AtDTDA (37) p. 1060Tree of Diana

[kelber at mindspring.com]

What TRP seems to hate about cameras is that they reduce a person or scene to one frozen moment, a distortion or simplification that the PR and media hounds can further distort for their own ends.  Merle's time-camera is TRP's fantasy:  a camera that can actually give the whole story.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: robinlandseadel at comcast.net
>Sent: Aug 2, 2008 9:19 AM
>To: P-list <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: AtDTDA (37) p. 1060Tree of Diana
>
>"I remember that studio in Chicago. . . ."
>
>We first encounter Merle on page 13 but as an anonymous near-victim 
>of a literal sandbagging. We find out his name on page 26—he turns out
>to be the Chum's first assignment. But we first encounter Merle Rideout
>as an anonymous photographer. 
>
>           . . . .On the phone with Marge’s publisher, he says 
>           “Here’s your quote. Thomas Pynchon loved this book. 
>           Almost as much as he loves cameras. . . .” 
>
>Photography becomes nearly an idée fixe in Against the Day. Much of 
>Against the Day [a lot of Pynchon's writing in general] is concerned
>with the back-stories of science and technology. Merle Rideout's "take"
>on photography has much to say concerning Alchemy, Heremetics
>and the pervasive notion that the Earth is alive. The "life" and 
>consciousness on earthly things—crystals, rocks, mountains, mine 
>shafts—gets free play in AtD.
>
>From the Wikipedia: 
>
>           Diana's Tree (Latin: Arbor Diana or Dianae), also known as 
>           the Philosopher's Tree (Arbor Philosophorum), is a dendritic 
>           amalgam of crystallized silver, obtained from mercury in a 
>           solution of silver nitrate; so-called by the alchemists, among 
>           whom "Diana" stood for silver. The arborescence of this 
>           amalgam, which even included fruit-like forms on its branches, 
>           led pre-modern chemical philosophers to theorize the existence 
>           of life in the kingdom of minerals.
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana's_Tree
>
>As theoreticians of physics expand possible definitions of 'reality'
>during the era of expanding technology set down in AtD, we are drawn
>back into the concept of all things—rocks and stars included—being
>alive and conscious.
>
>Lew catches on to Merle's mindset: 
>
>           "What you were saying about sending these pictures off onto 
>           different tracks . . . other possibilities . . ."
>
>           "That's the constant-term recalibration, or C.T.R. . . "
>
>From the Pynchonwiki:
>
>           The reconstruction of the "primitive" (page 1049) entails 
>           fixing a value for the constant term. The operator can 
>           choose the "official" value and get Lew's "supposed-to-be" 
>           life as output, or can choose a different value and track 
>           some unofficial life. The machine can't tell the difference.
>
>http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_1040-1062#Page_1050
>
>If 'everything connects', it is because it joined at the root, including 
>those forks we did and didn't take.