Two Encyclopedias, Fat and Thin Spoiler AtD 1045

[Carvill John]

Joe's post contained a lot of good stuff (always liked the idea of 
'meshing'), nicely arranged, and gives plenty to think about, but - and 
plese don't take this the wrong way - how much of it is really new?  As far 
as I can see pretty much all of it has already been pointed out elsewhere, 
eg. by Charles Hollander and others. And see this, the stuff about hares was 
new to me but may be old news to some:

"'Maas' is a homophone for the Spanish word "más"; thus Mucho's name 
suggests "Much more." "Maas" is a Dutch word that can be translated as 
"mesh" or as "meuse". Oedipa indeed becomes enmeshed in her pursuit of the 
Tristero/Trystero mystery. The second definition, "meuse," has both a 
literal and figurative connotation. The first is "an opening or gap in a 
fence or hedge through which game, esp. hares, habitually pass, and through 
which they run, when hunted, for 'relief'"; the figurative meaning is a 
"loophole or means of escape; a device for, or way of, getting out of a 
difficulty" (Oxford English Dictionary). The last definition is significant 
to Oedipa in light of her musing that the W.A.S.T.E. alternate postal system 
may be a "a real alternative to the exitlessness" (Lot 49 170)."

http://www.angelfire.com/yt2/mirpage/ChapterThree.html

Not wanting to be argumentative, just think you guys may be being a bit 
harsh with Robin. I agree that the 49 words thing may not be of any real 
significance, but if he'd discovered that the last para of COL49 actually 
was 49 words long (rather than just quoting the last 49 words) and nobody 
had noticed that before, then it would be a genuine find, would it not? And 
nobody would be scoffing about counting words then, would they? So in a 
sense he was looking in the right direction, thinking along the right lines. 
He was trying to unearth something new, and if he didn't quite make it, that 
shouldn't stop hum, or any of us, from keeping on looking. Anyway it's so 
often the case with Pynchon that you feel you only need just one or two more 
pieces of teh jigsaw and it'd all fit together, that you're *almost* onto 
something, but you can't quite put your finger on it. Or maybe that's just 
me!

As you say there is a scale of paranoia, or looking for meanings, from too 
much to too little, and in reading and re-reading Pynchon (and in reading a 
new Pynchon like ATD) we all of us have to find the right position on that 
scale. Robin may, in counting those 49 words, be too far down towards one 
end of the scale, but if we don't explore both ends, well, we might never 
find that balancing point.


Cheers
JC

_________________________________________________________________
Type your favorite song.  Get a customized station.  Try MSN Radio powered 
by Pandora. http://radio.msn.com/?icid=T002MSN03A07001