GRGR(4): `only one', anal sex and fish

[Nicole Slagter]

>From: "Terrance F. Flaherty" <Lycidas at worldnet.att.net>
>Subject: One, only one
>
>"You had thought of solipsism, and imagined the structure to
>be populated--on your level--by only, terribly, one."
>
>I'd appreciate any comments etc..

And

> From: s~Z <mcmullenm at vcss.k12.ca.us>
> 
> Forgive me for this, and analyze me if you must, butt I keep seeing
> references to anal sex in Pynchon's imagery....

And

>From: jzog at humboldt1.com (J. Herzog)
>Subject: Re: Pisces and Poisson

> David Morris wrote
> "Here's another "why" question:  Why 'PISCES?'"
>
>	Perhaps PISCES resonates -- slightly -- with Poisson, which aside
>from its statistical use means "fish" in French.
>
>			Andrew Walser

>A-and the native american word for pike fish in Wisconsin is...kenosha.

Well, before GRGR(4) ends: it struck me that these several themes which have 
been pointed out in the course of the discussion--that is, `one, only one',
anal 
sex and all those fish references--could all be related to the myth of the 
Fisher King, also central to Eliot's _Waste Land_. From notes to the Waste Land 
(not Eliot's own): `... myth of the Fisher King, ruler of a Waste Land
blighted by 
an evil spell which also rendered the King impotent. The salvation of King and 
country awaited the advent of a knight of fabulous virtue and courage, whose 
ordeals would provide answers for certain magical questions symbolic at once of
religious purity and fertility. In connection with the Fisher King, Miss Weston 
emphasized the use of the fish as a symbol in early Christianity; the title 
"fishers of men," bestowed by Christ on his apostles; and the immemorial 
connection of the fish symbol with pagan fertility deities and their rituals.'

In answer to Terrance: the reference to `one, only one' to me connects strongly 
to the Ark (`half an Ark's better than none') and suggests infertility to
me. The 
point of having two of each after all was so that they could go forth and 
multiply. Same goes for anal sex: no offspring. The Waste Land: the strange
murky 
place Slothrop arrives in, and by extension, contemporary life in general--both 
the time of the setting, WWII, and of writing, I mean. Slothrop `a knight of 
fabulous virtue and courage'? Hardly. Well ... maybe that explains why he
got away 
with his ass intact. Do his ordeals provide answers? That's for following GRGRs.

There's been great work done so far by many posters (or all they all the same)? 
Let GRGR roll on, unmoderated preferably, but if not: s~Z for moderator!

Nicole (claiming longest lurker status)