AtDTDA: (8) 238/239: Cohen at Cambridge

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Lew and the Cohan haul off to Cambridge in search of
Professor Renfrew. Clive Crouchmas joins as some sort of "protection".

Clive greets Cohan:
 
              ". . . .by raising up his left hand, then spreading 
              their fingers two and two away from the thumb 
              so as to form the Hebrew letter shin, signifying 
              the initial letter of one of the pre-Mosaic (that is, 
              plural) names of God, which may never spoken."
              237. 24/27

              Mr. Spock, a Star Trek character played by actor 
              Leonard Nimoy, became famous for giving the 
              Vulcan greeting with his right hand. Nimoy, a Jew, 
              says that the sign is the same gesture given in 
              Jewish synagogues when the rabbi and elders 
              bring out the Holy of Holies. It is based on the 
              Hebrew letter "shin." In essence, on the popular 
              TV show, every time Spock gave the "shin" 
              Vulcan greeting hand sign, he was invoking 
              cabalistic magic. 

http://tinyurl.com/35cz5h

I should only add that this website is of a level of quality on par 
with that of Chick Publications:

http://www.chick.com/default.asp

If you think of it however, the whole notion of Illumination & Illuminati runs rampant
throughout OBA's work. Including the well publicized "Satanic" aspects, or at least
the potential return of a well-bought press.

Clive Crouchmas 

              worked at the Ottoman Public Debt Administration. . . . 
              237. 32

hereafter P.D.A.

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

It was a Turkish tax collection agency.

              No one acquainted with the Second Law of 
              Thermodynamics, however, would have 
              expected a perfect transfer of funds. . . .238. 2/4

       . . . .Entropy in a closed system can never decrease. . . .

http://www.panspermia.org/seconlaw.htm

In other words, in this lossy transmission of funds, Crouchmas deflects
some of this inevitable runoff in a congenial direction. Perhaps Clerk 
Maxwell might illuminate?

>From the pynchonwiki:

              morsus fundamento 238. 8/9
              Latin: A bite on the ass?

              The meaning is that he wouldn't know 
              metaphysics if it bit him in the ass. Like 
              "octogenarihexation" ("86"-ing) in 
              Vineland--the vulgar faux fancied up.

http://tinyurl.com/282yuh

Crouchmas offers the spoils of these railway swindles (perhaps 
more echos of Jay Gould here?) to the Grand Cohen who can't 
seem to make up his mind.

              "I've never understood," said Clive Crouchmas, 
              "why, with all the precognitive talent around 
              this place, no one has ever . . ." He paused, 
              as if seeking a diplomatic way to go on. 
              238. 38/239.1/2

The Cohen, somewhat irritated, speaks of the "serious dissonance" 
twist the psychical and the capitalistic.

Colney Hatch 239. 8 (Insane Asylum): 

http://www.victorianturkishbath.org/6DIRECTORY/aapix/ColneyHatch_w.htm

We close with a rather favorable portrayal of the great beast:

              "Out of the dust, the clouds of sweat and breath. 
              the drumming of hooves, the animal rises up 
              behind the field, the last you'd've expected, tall 
              shining, inevitable, and passes through them 
              like a beam of morning sunlight through the 
              spectral residue of a dream. But it's still a fool's 
              bet and a mug's game, and you might not have 
              the will or the patience."             

Rimshot, exunt. . . .