"The Evacuation still proceeds..." GR Part 1 Section 1

[Paul Mackin]

On Oct 30, 2005, at 4:55 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> I think it is important whence the screaming originates.  I still  
> feel the overriding theme of GR is the representation of the psycho- 
> social anxieties, paranoia and very real terror caused by living in  
> the age of nuclear weapons.  If the Scientific Revolution  
> represents the upward arc of enlightenment, surely WWII represents  
> the zero-point: the moment when science stopped being a force for  
> the betterment of humanity and turned into the cause of the  
> inevitable destruction of humanity -- certainly a dominant anxiety  
> in the 1970's.  On this interpretation, it's essential that the  
> "screaming" comes from a rocket, because this is the overriding  
> image of the entire novel.  The screaming is that of the rocket and  
> our terror of it, echoed perhaps by Gottfried's later scream within  
> the rocket.  The Evacuation scene accompanying the initial  
> screaming is mirrored by the final movie theater scene, in which we  
> wait for nuclear annihilation.

You've not saying are you that the anxiety of living through the  
"nuclear age" 70s was comparable to living in Europe during the war  
years. Different order of magnitude . . .

>
> The scream of an air-raid siren is a comparatively wimpy concept  
> (it reminds me of the moronic duck-and-cover drills of my  
> childhood, always initiated by the piercing air-raid siren).
>
> It doesn't matter whehter the rocket can be heard as it passes or  
> much later.  It still makes a noise, just as the proverbial tree in  
> the forest, regardless of whether it can be heard.
>
>  The second line could refer to this:  It has happened before (the  
> rocket was here earlier) but there is nothing to compare it to now  
> (it's not here now).  Or it could indicate that we've been  
> subjected to seemingly all-encompassing threats of annihilation  
> before, but this (now rocket/soon to be nuclear) threat is  
> qualitatively different (not comparable).
>
>
> ---Original Message-----
> From: jbor at bigpond.com
> Sent: Oct 30, 2005 3:46 PM
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: "The Evacuation still proceeds..." GR Part 1 Section 1
>
> On 30/10/2005 Paul Nightingale wrote:
>
>
>> In particular, the
>> opening two-line paragraph highlights the way representation has been
>> problematised from the off: whether the "screaming" be rocket or  
>> siren
>> or whistle is surely less important than that "there is nothing to
>> compare it to now".
>>
>
> Why is it less important? The "it" refers to the screaming, surely.
> What has caused it is certainly an identifiable category within what's
> happening.
>
> best
>
>
>