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

[Jerome Park]

And specifically, on the legal rights/obligations of Americans wrt the
family and to property and privacy.

On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 3:48 PM, Jerome Park <jeromepark3141 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> With all their legalese, it's no wonder that Pynchon's novels have
> attracted legal scholars. The agreement that Mason makes for the care and
> welfare of his sons is not an unusual arrangement for the times. But the
> fact that Pynchon juxtaposes the Grief made contract with the going to
> America agreement and couches both in the legal term he employs earlier to
> characterize the unbreakable contract Mason and Dixon have with their
> employer, whoever or whatever that may turn out to be, suggests that
> Pynchon is not  merely working off historical documents and history books,
> getting things right, historically, but is commenting on the state of
> things in the reader's America.
>
> On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 1:56 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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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