GRGR(14) 'notes' & queries #1

[JL]

n o t e s  &  q u e r i e s  # 1
--------------------------------
I've tried to label info from Weisenburger {sw], and
from hyperarts/redbug {tw}.  Apologies if credits are due.


295.7ff :  ' Tchitcherine has big feet. [...] they'd fit Slothrop. '
 So, is Slothrop going to measure up?  Might the gift of boots and
 chemise fragments be a talisman from the witch?
 Perseus entered Medusa's lair in borrowed (winged) footwear,
 and we do seem to arrive at the Mittelwerke at the speed
 of thought.  Any other ideas on the boots?
 The juxtaposition of the words 'Beast' and 'Tchitcherine'
 reinforce T's scariness for me, incidentally.


295.13: ' This rail driving, '
 {sw} "rail" is slang for lieutenant, from his brass bar insignia.


295.24: ' Yellow James the cook '
 British military folklore paints the Catering Corps with the
 yellow brush of cowardice, but I guess this would be a race thing.


295.27: ' Nick De Profundis '
 Clearly a Satanic name; is it really so awful to peddle Rocket relics?
 The Superman reference to his phone-booth transformation may be a
nod  to Nietszche, as well as to the comics.  More later.


295.36: ' "Micro" Graham '
 Any ideas on this character, or his name?


296.29 : ' the horse that follows you '
 ???


296.22 : ' Heini of Berlin '
 Heini was the nickname of (Heinrich) Himmler, apparently; as well as
 a slang term for arse, and for Jew.  Funny-ha-ha.


296.41 : ' Perhaps Titans lived under this mountain '
 Apart from the mythical image, there is a whole family of ICBMs and
 launcher rockets which bear the name --

      http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/elv/TITAN/titan.htm

 and, remarkably, they have a theme park of their own :

      http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/AZGREtitan.html

 though I don't know if souvenirs are on offer.  Any first-hand
experience
 of The Titan Missile Museum, Ariz.?  Was it open prior to '73 ?


297.16-17: ' a smell you understand is meant to be that of semen -- but
            is really closer to soap, or bleach. '
 Any thoughts on the effect of artificial whitening agents on the
African
 Myth ?


298.10 : ' that's crazy.  He's right. '
 Meaning either (a) yep, Slothrop's crazy ; or (b) of course he's
interested
 in those other things...
 Intentional ambiguity (?)


299.10 :  ' in under parabola and parable '
 What's the parable here then? And who's telling the tale?


299.13 : ' personality disorder known as Tannhauserism '
 Can someone remind me where the phrase 'chronic case of Don Giovannism'

 occurs?  I once complained on this list that P tends to rehash this
kind
 of joke; Mr Dinn gently advised that it's an ironically
self-referential
 device intended to reveal what it is to be an over-analysed artist.
 Or something like that.  Oh well.


299.16ff : ' for the sepulchral way time stretches [...] everyone is in
            complete agreement about death.
 Dreams of a monastic, cloistered existence; a literal retreat.  As with

 the missing days in M&D.  More later on Time and the Frozen Moment.


298.20 : ' Somebody in the thirties was big on parabolas anyhow '
 Weisenburger sez P's association of Speer with Parabolas was something
 of a stretch.  This throwaway line admits as much but as usual, it's
hard
 to identify the real narrator here.  Whatever, it's a good excuse to
draw
 AS into the tale.  More later on the New German Architecture, and
Frozen
 Music.


298.32ff : ' camouflage furls back [...] among the bushes '
 Hmmm, is 'pudendal' a word? There may be a Face on every mountainside,
 but this sounds like something else to me.  This is where the Rocket
was born
 (emphasised by 'mother' at 298.29): it's Tannhauser's Mount of Venus
(cf.
 88.10 the 'submontane Venus' which tempted Pointsman astray).


299.38 : ' picture the letters SS '
 Again, Weisenburger has this down as one of P's 'fictions'.  However,
see

    http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1325/doramap.jpg

 Incidentally, if you want to visit the tunnels :

  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3564/

 Has anyone on the list actually taken the trip?


