MDDM Ch. 70 Higher Assembly

[jbor]

on 17/8/02 7:41 PM, Dave Monroe at davidmmonroe at yahoo.com wrote:

>>> "Here are the last Cadre, out in the uniterrupted
>>> Visto,-- from a certain Height, oddly verminous
>>> upon the pale Riband unfolding,
>> 
>> "verminous" is not a very flattering way to describe
>> this group, is it, whether it reflects only the POV
>> of a narrator or of Pynchon himself, as the novel
>> draws to a close, the negative impact of the Line
>> and those who draws it comes into greater relief.
> 
> "Verminous" refers not to "Cadre" but to "Visto" here,
> reinforcing that Line/Lambton Worm connection as well,
> via etymylogy, i.e., "vermi-" = "worm" ...

I read "verminous" as the adjective from vermin also, referring to the men.
The "Riband" is the Visto, isn't it?

The interesting thing is that, circa 1767, there is nothing of human
invention that would get one to a height where a group of men look like rats
or insects and the Visto like a ribbon. Anachronism? Jesuit balloons?
Transcendental flight à la Dixon and Emerson? God, or gods? Or is it that
cosmic eye view again ... "the magick of Celestial Trigonometry" (96.7)?

best