Fw: V2nd, C3

[Mark Kohut]

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/the-allegory-of-tragedy-24-x-33-in-h-gustav


Seems in Pynchon to be a statue of the classic mask of tragedy? ..(she's holding 
it here)
visible all over theweb...ye old-contorted crying face w the laughing face of 
comedy that is drama.

as a mask it IS earless.................................



----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
To: David Payne <dpayne1912 at hotmail.com>
Cc: Pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Fri, July 23, 2010 1:16:21 PM
Subject: Re: V2nd, C3

> 2. Can someone point me to an image of the "allegorical statue of Tragedy"? Is 
>it, by chance, without ears?

Well, I found it very interesting that when I entered "statue of
tragedy" into the search engine, the response at the top of the list
was "Statue of Liberty." Just sayin'....

On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 8:41 PM, David Payne <dpayne1912 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hang on here -- Sorry if I'm the last one to catch onto this, but I just 
>realized that Stencil has, in this section VIII, inhabited the POV of "the 
>allegorical statue of Tragedy". He has become fully inanimate.
>
> A few points that suggest this:
>
> 1. Organization: All the sections mention Stencil's "avatar" early on, and the 
>statue is mentioned early on. All the sections also end--I think--by noting 
>something that is explicitly & solely from the POV of Stencil's avatar, and this 
>section ends with "At rest the body is assumed exactly into the space of this 
>vantage"--the vantage being the vantage point of the statue's line of sight.
>
> 2. Description: Note that the narrator is fixed in place (in the corridor 
>facing the window) and describes only what is seen from that one place (with 
>only a few very minor interjections and assumptions). It's almost like watching 
>a silent movie that was filmed by a camera set on a tripod. In this case, the 
>narrator is a statue, and the descriptions are what is in the line of sight of 
>the statue.
>
> 3. Voice: Laura noted the "dispassionate" voice. Dispassionate, I think, 
>because the narrator is an inanimate statue. (There's a lot to pick apart on 
>this point. Beyond the lack of narrative sympathy, note the narrator's focus on 
>deadening movements, deadening colors, deadened sound.)
>
> One final note about the closing lines that Laura quoted: "Vision must be the 
>last to go. There must also be a nearly imperceptible line between an eye that 
>reflects and eye that receives." On a literal level, this refers to eyes of the 
>assassinated victim (i.e., there's a point at which the eyes go dead and just 
>reflect light instead of receiving it). But As Laura noted, this is also 
>Stencil's self-reflection (all the sections end with self-reflection, I think), 
>for Stencil has crossed this point. Of course a statue's eyes reflect--and do 
>not receive. But I think that Stencil (or his embodiment) only fully crosses 
>this point at the end of this section.
>
> Three questions:
>
> 1. I'm halfway through "Bleak House" but I think that this section borrows 
>heavily from aspects of BH's narration (e.g., scenes in Tulkinghorn's office). 
>Am I on to something here?
>
> 2. Can someone point me to an image of the "allegorical statue of Tragedy"? Is 
>it, by chance, without ears?
>
> 3. Has Stencil's embodiment in his imaginary scenes has been gradually
> losing its humanity? By section VIII, the narrator can't even hear
> (there are gun shots, etc., but the narrator notes that "the silence is
> total") -- and the narrator reflects that "vision must be the last to
> go". The way to test this theory would be to reread the chapter and look for
> clues of the narrator slowly "dying", losing soul, becoming inanimate. But I'm 
>hoping that one of you can simply recollect the chapter better than I--and 
>answer this question w/o rereading.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------
> On Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:41:43 -0400, Laura (kelber at mindspring.com) wrote:
>
>> The eighth section is different from the others, in that there's no 
>>proxy-character for Stencil. Stencil's finally attained something (wisdom? the 
>>object of his knightly quest?). The narratorial voice in this section is 
>>dispassionate; it summarizes without expressing any opinions, emotions or 
>>flights of fancy - until the closing sentences of the section and chapter: 
>>Vision must be the last to go, etc. It's the voice of someone describing exactly 
>>what he sees. Stencil himself is THERE.
>>
>> Stencil jumps into this series of projections with a question on his mind. He's 
>>lying on Bongo-Shaftsbury the Younger's couch, musing about a time in the past 
>>when his host's father murdered a man named Porpentine. What (we can guess he's 
>>wondering) might this have to do with V.? Does he have his answer at the end?
>>
>> "There must also be a nearly imperceptible line between an eye that reflects 
>>and an eye that receives." Stencil's finally crossed that line. He doesn't need 
>>a proxy protagonist any more, he sees exactly what he needs to. That we don't 
>>necessarily get it doesn't matter. What is it he "gets?" That Victoria was a 
>>normal girl who got mixed up romantically with Goodfellow the spy. Now that 
>>Goodfellow's partner is dead and he's, perhaps, on the run, is this the moment 
>>when she turns to Bongo-Shaftsbury (spy and partial cyborg) for comfort, sealing 
>>her fate? Something along those lines.
>
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