MDMD2: Magnetical Stupor

[John Lundy]

Paul,

I think it is Fischer.  You raise an interesting point.  We all understand 
athletes being past it, but can the same thing be true of those  involved 
in intellectual pursuits?  For instance, Joseph Heller was never the same 
after Catch 22 and, at the risk of all the demons in Hades nipping at my 
fleeing heels, I don't believe Pynchon was anything like the same writer 
post GR.  I read a theory about this once which goes along the lines of the 
individual suffering the intellectual equivalent of a broken chassis after 
putting their heart and soul into a body of work.  I'm not sure.  I never 
had a chassis to break.

There's something to be said for the ordinary man.

John


On Tuesday, 25 September 2001 04:13, Paul Nightingale 
[SMTP:paulngale at supanet.com] wrote:
> There's nothing wrong with lowering the tone, I aspire to it every time I
> start to write. I'd forgotten the story about Fisher (or is it Fischer, 
I've
> forgotten that as well) and Spassky. Those were the days! I read the 
other
> week that Bobby F (playing safe there) was back playing chess on the
> internet. Under an assumed name of course (perhaps he's forgotten how to
> spell it as well). But he managed to give himself away by beating 
everyone,
> even though he's "past it" in age terms.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Lundy" <jlundy at gyk.com.au>
> To: "'Paul Nightingale'" <paulngale at supanet.com>; <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 5:56 AM
> Subject: RE: MDMD2: Magnetical Stupor
>
>
> >
> >
> > Paul,
> >
> > I'm sorry to lower the intellectual tone of this, but does anyone else
> > recall that during a match in that great symbolic cold war contest, the
> > World Chess Championship, Bobby Fisher and Spassky quarrelled after
> Spassky
> > refused to continue until Fisher changed his tie?  Spassky said that 
the
> > psychedelic patterns on the tie were clearly designed by the CIA's
> > hypnotists and were planned to have a mesmeric effect that would see 
him
> > putty in his opponent's hands.  I thought it was hilarious at the time 
and
> > it all came flooding back.  By the way, I believed Fisher's 
protestations
> > of innocence on the grounds that his appalling dress sense was pretty 
much
> > matched by most Western males in the 70s.
> >
> > (I'm enjoying your exposition of all of this.  I'm learning lots. 
 Harry
> > Houdini to me was and remains a grim-faced Tony Curtis upside down and
> > manacled in a cylinder of arctic water with a how-the-fuck-did-I
> > ever-agree-to-try-this look on his face.  So all this is a revelation.
> >
> > On Monday, 24 September 2001 14:40, Paul Nightingale
> > [SMTP:paulngale at supanet.com] wrote:
> > > Roy Porter, in Mind-Forg'd Manacles, tells the following story. In 
the
> > 1790s
> > > mesmerism would become an unlikely secret weapon for Revolutionary
> France
> > in
> > > the war with Britain. James Tilley Matthews had been briefly 
imprisoned
> > by
> > > the French Jacobins; and he it was who exposed the plot upon his 
return
> > to
> > > England in 1796. Teams of "magnetic spies" aimed to mesmerise 
government
> > > ministers, he claimed: "Thus, for instance, when the Secretary of War 
is
> > at
> > > church, in the theatre, or sitting in his office and thinking on
> > indifferent
> > > subjects; the expert magnetist would suddenly throw into his mind the
> > > subject of exchange of prisoners." Matthews was committed to Bethlem 
in
> > > 1797; this, he argued, was part of a Government/Mesmerist plot to
> silence
> > > him (Penguin ed, 1990: 237-9).
> > >
> > > Hence, mesmerism as popular science is associated with threats to the
> > > established order, or even just order, as well as paranoia. It is 
part
> of
> > > what Foucault called Unreason in the Age of Reason. From Dixon's 
point
> of
> > > view Mason has taken leave of his senses, seduced (too strong a 
word?)
> by
> > > the Learned Dog (juxtaposed to "an Actress one admires"; something
> > > to do with his dead wife). This is all part of Dixon's introduction 
to
> > the
> > > city, a dream-world he finds baffling throughout Ch3: his "clear
> > > Stupefaction" becomes, is transposed into, Mason's "Magnetical 
Stupor".
> > And
> > > then, if the Dog does 'stand in' for Cherrycoke in this chapter, he
> > > transforms the observer whose story-telling is merely reactive into 
the
> > kind
> > > of narrator who is more manipulative, ie a writer.
> > >
> > >
> > >