Pynchon, Pavlov, and Wittgenstein

[Al X]

Hey...I just finished Gravity's Rainbow and I'm skimming through 
Weisenburger's guide and found a few concepts that I couldn't quite grasp. 
Since most of them deal with the Pavlovian aspect of the novel I thought I'd 
see if any of you budding Pointsmen could help me. Weisenburger quotes 
Horsley Gantt (Pavlov's translator) as writing

"Beyond a certain maximal intensity, variations may lead to certain phases - 
the equivalent (in which strong and weak stimuli produce the same effect), 
the paradoxical (in which the weak stimuli give a greater response than the 
strong), the ultraparadoxical (in which the excitatory conditioned stimuli 
become inhibitory, and vice-versa). Such...stimuli, too strong to give the 
maximal conditioned reflex, Pavlov terms 'transmarginal'."

Right...so, obviously Pynchon intends the reader to see Slothrop's reaction 
to the rocket as ultraparadoxical (its basically the freakin' title of the 
section), but I can't understand how this reaction in any different from the 
paradoxical. As I understand it, the rocket is inhibitory and causes and 
excitatory state (to say the least of Slothrop's "stout rainbow cock" and 
the huge explosions plauging Europe). This fits in with the whole "hysteron 
proteron" I think. But this seems to be a weak stimuli (the static rocket) 
to a strong (the explosion). Any help on this would be greatly appreciated 
as I think Pavlov must have lost something in the translation.


Also, after reading Weissmann's Tarot, I picked up Wittgenstein's 
"Tractatus" and was immediately confused with:

"The world is the totality of facts, not of things."

What? OK, a chair's not a fact and "There is a chair in the room" is a fact, 
but does this mean that the world, in so much as "verdicality", can never be 
sensed, only guesses as to what that world actually is (i.e. the truth). OK, 
I'm done now. I'm sure these questions have been asked before, but I'm a 
fairly new Pynchonite and feel I can be permitted a little arrogance here. 
Thanks.
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