GRGR(14) the target slips away

[David Morris]

>From: Jeremy Osner
>
>Pynchon is sitting at his desk, writing about Slothrop's ride to
>Mittelwerke with the American lieutenant; he slips into Slothrop's head
>and starts in on a fantasy visit to Mittelwerke, i.e. Slothrop's
>anticipations of what marvels he might find there. The level he's
>writing on is not Slothrop's conscious internal narrative; I don't think
>TS was riding along in the Mercedes thinking to himself, "hm... I wonder
>if there'll be someone there offering black-market tours of the secret
>passages to Dora and the Rakenstadt..."
>
>So the only way I can make sense of this is to think of it as Slothrop's
>repressed dream-reality, part of himself which he does not know and
>neither do we or even Pynchon, really, but we can try to explore it some
>with fantasy and metaphor. Which attempt is what Pynchon is engaged in,
>and engaging us in, here.
>

I honestly think the narrative perspectives/voices throughout GR shift so 
quickly that it's a loosing battle to try to affix a person, dream-world or 
not, to every scene or even remembrance.  It bogs one down in trying to keep 
a grip on a reality we know.  If there's one thing you don't want to do when 
starting to trip is trying NOT to trip.

>Which brings us to the mention of Imipolex G, and the sentence at the
>top of p. 298: "Wait -- which one of them was thinking that? Monitors,
>get a fix on it, *hurry up* --" I reckon that is the director of the
>fantasy (Slothrop's or Pynchon's) speaking there; the aim of the fantasy
>is a deeper understanding in the fantasizer of himself -- the fantasizer
>remains conscious during the fantasy, conscious enough to realize that
>the mention of Imipolex G (the forbidden fruit) will bring the fantasy
>to an end, scrambling to save what shards of Truth he can from the
>wreckage. "Which one of them was thinking that?" he needs to know, needs
>to know what the forbidden fruit means to him.
>
>Of course there are many other ways of spinning this. I'd be interested
>to know what you think.
>

I think the approach you suggest above is fruitful by way of layering 
analogy onto the reality of GR.  Analogy with a Moral is the essence of a 
Parable

David Morris

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