ATDTDA (17): A Question of Space (pp. 460 - 471)

[bekah]

To say nothing of the hellish sub-oceanic creature that Vibe and 
company dragged up  back on page 154-155.    Is anything low down 
and good?  (I don't know - maybe when the Chums go through the Earth?)

Good and evil seem to pervade all the dimensions,  so could it all be 
that everything is middle?   There are no "ends of time,"  no "ends 
of the earth."   We've all fallen into the middle space where good 
and evil intermingle, sometimes in the same space and person.

Bekah

At 5:59 PM -0400 9/7/07, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
>There's also the subterranean jail/city where Frank is incarcerated 
>in Mexico, and the subterranean adventures of the Chums of Chance in 
>the desert.  Maybe presenting the idea that "reality" is hidden 
>beneath what we think of as the real world where both the real 
>Shambhala (and hefty oil deposits) are located.
>
>On the other hand, Webb's corpse is deposited on top of an 
>inaccessible structure in Jeshimon.  Does high=hell in this case, or 
>is it some sort of higher spiritual plane?
>
>Laura
>
>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Tim Strzechowski <dedalus204 at comcast.net>
>
>>Notice, for example, the various ways in which the UP/DOWN dynamic 
>>is prevalent throughout the first three paragraphs.  At the 
>>chapter's opening Frank is "splashing up" water droplets, he "kept 
>>to the river up through New Mexico," "picking up the old Spanish 
>>Trail," noticing in Nochecita how "new buildings had gone up" and 
>>where the wind was "picking up speed"; the rent was "getting higher 
>>each month" and the place was "filled up" with a wide variety of 
>>tenants (460). At the same time, Frank feels as if he's "emerging 
>>from a stupor he had fallen into," the wind preassure "decreased," 
>>the walls of the room threaten to "collapse," and the foundation 
>>"had gone on crumbling back to pebbles and dust."  Thus, in a very 
>>short passage the references to UP/DOWN spatiality are prevalent.
>>
>>Throughout the rest of the chapter these UP/DOWN references 
>>continue: Frank could "hear the gunshots and whoop-de-do from up 
>>here," but from the toll station "steeped in a cold, neutral green 
>>light far below" he could see the city, and with whiskey and cigars 
>>he "started down" (462).  The notorious Four Corners Gang is "based 
>>up in Cortez," Zoltan falls off the barstool but kicks up the 
>>sawdust (463), Moss Gatlin is "headed up" in the direction of 
>>Cripple Creek (465), and by chapter's end "something like a cloak 
>>of despair was settling down over [Frank's] soul" (471).  These are 
>>just some of the UP/DOWN references within the chapter, and we 
>>haven't even looked at the IN/OUT dynamic that likewise operates 
>>throughout the chapter.
>>
>>Are there patterns to Pynchon's use of these references to orientation?
>>
>>In George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's _Metaphors We Live By_, the 
>>authors discuss our  tendancy to equate orientation and spatiality 
>>with particular physical and cultural experiences.  For example, 
>>happy is "up" while sad is "down" (e.g., I'm feeling up, my spirits 
>>rose; she's really down these days, I fell into a depression). 
>>Similarly, consciousness is "up" and unconsciousness is "down" 
>>(e.g., wake up, he rises early in the morning; she dropped off to 
>>sleep, he sank into a coma), having control is "up" while being 
>>subject to control is "down" (e.g., I am on top of the situation, 
>>he's in high command; he fell from power, he is low man on the 
>>totem pole), etc.
>>
>>I've never really noticed this aspect of Pynchon's style before, 
>>and its prevalence here makes me suspect it is deliberate -- but to 
>>what ends?  Consequently, can we look at his use of spatialization 
>>to determine if he uses patterns to achieve effect?  While part it 
>>in AtD is the result of the folksiness of the dialogue ("Frank 
>>found he couldn't sleep, and headed down to the nearest saloon"), I 
>>suppose one might look to his early references to yo-yoing in _V._ 
>>as the beginning of this motif. 
>>
>>Has anyone else noticed this and, if so, what conclusions do you draw?
>  >
>>
>>Cf. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, _Metaphors We Live By_. U of 
>>Chicago Press: Chicago, 1980.
>>
>>http://tinyurl.com/2hpjjk