GRGR(15) Immachination - long

[Jeremy Osner]

Pardon any incoherencies; I am just trying to figure this out.

Don't know if this is a real connection or a "reader trap": but when I
read about the Erdschweinhöhle the first thing I thought of was the
Raketenstadt. Both are under a mountain; and in both cases there is a
reference to "immachination", a word I believe Pynchon to have invented
-- my dictionary lists nothing in between "imitator" and "immaculate" --
but what company! (If my dictionary was a little more abridged it might
go imitation, immachination, immaculate) -- What is immachination?

It sounds like imagination but where it leads my mind to is the opposite
pole from imagination -- becoming mechanical, dying. Thus the parallel
Pynchon is exposing between the Nazis and the Hereros. -- Don't get me
wrong here; I'm not trying to peddle an argument about moral equivalence
or relativism or what you may call it. What I'm thinking is, the
motivating force behind Nazism was/is group suicide. Having to destroy
the rest of the world before killing yourself is a peculiar psychotic
element thrown into the mix, I don't really know from where but it makes
me think of Jonestown, Manson etc.

Above I said "the motivating force behind Nazism"; but the Rocket City
is really the end goal not of Nazism but of "Western Cult-cha" or
"Industrial Capitalism" or something with a broader presence than
mid-century Germany. How come our society seeks death? The explanation
given in the book for the Herero suicide (NOTE: I believe I recall
argument on the list or somewhere oveer the historical accuracy of GR's
account of the Herero genocide/suicide; I am making no claims to
historical accuracy but throw myself on the mercy of the Book) is that
the Hereros choose Tribal death (=group suicide) over Christian death
(=genocide). But the imperial powers, the aggressors, are not threatened
with this Christian death. Is the Rocket City a "Tribal" form of death?
or is it a third way out?

Another possibility is entropy, I guess; I can't really figure out how
the Rocket City/Nazism could be explained as a form of entropy but I'd
be interested to hear it done.

That's all for now,
Jeremy (noticing as he writes that the left- and right-hand parts of the
novel are approaching equality in heft.)

--
The right-hand, still untasted part of the novel, which,
during our delectable reading, we would lightly feel,
mechanically testing whether there were still plenty
left (and our fingers were always gladdened by the
placid, faithful thickness) has suddenly, for no reason
at all, become quite meager: a few minutes of quick
reading, already downhill, and -- O horrible!

Invitation to a Beheading
Vladimir Nabokov
http://www.readin.com/books/invitationbeheading/