VLVL(6) group theory

[Doug Millison]

Here's a post from VLVL(5), again, that sheds a little light on the group
theory reference.
-Doug

>188.27 "Weed Atman"

Joseph W. Slade's essay, "Communication, Group Theory, and Perception in
_Vineland_" (collected in _The Vineland Papers_) has just clued me into a
reading of Weed Atman that opens up an interesting, scientific
sub-structure for VL.

Slade suggests that Weed is Pynchon's fictionalization of Evariste Galois
"(1811-1832) [...] a radical republican killed during the upheavals that
brought Louis-Phillipe to power in France in the early 1830s. Galois's is a
famous story of failed rebellion and betrayal, told in versions as
conflicting as those peddled by Pynchon's veterans." Galois is credited
with the invention of the modern form of mathematical group theory. Slade
refers to a 1982 article by Tony Rothman, "Genius and Biographers:  The
Fictionalization of Evariste Galois", which identifies a woman who may have
been involved, along with a political cause,  in sparking  the duel which
killed Galois, and who may serve as a model for Frenesi.

Slade goes on to view VL through this lens of group theory, using it to
account for the "3-D body [...] projected onto the 2-D sole, a map of
itself" (169) by which Prof. Wawazume identifies the Chipco footprint as
that of a 100-meter tall saurian. Slade also discusses group theory in
terms of the perceptual psychology of James J. Gibson, and shows how this
seems to inform VL. In particular Slade points to the passage on p. 173
where by a trick of the morning light DL and Takeshi are privileged to a
view of the hidden corners and angles of Shade Creek before the laws of
perspective re-establish themselves as an example of the way Pynchon may be
using these notions in the novel.

Slade makes it sound pretty plausible -- if so, he's managed to put
_Vineland_ on the same solid scientific footing as GR: "Here, as in all his
fiction, Pynchon's originality lies in the juxtaposition of popular culture
with science."

Doug