GRGR 1,1: Pirate's Ascent/Desent

[jporter]

I see the tide is inevitably moving into section 2. Just a few
comments before I trundle along...late, as usual.

There is something familiar about the presence of an upper level
climate controlled area sitting over a chaotic first floor, populated
by a profane group determined to get as wasted as possible. Is this a
reprise of that same form used by Pynchon in his short story, "Entropy,"
with some significant differences?

This time, there is communication between the two levels. Pirate
is our emissary. In preparation for his ascent to the rooftop
garden, he first evacuates his unconscious- by dreaming- and
then, his conscious mind- while voiding. He seems to be
"purifying" himself, somehow, before ascending to the "sacred"
garden.

This garden, however, is an open system- the very opposite
of the closed and sterile environment shared by Callisto and
Aubade. It has-

	an impasto feet thick, of unbelievable black
	topsoil in which anything could grow.

It's dawn, and Pirate is ascending to the garden to gather fruit
for breakfast. While on the roof, in his purified state, his vision
is captured by a recently launched V-2. He shares with us his
classified knowledge about this "Most Secret German rocket
bomb'", and his concern about "doing something". He is
distracted, but using his commando skills he is able to re-empty
his consciousness and re-focus on the task at hand: "Pick
bananas." He has completed a transformation hinted at a few
sentences earlier, allowing him to become oblivious to time:

	Pirate looks at his watch. Nothing registers.

becoming, in effect, a barely historical creature, totally absorbed
by the present.

Task completed, he pauses momentarily on the roof gazing eastward.
The contrail is gone. He sets up the reversal of blast and incoming
scream of the rocket, which will be important later, and then, in a
Newtonian moment, imagines the point of the missile in contact with
his scalp. Blessed, thus, by gravity, he descends, ape-like, down the
corkscrew ladder.

A few observations:

Entropy is the basis of evolution. It is the cause of variation
in otherwise perfectly transmitted genetic messages, which
are then  "selected" by the "context" of the environment. In the
garden, in concert with the molecular basis of life, entropy causes
the natural production of waste that will be transformed into
fecundity, the conjuror's secret, as it were.

As someone else pointed out on the list, long ago, Pirate is
a 'Prentice conjuror (Gilbert & Sullivan- Pirates of Penzance).

Gravity, on the other hand, is responsible for the molecular
basis of life, having caused the second and third re-aggregations
of the dust of super novas back into stars, only to explode again.
That led to the formation of elements heavier than hydrogen and
helium, allowing for the possibility of life. Much later, Gravity
organized the random dust into the earth and the rest of the solar
system, i.e., Home.

The intersection of Gravity and Entropy providing the basis of and
ensuring the evolution of life and the descent of man, down that
"double helix", into the warm glow of civilization, seems to be one
interpretation of the themes woven together in the final scene
of the first section. It suggests hope in contrast to the scream/dream.

One other thing nagging at me, however, before I put away
section 1, is the von Braun quote. Wernher, creator of that other,
anti-fruit, balanced like an apple on Pirate's head, suggests a dark
inversion of the natural

	Everything science has taught me, and continues
	to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity
	of our spiritual existence after death.

What's the formula for that, I'm wondering.

jody





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