IVIV20: They both knew, 356-359

[Mark Kohut]

great riffing, imho.............

--- On Fri, 1/22/10, Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: IVIV20: They both knew, 356-359
> To: "P-list" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Friday, January 22, 2010, 6:17 AM
> Mark Kohut  wrote:
> 
> > Or For Interpretation (my preference):
> >
> > Let's take "The Preserved". What is Pynchon intending
> is being preserved; should have been preserved?
> >
> 
> playing with the notion, the name of Preserved came about
> from its
> survival of an "explosion in a Canadian port."
> 
> toggle that capsule description, pull out a few stops, mess
> with it -
> "a war in a British colony"
> the American Revolution...
> 
> but anyway...
> 
> the devout who survived the American Revolution,
> remembering the grace
> of their continuance,
> built some sense of gratitude and humility into (I keep
> wanting to
> broaden the ship to "ship of state"
> - it just seems so apposite!) the American Enterprise, and
> its
> documents speak of freedom and liberty and justice...
> 
> the country was young then with God on its side, in the
> words of Bob Dylan
> bright was the spirit in many a way, as Steppenwolf said in
> "Monster"
> 
> and then at some point there was a revisioning,
> repurposing,
> retooling, a la Stupendica in AtD,
> which reflects Eisenhower's statement about each weapon
> that's made
> represents a theft from peaceful production...
> 
> For instance, the way the steep hills of Doc's town appear
> almost as
> flatlands when viewed from
> out on the water
> 
> (a shrinkage similar to the scale of the map that Cyprian
> gets to use
> in _Against the Day_)
> 
> - just as things that, considered "qua" themselves, are
> screeching
> injustices, such as napalm or white phosphorus,
> things that ought to be deal-breakers for gosh sakes - "oh,
> if that's
> going to be required, we'll simply have to find another
> way" -
>  when viewed from the Oval Office while pursuing the Great
> Game look
> like simply means to an end...
> 
> (that "steep hill" that Doc's car finds challenging equates
> to one's
> personal morality, when
> it's one's own choice - am I going to kill that person, umm
> no that's
> bad - unable to charge up the grade, but it looks like
> nothing much at all when you're out on the water, or when
> you're doing
> things in the interest of national security,
> or - as Doc has found out - in pursuance of your case...)
> 
> So, I'm suggesting, that the name "Preserved" is given to
> the ship so
> its owners and those who fare forth in it
> remember that it has been preserved, and remember God's
> mercy in the
> performance of their own missions
> 
> and the renaming as "Golden Fang" reflects a decky-dance
> which is all
> too common -
> reminiscent of the passage in AtD where they talk about how
> a
> pilgrimage becomes a crusade
> (or words to that effect) when one decides to bring weapons
> along
> 
> or that passage in M&D where there's a huge religious
> revival and
> people are genuinely moved and begin
> to "change their lives", but after awhile another tendency
> takes hold
> and they begin to forget...
> 
> I suggest that the name Preserved seems to have come from a
> repentant
> and grateful impulse
> and that somebody really meant to start doing things
> differently
> 
> (like the Alan Alda character in "Grand Canyon" who after
> his
> near-death experience starts making plans
> to produce inspirational movies but his backers' inertia
> pulls him
> back down into slimy exploitative violence-fests...)
> 
> This is all rather impressionistic and not rigorous.
> However, those are some of my strong impressions about
> "Preserved/Golden Fang"
>