A math joke in Gravity's Rainbow

[Monte Davis]

It¡¯s a mathematical/verbal pun. Take ¡°cabin¡± as a value, a quantity¡­
could just as well be ¡°x.¡± Read out loud, it¡¯s

 

¡°The integral of ((one divided by ¡®cabin¡¯) times (the derivative of
¡®cabin¡¯)¡­

 

¡°Equals [mathematically] log ¡®cabin¡¯ + c [the logarithm of ¡¯cabin¡¯ plus
a constant]¡­

 

Then a context switch to ¡°log cabin¡± as an early house style (for USAns,
young Abe Lincoln¡¯s home)

 

And ¡°log cabin plus sea¡± = ¡°houseboat¡±. Hilarity ensues.

 

It¡¯s a dumb joke that might be funny once or twice to a secondary/college
math student who has just learned the symbols and how to interpret them.
Sorta like the ¡°Kilroy was here¡±
<http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/523557-kilroy-was-here>  drawing in V: the
omnipresent WWII
<http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_gefl%C3%BCgelter_Worte/K#Kilroy_was_here
.>  and 1950s ¡®Kilroy¡¯ sketch of a guy with a big nose peeking over a
wall, recreated as a band-pass filter [one that allows only certain
frequencies to get through] from a circuit diagram, which would amuse a
budding electrical engineer.

 

Neither is ¡°typical of Pynchon¡¯s take on science¡± ¨C in themselves,
they¡¯re not likely to be funny or interesting to any scientist/engineer
past age 21. But *in the full context of his take on science and culture and
myth and history,* they add threads to a tapestry:

 

-        ¡°Gravity¡¯s Rainbow¡± reminds us dozens of times of the first
rainbow in Genesis: God¡¯s promise to Noah and his family on the Ark (a
houseboat) not to destroy the world again. In 1945 we have a
nearly-destroyed world, and a rocket¡¯s parabola asking us WTF we¡¯re gonna
do next time around. We also have a shitboat, the Rucksightslos, and a
deathgod-boat, the Anubis. Oddly enough, both are on courses to or near the
A4 ¡°rainbow¡¯s¡± starting point.

-         

-         ¡°V.¡±, like CoL49 and GR and everything else to come, has great
shadowy conspiracies: Trystero, Force/Counterforce, Jesuit/Chinese/Native
American,  etc ¨C that show up in many little clues (post-horn drawing,
etc.).  In WWII, the Kilroy cartoon (UK ¡°Chad¡±) became a humorous,
pseudo-conspiratorial legend for Western Allied troops: how the hell did
this little guy show up from Brooklyn and Birmingham and Bombay to Berlin?
Now¡­ insights into Pynchon conspiracies are repeatedly likened to ¡°tuning
in¡± ¨C to finding  the right frequency (Mondaugen and the sferics, the
¡°speaking flame¡± at the s¨¦ance early in GR). Oddly enough, that¡¯s what a
band-pass filter does.   

 

If Alice is right ¨C if math and science and technology in Pynchon are
random buckets of pseudo-erudition randomly shoveled in because ¡°that¡¯s
what he does¡± ¨C then these nerdy connections aren¡¯t worth knowing or
thinking about. Your mileage may vary.

 

 

From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Kai Frederik Lorentzen
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2013 7:22 AM
To: pynchon -l
Subject: A math joke in Gravity's Rainbow

 


Now, having just what Berger/Luckmann call "the sociologist's
kitchen-statistics", I certainly will not claim any math knowledge here. I
read Principia Mathematica (to improve my understanding of Wittgenstein),
and I even read Laws of Form (to improve my understanding of Luhmann)
several
times, but felt very dull during those reads. And I do not get the math joke
on p. 450 of GR at all. I
simply don't. What's so funny about the houseboat formula and what's its
function in the overall architecture of Gravity's Rainbow? Also wonder
whether this math joke is typical for Pynchon's take
on science. Anyone?



  "Well, you can¡¯t help but wonder who¡¯s really the more paranoid of the
two 

here. Steve¡¯s sure got a lot of gall badmouthing Charles that way. Among
the 

hilarious graffiti of visiting mathematicians, 

  

¡Ò      1      d (cabin)  =  log cabin + c  =  houseboat, 

                                        (cabin)      

  

that sort of thing, they go poking away down the narrow sausage-shaped 

latrine now, two young/old men, their feet fade and cease to ring on the
sloping 

steel deck, their forms grow more transparent with distance until it¡¯s
impossible 

to see them any more. Only the empty compartment here, the S-curved spokes 

on the peep-show machines, the rows of mirrors directly facing, reflecting
each 

other, frame after frame, back in a curve of very great radius. Out to the
end of 

this segment of curve is considered part of the space of the R¨¹cksichtslos.
Making 

it a rather fat ship. Carrying its right-of-way along with it. ¡°Crew
morale,¡± 

whispered the foxes at the Ministry meetings, ¡°sailors¡¯ superstitions.
Mirrors at 

high midnight. We know, don¡¯t we?¡±" 

 

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