ATD p356 Chinese Gong Effect

[Paul Mackin]

On Apr 8, 2007, at 6:58 AM, Dan Hansong wrote:

> P356
>
> "...Dally, sakes, you only just got here--and, well, what about the  
> Chinese Gong Effect...?"
> "Oh, Bria can do that in her sleep."
>
> "Chinese Gong Effect", according to Pynchonwiki,seems to to be an  
> unsolved myth. Actually,
> it's not Pynchon's invention. In my view, it refers to an acoustic  
> effect created by Gong,
> a Chinese traditional instrument, which consists of a broad thin  
> disc with a deep rim.
> Gong is made of a special alloy (generally copper and tin),  
> tempered and annealed in a
> peculiar manner. The properties of Gong had long remained a secret  
> to the West. Therefore,
> this reference suits the context very well because Erlys was trying  
> to talk Dally into
> joining their Europe tour by drawing an analogy between Dally's  
> role and the additive in
> Chinese Gong's alloy,which is not the main ingredient, but whose  
> effect can never be
> underestimated. Considering Dally's debut in a white-slavery show  
> run in Chinatown earlier,
> Erlys's mention of this Chinese reference perhaps is accountable.  
> Naturally, Dally doubted
> it and then said even Bria in her sleep could do this job.
>
> BTW: In this section, the white slavery show calls to my mind "Fu  
> Manchu's Mask", a 1930s
> movie Pynchon heavily borrows in COL49. A Chinese freaky scientist,  
> Fu Manchu, is depicted
> to abduct some British gents and torture them in his underground  
> palace. If he is equipped
> with Khan's mask, Fu Manchu may enslave the white in a world-wide  
> scale and totally invert
> the world order at that time.

Think the Chinese gong effect is that little pentatonic phrase they  
play in Fu Manchu or similar movies.

DING ding dingy dingy ding ding DING



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