easy on me. : )

Thanks, 

Gordon Meuse