SLSL: levity's rainbow under the rose

[lorentzen-nicklaus]

                       >  Edward Mendelson, "Levity's Rainbow," in The New
                       >  Republic,  Vol. 203,  Nos. 2 & 3, July 9 & 16, 1990,  
                       >  pp. 40-6.


    + this witty phrase - levity's rainbow - seems to be popular among american 
    literature freaks. at least david gates' newsweek review of dfw's "infinite 
    jest" was published under the same title. speaking of gravity's rainbow, i 
    want to ask whether the fact that the words "under the rose" appear there 
    twice --- "under the rose is a drying tear" (290) & "what is that, 
    detonating in the sky above the cathedral? beneath the edge of the razor, 
    under the rose?" (396) --- is only indicating pynchon's love for the latin 
    formulation SUB ROSA or also an expression of the affection he may have (or 
    had) for his own early story: if so then probably because in "under the     
    rose" the young author, for the very first time, managed to bridge space &  
    decades and - fuck education! there are baedeker guides to borrow - wrote   
    about the secrets of european history. (wallace, by the way, he calls in    
    "infinite jest" the independence day always the "day of             
    interdependence"....)

                                                                 KFL *