CoL 49 (3): A nose picking contest, page PC 34, PF 48

[Robin Landseadel]

On May 16, 2009, at 11:37 PM, rich wrote:

> 48 [Perennial Fiction]

34 [First Perennial Classics]

> "couple three"--the man sure likes that term, eh?

The man sure likes his high/low culture juxtapositions, eh? From  
menacing electronics specialists—most likely working on guidance for  
ICBMs or early computer systems for CAD and tracking trajectories  
[Yoyodyne = Rocketdyne]—to a nose picking contest, taking 20 words for  
the set-up and 24/26 words for the payoff—there's a couple of hyphens  
in there, creating the compound words "couple-three" and "nose- 
picking". Pynchon loves high/low culture contrasts, preferably in the  
same sentence.

	There was this je ne sais quoi about the Scope crowd: they all
	wore glasses and stared at you, silent. Except for a couple-
	three nearer the door, who were engaged in a nose-picking
	contest, seeing how far they could flick it across the room.

"There was this je ne sais quoi about the Scope crowd: they all wore  
glasses and stared at you, silent" That's the Tri-Tri_tri . . .   
affect/effect on display before the name is invoked, and then  
[Abracadabra!!!] we are immediately misdirected to the nosepicking  
crowd. This is expanded on much, much further in "Against the Day."  
right smack dab in the middle of the book at the Grand Hotel de la  
Nouvelle Digue. Halcyon days.

In the scene at the Scope we have the priesthood of the nuclear  
culture relaxing—again, the scene at the Digue is the embryonic  
version of the Scope crowd—throwing back some brew, maybe cooking up  
some sonic doodles in homage to pioneers of electronic music [note to  
self, music related post to follow.] One suspects that the scene to  
follow, involving the Peter Pinguid Society, has some basis in the  
quotidian details of the author's life. While I don't recall having  
any extended diatribes from Birchers, I've attempted many a dialog  
with right-wing zealots, seeing as I'm a resident of California's  
bible belt.

On May 16, 2009, at 11:37 PM, rich wrote:

> A kute coincidence:
> When Metzger asks MF if he's one of those right-wing nut outfits w/r/t
> to the Peter Pinguid Society (Porky Pig?)-reminds me of Tom
> Metzger--Former member of John Birch Society, Knights of the Ku Klux
> Klan Grand Dragon, Christian Identity minister--Metzger also worked in
> the defense industry in electronics in the 60s in Southern
> California--He joined the John Birch Society, but quickly became
> disillusioned with the organization because, as he later explained, "I
> soon found out you could not criticize the Jews."  In other words,
> someone you would kinda expect or not be surprised to be in a place
> like the Scope, no?

Kinda like somebody you'd meet at Boeing, eh?