argentaurum, Vincent Gaddis, and electrical ghosts haunting ATD

[Mark Kohut]

And Emmens developed an explosive, your article teaches me!

--- On Fri, 2/26/10, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:

> From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
> Subject: argentaurum, Vincent Gaddis, and electrical ghosts haunting ATD
> To: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Friday, February 26, 2010, 1:15 AM
>  Don't know if this is old news to
> p-listers but...Today I was listening to the part of ATD
> where Merle Rideout is explaining to Frank Traverse about
> Stephen Emmens "transmutation" of silver to gold. Emmens
> sounded real so I googled him and found along with period
> references from the late 1800's, an article by Vincent
> Gaddis  http://journal.borderlands.com/1997/americas-amazing-alchemist/
> ( made somewhat famous by writing about and inventing the
> term "bermuda triangle", hocum though it doubtless
> was.)  turns out Gaddis ended up living in Garberville
> Ca,  epicenter of the Humboldt green revolution. 
> I think his articles and books may well have been a major
> source for materials and ideas that appear in ATD. I would
> be surprised if Pynchon didn't find him while he was in
> Humboldt  before writing Vineland.
> 
> Here is another  Gaddis article that is equally loaded
> with ATD imagery http://journal.borderlands.com/2010/electrical-ghosts/
> 
> Okay, just for added spice, this is the 2nd time writing
> this email. Last time, just as I was about to send, the
> power went out. Fairly rare here, but  a lot of wet
> snow and rain since yesterday. Damned electrical
> ghosts  spinning their lights out jokes against the
> day.