V.V. 3--McClintic Sphere and Inanimateness

[jbor]

Just some additional thoughts to add to your excellent comments:

Remember also that a term used to describe Negro slaves was "black ivory".
Sphere is a black man, and the hunting of African animals for their ivory
has definite parallels -- economic, ethical, logistic -- with the hunting of
black Africans as slaves in prior centuries. The shape of the instrument,
and of the man playing it, resemble that of the mammalian appendage, which
in itself is an "inanimate" outgrowth to begin with, like nails or hair,
isn't it? And, indeed, 'The Secret Integration' and the Watts article
demonstrate Pynchon's commitment to the Civil Rights cause, and the latter
piece comprises perhaps the most, or, indeed, the *only* overt and
unequivocal statement of a personal socio-political commitment in his entire
collected work.

But I rather think that the detail of the white ivory sax, which further
emphasises McLintic's uniqueness as a musician, is a minor one (as obvious
an equation as horn --> horn perhaps.) Being "hand-carved" (which is surely
a redundant qualifier unless it is meant as emphasis), it is an ironic echo
of the rhinoplasty which is part of Schoenmaker's trade too. Sphere is also
a "beauty-maker" in this sense. And thus it provides a new angle on the
argument between Rachel and the plastic surgeon which opened the chapter. It
seems to me that even in this early novel the "good" guys and the "bad" guys
just aren't as cut and dried as some readers might wish them to be. As Henry
Holmes Goodpasture writes in his journal early on in *Warlock*: "For what
are Right & Wrong in the end, but opinion held to?"

Further, ivory being the dentine from the tusks (or teeth) of certain large
mammals, there are also possible connections with the psychodontist
Eigenvalue, and Pynchon's own self-consciousness about his beaver-teeth,
which can be worked into the mix. But it seems to me that that image of the
sax player in the baby green spot "lives" as naturalistic description, and
as heartfelt tribute.

best