M&D - Chapter 21 - Rebekha, absconded

[rich]

I happen to visit the church where the Masons were married and where
Rebekah is buried, in Sapperton. it is a very moving place. the road to the
church had a canopy of yellow trees that as you entered from a grey sky
turned the heavens the color of bright canaries. i'll never forget that.
never did find her grave. nor did i find his in Philadelphia, at Christ
Church, either

rich

On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 3:37 PM, Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com> wrote:

> p. 211
>
> Mason imagines Rebekha fluttering upwards from the little patch in front
> of the gravestone. It is a picturesque image, and sort of pastoral.
>
>
>
>
> 12. apr. 2015 kl. 21.31 skrev Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com>:
>
> p. 211
>
> Susannah and Rebekah, are they exchanging looks in the courtyard? an
> intriguing passage.
>
> Back on p. 186 Susannah had asked Rebekah weather the Gentlemen who came
> to see her about Mason had «come from Grandfather Peach’s Company». Is
> there anything to it? Mason's horse didn’t think so (p. 189).
>
> Susannah is described as the «Sorcerers Apprentice’s lower-born Wife».
> Which makes Macclesfield the Sorcerer, of course.
>
> Susannah is watching them with curiosity, and Rebekah catches on to
> something?
> Is it Rebekah who is there to guarantee her husbands behavior?
>
>
>
>
> 12. apr. 2015 kl. 21.05 skrev Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com>:
>
> p. 211
>
> So Mason move into his new Position at the Observatory which sits at the
> top of a small hill. I tried to find a good photo, but settled for this
> little etching in the end, from 1833:
>
> http://timeandnavigation.si.edu/sites/default/files/timeline-media-asset/1134px-greenwich_observatory.jpg
>
> The sight of it has Rebekah associating to secret rituals, folks in capes
> and hoods and the etcetera.
>
> I couldn’t find anything on the «ancient Well,- old as Stonehenge»,
> though «Tumuli <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumulus>», which are burial
> mounds, "to the south-west of Flamsteed House,[6]
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich#cite_note-6> in Greenwich Park
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Park>, are thought to be early Bronze
> Age <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age> barrows re-used by the
> Saxons in the 6th century as burial grounds.» according to wiki.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich
>
> Flamsteed himself used the well for observation. I saw it in a documentary
> once, how astronomers in the olden days used still water to observe the
> heavens above. How would that work in the daytime, though?
>
>
> Pynchon wiki:
> Page 211
> *Flamsteed*
> John Flamsteed FRS (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English
> astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. From WIKI
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamsteed>.
>
>
> 12. apr. 2015 kl. 20.42 skrev Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com>:
>
> About Stonehenge…
>
> «The old stargazers us’d it.» (Mason, p.210)
>
> —
>
> There seems to be a debate as to weather Stonehenge actually was an
> observatory or not. News to me!
>
> —
>
> That Stonehenge is widely perceived as an 'ancient observatory' is largely
> due to the ideas of Gerald Hawkins and Fred Hoyle in the 1960s, now largely
> discredited. However, the solstital orientation is unarguable.
> http://www.britac.ac.uk/pubS/cat/pba92.cfm
>
> —
>
> «Stonehenge and Ancient Astronomy», a leaflet produced by the Royal Astronomical
> Society in 2009 states:
>
> "Every aligned structure must point somewhere. Just because a monument
> points in an astronomically significant direction such as the rising or
> setting position of the Sun at a solstice, does not mean this was intended
> by the builders."
>
> "Did the equinoxes mean anything to prehistoric people? Probably not. While
> the limits of the Sun’s rising and setting arcs were physically tangible,
> there are no grounds for inherently assuming that people attributed any
> special significance to their midpoints, either in space or time, let alone
> to a modern astronomer’s definition of the equinox."
>  »
>
> "Was Stonehenge a calendar? Probably not. The solstitial axis may be
> spatially accurate but it is not precise in time, because the shift in the
> Sun’s rising (or setting) position close to the solstices is small and not
> easy to measure. Although modern people seek to visit on the actual
> solstice (21 June) it is unlikely that prehistoric people knew this exact
> date»
>
>
> http://www2.cliveruggles.com/images/cliveruggles.com/documents/ras_stonehenge_factsheet.pdf
>
>
>
> <phoca_thumb_l_CLNR_F02-623aw.jpg>
>
>
>
> 12. apr. 2015 kl. 20.06 skrev Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com>:
>
> p. 210
>
> Mason and Rebekah travel by horse to view Stonehenge by moonlight.
> *jealous*
> They have a lovely time by all standards, sleeping beneath hedges, sunset
> at Midsummers Eve…
>
> Rebekah is experiencing feelings of *familiarity* at near the stones, and
> there is hinting that memory can be stored in the genes, in my
> interpretation, that we can «remember» ancestral experiences?
>
> There is mentioning of the M-word, for the first time, and they seem to
> come to an agreement on this trip, that that’s where they’re headed.
>
> Rebekah knew this already, as we’ve learned, but she seems, taken aback,
> «abash’d», perhaps by the now reality of it, or perhaps as a part of an act?
>
> —
>
> Elsewhere on the page from the Pynchonwiki:
> Page 210
> *Pillion*
> A pillion is a secondary pad, cushion, or seat behind the main seat or
