The epigraphs in *GR*

[Basileios Drolias]

i could be totally wrong on this, but after the nth reading of GR it somehow
struck me that pynchon is somehow feeling sympathetic (ok maybe sympathetic
is the wrong word but i am at work, and i cant think of a better one!)
towards von Braun.

and i somehow alwys felt that the first epigram is related to the
dedication...

regards

basil


> ... and that, of course, is what really nails it, isn't it?  From a
statement of
> metaphysics--thanks, by the way, Basileios, will look into it--to the
(in)famous
> and, here, sinisterly ironic name of Wernher von Braun to that "screaming
> com[ing] across the sky," which quite likely has already struck, "It is"
indeed
> "too late" (and, again, anybody have any thoughts on that Fanon
connection?),
> and a certain apocalyptic tone is Indeed struck, with overtones of
"denial," both
> rationalization and mystification (and, again, do see Jeffrey Herf's
Reactionary
> Modernism: Technology, Culture, and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich
on how
> technology was "integrated into a national culture that lacked strong
liberal
> traditions and that fostered intense romantic and anti-industrial
sentiments"
> (155)), and undertones of atrocities past, present and future ...
>
> jporter wrote:
>
> > Here he is at the entrance-way, fixing us with his sparking eye,
beckoning
> > us to enter. Meanwhile, Far above, brennschluss has already occurred.
The
> > rocket, now soundless, has gone ballistic-\. It's too late. von Braun is
> > well aware of this. His car, a mercedes, purrs in the alley. Just a few
more
> > minutes and it will all be over. "Come my friends, don't be delay,
before
> > all the seats are taken..."
>
>