GRGR Symmetry or not symmetry

[Seb Thirlway]

From: jporter <jp4321 at idt.net>
To: pynchon-l at waste.org <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Date: 30 December 1999 13:37
Subject: Re: GRGR Symmetry or not symmetry


[snip]
>>I think Slothrop continues to *find* answers; after about his
first
>>meeting with Geli he has stopped actively seeking them though,
hasn't
>>he? Whereas Tchitcherine remains resolute and self-centred
throughout?
>>Surely Slothrop's vision at 626.16 is affirmational, as opposed
to
>>Tchitchy's failure at 359.10. Tchitchy doesn't reach "his
birth",
>>whereas Slothrop experiences a spiritual rebirth? Later,
Tchitchy will
>>not recognise Enzian; while Slothrop gets a green pass to
RealWorldland?
>
>I don't like to comment on passages which we haven't gotten to
yet in the
>re-read, but I generally agree with you here. The potential
symmetry break
>between S & T is suggested to me by the fact that Slothrop finds
a relief
>of sorts when he discovers Jamf is only dead, while T, who is
only alive
>only by a majority vote of his internal organs, is left
spiritually
>unfulfilled after experiencing the light.

[snip]

Have to disagree, though not sure whether I'll continue to do
so...Or to be completely clear: agree completely that there is
that break between Slothrop on the one hand, and Tchitchy/Enzian
on the other.  But I'd put it not at the point where S finds that
Jamf is dead (at that point in GR, to my mind, Jamf being dead
does nothing to reduce his power, or the possibility of
Slothrop's finding some further trace of whatever he did).  The
break happens somewhere in Berlin, and particularly when S meets
Greta Erdmann - though I'm still not sure how.
Still wondering on this one (for GRGR 23), and do agree that
finding that Jamf is dead is significant for S.



seb