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

[David Morris]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org]On
Behalf Of Nicole Slagter
Sent: Friday, June 25, 1999 2:21 AM
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: GRGR(4): `only one', anal sex and fish



>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.

>Nicole Slagter:
>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.

Wow!  This is a fantastic synthesis!  I love it (all except for the "ass
intact," butt I digress) as a unifying framework for Slothrop's ordeals.

Nicole, if you're for real (not another multiple-personality component),
please don't lurk so long out there.  We (or I at least) are here just for
this kind of observation.  Even if you're not for real, keep it up!

David