This account ...

[Dave Monroe]

"From obscure philtelic journals furnished her by
Genghis Cohen, an ambiguous footnote in Motley's Rise
of the Dutch Republic, an 80-year-old pamphlet on the
roots of modern anarchism, a book of sermons by
Blobb's brother Augustine also among Bortz's
Wharfingeriana, along with Blobb's original clues,
Oedipa was able to fit together this account of how
the organization began ..." (Lot 49, Ch. 6, p. 158
ff.)

Sorry, but I balked at comparing Oedipa's account with
John Lothrop (!) Motley's The Rise of the Dutch
Republic (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1855) ...

http://www.bartleby.com/226/0914.html

http://www.bartleby.com/226/0915.html

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0107&msg=753&sort=date

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0107&msg=665&sort=date

So, from J. Kerry Grant, A Companion to The Crying of
Lot 49 (Athens: U of Georgia P, 1994) ...

"Although Pynchon mentions Motley's The Rise of the
Dutch Republic, he does not seem to be basing his
account on that source...." (p. 127)

And so forth.  Also ...

"Motley's work contains hundred of footnotes, most of
them not in English.  The task of determining which,
if any, might be regarded as 'ambiguous' in the
appropriate way is monumental.  Seed apperars to have
taken it nonetheless, since he claims quite
unequivocally that 'the footnote in Motley does not
exist' (127)."

Citing ...

Seed, David.  The Fictional Labyrinths of
   Thomas Pynchon.  Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 1988.

And ...

"Dugdale notes that the reference to the pamphlet on
anarchism may be specific, but that its real relevance
lies in the link it forges with other references to
anarchism in the novel (176)."

Dugdale, John.  Thomas Pynchon: Allusive Parables
   of Power.  New York: St. Martin's, 1990.

Just wanted to address these few pages somehow, is
all, but, having already lost one post on them (to
WASTe-mail?) ... note, by the way, here, history
always already historiography, written, from texts,
about texts, via texts.  Journals, footnotes, books,
pamphlets, sermons ...



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