SLSL quantum physics

[David Morris]

--- jbor <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:
> >>> From 'Low-lands' (1960):
> >> 
> >> " ... as long as you are passive you can remain aware of the truth's
extent but the minute you become active you are somehow, if not violating a
convention outright, at least screwing up the perspective of things, much as
anyone observing subatomic particles changes the works, data and odds, by the
act of observing. ... " (p. 69)
> >> 
> >> It's about as direct a reference to quantum mechanics as you'll ever see.
> >> 
> > 
> > Well, I won't quibble over the word "Direct."  Brownlie and Moore discuss
Heisenberg. This kind of allusion to the uncertainty principle, they assert, 
is not a Direct reference.
> 
> It's pretty much a direct restatement of the Theory of Indeterminacy. In
fact, it's a clearer and more succinct definition than anything Heisenberg ever
wrote on it.
> 
> > Furthermore, and more importantly, if Pynchon knows anything about QM he
doesn't use that knowledge in his fictions.
> 
> I'd disagree with this assertion very strongly. I think that (in forty words
or less) rather than presenting the reader with how the world "is", Pynchon is
constantly showing how the world is perceived to be, and how the processes of
perception can and do actually alter the way the world "is"

I agree w/ Rob that this Low Lands quote was obviously meant by Pynchon to
point toward the "Uncertainty Principle."  And all of Pynchon's texts are about
individuals' attempts to "nail down" what are the numinous and ominous forces
and patterns all around, before, and after, to "understand" what is always
proving to be uncertain.  Here is an example of a charcter trying NOT to nail
down his perception, instinctively knowing that he will loose some essence of
"true lies" if he does.  Whether he understands QM, he is trying to tie it into
his fiction as a literary trope.

David Morris

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