Ahab & Merleau-Ponty....Graves....

[jbor]

on 8/2/02 2:35 PM, Scott Badger at lupine at ncia.net wrote:

>Rob:
>> I think that Emerson's aphorism relates closely to the theme of
>> futurity and
>> subjunctivity in _M&D_, that the events of time, and particular of future
>> time, are unknown and unknowable, that it is a "space which may
>> not be seen"
>> by mortal men, whereas Wicks reappropriates this philosophical/scientific
>> revelation and insinuates that God, out of "Mercy", chose not to bless
>> humans with divine ominiscience.
> 
> Well, if not God, then R.C. (and Emerson) --
> 
> '"What were my choices?" R.C. nearly breathless. The thing was either
> bewitch'd, by Country Women in the middle of the night,- Fire, monthly
> Blood, Names of Power,- or perfected, as might any Watch be, over years,
> small bit by bit, to its present mechanickal State, by Men in work-shops,
> and in the Daytime. That was the sexual Choice the Moment presented,-
> between those two sorts of Magic.'

Yes, and I wondered about who that "R.C." might be too. Recall that "RC and
Moonpie" are the alternative lifestylers who are the primary producers for
Zoyd's yabbie marketing operation in _Vineland_, and that R.C.'s wife's name
here is "Phoebe" (325.1), which means "bright moon" and was also the name of
the Titaness who was (with Atlas) "set over" the moon by Eurynome, the
"Goddess of All Things", in the Pelasgian creation myth (Graves, 35), but
I'm not sure that the two "R.C."s are necessarily connected in any way
(except - perhaps - to refer readers back to that largely-overlooked aspect
of Zoyd's vocation in the previous text.) There are Cherrycoke and Bodine
descendants elsewhere in Pynchon's texts too, so, maybe ....

The passage you've cited - and it seems to be R.C.'s narration rather than
Dixon's, by the way, and it's certainly not Wicks's - adds yet another
perspective to the "Time" issue which is foremost in this chapter, a
gender-oriented, "Men-are-from-Mars-and-Women-are-from-Venus"-style
hypothesis. But R.C. is "too insane for ev'ryone else's good" (322.25), so I
don't think he's an altogether reliable authority on the subject.

I think that Emerson, in presenting the perpetual motion watch - which is
indeed a "direct Affront" (318.32) to both Newtonian science and any belief
in predestination - is still serving in his role as Dixon's mentor and
guide. "Time is the space that may not be seen- " is the current lesson. The
watch - and it's totally unexpected fate - the QED. Thus, Dixon learns. And
grows ....

best