GRGR (1): Wayward Thoughts and Forshadowings (pp. 3 - 7)

[jporter]

On Oct 29, 2005, at 7:02 PM, Tim Strzechowski wrote:

> Much of what this first chapter offers is images and motifs that will 
> gain significance later in the novel.
>  
> 1.  For those who have read the book before:  notice how the opening 
> two paragraphs relate to the novel's conclusion (e.g., "the fall of 
> the crystal palace," "total blackout," "one glint of light").  Who is 
> "he" and how does this relate to the book's conclusion?
>

"The crystal palace" must refer, at least, to the same structure
in London:

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

But I can't help thinking that it's also a reference to Dostoevsky's
"Notes from Underground", which, from a reactionary perspective,
also envisioned the collapse of the Crystal Palace and what it
represented- modernism, rationalism, science, etc., all of the
liberal, bourgeois notions of progress that went along with
modernism, .

I'm not sure if this very existential "he" is afraid of the way the
glass will fall because of being hit by it, or, because it will be
"a spectacle" that will be an embarrassment, somehow- as if
this chap has a personal investment in all the  "palace" represents:
an epistemology, or way of knowing reality, the failure of which
will mark the beginning of something entirely new and unexplored-
no signposts; a darkness not even penetrated by metaphor. "He"
may be carrying the burden of this passage for all of us.

"Without one glint of light" could signal the death of The
Enlightenment and all the optimism that accompanied it.

>  
> 2.  "half-silvered images in a view finder" (p. 3):  relates to the 
> ongoing movie imagery, again with specific reference to the novel's 
> conclusion.
>  

It be could a vision seen through the eye of a newsreel camera, 
preceding
the main feature, remembered now as old (too late) news.


> 3.  "cast-iron pulleys whose spokes are shaped like Ss" (p. 4):  
> foreshadows, among other things, "the shape of the tunnels" and "the 
> SS emblem" (p. 300)
>  

And of course, the double integral sign- double integration being
the heart of the rocket's inertial guidance system, although the Ss
differ in size, but this integration could carry another meaning-  one
integration for the individual and a second, larger process, for the
whole group. The theme of integration also points outside the text
to Pynchon's story "The Secret Integration" recalling how he had
worked the mathematical process of integration both explicitly and
implicitly on the text to fashion a black child out of the collective
imaginations of white children, and all that implies, which will now
be worked on a larger scale- as we shall soon see- but this time
in conjunction with the medium of film. Finally, integration as jointly
"invented" by the Englishman Newton and the German Leibniz, is one
part of a process forming the basis of The Calculus, differentiation
being the other end- opposites, joined by the fundamental theorem
of calculus, the crowning achievement of 17th C. analysis of change,
which made The Enlightenment possible, and marked the beginning
of the epistemology symbolized by The Crystal Palace. Henry Adams,
who I've heard was a racist, could have been Pynchon's source for
the use of calculus as a metaphor for historical change.

The Ss could also refer to DNA, which had not yet been
characterized by the setting, and is not explicitly named in
the novel, but whose shape is present- the corkscrew ladder Pirate
descends symbolizing the "guidance system" for the evolution
of man (Who or What is controlling that one, eh? A-and when
is Brennschluss? Has it occurred already?) and even more
explicitly, the layout of Mittlewerke where the A4's are assembled-
a dark parody of a biological process. I think the Ss do double
duty referring  to both animate and inanimate mechanisms, and
through the calculus, of our own attempts to bring nature and
evolution under control.

> 4.  "thousands of these hushed rooms" (p. 4):  echoes "mushrooms," 
> which will figure shortly in the narrative
>  

? "My Father's house has many mansions"  John 14:2? ( And
one just for you, old fellow. It would seem a hideous inversion
if that is the reference. What does the guide say about this line?)

> 5.  "his skull feels made of metal" (p. 5):  relates to the novel's 
> recurring theme of people becoming mechanized, both literally and 
> figuratively
>  
> 6.  "fast responses" (p. 5):  i.e., reflexes; Pavlovian conditioning
>  
> 7.  Notice the various references to cicularity and entwining, all of 
> which are indicative of the narrative style and overall cyclical 
> structure of the novel:
>  
> "this is not a disentanglement from, but a progressive _knotting_ 
> into" (p. 3)
>  
It could be that we are entering a strong gravitational field. Space
will become curved and time will slow down. To an outside
(wherever that is) observer, the final dt of an object crossing
the event horizon of a black hole can appear to take infinitely
long. Once that line is crossed, however, nothing escapes, not
even a glint of light, and there is no appeal. (But I like the Dante
reference better).


> "the soil's stringing of rings and chains in nets only God can tell 
> the meshing of" (p. 6)
>  
> "climbs a spiril ladder" (p. 6)
>  
see above "Ss"

> "gnarled emissions of steam and smoke" (p. 6)
>  
> "Pirate hunches his shoulders, bearing his bananas down the corkscrew 
> ladder" (p. 7)
>  
"Ss"

>  

jody