VLVL2(3): NEVER

Mon Aug 18 04:28:44 CDT 2003

"... all at once, out past the street door, came a
convergence of sirens, purposeful shouting, then heavy
boots, all in step, thumping in their direction.
   "'¡Madre de Dios!' an oddly panicked, high-pitched
Hector was up and running for the kitchen--luckily,
Zoyd noted, having left a twenty on the table--now
with a platoon of folks come crashing in after him,
what was this, all wearing identical camo jumpsuits
and crash helmets with the word NEVER stenciled
on...."  (VL, Ch. 3, pp. 32 ff.)

"a convergence of sirens"

First you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who
come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close
and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and
children will never welcome him home again, for they
sit in a green field and warble him to death with the
sweetness of their song. There is a great heap of dead
men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still
rotting off them. Therefore pass these Sirens by, and
stop your men's ears with wax that none of them may
hear; but if you like you can listen yourself, for you
may get the men to bind you as you stand upright on a
cross-piece half way up the mast, and they must lash
the rope's ends to the mast itself, that you may have
the pleasure of listening. If you beg and pray the men
to unloose you, then they must bind you faster.

http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.12.xii.html

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.  

I do not think that they will sing to me. 

http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html

http://www.salon.com/audio/2000/10/05/eliot/

"heavy boots, all in step"

Main Entry: goose step
Function: noun
Date: 1806
: a straight-legged stiff-kneed step used by troops of
some armies when passing in review

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

"identical camo jumpsuits"

Cf. ...

   "When the hatch at last sighed open, the intruders
enetred the flying nightclub with elite-unit grace,
automatics ready, faces dim behind high-impact
shields, all business...."  (VL, Ch. 5, pp. 64-5)

"the word NEVER"

Main Entry: nev·er 
Pronunciation: 'ne-v&r
Function: adverb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English n[AE]fre,
from ne not + [AE]fre ever -- more at NO
Date: before 12th century
1 : not ever : at no time <I never met her>
2 : not in any degree : not under any condition <never
the wiser for his experience>

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

"stenciled on"

Stencil, Herbert (b. 1901)

Stencil, Sidney (1859-1919)

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/v/alpha/s.html

"Pendleton shirt"

http://www.pendleton-usa.com/index.cfm?action=shop&cat=47

"Dr. Dennis Deeply, M.S.W., Ph.D."

DENIS   m   French, Russian, English
Pronounced: de-NEE (French), DEN-is (English)
Medieval form of DIONYSIUS. Saint Denis was a
3rd-century missionary to Gaul who was beheaded in
Paris. He is the patron saint of France. Another
notable bearer was the French philosopher Denis
Diderot.

DENNIS   m   English, French
Pronounced: de-NEE (French), DEN-is (English)
Variant of DENIS

http://www.behindthename.com/nm/d2.html

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04721a.htm

Main Entry: deep 
Pronunciation: 'dEp
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English dep, from Old English dEop;
akin to Old High German tiof deep, Old English dyppan
to dip -- more at DIP
Date: before 12th century
1 : extending far from some surface or area: as a :
extending far downward <a deep well> b (1) : extending
well inward from an outer surface <a deep gash> <a
deep-chested animal> (2) : not located superficially
within the body <deep pressure receptors in muscles> c
: extending well back from a surface accepted as front
<a deep closet> d : extending far laterally from the
center <deep borders of lace> e : occurring or located
near the outer limits of the playing area <hit to deep
right field> f : thrown deep <a deep pass>
2 : having a specified extension in an implied
direction usually downward or backward <a shelf 20
inches deep> <cars parked three-deep>
3 a : difficult to penetrate or comprehend : RECONDITE
<deep mathematical problems> b : MYSTERIOUS, OBSCURE
<a deep dark secret> c : grave in nature or effect <in
deepest disgrace> d : of penetrating intellect : WISE
<a deep thinker> e : INVOLVED, ENGROSSED <deep in
debt> f : characterized by profundity of feeling or
quality <a deep sleep>; also : DEEP-SEATED <deep
religious beliefs>
4 a of color : high in saturation and low in lightness
b : having a low musical pitch or pitch range <a deep
voice>
5 a : situated well within the boundaries <a house
deep in the woods> b : remote in time or space c :
being below the level of the conscious <deep neuroses>
d : covered, enclosed, or filled to a specified degree
-- usually used in combination <ankle-deep in mud>
6 : LARGE <deep discounts>
7 : having many good players <a deep bull pen>
synonym see BROAD
- deep·ly adverb ...

Main Entry: MSW
Function: abbreviation
master of social welfare, master of social work

Main Entry: PhD
Function: abbreviation
Etymology: New Latin philosophiae doctor
doctor of philosophy

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

"National Endowment for Video Education and
Rehabilitation"

p. 33 "National Endowment for Video Education and
Rehabilitation"   Dr. Deeply's Tubal detox operation
(NEVER) is clearly a gag on Betty Ford's "Just Say No"
Drug Abuse Clinic. This is also the first statement of
a central theme: America's national addiction isn't to
drugs, it's to the Tube.

http://www.mindspring.com/~shadow88/chapter3.htm

"A dryin' out place for Tubefreeks?"

And cf. ...

http://www.nea.gov/

http://www.neh.fed.us/

"a struck circle around a TV set"

http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~ih/teaching/vcr/no-tvvcr.gif

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/personal/no-tv.gif

"Ex luce ad sanitatem"

"Out of the light, into sanity"

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9810&msg=32007&sort=date

Note the dissociation of light from sanity ...

Foucault, Michel.  Madness and Civilization:
   A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason.
   Trans. Richard Howard.  NY: Vintage, 1973 [1960].

"Tubal abuse and other video-related disorders"

See, e.g., ...

Mander, Jerry.  Four Arguments for the Elimination
   of Television.  New York: Morrow, 1978.

http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/mander.html

Kubey, Robert and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 
   "Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor,"
   Scientific American, Vol. 286, No. 2 (February
   2002): 74-77 .

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0005339B-A694-1CC5-B4A8809EC588EEDF

And thank you ...

http://www.library.northwestern.edu/reference/instructional_services/electronic_handouts/turabian_style.html

"the Brady Buncher"

"It seems that Pynchon's sister Judith once taught at
Suffolk Community College and a colleague of [John
Krafft, editor of Pynchon Notes]'s actually dated her,
and actually asked her, one time, 'What's your brother
likely to be doing right now?' and she said 'Watching
The Brady Bunch.' This, I learn, is a wholesome family
sitcom which was run and rerun throughout the
Seventies, and it's Pynchon's favourite show. So, Tom
is just like you and me! He watches cruddy TV!"

http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/bio/influences.html

"still at large"

http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/tenlist.htm

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