Back to AtD Cyprian remeeting Yashmeen, pp876ff

[Mark Kohut]

I like the whole gloss but I especially like the insightful reference to Suzuki's descriptions of Satori--[could be others' descriptions, too, I know]--something of which it seems is a major part of Pynchon's meanings with Cyprian.....
 
Buddhist-like service to others--which Cyprian moved to---is orgasmically satisfying ...TOO. (!!)
 
In some way, with some kind of Zen (or other) buddhist beliefs, TRP has also given us a novelsitic vision of 
satisfaction when N. O.Brown's Life Against Death [permeating GR] is overcome...?
 
he asks?
 
From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 12:57 PM
Subject: Re: Back to AtD Cyprian remeeting Yashmeen, pp876ff

Nice post. Yes, these variations on explosive transformation seem obviously deliberate and important in ATD.  I do find the psychology beleivable. I just read some of Suzuki's descriptions of Satori , which he frames in a very similar way - the explosion or collapse of one's mental framework so delivered or experienced  as to open  a new way of seeing, experiencing, a new mode of mind. One Pynchossible  interpretation would be that Abrahamic "spirituality" is badly twisted morally, and  we could work out our inner dramas with a lot less damage through sex than war. 

Cyprian is kind of a classic searcher. He experiences his existence almost entirely as need, and as directed to a seemingly impossible fulfillment. From a Buddhist POV that is the universal condition but most are not aware of that and Cyprian is aware of it, seeing his life and conscience controlled by enthrallment to person's who represent a surrender to dominance so total as to free him from self loathing related to his dual sexuality.  In some ways he was so wrapped in his own vulnerability and need that until the relation with Yashmeen and Reef he could not see the vulnerability and need of those putting on a better show. 
The brisance marks the end of his former self. He has now overcome and exacted revenge on a cruel enemy, he has heroically overcome his sense of weakness to bring someone out of great danger, he has physically and emotionally loved men and women and friends and seems to come to a realization that the need will not be filled in these classic human dramas. He takes a renunciatory path and disappears from the narrative.
On May 15, 2012, at 8:00 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:

> "[Cyprian's] self-regard..[not much more than]a newborn gnat's eyelash."
> What is the opposite of self-regard? Egolessness? ......Moral height?
> 
> Then Yashmeen wants him, really, really wants him...and THAT seems to
> turn him on. "He thought he knew being aflame. But this was sustained explosion,
> reaching now and then a quite unendurable brisance."
> 
> bri·sance   /brɪˈzɑns; Fr. briˈzɑ̃s/ Show Spelled[bri-zahns; Fr. bree-zahns] Show IPA 
> noun 
> the shattering effect of a high explosive. 
> 
> Origin: 
> 1910–15; < French, equivalent to bris ( er ) to break (< Celtic; akin to Irish brisim  (I) break) + -ance -ance
>  
>  
> Virtually repeated and an almost new word at the time it is used, why? 
> Remind of the orgasm Cyprian had with no sexual contact, with helping another?
>  
> And, the purposely mirrored opposite of the bomb blasts that kill?
>  
> And ties in with the dynamite blast after which Lew felt "grace"?
>  
> Is the psychology believeable? Just symbolically or more?
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