MDDM pizza (and pieces of eight)

[Mark Wright AIA]

Howdy
What did you do for ketchup,er, ketjap?
Mark

--- jbor <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:
> I had a thought or two about Octopus Grigori in relation to the
> Octuple
> Gloucester: both of them are giants, both eight-fold. ("OG": same
> initials
> too!) Each one plays the role of a sort of *deus ex machina* in
> Pynchon's
> narratives: the outlandish lynch-pin of a seemingly bizarre
> coincidence
> which gets the unlikely heroine and her even unlikelier hero
> together, for a
> time at least ... but, in both instances there has been
> double-dealing and
> double-double dealing behind the rendezvous. In _GR_, unbeknownst to
> Slothrop, Grigori has been conditioned, and Katje is working (though
> not
> wholly committed to the project) for Pointy and co. In _M&D_ it's not
> really
> anything to do with the runaway "*Cheese malevolent*" per se, but
> Rebekah's
> presence on the hillside certainly seems to be the result of some
> perifidious scheme master-minded by old Sam Peach.
> 
> But back to the *deus ex machina* idea: Pynchon behind it all is
> *double*
> double double-dealing (2 x 2 x 2 = 8) with his ("historical")
> narratives,
> and with his readers, at these moments. More than this, the
> outrageous
> improbability of the sudden presence and active intervention of both
> of
> these giant eight-entities in order to progress his narrative seems
> to
> flaunt the *literary* plot-maker's art/ifice, deliberately so, to
> such an
> extreme degree that you don't even really notice that you're being
> duped, or
> else you suddenly realise, perhaps, that you *always* are ...
> 
> The "Cudgel and Throck" pizza was quite delicious, by the way. I
> couldn't
> find Stilton anywhere so substituted Danish blue, and the anchovies
> were in
> oil, but the flavours blended together beautifully. A glass or two of
> cab.
> shiraz merlot: superb!
> 
> best
> 
> 
> 
> on 14/12/01 7:30 PM, Mutualcode at aol.com at Mutualcode at aol.com wrote:
> 
> > The standard american pizza pie is almost always cut into
> > eight equal slices, by four swift strokes: two perpendicular
> > crosses, the second rotated 45 degrees from the first.
> > 
> > Pynchon seems to use the number 8 in his works like a chord
> > in an opera to herald the entrance of a particular character
> > or theme. To cite one example: Mason and Rebekah might
> > never have gotten married if it weren't for the accidental
> > intervention of the runaway Octuple.
> > 
> > What is the thematic significance, if any, of the number 8
> > in Mr. Pynchon's works?
> > 
> > 
> 


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