GRGR(9): Welcome

[keith woodward]

>>From: keith woodward Welcome past the Zero
>from David:
>Would you (or anyone) care to 'splain?
>Seems to me that Slothrop's not yet been launched, let alone reached the
>zero...

Well, I can answer that question quite easily, David.  Just kidding.  I
don't know if there is a final answer to this question, it's the same one
that's been asked a number of times during the reading: what is the Zero?
To connect Slothrop's having been launched or not having been launched with
the zero is to make an associative claim about the meaning of zero, I
think.  If the zero is internal, he's reached it.  If it's external, where
is it?  DOES it have to do with launching?  A-and I might suggest that
Slothrop has been launched: from London to the casino.  I think, wherever
we are, we're beyond the zero, cos that's what the page tells us.  I'm not
sure that it helps us approximate what the zero is, though.  Just gives us
a more slippery understanding.  We're outside of London (ground zero) and
Slothrop, losing his identity, is equivalent to zero, etc, etc.  If yeh
don't know what zero is, how do you get beyond it?

Keith W