Fwd: V-2nd - Chapter 12: Keep Cool But Care

[bandwraith at aol.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: bandwraith <bandwraith at aol.com>
To: kelber <kelber at mindspring.com>
Sent: Wed, Dec 15, 2010 10:58 am
Subject: Re: V-2nd - Chapter 12: Keep Cool But Care


Always reminds me of the chilly passage in
M&D, out in the boat with Pynchon's version
of Vasudeva, where the coldness seems to
quiet their mutual antagonism enough so that
their mutual affection is allowed to emerge.

There are any number of causes for our
separateness, but if they can be quieted,
without trying too hard, resistance ceases,
and we can share our separateness without
denying it.


-----Original Message-----
From: kelber <kelber at mindspring.com>
To: pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wed, Dec 15, 2010 10:15 am
Subject: V-2nd - Chapter 12: Keep Cool But Care


Lackluster as the lowly Chapter 12 is, it's still the source of the
oft-quoted:
Keep cool but care.  McClintic formulates this little philosophy while
he's with
Paola.  There always seems to be wind imagery around Paola (including
her last
name).  McClintic and Paola are driving up the Hudson and here's
another wind
reference:  "their own wind was cool."

Then:  "She talked to him straight and McClintic kept cool."

She tells him her life story, which causes McClintic to ruminate:

"Love with your mouth shut, help without breaking your ass or
publicizing it:
keep cool, but care."

It's a prescription for emotional detachment, for a realization that no
one can
do much of anything about the state of the world.  Not sure Assange
subscribes
to this.  Or Dick Cheney.  But certainly, Pynchon does.

Laura