AtD seal translated

[Tore Rye Andersen]

"Tibetan Government Commerce Chamber"....

But this is just perfect, and ties right in with one of Pynchon's major 
themes. It's all about routinization of charisma, isn't it? On learning that 
the seal was Tibetan, we all more or less expected some sort of mystical 
insight - after all, Tibet is described in GR as one of the last pockets of 
Pre-Christian Oneness on the planet, and with that mountain lion and those 
alluring mountains in the center of the seal, we were more or less led to 
expect a secret password to Shambhala. Instead we get a cold bucket of water 
in the head with this prosaic translation. But it does fit right in with the 
themes of the book: Sacred or magical places like the hollow earth and Tibet 
are not immune to what Pynchon in AtD (and M&D and GR) describes as the 
relentless march of capitalism across the globe. Perhaps we'd thought that 
Tibet was still in some way exempt, but heck: if they've got a Chamber of 
Commerce up there, even this pipe-dream of a sacred refuge has been denied 
us. This translation does make perfect sense, but it's also kinda sad... I 
guess the good ship Inconvenience is our only way out of this broken and 
sold-out world, after all...

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