GRGR(6) - Ep. 15 Reader Dissonance. (fwd)

[Elizabeth Rose Lucas]

The "zero" phrase might also signal a getting beyond Pointsman etc.'s
systemic, binary, one-zero way of looking at the world (as opposed to
Roger's concern w/probabilities). There's a passage about Pointsman, early
on, to the effect that he can only deal in ones and zeroes; reminds me
also of Oedipa trapped in the ones and zeroes at the end of Lot 49.

but *does* anyone in GR actually get beyond the zero in this (or any)
sense?

 

>Lars Frehse:
>Two possible interpretations of "beyond the zero":
>
>A: Zero is nothing is death. So beyond the zero means
>beyond death. (The Wernher von Braun quote supports
>this theory, I guess.)

So does all sorts of other text.  The zero is a threshold, a point of
transition.  Death is definitely one of them.  Birth too.

>B: Zero change in response to a changing stimulus equals
>the "equivalent" phase.  A-and beyond that comes the
>paradoxical phase. ( Though I accept, that this may be
>a little far-fetched...)

Not at all farfetched.  This is also a basic meaning of "beyond the zero"
in the text.

>J.A. also wrote:" He doesn't cotton on to the bomb/sex thing,
>and I can't sympathize with any chick who would think Slothrop
>is hot enough to sleep with, because there isn't much substance
>to his character. Are people being paid to sleep with him?"
>
>If women would only sleep with guys with substance to their
>character, mankind would be distinct by now.

This last line is really funny:  "distinct" or maybe "extinct?"  Funny!

As for Jill,
Can't you appreciate the beauty of the poetry in some of the text?  A-and
some of it is outrageously hilarious.  And the surrealism!  You really
don't have to "understand" it all.  It can be a little frustrating to not
"get" some of the passages, or even major themes, but if you just try to be
a little patient it might prove to be worth it after all.  Or maybe not.
David