IVIV20: Gateway to the past, 351-352

[Michael Bailey]

 Paul Nightingale wrote:

> However, before taking the bait, we might consider the context and
> acknowledge the failure of interpretation: the "glittering mosaic of doubt"
> is "[s]omething like ... inherent vice", and then "like original sin", or
> even "[l]ike the San Andreas Fault". A few lines further Sauncho's "boat"
> has become Doc's "ark", which is how, over the page on 352, Doc describes
> California itself. Meaning is always elsewhere, and this explanation of the
> novel's title provides little satisfaction if intended to provide closure.
>

for me it was different,

a) Doc's poring over the "glittering mosaic"
is much like various attempts I don't think I'm alone in having
made over the years to figure it all out ("it" being different things
at different times:
who killed Kennedy and why, what about that trade center,
what youthful trauma did I never get over, what untruths have
I taken for granted and acted on over the years, usw)
- the data arrives long after the fact,
the details are intriguing and dazzling to behold and yet
there's an indeterminacy, a built-in failure even in the attempt -
e.g.: nothing Doc does can bring back GC

b) His dream assertion to Elmina of his belief that the dead
come back to life addresses the outcome he really wants  -
he can perform any manner of great detecting but it is
ultimately misplaced effort, not a pathway to the dreamed-of
outcome.  One feels one must do something, though.

c) the vigilante in the balaclava of course reminds Gravity's Rainbow
readers of Pointsman similarly attired chasing down the dog...