Chasing ... Cutting

[David Morris]

>From: Yessenia Perez <Perez.Y at rnc.net>
>
SNIP
>It is not the holocaust that is alluded to in the opening scene of GR. No, 
>that would fuck up the novel, sorry. TRP situates the novel, and jbor has 
>been right on on this, and see Charles Berger's essay "Merrill and Pynchon 
>Our Apocalyptic Scribes", "just BEFORE the beginning of the atomic age 
>proper." The fall of the crystal palace is not an allusion to the start of 
>the holocaust but to the end of the second industrial revolution.

Terrance,
Where could one find the Charles Berger essay you mention?  Also, is the 
title to the "1 of 10" essay below yours?  I think this is all very 
interesting as a larger structure for many of the diverse thems in GR, and 
not just a literal timeline, as Paul seemed to imply.  Also, whence cometh 
the term "Paleotechnic?"  Is it yours, and could you explain its meaning?

>The Pirated Dream & Images of an Industrialized Life in the
>CITY.1 of 10
>
>Paleotechnic industry arose out of the breakdown of European society and 
>carried the process of disruption to a finish. There was a sharp shift in 
>interest from life values to pecuniary values: work was no longer a 
>necessary part of living: it became an all-important end… This second 
>revolution multiplied, vulgarized, and spread the methods and goods 
>produced by the first: above all, it was directed towards the 
>quantification of life, and its success could be gauged only in terms of 
>the multiplication table.
>
>See: Mumford's 'T & C,' ch.1, "Cultural Preparation"  (a)
>The Monastery and the Clock, (b) Space, Distance, Movement,
>(c) The Influence of Capitalism, (d) The Road Through Magic,
>(e) The Mechanical Universe.
>
>
>A landless traditionless proletariat was put to work in
>these new industries-a steady unremitting toil.
>
>
>The phase one here defined as paleotechnic reached its highest point, in 
>terms of its own concepts and ends, in England in the middle of the 
>nineteenth century: its cock-crow of triumph was the great industrial 
>exhibition in the new Crystal Palace at Hyde Park in 1851: the first World 
>Exposition.
>
>In short one is dealing with a technical complex that cannot be strictly 
>placed within a time belt: but if one takes 1700 as a beginning, 1870 as 
>the high point of the upward curve, and 1900 as the start of an 
>accelerating downward movement, one will have a sufficiently close 
>approximation to fact.
>
>
>Carboniferous Capitalism
SNIP
>Blood and Iron
SNIP
>Destruction of the Environment
SNIP
>The Degradation of the Worker
SNIP
>The Starvation of Life
SNIP
>
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