IVIV (2) skeletons p. 20

[Mark Kohut]

"expanding into the unincorporated wastes."

As the scholarly phrase goes, "waste(s)"--and "unincorporated" for that matter-- is probably NOT an accidental choice of words for Mr. P. 

--- On Tue, 9/1/09, Doug Millison <DOUGMILLISON at comcast.net> wrote:

> From: Doug Millison <DOUGMILLISON at comcast.net>
> Subject: IVIV (2) skeletons p. 20
> To: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 10:25 AM
> The skeletons against the sky remind
> me of the gallows in Mason & Dixon,
> 
> "a pair of Gallows, simplified to Penstrokes, in the glare
> of this Ocean sky." (MD 108)
> 
> They also recall to my mind those big skeletal weapon
> things in Star Wars.
> 
> "The development stretched into the haze and the soft smell
> of the fog component of smog, and of desert beneath the
> pavement--model units nearer the road, finished homes
> farther in, and just visible beyond them the skeletons of
> new construction, expanding into the unincorporated wastes."
> (IV 20)
> 
>  There may be a parallel to be made between M&D's
> Commerce: Slavery pairing and whatever IV posits as the
> corollary to Real Estate Development.
> 
> Commerce: Slavery = Real Estate Development: ???
> 
> "The desert creeps in on a man's land. […]
> Is the desert's attack too powerful for any boy , or wall,
> or dead father and mother? […]
>  And now the house begins to fill with desert, like the
> lower half of an hourglass which will never be inverted
> again. […]
> 'the city is only the desert in disguise.' "
> --V. ch3 section v; pp. 70-71  Bantam/Windstone
> paperback
>