grgr4 Proof of the pudding (was Re: GRGR(4): Episode 12

[rj]

I love Pudding. 

No doubt one of the "old men ... giddy in their beds" who dreamed of the
grandeur of the Balkan Armageddon (16), I can imagine that in Pudding's
"Weekly Briefings" (79) Pynchon is parodying some personal experience of
just such a by turns tedious and bizarre bureaucratic motivation
session, at Boeing perhaps. 

Pudding is another variation on the theme of control. Like Pointsman he
can see what's what, or thinks he can, because he is near enough to the
top of the pile to peak out and catch a glimpse of the whole picture,
but he keeps sinking, in the mud of the trenches and the mud of his
senility and the mud laid in place by his scheming underlings. Where for
Pointsman the war is one great Petrie dish, Pudding's domain
(bureaucracy) is metaphorised as the empire itself, with ARF "a colony
to the metropolitan war, but [with] not enough [funding] for
nationhood." (76.1) This theme will recurs throughout the novel.

"Old Brig. Pudd. can live with this spiritualist gang well enough, he's
tendencies himself in that direction." (76.8)

It's interesting that Pudding sees himself as an anomaly amongst the
clique of "spiritualists ... and Dale Carnegie zealots" (a tie-in with
Gaddis's _The Recognitions_, perhaps?) at The White Visitation (77), for
his projected "mammoth" historical tome, _Things That Can Happen in
European Politics_ aspires to oracle itself. (77.21) In fact, historical
interpretation and exegesis (always?) aspires to show us the errors of
our (and other) ways, and the right moves we (and they) made as well, in
order to forge a better future. This is its implicit assumption and
purpose. At least, I think it's a point Pynchon might be trying to make
with this. (cf. "Bereshith, as it were ...": the Bible as Gospel/ the
Bible as history) 

Pudding's mind is disintegrating -- in a Joycean/ Modernist/ overtly
literary stream-of-consciousnessy sort of way -- but it is lucid as
well, and Pynchon takes the opportunity to throw in some stock footage
of the horror and camaraderie of the trenches in WWI here. The anecdote
about Haig and Sassoon (79) seems to have some reflexive significance,
too: Pudding casts himself in the Haig role, obviously, and that is
possibly the literal intention of his reminiscence of the anecdote. And
his recollections of the mud and gas echo some of Sassoon's war poems.
However, a further resonance here is the notion that the literary
response to the call to arms (war/reality) is effectively no more than a
quietist withdrawal. At least, from the point of view of the Generals
(and Pud.) it is. Pynchon can only really leave it up to the reader to
decide whether this is also the case with him: his modesty here is
imperative. Anybody know whether Siegfried Sassoon really did refuse to
fight? Unlike Owen and Brooke, he did survive the Great War. He threw
away his Military Cross in 1917 and denounced the war administration in
his 'A Soldier's Declaration', after which outburst (and at the
intervention of Robert Graves to deflect a possible court martial) he
was sent to Craiglockhart Hospital in Edinburgh to be treated for
shellshock (!) before returning to Flanders.

Sometimes Pynchon comes across as being a consummate Romantic ironist,
close enough, anyway. Pudding's demise, later on, always saddens me. 

best

Re: Ick Regis. I had TWV flagged further round towards Dover (those
white cliffs, you see), but the mention of the "pink or freckled"
tourist "overflow from Brighton" (73) does suggest a more southerly
locale, perhaps even east of Brighton in the vicinity of Bognor
("ick!"?) Regis? Do like s~Z's joke 'bout Kathy Lee tho'.

Roszavolgji's a treat, too. I can hear the halting lilt of his voice.
He's connected to Bela Lugosi later on, isn't he?