Pirate "pixilated" GR Part 1 Section 2 (correction)

[jbor at bigpond.com]

Sorry, s/b "points", not "point", in the last sentence.

(Great pick-up too btw on the 8.20 am old wives' superstitiion about 
Lincoln's death which Pynchon refers to in the next section. Had never 
understood that line until now.)

best

>> Here, I think Pynchon is using it more broadly to refer to a
>> conglomeration of governments, armed services and corporations. It
>> seems to me that it's meant as an allegory of capitalism.

On 11/11/2005, at 10:56 AM, Michael J. Hußmann wrote:

> Given that "the firm" is a common euphemism for an intelligence 
> agency, I
> think this is a bit far-fetched.

You're probably right:

http://www.fas.org/irp/world/uk/mi6/

Certainly Pirate works for S.O.E., and so he would most likely refer to 
his employers as "The Firm".

S.O.E. was aligned with O.S.S. from about 1943 I think:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/oss/art05.htm

But here are the colloquial usages I was thinking of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firm

I guess an argument could be made that the secret services are, and 
view themselves as, instrumental within a broader socio-political 
paradigm. And that Pynchon is picking up on and foregrounding the 
connotations which are inherent to the colloquial name which the 
British secret service adopted for itself.

And I think it will pay to keep an eye on whether "The Firm" and "They" 
are one and the same in the text. I think that "They" in GR is much 
more than just an intelligence agency.

We'll see, I guess. And, either way, I think that it is one of 
Pynchon's point[s] that the interests served during WWII by "The Firm" 
-- whoever and whatever that term might denote -- were economic, 
supra-national and long term interests, and not just military ones.

best