re KK

[Tim Strzechowski]

When kelber states:

>> Willfully obfuscatory mindgame as in "Hey, I'm about to be put under.  I 
>> wonder how
>>  long I can force myself to stay awake?"  Possibly.

I *suppose* I can read that into the passage.  Slothrop's exchange with the 
doctor (p. 62) has the whiny tone of vulnerability to it ("Come on you guys 
[...]") that we see from him in numerous other scenes throughout the novel 
(e.g., the English jellies scene), and his earlier clarification of "see" 
functions more to qualify the contrast between experience vs. vision 
relative to the Negro shoeshine harmonica toilet trip (soon to follow), so a 
desire to stay awake as long as possible may perhaps be a factor in his 
tone.  However, I read little of any *deliberate action* on Slothrop's part 
here, let alone an attempt to ruse, as Robert has stated:

"[Slothrop is] doing *something* there at the beginning of the scene, just 
before he gets injected on p. 61. [...] I agree that "meaning" and 
significance are being played with in the
riffs on the phrase or sentence in question here, but I'm arguing that it's 
Slothrop who's doing it. Deliberately. And for a reason."

If indeed there is a deliberate attempt to ruse -- and "for a reason" ---  
some textual support would be helpful. Otherwise, it's kinda empty 
speculation, no?

Tim



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Monroe" <monropolitan at yahoo.com>
To: "Tim Strzechowski" <dedalus204 at comcast.net>; <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: re KK


> Yeah, again, that's my question as well ...
>
> --- Tim Strzechowski <dedalus204 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>> "Willfully obfuscatory"?  I don't see it . . .
>
>