300.12 : ' none of the buildings will stay up '
 According to Kenneth Frampton (_Modern Architecture, A Critical
History_
 p.218) much of Speer's work was, in his own mind, temporary : literally

 stage-sets for the propogandists' cameras.  The ideal of the
picturesque
 ruin seems to have appealed more than that of the Thousand-Year Reich;
 he placed his faith in gravity and the Zeppelinfield was built without
metal
 reinforcement.  Instant Ozymandias.
 Anyone care to ponder on Ruin as theme/gesture of the Romantics?


300.16 : ' the little helpers '
 The 'elves' reference in the SL introduction encourages me to think of
the
 Ölsch character as a representation of P himself, or at least some
aspects
 of his creative process. Some accidental serendipity is at least
acknowledged
 here (298.29 "Oh, that's nice.").  Images stand in the subconscious
(302.3).
 And it may be that readers can see meanings which are valid, despite
being
 unintentioned...  over to the LitCritters.


300.23 : ' There's a deadline '
 As with 3.3 ' It's too late' & elsewhere -- these little intimations of

 doom send shivers up my spine.


300.31 : ' "Proceed, Hupla, ..." '
 Surely meant to be read with a wheezy WC Fields voice.


300.38 : ' Summe, Summe, as Leibniz said '
 B-but guess what, Leibniz's original notation for the integral
 was not the elongated S.  It was an inverted 'U' which looked
 a little like a parabola, or rainbow...
 Who knows, we might have been thinking of McDonald's arches
 rather than the SS.


301.11 : ' It was never launched.  It will never fall. '
 Brilliant line.  I carry the image of a Hockney etching of a tiger
 pouncing on a seated man, captioned: "The man is in no danger.  This
 is a still."  And this is not a pipe.
 Check out the tense changes as well, from 301.06 onwards; and see also
 302.15.


301.12 : ' a little pendulum was kept centred '
 See 301.21 below.  There are lots of oscillations about central paths
 and between opposing forces in this section (as elsewhere, of course).


301.21 : ' an elaborate dance '
 More dancing.  I'm trying to put together some thoughts on cosmic
 choreography and the idea of self-expression within dance as analogy
 of the middle ground between (the 0) predetermination and (the 1)
 pure free-will.  It  probably won't come to anything.  See Anthony
 Powell instead..


301.26ff : ' the peeling twist of a eucalyptus trunk '
 Eucalyptus is sometimes symbolic of Sloth, according to

   http://www.geocities.com/athens/delphi/3591/trees.html

 Tyrone is remembering the good old days when he could afford to
 be lazy.  Or rather, thought he could.  And the reference to a human
 memory restores the proper flow of time which had been jumbled
 somewhat over the previous lines.


301.36 : ' Brennschluss exactly here '
 It's clear from the description that these are the real targets for the

 rockets: If the Brennschluss points could be hit in time and space then

 God or Nature could be relied upon to bring them down on the deserving.

 I wonder if this aided the conscience of von Braun & Co, or at least
their
 rationalization of the weapons.


301.37 : ' 1000 yards east of Waterloo station '
 Why here?  Waterloo invokes the redrawing of Europe.  Does anyone know
if
 all V2s fired on London were aimed at this particular point?  Is this
the
 centre of Mexico's (& Slothrop's) Poisson distribution maps?
 See GRGR(2).


302.4 : ' monoliths '
 There are several Kubrick resonances in this section : Marvy in his
Stetson
 reminds me of Slim Pickens; and where else could the transition from
Caveman
 to Spaceman with a 3/4 soundtrack (pp296-297) have come from?  The
Waltz
 of the Future must be The Blue Danube.  A-and wasn't that spinning
space
 station shaped like a mandala?

 Someone take me back to the real roots of all these myths, please.

JL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  'Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which,
  if persevered in, they must lead,' said Scrooge.  'But
  if the courses be departed from, the ends will change.
  Say it is thus with what you show me!'
  The Spirit was immovable as ever.
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~