Enthymemo (is Re: re P's intentions etc

[Mark Wright AIA]

Howdy
Finding myself in agreement with the jboritic note of caution, here.
The V/CoL49/GR "data set" is so large and intricately laced that we can
read most anything into it if we try hard enough.
Have fun, but handle it with care.
Diffidently yours,
Mark
--- jbor <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:
> 
> ----------
> millison:
> >
> > Focusing exclusively on Pynchon's text would also seem
> > to preclude one particular pleasure that Pynchon's works offer us,
> > too:  tracing out the allusions (historical and artistic) that he
> has
> > so obviously worked into his text -- the kind of thing that Charles
> > Hollander does in his articles, for example -- and using them to
> > interpret the text.  Why some critics would deny that approach
> snip
> 
> Not so sure about that "obviously". As I understand it, the
> "approach"
> involves finding a half-name in the text which is shared by an actual
> personage and then inventing some sort of commentary on historical
> events
> which Pynchon has supposedly encoded in his narrative. A recent
> article of
> Mr Hollander's in 'Pynchon Notes' utilised this process to suggest
> that *The
> Crying of Lot 49* was an "encrypted meditation" on the assassination
> of JFK.
> Let's see if we can make it work for Blicero/Weissmann. Here's one:
> 
> Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952). Born near Pinzk in Russian Poland, but
> emigrated
> to Britain. As a biochemist he held an influential position in the
> explosives department of the Admirality from 1916 to 1919. He was
> recognized
> at this time as the leader of British Zionism and was consulted by
> the
> Foreign Office during the preparation of the Balfour Declaration of
> 1917. He
> became head of the World Zionist movement in 1920 and of the Jewish
> Agency
> for Palestine in 1929. He was elected first president of Israel in
> 1948.
> 
>
http://israeliculture.about.com/culture/israeliculture/library/weekly/aa0124
> 00c.htm
> http://www.wzo.org.il/home/dev/lab.htm
> 
> Now, I wonder what a "magic eye" critic (of an anti-Semitic bent)
> might be
> able to do with this particular "enthymeme"? Emigré ... biochemist
> ...
> explosives ... involvement with the Foreign Office ... the creation
> of a new
> political state in the post-War world ... "Look high, not low" ... &c
> Very
> evocative. I'm sure that the "particular pleasure" afforded to the
> reader
> whose own ideological viewpoint is in concert with this critics'
> would be
> just as palpable. However and thus, I don't believe it is a valid or
> legitimate way to read the texts at all, particularly when framed as
> a
> critical, didactic enterprise (no personal disrespect to Mr Hollander
> intended.) It is an approach which prescribes authorial intentions
> and
> attitudes where none are textually explicit.
> 
> 
> PS Interestingly, the current president of Israel, Ezer, is Chaim
> Weizmann's
> nephew:
> 
> http://www.mercurycenter.com/breaking/docs/068914.htm
> 
> http://www.ma.huji.ac.il/~dafid/news/weizman.html
> 
> 


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