Hello and Query

[Bernd Herzogenrath]

Hello everybody,

my name is Bernd, and I joined the list about a couple of days ago. So, I'd
thought I say HELLO to you all, and throw in a question (tho I don't wanna
disturb ongoing discussions ...). Now, I have to admit, this question is
NOT REALLY restricted to things pynchonite, but I thought I'd appeal to a
certain community to reach into the further depths of their experience as
readers. At the moment, I'm about to prepare a project in American Studies
on the metaphor of amputation and:or the phantom limbs in American
Literature, Cinema, Art and History (Political Speeches, Pamphlets). In
literature, Captain Ahab comes to mind, in fact quite some characters in
Melville. Is there such a thing as a kind of American obsession with
missing limbs? I'm also thinking of the metaphor of the missing limb in the
political rhetoric of segregation/reconstruction and:or of manifest destiny
... maybe even in the accounts of the first settlers, maybe as a reaction
to the separation from the 'mother country' ... 
Hope this does not sound TOO absurd ... I'm really looking forward to
ideas, suggestions, and help. Thanx a lot for your effort, hope this doesn'
leave you ... eh ... stumped ...
Bernd