grgr (34): narrative context

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

 "the last episode in  g r a v i t y ' s  r a i n b o w. like the sixth in 
part 4 this one is also subdivided: into sixteen subepisodes detailing 
slothrop's dispersal (like the mythic orpheus) and disclosing at last the 
sacrifice of gottfried. the episode begins in early september and ends on 
september 14, when christians celebrate the feast of the exaltation of the holy 
cross, and the zone hereroes are poised, ready to raise (exalt) their recovered 
rocket 00001. the day is especially appropriate because it occasions the 
analepsis to the easter weekend when gottfried was sacrificed. yet there is 
more. that analepsis also triggers a prolepsis to los angeles and the orpheus 
theater, circa 1970, in the middle of the nixon era." (steven weisenburger: a 
gravity's rainbow companion, p. 304)

kfl