AtDDtA(16): The Histrionic yet Unprofitable

Fri Aug 24 16:02:57 CDT 2007

".... their demeanor today struck more than one observer as almost
provokingly self-satisfied. [...]  And before them lay exactly the
sort of adventure that was sure to appeal to their too-often
ill-considered taste for the histrionic yet unprofitable.
   "'It is down here--' declared Captain Toadflax, 'quite intact and,
make no mistake, inhabited as well--that the true Shambhala will be
found ...'" (AtD, Pt III, p. 434-5)

"a picket of Gurkhas fabled for their merciless dedication to perimeter defense"

Gurkha, also spelled as Gorkha, are people from Nepal who take their
name from the eighth century Hindu warrior-saint Guru Gorakhnath. His
disciple Bappa Rawal, born Prince Kalbhoj/Prince Shailadhish, founded
the house of Mewar. Later descendants of Bappa Rawal moved further
east to found the house of Gorkha, which in turn founded the Kingdom
of Nepal. Gurkhas are best known for their history of bravery and
strength in the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Indian
Army's Gorkha regiments. Gorkha is one of the 75 districts of modern
Nepal

The Gurkhas were designated by British officials as a "Martial Race".
"Martial Race" was a designation created by officials of British India
to describe "races" (peoples) that were thought to be naturally
warlike and aggressive in battle, and to possess qualities like
courage, loyalty, self sufficiency, physical strength, resilience,
orderliness, hard working, fighting tenacity and military strategy.
The British recruited heavily from these Martial Races for service in
the colonial army....

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

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

During the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, the Gurkha regiments remained loyal
to the British, and became part of the British Indian Army on its
formation. The 2nd Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles) defended Hindu
Rao's house for over three months, losing 327 out of 490 men. Twelve
Gurkha regiments also took part in the relief of Lucknow....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha#British_East_India_Company_army

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigade_of_Gurkhas#Origins

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

Brigade of Gurkhas

http://www.army.mod.uk/brigade_of_gurkhas/

"the histrionic yet unprofitable"

E.g., ...?  Help!  Well, okay ...

http://www.defenselink.mil/

And do note the binary there ...

"the true Shambhala"

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

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Shambhala

THE CONTINUING SEARCH FOR SHAMBHALA

Background

Is there really a hidden galaxy of minds living in seclusion in an
inaccessible part of Asia, or is it merely a myth? Shambhala, the
"Hidden Kingdom," is thought of in Tibet as a community where perfect
and semiperfect beings live and are guiding the evolution of
humankind. Shambhala is considered to be the source of the Kalacakra,
which is the highest and most esoteric branch of Tibetan mysticism.
The Buddha preached the teachings of the Kalacakra to an assembly of
holy men in southern India. Afterwards the teachings remained hidden
for 1,000 years, until an Indian yogi-scholar went in search of
Shambhala and was initiated into the teachings by a holy man he met
along the way. The Kalacakra then remained in India until it made its
way to Tibet in 1026. Since then the concept of Shambhala has been
widely known in Tibet, and Tibetans have been studying the Kalacakra
for the last 900 years, learning its science, practicing its
meditation, and using its system of astrology to guide their lives. As
one Tibetan lama put it, how could Shambhala be the source of
something which has affected so many areas of Tibetan life for so long
and yet not exist?

Tibetan religious texts describe the physical makeup of the hidden
land in detail. It is thought to look like an eight-petaled lotus
blossom because it is made up of eight regions, each surrounded by a
ring of mountains. In the center of the innermost ring lies Kalapa,
the capital, and the king's palace, which is composed of gold,
diamonds, coral, and precious gems. The capital is surrounded by
mountains made of ice, which shine with a crystalline light. The
technology of Shambhala is supposed to be highly advanced; the palace
contains special skylights made of lenses which serve as high-powered
telescopes to study extraterrestrial life, and for hundreds of years
Shambhala's inhabitants have been using aircraft and cars that shuttle
through a network of underground tunnels. On the way to enlightenment,
Shambhalans acquire such powers as clairvoyance, the ability to move
at great speeds, and the ability to materialize and disappear at will.

http://www.trivia-library.com/c/history-of-the-search-for-shambhala-part-1.htm

And see as well, e.g., ...

