The V in the middle of the M in M&D

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Other associations:

Vroom - the sound a car engine makes. When The Company first arrived in the Cape, they were anxious to trade with, rather than enslave, the local Khoikhoi, who were adept cattle raisers/herders. The cattle were needed for plowing and transport, and widely used by the Trekkers. Vrooming cars - far in the future - would further devalue the local culture and economy.

VOC - Volatile Organic Compounds - toxic gases from paint thinners, and other industrial solvents. And we know how rich a metaphor that is for Pynchon.

LK


-----Original Message-----
>From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
>Sent: Feb 3, 2015 3:06 AM
>To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: The V in the middle of the M in M&D
>
>CH 7- p 38,39
>The corporate logo of the Dutch East India Company is a large V with smaller c and o on either side,( Whoda thunk the first corporation had a logo) which lines up elegantly with Pynchon's interest in the letter V as a sinister center of malign power.(And almost renews the original inquiry in V.) 
>
>For a moment here and there throughout the capetown adventure P. holds it in the endearing light of its physical beauty. But always it is even more " ...this haunted other half of everything known". 
>Capetown is ruled by  Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie   Voc  or The Dutch East India Company  The first Corporate enterprise with shareholders. The decisions though are made by the Herren 17- But  Capetown is also under the direct regional asian oversight of the Governer General  I suspect he is who Pynchon describes thus 
>"..and ruled by the 18th Lord whose existence must never be acknowledg'd in any way."
>Wikipedia provides the following Voc Governer Generals of the time in question
>1750–1761   Jacob Mossel,	1761–1775: Petrus Albertus van der Parra
>Calvinism is a powerful force here.    Other ideas on the 18th lord?
>
>
> M&D Housed with Zeeman but dining with Vroom odd funny and weirdly credible name. Possible implications?
>V-room -  Voc room, Virgin/Vagina room , vavoom-sexual allure, 
>Cornelius Vroom is a  friend of the Botha Brothers reference( P.W.  Botha) hates and fears non-whites, their food, sexuality, music; he also celebrates his manly adventures subduing the regional tribes. They eat a lot of un spiced Mutton which M&D find first dismal, then revolting.
>
>At their arrival M&D are met by  Voc functionary Bonk, who bonks them with the rules for their stay and means to keep an eye on them.
>  Capetown will be a world of rules which are systematically broken by the powerful and bent by everyone else. Back home in post-war Philadelphia our listener's may be thinking about the rule of law so central to the revolutionary propaganda and wondering if it is all it is cracked up to be.
>
>Bonk, seeing that Mason does not know well how to bow and scrape, writes him down as a person of Interest. 
>
>Coming up next: the sexy Vroom girls and their various relations to the blonde tresses that are their genetic heritage.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-
>Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l

-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l