Atdtda23: Well, things are kind of slow, 639-643

[Mark Kohut]

And I ask if the party in "Entropy" is said to go on a week? As this one is said to?

I did not think of the ridotto but all parties are as alike as all happy families?


----- Original Message ----
From: David Payne <dpayne1912 at hotmail.com>
To: Paul Nightingale <isread at btinternet.com>; pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 5:03:53 PM
Subject: RE: Atdtda23: Well, things are kind of slow, 639-643

Is this party reminiscent of the ridotto at Lepton Castle (M&D p. 410)?
 


 



> From: isread at btinternet.com
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Atdtda23: Well, things are kind of slow, 639-643
> Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:25:00 +0000
> 
> Another take on fate with "the pit waiting in the shadows of near futurity".
> Laughter is "somewhat louder and more anxious ..." etc. The party serves as
> denial, the "ballroom murmurous with tiled fountains ..." etc somehow
> outside history. However, anonymous "revelers" are pessimistic: "...
> anything goes wrong up there with the trusts ..." etc. One might think back
> to Bleecker Street on 348. The disappearance of Kit, bottom of 349--although
> it will be a while until he is so identified--is echoed by Gretchen's
> "propensity ... for disappearing" (640). Here, Gunther's "worried
> expression" reminds us that, far from waiting for disaster, he is doing
> business. And so is Frank, whose interest in rifles takes him to meet
> Eusabio Gomes/Wolfe Tone O'Rooney. The party has brought together people who
> aren't Mexican; but beyond that they have little in common, it seems. Ethnic
> identity provides a mask. Within the narrative the party stages the
> conversation between Frank and Gunther; their meeting might have taken place
> elsewhere, but here it sharpens the contrast between the two scenes. At the
> start of the section: "... louder and more anxious than in, say, the average
> Saturday-night cantina" (639). A couple of pages later: "They found a little
> cantina ..." etc (641).
> 
> Wolfe Tone's reference to Reef (641) links him to Gunther, who brought news
> of Kit (637); so in this chapter Frank has been reminded of both brothers,
> which allows the political situation (and the shipment of rifles) to be
> juxtaposed to the Traverse family's conflict with Deuce Kindred. Different
> takes on the concept of justice. Frank himself mentions Lake ("that bitch",
> 641) and even suggests that she might be "playin the long game": a covert
> operation, then, not dissimilar to that being run here by Frank/Ewball/Wolfe
> Tone.
> 
> By the end of the chapter "their old jailmate Dwayne Provecho" (642) has
> given Frank the opportunity to leave town (643). The chapter started with:
> "Frank had sworn that once he was out of Mexico he was out ..." etc (637);
> however, to the final page, there appears to be little happening in that
> direction. As a narrative agent Frank is far from active here.
> 




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