MDDM Chapter 44 "a haze of green Resurrection" (441.2)

[jbor]

Terrance wrote:

> "Why, the Collier sailors belive 'tis bad luck...?" Dixohn replies..."it
> being the day of Christ's Execution."   MD.26

Yes, "Dark Hepsie, Pythoness of the Point" elicits this response from Dixon.
She then says "Thus does your Captain Smith disrespect Christ, Fate, Saint
Peter, and the god Neptune" and tells them their journey is an ill-starred
one. 

On the next page Dixon reminds Mason that they're "Men of Science":

    To huz must all days run alike, the same number of identical Seconds,
    each proceeding in but one Direction, irreclaimable...? If we would have
    Omens, why, let us recall that the Astronomer's symbol for Friday is
    also that of the planet Venus herself,-- a good enough omen, surely...?"
                                                                (27.20)

Then Hepsie actually presages what does happen when the Seahorse sets sail.
A sorceress, she sees into the future. Not a particularly Christian moment,
I would have thought.

So, those mentions aren't really about Christ at all, are they? Or only in a
very flippant and off-the-cuff way. It's more about Mason finding Rebekah in
the afterlife, the omens for their voyage, superstition, the spooky
supernatural etc.
 
> "All thah' Coal-Mining, I guess." MD.42
> 
> He doesn't fancy or imagine, but guess.

Yes, another familiar conversational tag.

The point I was originally making about the use of the phrase "a haze of
green Resurrection" in the current chapter was that it refers to a new
beginning - spring has been celebrated as a time of rebirth in many cultures
across the ages, but it's also the "beginning" of the story that we should
have expected the novel to tell, the beginning of the "plotting" of the
Mason-Dixon Line. It's the fact that this "beginning" occurs on page 444
which John admitted to being a little upset by on first reading. I think
Pynchon is well aware of the upset, indeed, that he meant it, and that this
is why he uses this particular metaphor.

If it is a reference to the fact that they set out on Good Friday then it
doesn't make much sense to me, seeing as Christ's Resurrection happened on
the Monday. The reason "sailing from Spithead" is given as the example is
that that was the place the Seahorse left from at Portsmouth, also on a
Friday, and that journey was an ill-fated one.

I think it's very noteworthy that Pynchon *doesn't* address the Easter angle
in the text. In fact, I'd imagine his use of the term "Resurrection" in such
a pronouncedly secular/pagan context is quite instructive. And, even if not
mentioning that it's Good Friday *were* simply an oversight or failure of
research on his part, it's still noteworthy I believe.

best

ps Not really able to elaborate right at the moment, but I wouldn't rely too
heavily on Weisenburger's schema regarding the dates in _GR_.