Chasing ... Cutting

[jbor]

----------
>From: "Terrance Flaherty" <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
>

Sorry, I missed some of your previous post:

> But Blicero has flaunted his homosexuality openly,
>> referenced on several occasions in the text, and this has led to his renown
>> amongst these prisoners (and probably also been one reason for his slide
>> down the Nazi hierarchy.)
>
>
> What evidence is there of this?

The fact that Ombindi can taunt Enzian about his relationship with Weissmann
(319); that Weissmann intends to 'humiliate' Gottfried in front of his
battery by having him grow his hair (95); that both the Dora guards and the
175s are in awe of him.

> His homosexuality is the
> reason for his slide? Where is this?

Nowhere; I'm extrapolating. But, the slide *is* there. So, what do *you*
make of it?

> Also, could be another
> reason why they choose him, not their homosexuality but
> their need to be imprisoned, controlled.

Is this a pertinent characteristic of homosexuality, in your opinion, then?
Sounds like bigotry to me. I don't believe that Pynchon is a bigot.

> There freedom is a
> banishment not because they are homosexuals.

They *are* homosexuals, however. And it is their "liberation" (in inverted
commas in the text as well), and emphatically *not* their "freedom", as you
would have it, which is experienced "as a banishment".

>> Their code and motto -- Blicero's -- "We do not harm visitors."
>
> Again?

Again, why not?

>>
>> The passage at 666.15 describes not Blicero the man, but Blicero "the name",
>> the idea, the myth. It is only "as if" the name is "carrying on the man's
>> retreat for him, past the last stand" -- (perhaps/probably) Blicero's last
>> stand -- on the Luneberg Heath.
>
> No, good try but the text puts them together, like this
> "Weissmann/Blicero"

Rubbish. 666.15: "The name has found its way this far east, as if ...." It's
only the *name* ... *as if* ... : Blicero the *man* is dead in all
likelihood.

>> "He is the Zone's worst specter."
>
> Worst ghost. Worst!

The *imaginary* Schutzhaftslingfuhrer? The *name*, or legend, of Blicero? Or
the man himself? What is *your* point?

>> "He is malignant, he pervades the lengthening summer nights."
>>
>> malignant adj. 3. [...] rapidly spreading (Collins)
>
> No, this would not follow, he is malignant in this sense or
> metastasized, but he melignant:ma·lig·nant (m
-l¹g“n
nt)
> adj. 1. Showing great malevolence; disposed to do evil. 2.
> Highly injurious; pernicious. 3. Pathology. a. Threatening
> to life; virulent: a malignant disease. b. Tending to
> metastasize; cancerous. Used of a tumor. --ma·lig“nant·ly
> adv.

In the context of that second part of the sentence I think the definition I
have offered is entirely legitimate. It is not the process or state of
malignancy but the tumour itself which is the threat to life. It might not
follow for you, but it *does* follow.

>> "Like a cankered root he is changing, growing toward winter, growing whiter,
>> toward the idleness and the famine."
>>
>> canker n. 3, an open wound in the stem of a tree or shrub, caused by injury
>> or parasites (Collins)
>
> No, obviously that not it.

Really? It is in tune with the rest of the metaphor. Very much so. Take it
up with the editors: *Collins English Dictionary* (Updated Edition).
HarperCollins Publishers, PO Box Glasgow G4 ONB: 1994; p. 236.

>> Seasonal change has come. He/it is "changing, growing toward winter", but
>> has not caused winter; he/it is not the bringer of "the idleness and the
>> famine".
>>
>> Far enough?
>
> No, this is lame obfuscation on your part and I think you
> know it.

No it isn't. Fuck off.

>>
>> Blicero is the *absent*, or symbolic, authority figure in the prisoners'
>> camp (667.9). His palpable presence across the ""interface"" of life and
>> 'not-life' scares Thanatz shitless (668.7).
>
> Yes, the interface is what?

It's apostrophised. It's part of a question. I'd say that it's the interface
between life and after-life but, again, we're being filtered through
Thanatz's paranoias at this point.

>> > How do you account for his reading of Rilke? It's entwined
>> > as an integral element of his oven game, the Oven State,
>> > and must be accounted for.
>>
>> He read Rilke. He read it to his lover, Enzian, in Sudwest: taught him the
>> language, the culture.
>
> Why will you admit to all sorts of complexity but deny that
> TRP's use of Rilke in GR is very complicated. It's a
> critical part of the text you refuse to account for. Why?

I'm not denying anything.  The scene at 99-101 is poignant. You've obviously
promised what you are unable to deliver re. this supposed "complexity" of
Pynchon's supposed depiction of Weissmann's supposed changing, incorrect
readings of Rilke's poems in German, which fuels your need to remonstrate in
this manner. Your dismissive, superior tone is quite offensive.