AtDDtA(15): Outro

[Dave Monroe]

In my relief last night to be finished at least with what annotations
I could post on this chapter, I forgot that I'd actually planned a
little wrap-up, to perhaps bring to the fore a few elements/questions
that might otherwise have remained embedded/entombed in the past
fortnight or so's postings.  They all, however, come down more or less
to this: what really--diegetically or otherwise--IS going on in this
chapter?  It's notable for its density of tantalizingly strange goings
on, even for Pynchon.  Candlebrow University, Smegmo, F.I.C.O.T.T.,
Alonzo Meatman, Trespassers, Mr. Ace, the Marching Academy Harmonica
Band, "squealers," the "Old Man" (even more enigmatic than Mr. Ace),
the Phantom Filer, Hypops ... much ado about time, history, identity,
memory, nostalgia, foreboding ... old standbys like magenta 'n' green,
paranoia, acronyms, harmonicas, "stupid songs," the master/slave
dialectic, German industrial cartels, pigs ... those italicized
phrases like "unorthodox behavior" or "second or cover identity" or
"weight extremes" ... all placed strategical @ the end of a major
section of the text.  What up with all that?  Help!    Thanks!