..Not in the least bit Pynchonic -- space

[Michael Bailey]

Mark Kohut  wrote:
> Joseph Tracy writes:
> The fact that something can be expressed mathematically is no proof that
> there is a corresponding reality in the universe .
>

at the very least, there is the reality of somebody expressing
something, which I suppose harkens back to Descartes but I wonder if
there is really a crying need to prove one exists...

- yet another classic that I'm insufficiently appreciative of, I suppose -

but the idea of different spaces with a variety of characteristics is
Denis-like - "I was in such-and-such a space" taking a descarteian
view of what one thinks as being definitive and important...
"headspace" or "being spaced"

so that defining a space - useful as it may be in math classes - isn't
confined to just that usage - nor to just engineering problems - but
also joins a number of existential activities implicated in quality of
life, good liberal-arts concerns, and purloining that usage out of the
seraglio of mathematics into the realm of literature and conversation
and daily life might be as useful as the findings of automobile racing
in producing better and safer cars for consumer use for instance

>
> However, the question does become, when does mathematics NO LONGER
> correspond with a touchable reality......Dunno, but
> within the fiction that is AtD, I say Pynchon starts laughing at math with
> 'imaginary' numbers.......
>

I diverge from agreement with you on that...
I think Pynchon is even more beguiled with complex numbers than with
integers..certainly wouldn't devote loving attention to Yashmeen's
quest if not...and there's at least one passage in AtD dealing with
Vibe's attitude toward Kit's studies that I think indicates the
insufficiently spiritual nature of Vibe's numerical conceptions --
"Because you can understand these airy-fairy scratch-marks," Scarsdale
Vibe had scolded, when it became clear that Kit's reluctance to become
a Vibe heir was not coyness merely for the sake of improving the deal,
"do you imagine yourself better than us?" (319)  --

teasing out the nuances of that passage, I think at the very least
that associating an unwillingness to attend to Kit's proferred
explanation ("Is that what I mean?  Here -" stilll amiable, he drew
toward them a block of paper quadrilled into quarter-inch squares."
(320)) even though he's paid Kit's tuition -- as if his knowledge, his
spirituality ("Young man, I am as spiritual a person as any you are
liable to run into at the formerly proud institution you now attend."
(320)) is complete and of a different order, having nothing to learn
from Kit's math, only willing to utilize it as a tool by manipulating
Kit within the financial framework he believes to be a both
self-consistent and complete scheme of the world...