GRGR 1:3, Slothrop's Desk

[jporter]

The obvious comparison/contrast is with the rooftop garden of
the previous section. No amazing fecundity here, however. There
is no central inner organizing principle amongst this detritus-
no chains and molecular spirals dedicated to asserting through
structure the conjuror's secret- and no conjuror's apprentice to
tend to this mess. The "gardener," one Lt. Tyrone Slothrop, is out
to lunch.

In this transitionary section between the character of Pirate and
Slothrop, we are introduced to Slothrop first through his artifacts.
We seem to be transitioning from the organic, with its nearly
magical ability to recycle itself back into recognizable forms
of life, into the inorganic, and not just the inorganic, but the
detritus of a whole series of commodities, each designed and
produced by a "top down" cultural process, for some marketable
project.

Hasty judgments regarding the two: the seemingly "good and
natural" garden, and the entropic waste of the desk- not to
mention between Pirate and Slothrop- might be unwise, however,
given the subtleties of this text.

jody