AtDTDA: 20 Big, Big pink tab 561

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

          Mark Kohut:
          concept of Pentocost appears.....
          remember C of L49 and Pentocost?
          The Word......

          "and it is in this Pentecostal moment that the Quaternions descend, 
          to take their earthly residence among the thoughts of men."

Hamilton recieves Quaternions as a vision, he has a sudden urge to get the 
message down so he whips out a pocket knife and writes it into stone before he 
loses the vision.

If nothing else, Quaternions are central to the development of electronics and 
nuclear physics and by extension the military-industrial complex. And of course, 
the military-industrial complex and attendant conspiracy theories run rampant in 
his novels. As do very specific references to the occult. For me, that 
particular paranoia complex peaks in The Crying of Lot 49. Enochian magic is 
touched upon in The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow and Against the Day. 
It's probably in the other books as well, but these novels are brushed by the wings 
of descending angels of death, leaving a particularly dark stain.

          "and it is in this Pentecostal moment that the Quaternions descend, 
          to take their earthly residence among the thoughts of men."
          AtD, 561

          Thy pitiless unmanning is most meet, 

          Thinks Ercole the zany Paraclete. 

          Descended this malign, Unholy Ghost, 

          Let us begin thy frightful Pentecost. 

          The lights went out, and in the quiet somebody across the arena from 
          Oedipa distinctly said, "Ick." Metzger said, "You want to go?" 

          "I want to see about the bones," said Oedipa. 
          CoL49, 52

          She heard a lock snap shut; the sound echoed a moment. Passerine 
          spread his arms in a gesture that seemed to belong to the priesthood 
          of some remote culture; perhaps to a descending angel. The auctioneer 
          cleared his throat. Oedipa settled back, to await the crying of lot 
          49. 

The descending Angel in Gravity's Rainbow is the Angel of Rilke, 
the Angel of Shock and Awe. Here, in Hamilton country, the
message of that Angel is recieved in the form of an equation.

http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm

I wonder what to make of the Tundra ad in the link?
And, yes, there really is something about I.G. Farben that 
makes it stand out from the crowd, don't you think?