> saddle on a horse, motorcycle, or moped. A passenger in this seat is said
> to "ride pillion" or may themselves be referred to as a "pillion."
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillion
> *"...put people in those wicker things, and set them on fire?"*
> The Wicker Man was a large wicker statue of a human used by the ancient
> Druids (priests of Celtic paganism) for human sacrifice by burning it in
> effigy, according to Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico
> (Commentary on the Gallic Wars). From WIKI
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicker_man>. See the classic 1973 British
> horror film, titled *The Wicker Man*, directed by Robin Hardy.
>
> I also feel like throwing in an image of Stonehenge:
> <article-1054544-029D30C500000578-943_468x286.jpg>
>
> 12. apr. 2015 kl. 19.31 skrev Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com>:
>
> p. 209
>
> *Nabob, meaning:*
> Somtimes a picture says it all…
>
> http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0EdR8gy0NuM/VJfaCSjPReI/AAAAAAAABOM/3DPP7xmbuDM/s1600/%2BBritish%2Bnabobs%2B8f878ea0803189dcd4867928ffaf1eb9_M.jpg
>
>
> "An Anglo-Indian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Indian> term for a
> conspicuously wealthy man who made his fortune in the Orient
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient>, especially in the Indian
> subcontinent <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_subcontinent>. It also
> refers to an East India Company
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company> servant who had become
> wealthy through corrupt trade and other practices."
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabob
>
> *Also an expression famously used by Nixon’s speechwriter William Safire
> in a speech by vice-president Spiro Agnew:*
>
> http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Nabobs_natter_about_the_passing_of_William_Safire_1929-2009.html
>
> I am curious to know, what is the contemporary understanding/use, if any,
> in the English language today? What sort of associations does it bring
> forth in you?
>
> —
>
> Elsewhere on the page, from Pynchon wiki:
> *Pelhamites*
> Followers of Henry Pelham (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754), a British
> Whig statesman, who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 27
> August 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of the
> politician the Duke of Newcastle who succeeded him as Prime Minister. From
> WIKI <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Pelham>.
> *Placeman*
> *British*- a person appointed to a position, esp. one in the government,
> as a reward for political support of an elected official.
> http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_21:_207-214
>
>
> 12. apr. 2015 kl. 19.13 skrev Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com>:
>
> Next paragraph, an imagined dialogue between Mason and his father as
> Jerome points out. Do you agree, though, that the last sentence: «All
> subjunctive, of course, *had *young Mason gone to his father, this *might
> have been* the conversation likely to result.» is over the top. I mean
> it’s not as if we’ve forgotten it was imaginary from the start?
>
> Don't you feel a little underestimated as a reader?
>
> ;)
>
> 12. apr. 2015 kl. 14.07 skrev Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com>:
>
> In the next paragraph we are with Mason an Rebekah, early days.
> We learn how he longs to get away from The Golden Valleys, but what is
> Rebekah’s agenda? We got the impression in chapter 18 that something was up
> with her.
>
> (p. 170-171, she new who he was, a star-gazer. But most telling, on p.
> 186, «A Pair of Gentlemen came to me one day and said, ‘Here is the one you
> must marry.’»)
>
> So it’s hard not to have this in the back of the mind when we read about
> their dating and courtship.
> Maybe even explore feelings of sadness for Mason? For being kept in the
> dark by Rebekah?
>
>
>
> 12. apr. 2015 kl. 13.43 skrev Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com>:
>
> p. 207
> «…that the Flow of Water through Nature (…) might be re-shap’d to drive a
> Row of Looms, each working thousands of Yarns in strictest
> right-angularity, (…) nor that every stage of the ‘Morphosis, would have
> it’s equivalent in Pounds, Shillings and Pence."
>
>
> Stroud is the capital of the south western Cotswolds and located at the
> divergence of the five Golden Valleys (Chalford, Painswick, Nailsworth,
> Slad and Cam), so named after the monetary wealth created in the processing
> of wool from the plentiful supply of power from the River Frome. During the
> heyday of the wool trade the river powered 150 mills, turning Stroud into
> the centre of the local cloth industry.
>
>
> Is this first paragraph about the inhumanity of the working conditions at
> the mills?
> To the benefit of the few?
>
> *About the working conditions at the mills:*
> http://www.bacuptimes.co.uk/earlydays.htm
> So sad.
>
> *Mills today:*
> *http://plenty.mangoconsulting.co.uk/assets/files/press/2015/Cots%20Life%20Jan%2015%20-%20Stroud%20mills.pdf
> <http://plenty.mangoconsulting.co.uk/assets/files/press/2015/Cots%20Life%20Jan%2015%20-%20Stroud%20mills.pdf>*
> http://www.visitthecotswolds.org.uk/general.asp?pid=22&pgid=822
>
> *"Britain from above" showing Fromehall and Lodgemore Woollen Mills and
> environs, in Stroud, 1938:*
>
> http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw059695?name=STROUD&gazetteer=STROUD&POPULATED_PLACE=STROUD&ADMIN_AREA=Stroud&ref=49
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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