GR translation: even lost as he might feel again

[bandwraith at aol.com]

It seems pretty straight forward, Mike, given the use he has made of the double integral symbol up to this point in the text, which I'm sure you're familiar with. Here, the term "even" used three times as an adverbial modifier: even lost, even more vulnerable, even preserved by accident, suggests a triple integration, which to my mind harkens back to "The Secret Integration." That is, a secret passage way out of the closed prison of causality that would preclude any exit from the inevitable. If such an escape were possible for Slothrop (and Katje, apparently) it must be predicated, according to the passage at hand, on the unpredictable, or chance. The only phenomenon in the universe, that I know of, that both resists and depends on chance, is life. And of course, love is a quintessential manifestation of life, even in perversity.

Shoring that up a bit- double integration was engineered into the guidance mechanism of the A4. It's known as inertial guidance, because it depends on the inertial effects of acceleration. The rocket was programmed to travel a certain amount of time/distance before the fuel-feed to the engine was switched off. The switch was controlled by a double integrating circuit sensitive to the inertial effects of acceleration- the first integration of acceleration is velocity, the second is distance. The switch was capable of sensing when a certain acceleration had been reached, and by the integrating circuitry, a certain velocity, and again, distance. At the precise acceleration, velocity, distance- the switch was thrown and the fuel cut off. From that point in time onward, the rocket was purely ballistic. The only thing that could effect its predetermined course would have been chance. Some might also invoke grace- I won't go that far.

So Slothrop, in the very bowels of the A4 factory, where the rockets themselves are produced according to predetermined blueprints, and along a double helix-like assembly line, has this longing for lost love. He longs for the intervention of accidental chance, with all its potential for disaster, and from which only love can offer hope of escaping the inevitable.

DNA is also represented by the shape of the double integral, or two spoons, or two sleeping lovers, but that hasn't been discovered yet in Slothrop's time. So, any further, triple or "secret integration" incorporating that knowledge into the meaning of this passage, must come from the work of the readers. In that sense, "They" might become "We,"in the passage cited. I.e., Slothrop's fate is up to us: Would "we" ever (in our separate imaginations) agree to let him and Katje live like that? If only for this brief interlude- picture it in our minds?

I don't suppose all that helps you much with your translational dilemma, but it's the shortest way I can describe what I think the he is up to with the three "evens."    



-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
To: Pynchon Mailing List pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Fri, May 10, 2013 5:53 pm
Subject: GR translation: even lost as he might feel again



P307.11-17  Double integral is also the shape of lovers curled asleep, which is where Slothrop wishes he were now—all the way back with Katje, even lost as he might feel again, even more vulnerable than now—even (because he still honestly misses her), preserved by accident, in ways he can’t help seeing, accident whose own much colder honesty each lover has only the other to protect him from. . . . Could he live like that? Would They ever agree to let him and Katje live like that?

I am a little bit confused by this sentence, particularly about the use of the word "even" here.   It seems a bit unusual.  Also, is the second "even" used in the same way as the first?  What about the third?  It seems I need a translation before the translation.  Hmm...


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