Newbie needs help with "Gravity's Rainbow"

[Charles Albert]

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 12:58 AM, Mike Jing <mikezjing at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> 2. What does "...and goes back to when he was carrying, everywhere he went,
> the mark of Youthful Folly growing in an unmistakable Mongoloid point, right
> out of the middle of his head" mean? The mark of Youthful Folly is explained
> in many places, but what is a Mongoloid point? Again, no reference can be
> found.
>


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zippy_the_Pinhead



> 4. And lastly, "...they'd been part of the usual list of prizes in a
> Competition grown crowded and perilous, out of some indoor intervention of
> charcoal streets...". I cannot make sense of this at all. What is he talking
> about?
>
>
List of prizes in a competition could be a reference to TV game shows of the
60s & 70 which would often conclude with a recital of prizes and the
sponsors from which they came...spoofed brilliantly by the vastly underrated
The Tubes...



Well, you can't have that, but if you're an American citizen you are
entitled to:
a heated kidney shaped pool,
a microwave oven--don't watch the food cook,
a Dyna-Gym--I'll personally demonstrate it in the privacy of your own home,
a kingsize Titanic unsinkable Molly Brown waterbed with polybendum,
a foolproof plan and an airtight alibi,
real simulated Indian jewelry,
a Gucci shoetree,
a year's supply of antibiotics,
a personally autographed picture of Randy Mantooth
and Bob Dylan's new unlisted phone number,
a beautifully restored 3rd Reich swizzle stick,
Rosemary's baby,
a dream date in kneepads with Paul Williams,
a new Matador,
a new mastadon,
a Maverick,
a Mustang,
a Montego,
a Merc Montclair,
a Mark IV,
a meteor,
a Mercedes,
an MG,
or a Malibu,
a Mort Moriarty,
a Maserati,
a Mac truck,
a Mazda,
a new Monza,
or a moped,
a Winnebago--Hell, a herd of Winnebago's we're giving 'em away,
or how about a McCulloch chainsaw,
a Las Vegas wedding,
a Mexican divorce,
a solid gold Kama Sutra coffee pot,
or a baby's arm holding an apple?

http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/t/thetubes3968/whatdoyouwantfromlife188799.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZB7TGLKaf8&feature=related

"indoor intervention of charcoal streets"

brings to mind the 3rd & 4th stanzas of The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock....but I can't decode it.

http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html

love,
cfa
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20110304/f5bae86d/attachment.html>