GRGR(5) Katje and the Nazis

[Mark Wright AIA]

Howdy!  This is fun.

This stuff is always a stretch, isn't it?  I think my original point
that the pulley with Ss shaped spokes is more than the "merely
descriptive" "anchoring" (what does 'anchoring' mean, exactly?) detail
you propose stands.

Incidentally, had you been thinking carefully about this detail in
VISUAL terms (as Nabokov insists that we ought to do when reading) your
primary objection might have been that there are probably more than two
spokes in a spoked pulley, and that therefore my Yin/Yang suggestion is
hooey; that neither my SS or OSS constructions are valid; and that the
entire SS reference collapses back to a reliance on the "Ss" in the
text itself.  (Which remains an instantly and ALL BUT UNIVERSALLY
recognizable reference to the German SS in the context of a book set in
the European Theater of WWII).

I would have had to reply that a pulley in a dream might not precisely
match the form of a pulley in the physical world; that, following
Freud, all elements in a dream are necessary and neccessarily symbolic
of SOMETHING; that I relate this detail to the mandala imagery
prominent elsewhere in GR; and that this detail bears multivalent
meanings yielding a rich, rewarding reading.

Debating myself, for lack of proper opposition.
Mark


--- calbert at pop.tiac.net wrote:
> 
> > > Not universally recognized, in spite of your insistence.
> > 
> > Yes it is.  I insist.
> 
> perhaps the universe is more diverse than you suspect.
> 
> > > > c) Reference to OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, which is
> > > > referred to directly later in GR (where I can't recall just
> now).
> > > This
> > > > is more obscure, but the linkage is intended, I think, to imply
> > > some
> > > > possible equivalence between the two organizations.  CIA =
> american
> > > > fascist pigs; very 60's.
> > > 
> > > Wish I had my Worlds Second Oldest Profession handy ( a great
> read 
> > > for those who want to learn about the relatively recent
> development 
> > > of national intelligence services) but as I recall the OSS was
> hardly
> > > 
> > > an established outfit, even late in the war. Individual branches
> of 
> > > the service had their own intelligence functions, and the effort
> to 
> > > consolidate them had mixed results. Will Bill Donovan was the guy
> 
> > > chosen to create a unified branch, which he set about trying to
> do 
> > > with the aid of one young Bill Casey.
> > 
> > 
> > >From Columbia Encyclopedia (is that an acceptable handy reference?
> 
> > 
> > "OSS, US World War II agency created in 1942 under the jurisdiction
> of
> > the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the purpose of obtaining information
> > about enemy nations and sabotaging their war potential and morale."
> 
> It took several years after the conclusion of WW2 to develop what we 
> now know as the CIA. It is reasonable to believe that the date of a 
> USG order hardly constitutes the point at which the service was fully
> 
> operative, or in any meaningful way, comparable to the corresponding 
> branches in Germany and Britain which had at least a decade's (more 
> so in the case of the British side) head start. But I'll get a hold 
> of my Knightely and provide better data.
> 
> > Sounds like they might be one of the shadows behind PISCES, no? 
> Might
> > pull a few of Pirate,s strings.  A few of Katje's even.  PUDDING
> can't
> > be in control....  I think MY reading looks stronger than YOUR
> reading.
> 
> PISCES could be any one of several intelligence gathering groups 
> within the US services, or an amalgamation of same. You are 
> determined to show that the S's of the spoked wheel are symbolic of 
> an agency, which according to your own data is about two years old. I
> 
> suggest that such an interpretation is somewhat forced given the 
> reality of the organization to which you refer.
> 
> 
> > > I prefer the SS carved into the mountain. The SS was not an 
> > > intelligence outfit, that was the work of the Abwehr (sp) led by
> yet 
> > > another high minded Junker who despised his boss. When he was 
> > > discovered to have been a participant in the july 1944 plot,
> Hitler 
> > > had him strung up with piano wire, and the process filmed. I'm
> afraid
> > > that the OSS-SS link is extremely tenuous.
> > 
> > I respect your opinion, I just think you are wrong is all.  Think
> of
> > SS/OSS as another of  GR's mandala images if that helps.
> 
> Then try this. The SS was a formal, uniformed branch of the German 
> armed forces, it was originally not developed as a spy branch, but as
> 
> a shock troop, (hence the distinctive unis). This makes the SS/OSS 
> fit a rather awkward one, as I have suggested. That the spokes may 
> hint at the SS is within the bounds of possibility, the more extended
> 
> comparison, IMHO, is not.
> 
> love,
> cfa 
> 
> 

_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com