ATDTDA (33) - p. 939-42 Balkan music

[Paul Mackin]

kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
> TRP's being facetious about the natural B being forbidden.  If anyone knows otherwise, speak up.  
>   

might as well give my reaction

Pynchon wants to work gradually and gracefully  into his little stick 
about Bulgaria's  folk music's not employing the Lydian mode (factual I 
trust) in addition to all the other peculiarities of the Balkan region  
including vampires and such.

Cyprian hears the  what he expects to be a major scale (basis of much of 
the popular music of the day) and reacts negatively  (as many of us 
would) to the fact that the interval between Mi and fa is not the 
expected half tone.

So now P can smoothly bring in the historically  accurate presence (more 
or less)  of theological arguments originally  advanced against adding 
various altered tones etc to accepted musical practice.

something like that

Pynchon doesn't mind setting things up in a slightly clunky manner.  He 
makes fun of this practice in the famous pun  about those Frenchmen in GR.

It's pure Pynchon in these passages.

P

Robin and Laura's son are both perfectly correct of course.