GRGR(6) - section 8 (#3) disregard

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

Sorry, please disregard this post. I will correct it Monday.

Thanks,
Terrance

"Terrance F. Flaherty" wrote:

> Paul Mackin wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 29 Jul 1999, Terrance F. Flaherty wrote:
> > > If Pynchon is following Joyce and Melville and I think he is, his
> > > universe is not undefined.
> >
> > I probably should NOT have said P's world is UNdefined. I was thinking
> > more of overdefined or multidefined. In the case of the time dimension,
> > what if the time t of a given event is such that t square minus  t equals
> > zero. Thus t equals either one or zero. In other words we can chose to
> > call the event either proleptic or simultaneous with respect to the
> > base. Or, if instead, t square PLUS  t equals zero, then t is either
> > negative one or zero, and the event can be either ANAleptic or
> > simultaneous. (this works well in a one or zero situation--the kind
> > preferred you know who)
> >
> > Just playing this morning.
> >
> >                 P.
>
> “The time of this episode is indistinct, though from its placement it would
> seem to occur on Sunday, December 24, 19944.”
>   Weisenburger, GRC.82
>
> This is not convenience, but a misreading of the text. The previous episode
> and three earlier “mistakes” with “time” indicate that Pynchon is up to
> something that Weisenburger’s reading can not account for. There is no way to
> determine that episode 17 follows episode 16 chronologically. The structure
> of episode 17invites comparison to episode one and provides many clues to how
> the reader is to read the book and what time it is.
>
> Of the seven holders of Pavlov’s “Book,” only two are left after this
> episode: Pointsman and Gwenhidwy. Unless of course the reader is, zero. “It’s
> six on the dot
 six is the hour of the appearance of the light
hands
> perfectly straight up and down.” Zero on the y-axis. Now, as I asked in
> episode one, who is dreaming and whose dream is it anyway? “You didn’t really
> believe you’d be saved.” “It is a judgment from which there is no appeal.” In
> Pointsman’s dream it is  “only an interdiction, from which there is no
> appeal.” So YOU are not yet doomed, but if YOU are Pointsman, YOU are
> prohibited from grace. YOU are not excommunicated, but YOU can not share in
> the Ritual of Grace. Pointsman is the minotaur.
>
> Pointsman’s solipsistic obsession with Slothrop is akin to Satan’s with “our
> Grand parents.” All of satan’s efforts only turn inward towards the minotaur
> that is himself. He must control or destroy, but his doom reserved him to
> more wrath...
>
> “he with his horrid crew
> Lay vnaguished, rowling in the firey Gulfe
> Confounded though immortal: But his doom
> Reserved him to more wrath;
>   ---Milton, PL BK I
>
> tf