VLVL2 (9): The Puncutron Machine

[Terrance]

Mark Wright AIA wrote:
> 
> Howdy
> Does the Puncutron remind anyone else of the Harrow of K's _In The
> Penal Colony_? That marvelous, wicked engine was what first came to
> mind as I was reading VL, and I was disappointed when I discovered that
> the electrodes don't seem to actually pierce the skin as acupuncture
> needles do. (Aww, that's no fun..)

Yeah, it also reminds me of the profane-business/sacred stuff infamous
in California / Japan. 

The Sisters 

(and again the allusion to Hugo's Cathedral is significant, i.e., the
symbolism of the Spider Web in the Rose window, exactly what Herny Adams
discusses in his Education and in his Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres,
Pynchon begins toying with this idea in his short story Under The Rose) 

have turned a sacred space (Eliade) and art into a business.  

The structure where the Machine now lives and dominates was once a barn.
A barn (Christ was born in one) was  a sacred space where livestock and
the tools for working mother nature were once  stored. 

It's a therapeutic device sold freely in California. Sold freely? 163
bottom


That is, the product or service is sold freely, without FDA restriction.
But the oxymoron (sold freely) hammers home the idea that the health
community (businesses and workers) are avoiding the FDA restrictions but
are still in the business of selling  health and life. Hope you got
insurance. 

The use of electricity reminds me of Dr. Frankenstein and One Flew Over
Cuckoo's Nest.

The ninjette technician gives him a clipboard stack of forms to fill out
and sign and a menue of audio tapes for his listening pleasure. 

MRI CAT PET scan. 

Had a CAT of my Orbit recently (I was mugged and they broke my face). 

The tapes, it seems, are so cheap, that Takeshi speculates that they
were picked up (stolen even) at some discount joint out of bargain bins. 

Put all their money in the fancy machine. Ever notice that the ceiling
tiles above the CAT scan are all stained like used coffee filters? That
the  tubes and wires of the machine run through holes in the wall that
look like they were opened with a jack hammer? That the prints on the
wall, in plastic frames, are fading ...  Vincent's Bed Room is untidy
...  Monet's Lilies are washed out?