IVIV: robin & alice ask about soul question re Golden Fang (all around pp 90-95)

[Robin Landseadel]

On Sep 28, 2009, at 7:52 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:

> Preserved had, before Halifax explosion and refitting---which  
> "removed all traces of soul"......."tentacles of sin & desire and  
> that strange worl-bound karma which is of the essence in maritime  
> law".....
>
> Preserved had tentacles touching the human.....maritime law, among  
> the oldest law precedents, going deeper than many Nation- 
> States.....a more human-centered law that could work out karma  
> between foax?
>
> THEN, sometime after WW2, it became soulless.....now owned by a  
> 'consortium", another impersonal company and now associated with
> spying on commies. "off Cuba".....
>
> We know from Vineland how deep Pynchon finds the paranoia and  
> betrayal of fellow citizens McCarthyism went in creating post-war  
> America....spying, betrayal are lifelong themes.....
>
> Notice on p. 92 about GF, he writes ala hofstadter's aforementioned  
> piece and book, .."the paranoia keeps growing"...about the missing  
> ship "assumed to be sunk on deirect orders from the U.S.  
> Government"....
>
> And, of course, teeth are in the mouth one betrays with............

I think he's marking the start of Big Box culture as the driving  
engine of American Economy. I also can't help but think of Errol  
Flynn's boat in Orson Welles' overt noir/noir parody "Lady From  
Shanghai."

	Perhaps the greatest challenge to the film’s production was the
	physical health of the cast and crew. The boat, titled in the film
	as Circe, was owned by film legend Errol Flynn, who allegedly
	captained it drunkenly during the filming. A camera assistant
	died on the first day of shooting, and one legend suggests that
	Flynn wanted the body dumped into the ocean in a duffel bag.
	Instead, the crew placed the body ashore on the Mexican coast
	and hushed the incident up. Welles was bitten by an insect and
	saw his eye swell to epic proportions. And Hayworth was sick
	throughout the shoot due to a nervous condition and sinus
	problems. At one point she became so sick that Welles shut
	down production for a month.

http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/05/36/lady_from_shanghai.html

If you look into other sites you will find more strange tales of Errol  
Flynn and his boats. One I looked at concerned the exorcism of Errol  
Flynn's ghost from one of his ships. Seems like a likely inspiration.