GRGR(7) Pointy's "sentiments d'emprise" 136-144

[rj]

David:
> 1.  What is the "dialectic of the Book?"  I understand the escalating
> and relentlessly progressing deaths of the original seven, but how is
> this a "dialectic?"  Isn't a dialectic a striving of two different
> positions?  How is the "Curse of the Mummy" a dialectic?  Is it the Book
> (or God?) Vs. the Seven?

I guess the two positions Pointy (superstitiously) perceives are the
curse (invoked by Pavlov, the mummy?) and the ambitions of the seven
archaeologists of the book to add to or refine Pavlov's work. The irony
here is that this is sheer superstition -- solipsistic paranoia on a par
with Slothrop's own irrational presentiments of personal persecution by
the V2. So, Pointsman, if true to his science, must consciously discard
it as an absurdity. (He can't, however.) Further, he ridicules the
"usual" theories about Slothrop down in Psi Section: "Precognition.
Psychokinesis. They have their *own* problems that lot." (48.21) Yet,
his 'official' attitude to Slothrop as "a monster" relies totally on one
or another of these outlandish theories. He is a mass of contradictions,
grasping at straws.

The "deep dread I cannot extinguish" which closes his journal entry is
actually that same vision of the light which has bedevilled him
throughout the sequence. It is the spotlight of the operating table, the
police interview room: it is the spotlight on him, his conscience,
exploring all the nooks and crannies of his mind and memory in order to
uncover the source of the guilt he feels over Spectro's death, the
'truth' he is suppressing.

> 
> 2.  After we learn that hysteria is not, after all, hysteria, appears
> the line:
>  "How does one feel legitimist and easy for very long about the
> transition" (139.22)  Followed by conspiracies the Docs all see ranging
> form mild to wild.  What is this transition the delegitimizes?

Pointy realises that not only the mental patients, but the 'normal' dogs
under controlled experiments, and the good doctors themselves, are all
prone to the same types of hysteria and paranoid delusion. He has his
mummy's curse, which haunts his dreams endlessly: he knew Gwenhidwy and
Spectro well enough to see what idiosyncratic psychological obsessions
and neuroses lurked beneath their impassive scientific facades. Human
nature. Pointy is wondering how this distinction between sane doctor and
insane patient can be sustained, particularly in the light of what he
knows about his own mind. He is on the verge of heresy throughout this
episode.

I really like Terrance's (disregarded) theory that Pointy *is* the
Minotaur. David quotes the passage thus

> ----------
> (142.25) Minotaur blood, the fucking beast, cries from far inside
> himself whose manliness and violence surprise him
> ----------

In my edition there's no comma after 'blood' but I suspect it's a typo.
Pointy's surprising manliness and violence are those of a human hero
rather than a dispassionate scientist. It is his knee-jerk *human*
instincts and emotions which have become the spanner in Pointy's works.

I like (but haven't quite 'got') the futuristic dream of the Champion
Weimaraner, Pointy's white whale. What is the significance of the dog's
name (and number)? ("Reichssieger" = 'hero of the empire'?) "Thanatz"
and "Alpdrucken" are names which will become quite significant in other
contexts later. Is Pointy psychically attuned to some collective
consciousness or cosmic flow here? (Another irony?)

best