M&D the Isle of St. Helena

[Paul Mackin]

On 3/6/2012 8:51 PM, Keith Davis wrote:
> Going to read M&D again soon. Thanks for the jolt. There is a St. Helena
> Island near Beaufort, SC, by the way. Is this what's referred to?

this is the one out in the middle of the Atlantic, so far from anywhere 
the Brits used it to keep Napoleon out of the fray for good.


P
>
> On Mar 2, 2012 10:52 PM, "Alex Colter" <recoignishon at gmail.com
> <mailto:recoignishon at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     As I am once more bereft of corporeal company this Friday evening, I
>     turn to friend Pynchon and come upon the strange and wonderful Exile
>     to the Purgatorial St. Helena.
>     Starting at Chapter 13 (which symbolizes much in Hebrew Gematria)
>     as, Dixon's boat departed, Mason looks ashore to find Maskelyne
>     already there, we receive the lines:
>
>     "The Stars wheel into the blackness of the broken steep Hills
>     guarding the Mouth of the Valley. Fog begins to stir against the
>     Day, swelling near. Among the whiten'd Rock Walls of the Houses
>     seethes a great Whisper of living Voice.
>     'Shall we enter again the Atlantick Whore-House, find Breakfast, and
>     get to work?'"
>     p125
>
>     One of the persistent themes in this book, among others, is American
>     Religious Experience. I get the feeling he had long talks with Prof
>     Bloom, whom I see as something of a Neville Maskelyne.
>     I suppose I could, and shall go on as the Night lengthens, but I was
>     mostly curious about what the W.A.S.T.E.-list thought about the
>     strange and wonderful Exile to St. Helena...
>