GR translation: demolition man

[Paul Mackin]

On 11/10/2012 10:33 AM, Markekohut wrote:
>> Paul m. Sez:
>> In life we find not one truth but many, infinitely many. Pynchon's 
>> writing conveys that great mystery.
>>
>> Or not.
>
>  Maybe not infinitely many but often more than seven types of 
> ambiguous richness....this is
> A necessary condition of his greatness, I say....



Are the ambiguities numerable, or  is there some generalized feature to 
the writing that makes it unspecifically insinuating?  I might be 
inclined to the latter.

A screaming comes across the sky.

P



>>
>> P
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net 
>>> <mailto:mackin.paul at verizon.net>> wrote:
>>>
>>>     On 11/8/2012 2:02 AM, jochen stremmel wrote:
>>>
>>>         I think what Pynchon refers to here is more general, not
>>>         only in the
>>>         context of WW II or the high and low contact. It's about "a
>>>         repetition
>>>         high and low", low like the malignant pun a filthy, mocking
>>>         scoundrel
>>>         might make and high like a sympathetic magic.
>>>
>>>         It's about playing with words and images, similes,
>>>         metaphors. Like the
>>>         demolition man and the Trembler he sees in a spoon between a
>>>         glass and
>>>         a plate, if he has to do the dishes.
>>>
>>>     Going beyond the specific examples, we might want also to note
>>>     that this superstitious and magical thinking is meant to
>>>     exemplify impurity, the opposite of what the second level is
>>>     supposed to produce or demonstrate?
>>>
>>>     Thinking that contact of the spoon with the cup might produce an
>>>     explosion--or that a coffee brand name by mere name association
>>>     will bring forth a cruel lady--are pollutions of thought. (of
>>>     course in this case there IS a cruel lady)
>>>
>>>     And outside the Kabbalistic framework, the interrelatedness of
>>>     all things for the paranoiac is suggested.  To the paranoiac
>>>     everything is connected.  At least in Pynchon. Not sure how that
>>>     applied to Pudding, but still . . . .
>>>
>>>
>>>     P
>>>
>>>
>>>         2012/11/7 Monte Davis <montedavis at verizon.net
>>>         <mailto:montedavis at verizon.net>>:
>>>
>>>             Jochen is correct about “demolition man” in  general,
>>>             but in a WWII context
>>>             I think it means Explosive Ordnance Disposal,  someone
>>>             who *disarms* bombs.
>>>             A “trembler” is a vibration-sensitive switch, its
>>>             central tongue (an
>>>             electrical contact) closing the circuit if it touches
>>>             either the “high”
>>>             contact above or the “low” contact beneath.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>             From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org
>>>             <mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>>             [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org
>>>             <mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org>] On Behalf
>>>             Of Mike Jing
>>>             Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2012 2:22 AM
>>>             To: Pynchon Mailing List
>>>             Subject: GR translation: demolition man
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>             P234.35-235.4  In the second antechamber is an empty red
>>>             tin that held
>>>             coffee. The brand name is Savarin. He understands that
>>>             it means to say
>>>             “Severin.” Oh, the filthy, the mocking scoundrel. . . .
>>>             But these are not
>>>             malignant puns against an intended sufferer so much as a
>>>             sympathetic magic,
>>>             a repetition high and low of some prevailing form (as,
>>>             for instance, no sane
>>>             demolition man at his evening dishwater will wash a
>>>             spoon between two cups,
>>>             or even between a glass and a plate, for fear of the
>>>             Trembler it implies . .
>>>             . because it’s a trembler-tongue he really holds, poised
>>>             between its two
>>>             fatal contacts, in fingers aching with having been so
>>>             suddenly reminded). .
>>>             . .
>>>
>>>             What is the "demolition man" mentioned here?  Why the
>>>             fear of tremblers?
>>>             What is a trembler anyway?
>>>
>>>             Also, what is the meaning of "high and low" in "a
>>>             repetition high and low"?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> http://www.last.fm/user/Auto_Da_Fe
>>> http://www.pop.nu/en/show_collection.asp?user=2412
>>> http://www.librarything.com/profile/Auto_Da_Fe
>>> http://www.thedetails.co.uk/
>>> http://www.songkick.com/users/Auto_Da_Fe
>>> http://big-game.tumblr.com/
>>
>>

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