grgr (25): the fork in the road america never took

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

 "... memories of the blue hills, green maizefields, get-togethers over hemp and 
 tobacco with the indians, young women in upper rooms with their aprons lifted, 
 pretty faces, hair spilling on the wood floors while underneath in the stables 
 horses kicked and drunks hollered, the starts in the very early mornings when 
 the backs of his herd glowed like pearl, the long stony and surprising road to 
 boston, the rain on the connecticut river, the snuffling good-nights of a 
 hundred pigs among the new stars and long grass still warm from the sun, 
 settling down to sleep ...
  could he have been the fork in the road america never took, the singular point 
 she jumped the wrong way from? suppose the slothropite heresy had had the time 
 to consolidate and prosper? might there have been fewer crimes in the name of 
 jesus and more mercy in the name of judas iscariot? it seems to tyrone slothrop 
 that there might be a way back ---" (556)  

 
 great passage of high lyrical density. must be read out loud like a poem. 
 
 with m&d, if not before, it became clear, i think, that the "fork in the road 
 america never took" is the historical field of force, which inspires pynchon's 
 whole work.

 perhaps naumann was thinking of this, when he said in that radio 
 debate that trp "deserves it to be honored as an american patriot". 

 and "the whole space of the zone cleared, depolarized" (556) is echoing this 
 single historical call ... 

 
kai