NP Rainbow

[Otto]

Why do you call this NP, Rob?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 1:40 AM
Subject: NP Rainbow


> > in which he seems to forget that, etymologically, parable and parabole
are the
> > same words.
>
> While it's true that both terms ("parable" and "parabola") in their
various
> different meanings or contexts do derive from the same Greek word
(parabole)
> they are not the same words at all (it's like saying "pasta" and "paste"
are
> the same words -- beware the vermicelli at that dinner table!)

My error, sorry. The German translation for both is the same. This double
meaning adds a nice extra-layer to the German translation of the novel.

>
> And, of course, a rainbow is neither a parable nor a parabola.
>
> http://www.etymonline.com/p2etym.htm
>
> best
>

Then I'm ill-informed by Lance W. Ozier:

"Die Form, auf die Pynchon (...) anspielt (...), ist die einzige
geometrische Kurve, die eine Rakete auf einer ballistischen Flugbahn
beschreiben kann: die Parabel. (...) Die hier vorgeschlagene Deutung
modifiziert auch unser Verständnis des Regenbogens, der, in idealisierter
Parabelform gedacht, dem Buch den amerikanischen Titel "Gravity's Rainbow"
gegeben hat." (184)

Lance W. Ozier: Kalküle der Wandlung: Mathematische Bilder in "Die Enden der
Parabel," in: Ickstadt, H. (Hg): "Ordnung und Entropie, Zum Romanwerk von
Thomas Pynchon," Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1981, pp. 172-196.

orig.:
-- The Calculus of Transformation: More Mathematical Imagery in "Gravity's
Rainbow," Twentieth Century Literature, 21, (1975),  pp. 193-210.

>
> best
>

ditto