V-2nd - Chapter 10: FLIP FLOP

Mark Kohut markekohut at yahoo.com
Sat Nov 13 16:25:11 CST 2010


in this FLIP FLOP section, binariness is, not surprisingly, alluded to. Grows in 
prominence to Vineland (and beyond, I guess). 

Does not seem to have the same resonances yet here in V.--or does it? 

Rereading yet again, I am struck by the bleakness of the NY of 1956 here. Yes, 
vertical death like horizontal stacks of bodies. All dead. 

And that long passage Laura quoted about all kinds of deaths in the dog days."in 
a congruent world that did not care"---very echoing of
existentialism (as a philosophy) phrases...

Bleaker than Bleak House. What a wasteland.  


----- Original Message ----
From: "kelber at mindspring.com" <kelber at mindspring.com>
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Thu, November 11, 2010 10:50:07 PM
Subject: V-2nd - Chapter 10: FLIP FLOP

Straight lines and 90 degree angles are generally a sign of bad shit in 
Pynchon.  There are various references to 90 degree angles in V.  Having sex is 
"going horizontal," or "rotating 90 degrees," as Rachel describes having sex 
with Slab.  In Chapter 11, Fausto says "... the physical being-there of a bed or 
horizontal plane determines what we call love ..."  Do humans rotate 90 degrees 
to make love (or what we "call" love)?  Or is that what automatons do?  SHROUD 
(or is it SHOCK?) warns Benny that it's too late - humans are nearly automatons.

How did it happen (or more to the point, what is Pynchon afraid has happened)?  
In this chapter, Mclintic starts obsessing about the nature of the electronic 
flip-flop circuit (used to create a strobe or pulsating effect between two 
states).  He plays with the words:  flip, as in go crazy, and flop, as in to 
rest.  During periods of war, we flip.  During peace, we flop.  Here's an image 
of war craziness, supplied to Benny by SHROUD: 


(p. 322):  "Thousands of Jewish corpses, stacked up like those poor [junkyard] 
car-bodies."  Corpses stacked horizontally: FLIP

Later, Stencil crams into the rush-hour subway:

(p. 330):  "Vertical corpses ..."  Corpses stacked vertically:  FLOP

The angle of 90 degrees is all [well, not really, all, but still ...] that 
separates war-time atrocities from the alienation of industrialized society?  
The War gave us a taste for stacking bodies that's so ingrained in us, we can't 
resist it in peacetime.  Rotating the stack 90 degrees simulates love?  Peace?

Laura



      



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