M&D Ch 20. p.202 Force majeure: Derivatives & Ambiguities

[Mark Kohut]

i did not know of all the maritime and contract resonances to 'Force
Majeure"....adds a lot of meaning. I just knew its
reduced meaning which singles up one meaning...
Thanks.

On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 12:58 PM, Jerome Park <jeromepark3141 at gmail.com> wrote:
> "Force Majeure", like "Inherent Vice", is a legal, often a maritime law term
> that Pynchon enjoys sprinkling about his books with all puns and
> ambiguities, intended and unintended. in play.
>
>  The force majeure clause is employed by Mr. Dixon and Mr Mason after the
> "Interdiction at Sea" (47).
>
> "interdiction" is a fine example, of a legal and military term that invites
> ambiguities
>
> In the claim afte the clash at sea, the clause has no force and  is easily
> countered by the RS, not on the facts, or on what is right, or who is right
> and who is wrong, but by force of contract and force of inflexible power of
> a powerful entity over its subordinated workers. Time, as lawyers say, is of
> the essence. Mason and his Partner  are on a schedule and must keep it to
> honor the contract. . In this case, Time, the common currency of Science,
> is on the RS's side because the time option has an expiration date and the
> premium in the option is a multiple of the days to expiration.
>
> Though Pynchon uses the term several more times in M&D, and in other works,
> the deliberate ambiguity in its use is most apparent when we juxtapose the
> use on 47 with the use here on 202. Here, the force is Mason's then recent
> Grief, now, those who Represent his sons claim, has not the force it had
> when they agreed to take the lads two years back. In this case, Time is
> against Mason again, but the time option is reversed, so the longer he stays
> away from his boys, the less his Grief is worth. Now he must pay with
> something other than his Grief, his force majeure option is expired.
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