AtD seal translated

[Andrew Pollock]

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar," a phrase attributed to Freud, and
often tossed off in situations where interpretation gets the better of
common sense, is still worth considering seriously.  Freud's point was
pretty deep, and basically boils down to the caution that when the
search for meaning is the business in which you're engaged, the means
can overtake the ends.  Further, since Freud was talking about the
talking cure, implicit in his statement is that there are consequences
for allowing over-interpretation to creep in, eg, a delayed cure, or
the later apprehension of meaning than might otherwise have occurred.

Freud urged, and Pynchon might warrant, listening (or reading) with
"evenly suspended attention".

Andrew