AtD (37) p.1043 "the ole RJ, earthquake, Santa Barbara, right angles of History

[Monte Davis]

Mark Kohut sez:

> "right-angled piece of local coastline" [check it out on a 
> map. I had no idea] Right angles are one of Pynchon's tropes 
> in AtD that link--and lead-- to the "rationalization" [ala 
> Weber] of modernity and, yes, death. Related to Cartesian 
> grids and linear thought. 
...
> Next sentence is a deep clue, somehow, I think, to this meaning: 
> 'This angle was the worst of all possible 
> aspects....condemning to "endless cycles of greed and 
> betrayal"'.........Such an angle, such 'rationalization' is 
> modern Western History?...

I'm reminded of the double bend in Central America at Panama, such that
ships bound from Atlantic to Pacific actually travel NW to SE. If Pynchon
had invented the scramble of greed and betrayal that split Panama off from
Venezuela, we'd class it among his more extravagantly silly inventions.