MDDM Ch. 57 Coventry

[O.SELL at telda.net]

----- Original Message -----
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 09, 2002 11:48 PM
Subject: Re: MDDM Ch. 57 Joe Kennedy in the Falklands?


>
> > 565.35 Cap'n Kennedy ... H.M.S. *Coventry*  ?
>
> I'll go out on a limb and say that, on the balance of the evidence in the
> text, I *don't* think Pynchon is referring to JFK's dad (or RFK) or the
ship
> that was sunk during the Falklands War here.
>
> http://www.btinternet.com/~broadsword82/index.htm
>
> If Pynchon were, then, in my opinion, the allusions would be gratuitous.
>
> There have been quite a few Captain Kennedys, I'd hazard, and several HMS
> Coventrys. That JFK's clan and the Falklands ship share the name is purely
a
> coincidence, in my reading of this text.
>
> As a reader I'm consciously deciding *not* to make the connections,
> "obvious" though they might be.
>
> best
>

Well, seems as if you're right . . .

"Since 1658, the name Coventry has graced the high seas on one of the Royal
Navy's flagship vessels. The latest HMS Coventry ended its gallant navy
career just before Christmas, 2001. The people of Coventry, lead by the Lord
Mayor Councilor Dave Chater, are now campaigning to get a new ship carrying
the city's name. The latest HMS Coventry, which was decommissioned and sold
in January, maintained the proud name established by its predecessors. It
ensured its place in history just before retirement when it played a key
role in a £40 million drug seizure. The previous two ships were both sunk in
combat, one off the coast of Tobruk during World War II and the other during
the Falklands conflict."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/features/stories/2002/04/hms-coventry.shtml

but . . . we're talking about British colonial resp. post-colonial wars, the
"March of Folly" (B. Tuchman). If we assume that Pynchon went into research
before he took the name *Coventry* for a British warship of 1766 engaged in
British Stamp-Act activities, he must have come across that Thatcher-War
"Coventry" too. As a critical reader I can make that connection:

"What a terrible thing, that British Governments should mis-read us so, when
we wish to believe in their Wisdom, their better grasp of History, as of
Secular Likelihood,-- yet they will find ways to nourish our Doubts."
"Will their Stupidity prove beyond the reach even of Mr. Franklin, our
American Prometheus?"
"Why bother to educate 'em? The stupider the better."
"Yet too stupid, and the only Choice is Battle."
(565.23-30)

Google: "American+Prometheus"
http://www.kirtland.cc.mi.us/honors/amlit/alfederal.htm

Otto