Back to AtD Reimann maths ain't life. p.891

[Paul Mackin]

On 6/2/2012 11:57 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:
> Michael (& Paul)
> Thanks. More to come after marination.
> Just want to say 1) yes, eagle is a bird of prey in AtD. so...in the
> dream is it a symbol of life's dangers?
> 2) New Holy Family is all secular, yes? Even the Deepest Meanings
> involve this life, yes?
> Mark

Yes, secular.  But I probably need to reread the book.

P
>
> *From:* Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
> *To:* P-list <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> *Sent:* Saturday, June 2, 2012 11:46 AM
> *Subject:* Re: Back to AtD Reimann maths ain't life. p.891
>
> Paul Mackin wrote:
>
>  > Alice knows. What we are witnessing in the foundation of the Holy Family
>  > Traverse in which Yashmeen is to become the mother of the baby Jes .
> . . .
>  > And a good deal of purple prose is necessary get this across, make it
>  > sufficiently portentous.
>
> Yes, Paul, I tend to forget that there are more levels to this than
> the feminist angle I was focusing on.
> The Holy Family stuff with Cyps and Reef and Yashmeen, I got to admit,
> slides by me largely unappreciated.
>
> It reminds me of that prison family stuff that the late-capitalist
> pearl girl in IV talks about...
>
> You go into the pages of history with the personnel you have, not the
> personnel that you might want to have.
>
> The symbolism of the eagle is broader than just the "oh no, Yashmeen's
> about to get predated into family life"
> The eagle's diet is the ground-dwelling vermin and compared to making
> a family, I suppose that any commercial or intellectual occupation
> makes of one by comparison a rat, a shrew, or a vole -- I guess
> that's why they play Mack the Knife at wedding receptions...
>
> This is where my viewpont re-converges with Mark's: yes, ultimately
> the continuance of the species is more important than whatever
> individual accomplishments one might have wanted to see from Yashmeen.
> She did, after, make that anonymous contribution in Professor
> Hilbert's class, and how many of us get to make even an anonymous
> contribution -- things are tough all over, we're all riding that
> Ferris Wheel and all you might be offered is a bite of jellied eel...
>
>