COLGR49: Pynchon citing

[Peter Petto]

On page 26 of _In the Lake of the Woods_, Tim O'Brien quotes the ending of 
chapter one:

>      What did she so desire escape from? Such a captive maiden, having 
> plenty of time to think, soon realizes that her tower, its height and 
> architecture, are like her ego only incidental: that what really keeps 
> her where she is is magic, anonymous and malignant, visited on her from 
> outside and for no reason at all.
>      Having no apparatus except gut fear and female cunning to examine 
> this formless magic, to understand how it works, how to measure its field 
> strength, count its line of force, she may fall back on superstition or 
> take up a useless hobby like embroidery, or go mad, or marry a disk 
> jockey. If the tower is everywhere and the knight of deliverance no proof 
> against its magic, what else?

as evidence describing the state of mind of one of the novel's main 
characters,-- the disappearing or disappeared character.

This (and a bit preceding it, starting at "As things developed, she was to 
have all manner of revelations.") has always been one of my favorite 
Pynchon passages, and correspondingly favorite all-time passages in literature.

I've copied the passage out several times, and have a reproduction of the 
"Bordando el Manto Terrestre" hanging in my office; thanks to a pointer 
from John Krafft here on the list.