..Not in the least bit Pynchonic -- space

[Michael Bailey]

(snippage)
> like, right now, I have a pretty good feel for where I am in local
> space, but almost none for my position and velocity in a larger cosmic
> framework...
>
(snippage)

 emotional referents to those larger landmarks are rather slender
compared to the feelings easily aroused in me by the stuff in the
Mike-sized world, streets and trees and people you meet...

I mean, I guess I like the Sun and the Milky Way but they aren't in my
size class so to speak

and I like that passage in the John Barth story where the guy is on an
airplane and the airplane is over St Louis or someplace, and moving x
mph towards Baltimore, and the planet is rotating and also revolving
around the sun, and the sun itself is moving in some general direction
or other along with a lot of other mass which in turn is headed on its
own course relative to objects in its size class...

not to mention to angles formed with other planets, other suns,
clusters and so forth

The existence of the John Barth passage indicates he has put some time
into trying to gain an emotional sense of place w/r/t these heavenly
bodies - which is cool!  Nifty even.

I hear he has a new book out recently, too!