Help, please

[David Morris]

Whether or not Pynchon was aware of the pig/furrow connection, Pynchon
loves pigs, and I'm certain, is aware of their role in the "Mysteries
of Dionysus" festival, a night-time event, significantly so.  The pig
is (as is an earth-furrow, so visually like that female anatomical
part) strongly connected from ancient times with fecundity.  It was
either during this festival, or possibly during a lesser nocturnal
female-led festival called the Stenia that pigs were included in
fertility rituals.

--------------------
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/classes/LAp.html

"Although the men of Greece must have allowed their wives and
daughters to participate in the Mysteries of Dionysus, it seems that
this festival was not popular among them. In this festival, the men
appear to have lost all control over the women of their lives. They go
out to the hillsides and forests and act as savages."

"The central act of the [later festival called] Thesmophoria consisted
of women [descending] into trenches to bring back the decaying remains
of piglets and offerings of dough which had previously been thrown
down there. […] The objects which were retrieved from these pits were
sacrificed piglets, replicas of snakes and male genitalia, all symbols
of fertility. Once these objects were retrieved from the underground
caverns, they were spread with seeds on the Thesmophorion, altars of
Demeter and Persephone. This mixture was later spread on the fields to
promote fertility of the crops. The exact day of this event has yet to
be determined with any certainty."
--------------------

The furrows in this COL49 quote seem to be the old man's closed eyes,
and the "camming" would thus be his REM-sleeping eyes.  His furrows
are contrasted with those made during the day by the rest of the City,
and they are surmised to be working "rich soils."  And significantly
these nightly workings are seen to inevitably end in his sacrificial
burning upon a mattress soaked with human salts, soil and cum.  Pretty
heady stuff!

David Morris

On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 2:52 PM, David Payne <dpayne1912 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Weird, I was just reading this etymology of furrow, which is connected to the etymology of pig:
>
> O.E. furh "furrow," from P.Gmc. *furkh- (cf. O.N. for "furrow, drainage ditch;" M.Du. vore, Du. voor; Ger. Furche "furrow"), from PIE *prk- (cf. L. porca "ridge between two furrows," O.Ir. -rech, Welsh rhych "furrow"). "Some scholars connect this word with L. porcus, Eng. FARROW, assigning to the common root the sense 'to root like a swine.' " [OED] The verb meaning "to make wrinkles in one's face, brow, etc." is from 1593.
>
> See: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php
>
>> On Tue, 11 Nov 2008 (15:38:23 -0500), kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
>>
>> He uses plow and furrow in a sexual context in the section where Pokler is fantasizing about having sex with the girl who may or may not be his daughter.
>>
>> Laura
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>>From: Mark Kohut
>>>Sent: Nov 11, 2008 3:29 PM
>>>To: Dave Monroe
>>>Cc: pynchon -l
>>>Subject: Re: Help, please
>>>
>>>
>>>Doesn't TRP use furrow with some full "olde" meanings in GR?
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