V.V. (12) Foppl's planetarium

[jbor]

    ... a circular room with a great wooden sun, overlaid with gold
    leaf, burning cold in the very center and around it the nine planets
    and their moons, suspended from tracks in the ceiling, actuated by
    a coarse web of chains, pulleys, belts, racks, pinions and worms, all
    receiving their prime impulse from a treadmill in the corner, usually
    operating for the amusement of the guests by a Bondelswaartz, now
    unoccupied. Having long-fled all vestiges of music Mondaugen released
    her here, skipped to the treadmill and began a jog-trot that set the
    solar system in motion, creaking and whining in a way that raised a
    prickling in the teeth. Rattling, shuddering, the wooden planets began
    to rotate and spin, Saturn's rings to whirl, moons their precession, our
    own earth its nutational wobble, all picking up speed; as the girl
    continued to dance, having chosen the planet Venus for her partner;
    as Mondaugen dashed along his own geodesic, following in the footsteps
    of a generation of slaves.    (239)

A mechanical cosmos: Pynchon introduces quite an interesting variation on
that inanimate theme right here I think. I like that gold leaf sun, and the
oxymoron (or paradox) "burning cold". Also, I like the phrase about the two
of them having "long-fled the vestiges of music" and suspect that something
more than the merely literal might be made from that, particularly so as
Hedwig continues to dance anyway.

A couple of questions:

Q. Does the fact that Hedwig V-ogelsang chooses V-enus "for her partner"
here indicate that there are *two* female personifications of "V" in this
chapter, Hedwig *and* Vera?

Q. The planetarium has been running over a period of time marked by a
"generation of slaves", say, 20-30 years (which in itself makes the presence
of Pluto even more unlikely I think). Does Pynchon correct/foreground this
error in _V._ with the explicit references to the date of the discovery of
Pluto in _GR_?

Q. What is the symbolic function of "a generation of slaves" having made the
world turn for Foppl and his guests' amusement? What is the significance of
the fact that it is now an engineer, Kurt, who takes over the task?

best