GRGR 1:5 "the slender medium"

[jporter]

	Most skate tangent to the holy circle, some stay,
	some are off again to other rooms, all without
	breaking in on the slender medium who sits
	nearest the sensitive flame with his back to the
	wall, reddish-brown curls tightening close as a
	skullcap...

Uncertain if that "skullcap" would be more like a yarmulke,
or a zucchetto, and the uncertainty is probably intentional,
but, being the one nearest to the gently singing flame- no
matter how sensitive- and, the fact that it will disappear to
become a hissing gas jet, seem to tip the allusion in favor
of the former.

"The Other" makes its formal entrance into the novel at this
point, in contrast to Pirate's "condition" which was co-opted
by Them before he might have stumbled upon any such
social acceptance of his talent. Although, his self-conscious-
ness and class resentment, tinged with shame and embar-
rassment, as they are, would probably have precluded him
from participating freely and openly in any heterogeneous
group of true believers bent on transcendence. And besides,
what he fears most is acceptance by "these bookish sods
and rationalized freaks." His talent terrifies him. He can only
barely cope with it, if the rigid social hierarchy with which he
is accustomed and so familiar remains intact and in control-
of him, especially. The reality of The Other, in this "shelter-
perhaps a real node of tranquillity" is almost too much for
him. He needs a social structure based on the arbitrariness of
class to help him deal with his talent. He needs to serve Them.


Still, sly of Pynchon to contrast, in this way, these varying
degrees of "otherness". He toys with our beliefs. Having
been so cozy and informal with us in the theatre of Pirate's
mind, he now steps back and narrates this scene in a more
objective way, allowing us room to suspect, or even, to scoff
at these Blavatsky-ites. If we choose to, of course. It's up to
us. Meanwhile, we have already swallowed hook, line and
holocaust the reality of Pirate's preternatural talent. Thus the
author reels us in. He never quite tips his hand about the
nature of his own feelings concerning The Other, formal or
informal, but he is not above setting the hook in us. He uses
its pull to coax us through a series of challenges to the social,
sexual and even epistemological legitimacy of the status quo.
The laminar flame, god forbid, on the verge of chaos?

jody

"Derek? You're talking to a D-O--G?"