IV: Chapter 19 - page 343

[Robin Landseadel]

On Jan 4, 2010, at 9:19 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> The mention of the obscure ship also echoes back to COL49 in the  
> scene where Mike Fallopian's describing the origins of the Peter  
> Pinguid Society -- in this case a Russian ship was involved.

I think in both episodes Pynchon demonstrates just how long the cold  
war has been going on.

> Wondering if there's any significance between the Portola club and  
> Sportello.  By virtue of even sitting in this power-bastion,  
> negotiating, is Doc passing through some private portal -- in effect  
> becoming an auxiliary member of the Golden Fang by doing business  
> with them, even if it's to save a life?  Also, I've never understood  
> Doc's personal zealotry in protecting Coy and his family.  Stealing  
> heroin from and negotiating with the GF seems an excessively  
> dangerous and risky undertaking to protect someone Doc barely knows,  
> and a pretty morally compromised person at that.
>
> Laura

But Doc didn't steal from the GF, Bigfoot did, then planted the drugs  
on Doc. Perhaps Bigfoot did it so that Doc [hippies scum, remember]  
could be iced, thus making the whole Puck/A.P. mess just go away. The  
scag complicates Doc's life and give TRP one more opportunity to  
display TV as the REAL opiate of the masses.

Coy may not have been all that morally wonderful to begin with, but  
his wife and his kid clearly are getting better and come to think of  
it, so is he. Doc, being observant, notices that their scene ISN'T  
inherently entropic. And good Bossa Nova sax players don't come a dime  
to the dozen, you know. Doc is putting his energy towards people who  
are putting energy into their own lives.

> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
>>
>> Doc is as struck [in his way] by this painting of the commencement of
>> the Portola Expidition as Oedipa was struck by Varo's indices of
>> tears. Again and again throughout the story our stony hero asks
>> questions about what might have been if only . . .
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/ydeg347
>>
>> 	The Portola expedition, led by Gaspar de Portolà from July 14,
>> 	 1769 to January 24, 1770, was the first known recorded
>> 	attempt by Spain to explore Alta California by land.[1] The
>> 	purpose of the expedition was to secure bases in Upper
>> 	California before the Russians.[2] The plan was to establish a
>> 	base in the Port of Monterey (now Monterey, California) as
>> 	described by Sebastián Vizcaíno. The expedition consisted of
>> 	64 men in all, and approximately 200 horses and mules. The
>> 	expedition started at the Presidio of San Diego on July 14 and
>> 	returned on January 24, 1770 — failing to recognize Monterey
>> 	Bay.
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portola_expedition