Preterite (was Re: OK 2b Luddite?)

[Meg Larson]

"Some wait alone, some share their invisible rooms with others.  Invisible, yes, what do the furnishings matter, at this stage of things?  Underfoot crunches the oldest of city dirt, last crystallizations of all the city had denied, threatened, lied to its children.  Each has been hearing a voice, one he thought was talking only to him, say, 'You didn't really believe you'd ever be saved.  Come, we all know who we are by now.  No one was ever going to take the trouble to save you, old fellow . . .'
(GR, Penguin, 4).

One of my favorite passages in GR, right at the beginning, a glimpse of things to come, perhaps.  Don't have the passage handy, but Louis Mackey also pointed out that the preterite were the "passed over" because they were never meant to be saved.
 
"Take names, for example.  Some guys want to be a Richard, I just want to be a Dick"---Dick Dietrick
M.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Maas" <tyronemullet at hotmail.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 10:10 PM
Subject: Preterite (was Re: OK 2b Luddite?)


> P.s use of preterite is not a first. The OED lists as a meaning of preterite 
> "One who is passed over or not elected by God." There's only one citation, 
> to the May 1864 _Fraser's Magazine_ (You gotta love it -- "The reprobates 
> who are damned because they were always meant to be damned, and the 
> preterites who are damned because they were never meant to be saved.")
> 
> The OED, again, lists as a meaning (really, two closely-related meanings) of 
> preterition "The passing over of the non-elect; non-election to salvation."  
> The first citation is to the indispensable _Anatomy of Melancholy_ (Burton, 
> 1621; III, iv, II, iii), "Our indiscreet pastors .. speak so much of 
> election, predestination, reprobation _ab aeterno_, subtraction of grace, 
> preterition, voluntary permission, &c."
> 
> Paul Mackin
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20041020/53f69dd8/attachment.html>