Bernbaum, Edwin.  The Way to Shambhala:
    A Search for the Mythical Kingdom Beyond the Himalayas.
   Garden City, NJ: Anchor, 1980.  Boston: Shambhala, 2001.

http://www.shambhala.com/

Apparently not currently in print, but do check out their crazy and
presumably "New Age" alphabetization ...

"those German professors"

Likely a double allusion, first to Professor Werfner of Göttingen,
referenced on p. 226, and also to Heinrich Schliemann, the German
treasure hunter (not actually a professor) who first established the
true historical location of Troy, the site of the Trojan War. His
accomplishments are sadly underscored by his extremely amateurish
excavation technique which destroyed as much as it extracted from the
site.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_429-459#Page_435

See also ....

Schoenmaker, Dr. Shale

45; German: "beauty maker"; plastic surgeon who performs Esther's nose
job; in World War I, 97; Esther's nose job, 102; 294; 296

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/v/alpha/s.html

http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=S

Dr. Hilarius - Oedipa's psychiatrist, who prescribes LSD, which she
does not take, to Oedipa as well as other housewives. He goes crazy
toward the end of the story. Admitting to being a former Nazi doctor
at Buchenwald, he holes up in his office, but is taken away peacefuly
by the police after Oedipa disarms him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crying_of_Lot_49#Characters

http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Crying_of_Lot_49#Characters

"Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation.
Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me,
strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence
after death." —Wernher Von Braun

http://www.pynchon.net/pynchon/part.php?part=1

http://www.bookforum.com/archive/sum_05/pynchon.html

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9602&msg=3705

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0407&msg=92065

"There, over the Evening, he will find, among the Clientele, German
Enthusiasts ..." (M&D, Ch. 30, p. 298)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0202&msg=65028

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0204&msg=66299

http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/HL2000.html

"our ship's Paramorphoscope"

Structural alteration of a mineral without change of chemical composition.

http://bartleby.com/61/21/P0062100.html

The change of one mineral species to another, so as to involve a
change in physical characters without alteration of chemical
composition.

http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?paramorphism

"'induced paramorphism,'" 114; "paramorphic distortions," 249; 435; 436 ...

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=P

A paramorphism (from Greek παρα, meaning "close together") is an
extension of the concept of catamorphism to deal with a form which
"eats its argument and keeps it too," as exemplified by the factorial
function.

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

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

AtD is itself a paramorphoscope; satire and science fiction typically
hold up a distorting mirror to the world in which they are written,
and present worlds "set to the side of the one we have taken". In the
end the correct paramorphic "mirror" shows the world clearly.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_243-272#Page_249

If it is not the world, it is what the world might be with a minor
adjustment or two. According to some, this is one of the main purposes
of fiction.

Let the reader decide, let the reader beware. Good luck.

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0607&msg=102374

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Against_the_Day

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Against_the_Day_description

"any Tibetan lama"

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

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

"'fustest with the mostest,' as your General Forrest used to say"

Nathan Bedford Forrest, rebel leader in U.S. Civil War. Although he
pioneered high-mobility tactics, he may never have uttered the famous
quotation.

Also, recognized as founder of the KKK -- see earlier episode in Colorado.

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

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_429-459#Page_435

Forrest is often erroneously quoted as saying his strategy was to "git
thar fustest with the mostest," but this quote first appeared in print
in a New York Times story in 1917, written to provide colorful
comments in reaction to European interest in Civil War generals. Bruce
Catton writes, "Do not, under any circumstances whatever, quote
Forrest as saying 'fustest' and 'mostest.' He did not say it that way,
and nobody who knows anything about him imagines that he did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Bedford_Forrest#Impact_of_Forrest.27s_doctrines

In the 1994 motion picture Forrest Gump, the eponymous Tom Hanks
character states that he was named after his ancestor General Nathan
Bedford Forrest, and there is an edited sequence from the 1915
pro-Klan film, Birth of a Nation, showing Hanks as the General in Klan
robes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Bedford_Forrest#In_popular_culture

And see as well, e.g., ...

http://www.civilwarhome.com/natbio.htm

http://www.civilwarhome.com/CMHforrestbio.htm