M&D - Chapter 10, (a few annotations)

[Becky Lindroos]

That’s more or less what I figured although I’m not sure Tenebræ was that “willing;”  she seems to be laughing at Ethelmer a bit with the implication that he’s a dirty old man. 

Bek

> On Feb 16, 2015, at 3:14 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> p. 93 "pink illumination"....What do nose sizes supposedly show about
> men?...what does 'Show me the Pink" mean?
> TRP continues the Lolita allusion...young, very young Tenebrae "would
> have further'd his education" beyond an
> affectionate kiss on the cheek,,,,
> 
> That vagina synecdoche was illuminated by the Lanthorn representing the Sun....
> 
> Argue with this reading: Pynchon praises cunts here to the skies with
> this bit; presents that female organ
> as full of light, the light of an indoor, representative
> sun.....reminds me of all the cunnilingus [affectionately called
> 'pussy eating'] in Inherent Vice.....
> 
> yet, of course, with Lolita, and fantasizing, all over this text, the
> Tenebrae remark marks it as 1) that male fantasy
> stereotype--the willing female--- as was the whole Vroom household
> (supposedly)  2) shows women did have/do have
> sexual desires which Western history had always buried.
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Feb 15, 2015 at 11:11 AM, Becky Lindroos <bekker2 at icloud.com> wrote:
>> Continuing in the chapter -  (chapters are approximate because I'm reading on a Kindle app)
>> 
>> Following the sermon the text gives us Cherrycoke reporting on the activities of the family as they retell and play out the story of the 1761 Transit of Venus.
>> 
>> p. 94:
>> "Orrery"
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orrery
>> 
>> Jules Verne's:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlgyXY3vPd4
>> 
>> At Christies's for only $37,098 an 18th century orrery/tellurian:
>> http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-boxed-american-orrery-and-tellurian-set-5480154-details.aspx
>> 
>> "Tenebrae" - in Latin means shadow or darkness) - reminds Ethelmer of his darkness in the innocent light of her youth.  (Not sure what the illuminated nostril suggests.)
>> 
>> ** Are these two kissing cousins?  Or was there some kind of abuse involved at some past point?
>> 
>> ********
>> p. 95 -
>> "...having travers'd the Sea"
>> Traverse is the family name in ATD and Vineland. Metaphor, fer sure. For more, see ch. 3, p. 14
>> 
>> "Nessel" - is fictional but the discovery of a new planet is real - Uranus - 1781.
>> "Georgian"  -   Herschel first reported the discovery of Uranus ("Georgian")  on April 26, 1781, initially believing it a comet.[12]
>> 
>> **  and from Otto's page at http://www.ottosell.de/pynchon/md/md10.htm
>> "This reminds me of another "new planet" in another novel by Pynchon, "(...) The new planet Pluto (...)." (GR 415)
>> 
>> Nessel (fictional?) provided Uranus for the Orreries to make sure they were updated.  And for extra realism he pasted map pieces on it - Mappemondes - (a two -hemisphere map),  but that won't really work because flat maps don't conform to their three-dimensional realities.
>> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mappemonde#mediaviewer/File:Delisle_-_Mappe-Monde.png
>> 
>> 
>> Solar Parallax:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax
>> 
>> Any parallax is a triangle - which by definition has 3 sides - a Jesuit, a Corsican and a Chinaman - fwiw and whatever that's about - etc.
>> 
>> Bek-
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l

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