MDDM18: German

[jbor]

on 29/1/02 7:41 PM, Dave Monroe at davidmmonroe at yahoo.com wrote:

> ... making it even more likely that the "German
> enthusiasts" (of, indeed, "things Magnetick," though,
> in the end, it comes out more or less the same if one
> reads this as "enthusiasts" of "German" [a la "sports
> enthusiasts"] "interested in things Magnetick,"
> there's still that "German"/"Magnetick" connection
> implied) are part of a "Clientele" with a particular
> "interest in things Magnetick."  That's why they're
> all there, yr GEs, yr LSs (who in turn, in particular,
> er, attract yr WTs), yr QPs, yr Dixon, yr Dolly, et
> soforthiam.  

Rereading the passage again I note that the full phrase is "an interest in
the Magnetick, however it be manifested". So, I take it that each of the
groups mentioned has a markedly different interest in magnetism, and from
this I also suspect that the "Watch-Thieves" are in fact using small magnets
in order to lift the watches of the other patrons. And I'm quite happy to
concede that the "German Enthusiasts" might equate to "Germans" who are
"Enthusiasts" of the theory of "animal magnetism". So, well-spotted. (Mesmer
would have been in his late 20s at this time, and I imagine there was work
in the field prior to the public announcement of his theories in Paris 10 or
so years later. Note how the chatter back at the Swedish bar upon Carpenters
Wharf had turn'd "ineluctably" to Mesmer also. 272.21)

Still, the impression I get is that this coffee-house is a meeting-place for
people from German backgrounds, that there are other groups "among the
Clientele" besides the five categories listed, and that the groups are
separate rather than interactive:

"Strangers greet [Dixon] as they might a Friend of ancient Standing, whilst
others, obviously seeking to shun his company, glare whenever the Fumes of
Tobacco allow them mutual Visibility. He has no idea what any of it is
about." (398.21)

I also don't think the patrons share common interests at all, or that there
is a cryptic subtext at play in the passage. As the Coffee-Draper explains
to Dixon: "Diff'rent Visitors with diff'rent expectations." (299.2)

> Again, note that that "declension" (i.e.,
> magnetic variation) "Data" arrives specifically via
> "the German packet."

A somewhat innocuous delivery, surely? And hardly secret I would think. For
me this detail of the *German* packet merely corroborates the impression
that 'The Flower-de-Luce' is the hub of the German community in
Philadelphia, in the same way that the Swedish statesman's portrait confirms
that 'The Fair Anchor' is the preferred meeting-place for Swedish
descendants. But I'm not really sure what the point is that you're trying to
make so it's quite difficult to ascertain whether it's plausible or not. I
don't believe Pynchon is in the business of gratuitously demonising German
people - not that I'm saying you've said or implied this, by the way - and I
don't think the shenanigans here are any more (or less) ominous or
significant than those at the Swedish (272.11-35) or Belgian (309.24-26)
haunts. 

best