NPPF - Canto 4 - Notes

[Paul Mackin]

On Wed, 2003-08-13 at 13:43, Otto wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul Mackin" <paul.mackin at verizon.net>
> To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 10:29 PM
> Subject: Re: NPPF - Canto 4 - Notes
> 
> 
> > On Mon, 2003-08-11 at 18:04, The Great Quail wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > 977-978: "I'm reasonably sure that we survive/And that my darling
> somewhere
> > > is alive" -- Obviously meaning Hazel; a rather powerful admission at the
> end
> > > of the poem.
> >
> >
> >
> > The language of the poet seems particularly powerful and elegant in
> > these closing lines. Unless it can be demonstrated to me that, in the
> > over all scheme of the novel, John Shade's poem is completely and
> > totally irrelevant, I have to believe that Hazel is in some sense alive.
> > I think that much is expected of us.
> >
> 
> This is what Boyd suggests too.


Yes. I'm trying to do a "Boyd" without any resort to the Commentary.
(next week we can start discussing K's contribution)

There's a lot that can be gotten from the poem standing alone. The
strong suggestion in Canto Two that the dull retiring Toothwort White is
Hazel in her earthly state and at the end of Canto Four the gorgeous
Venessa is she in the Afterlife.
 


> 
> > >
> > > 979-982: The irony of these lines is sharp, as Shade will be murdered
> this
> > > evening.
> >
> 
> Yes, and since I've read it the first time, and then read Boyd's book I'm
> wondering what to make of this sharp irony. Isn't it as if Shade is being
> "punished" for the hybris of writing those lines? Isn't this sharp contrast
> between Shade being sure to wake up the next morning and the "reality" of
> the novel (being shot) mocking his belief of an afterlife?


Well, as I said in a post yesterday I don't think the irony is terribly
important. Yes, it's ironic to have stated one's hope for a daughter's
continuing existence in terms of the "sure thing" probability of seeing
the next sunrise only to die violently a few minutes later. But what S
is interested in is seeing Hazel again--the state he himself is in would
be quite a secondary consideration. 



P.

> Otto
>