VV (1): Notes and Queries Section III

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Section III: Newport News 1955, Route 17 and Liberty, New York 1954

p.22: The "enigma or sinister vision" of Pig racing the engine of his Harley
Davidson reminds Profane of his friend Rachel and her MG and leads to a
flashback that lasts for the rest of the section.

"mezuzah"
OED says: "[Heb. mezuzah door-post (Deut. vi. 9, etc.); in Rabbinic Heb.
used as below.]
Among the Jews, a piece of parchment inscribed on one side with the texts
Deut. vi. 4­9 and xi. 13­21 and on the other with the divine name Shaddai,
enclosed in a case which is attached to the door-post of the house, in
fulfilment of the injunction in Deut. vi. 9.
The case is a glass tube, or has an opening covered with glass, talc, or
horn, through which the name Shaddai is seen. On leaving or entering the
house, a pious Jew touches the mezuza with his finger and puts the finger to
his lips, repeating the words of Ps. cxxi. 8."

The Biblical background of the mezuzah might be of interest here: The two
passages in Deuteronomy contain an exhortation for the people of Israel to
adhere strictly to the laws of God and to write the words of the exhortation
on the posts of their houses and gates. For the case that they should forget
His commandments, God openly threatens rather severe retribution: "Beware
lest thou should forget the LORD (...) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be
kindled against thee, and destroy thee from the face of the earth." This is
an Angry God, no doubt about it. 

p.23: "Love for an object. This was new to him etc." 
See commentary section.

p.25: "She came from the Five Towns etc."
Satire on the lives of the rich and beautiful who live in a kind of fairy
tale land ("Rapunzel", "elfin"). "Sephardim" refers to the descendants of
the Jews who were driven from Spain in 1492. In a more general sense it
refers to Jews from oriental countries as opposed to the "Ashkenazim", Jews
from middle or northern Europe. Why Pynchon brings the Sephardim in here
escapes me. Why does he associate them with "geographical incest"?

p.26-30 "inanimateness" 
See commentary section.

p.29:

"He returned to the cabins and till three in the morning he moved along the
starlit aisles between them, tacking up one of Wedge's contraceptives on
each door. No one interrupted him. He felt like the Angel of Death, marking
the doors of tomorrow's victims in blood. The purpose of a mezuzah was to
fake the angel out so he'd pass by. On these hundred or so cabins Profane
didn't see mezuzah one. So much the worse."

This is a conflation of two Biblical backgrounds: The already mentioned
passages in Deuteronomy which pertain to the religious significance of the
mezuzah, and Exodus 12 in which the origins of the passover feast are
described: God has decided to kill the Egyptians' firstborn children to
bring about the release of the Israelites, and he now tells the Israelites
to mark their door posts with the blood of an innocent lamb, so that he
might be able to distinguish between the Chosen People and its enemies, and
to commemorate the event forever by means of the passover ceremonies.
Pynchon obviously identifies the mezuzah with the blood on the door posts. I
don't know whether this is a common notion. The Bible does not mention an
"Angel of Death" at this point, perhaps this ominous figure can be found
somewhere else, though to me it does not sound like something out of the
Bible. In any case, what Profane actually does is to play God, to sort out
the Elect and the Preterite (in this case the passed over would be the
Elect, I assume, except there aren't any). He will assume the position of
God again in section IV of the chapter when the SP invade the Susanna
Squaducci. It seems that after having watched Rachel making love to her car
he has decided that mankind deserves some harsh Biblical punishing -
probably for its longing for the inanimate, present in chapter one primarily
through Rachel's sexual desire for her car. The whole business is still
narrated in a somewhat farcical way, as a parody or travesty of the Biblical
source, a manner to which the name "Profane" seems obviously related, but
given the resonance concepts like "Elect" and "Preterite" have in Pynchon
this epsiode should certainly not be, uh, passed over. It might also be of
interest to note that "Ulysses" begins with a parody of the eucharist.

"(...) though her yo-yo hand was usually busy at other things, now and again
would come the invisible, the umbilical tug, like tonight mnemonic,
arousing, and he would wonder how much his own man he was."

The hand that holds the yo-yo is finally identified as belonging to Rachel.