GRGR(16) jingle bells 347.3 (is also Re: GRGR(16) sleigh 359.3 with M&D echoe Re: GRGR(16) sleigh 359.3 with M&D echoe

[David Morris]

>From: rj
<[snip] Doug has joined the fun after all.
>*****

Doug has never left the fun/fray.  And what fun it is!  Spice 'O Life and 
all.  Make mine blackened, please.

>The sequence with the sleigh, however, does contain a favourite conceit
>of Mr Pynchon's. Echoes too (and not just architectural) of the crowd
>being marshalled along from the railway to the hotel in Pirate's dream
>in the opening sequence of the novel,
[snip]
>I always see these "crowd scenes" as references to the reader; metaphors
>for the act of reading, spectating, interpreting things. Cues, if you
>like. We each get a bit part
[snip]
>It is here that the reader will see her or himself reflected. (Wave to
>the kids. Mouth "Hi Mom" to the camera.)
>
>What we are watching ourselves watching is the alienation of Eastern
>culture by the machinery (and machinations) of Western culture. The
>historical lesson which Mr Pynchon draws our attention to here is the
>"classic hustle" (346.18) the British pulled on the Chinese in those
>Opium Wars (1839-42; 1856-60): the success of "British trade policy back
>during the last century."(346.17) We don't need to smoke opium to reach 
>nirvana, however
[meanful snip]
>"unreadable", "turgid", "overwritten", and in parts "obscene", is [more]
>'Pynchon's Tapestries on the Western Wall', But you were talking about the 
>sleigh I believe?

Yes, and it took all those snips 'till here, Jeeze...

>Well, it is simply a
>metaphor for the luxury and comfort which centuries of Western economic
>imperialism have managed to achieve for us lucky Westerners at the
>expense of those like Chu Piang and his fellows.

Maybe, but it also smacks so much of Jules Verne's endless Victorian 
elaborations under the sea.  It also resonates with the Shit-Submarine.  
Both sleigh and sub had arses and balls suspended over the passing ice-cold 
flow.  As a side, in New Orleans the most civilized men's rooms have urinals 
filled with ice cubes, even in the highest heat of Summer.  I love pissing 
into the ice.  My warm signature carving, collapsing, the clear cold 
displacing ice.

>Full stomach, comfy
>chair, soft bed, all mod cons. And we go on our Baedeker-tours as if the
>rest of the world was simply our own personal zoo.

Deepest Africa may overtake you, as it has Slothrop.  Tchitcherine's case is 
not so clear.  He was blinded, but was he passed-over?  The novel is still 
early here.  I've not found spoilers to nail this:  How does he relate to 
those ancestors?  He seems incompatible w/ Africa... What is the difference 
between him and Slothrop in this regard?

David Morris
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