Also Ch 10, the appearance of the inverted star

[jochen stremmel]

And Mark K., I found a bit for you and me, the third sentence of the essay
– thank you again, Becky! –: "Pynchon is at heart a historical novelist but
he also frequently employs devices from fantasy, science-fiction and
cartoons (one might mention albino alligators or sentient light bulbs, not
to mention android ducks)" – or the other Learnéd Dog. (And that ominous
"at heart" again.

2015-02-23 7:26 GMT+01:00 David Ewers <dsewers at comcast.net>:

> Amen to allah this!
>
> On Feb 22, 2015, at 9:12 PM Jolly good day we are having, Becky Lindroos
> wrote:
>
> > On Feb 22, 2015, at 7:51 PM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> This chapter contains the first appearance of the ominous inverted star
> and it is associated with  armed vigilante racism, the iron  fist inside
> the age of reason and freedom.-
> >> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
> >
> > Yes,  thank you,  Joseph - I have a feeling that’s kind of important.
>  I mentioned that in Chapter 10,   but it was at the end of the page 101
> post and my comment was really, really brief - too brief.   Here's a
> picture of the inverted star:
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inverted_pentacle.PNG
> >
> >
> > And here’s a bit more (and this is pretty good):
> > From     https://www.pynchon.net/owap/article/view/77/165  -
> > (and then click pdf or html - I did it - it’s fine - an Orbit site -
> >
> > “Something More Than a Rifle”: Firearms in and around Thomas Pynchon’s
> Mason & Dixon"
> > by Umberto Rossi  (Independent Researcher)
> >
> > The gun appears when the effects of the transit begin to fade away; when
> “Masters and Mistresses resume the abuse of their Slaves, […] [r]iding in
> and out of Town now may often be observ’d White Horsemen, carrying long
> Rifles styl’d ‘Sterloops,’ each with an inverted Silver Star upon the
> Cheek-Piece” (101.10). No doubt the image of the armed White Horsemen
> suggests several ideas: the threat of violence, colonial domination, a hint
> at the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (one of whom does ride a white horse
> [Revelation 6:1-2]). As for the inverted star, it is—according to Éliphas
> Lévi, the 19th Century occult author and magician—a symbol of evil and
> black magic (Lévi 69). The surrealistic “summer of love” of 1761, plus the
> Biblical and magic symbolism may well induce readers to think that the
> Sterloop rifle is no more than one of Pynchon's inventions, like the
> Trystero or the Chums of Chance.
> >
> > The essay goes on with more info from Chapter 34 (Pennsylvania)  where
> Mason and Dixon “ev’ry now and then” see a rifle with an inverted star -
> the sterloop and all it could mean.     Rossi’s article  has about a full
> page on it.
> >
> > Becky
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I copied what I said below - also,  the graphic of what is called an
> “inverted pentacle.”
> >
> > "Riding in and out of Town now may often be observ'd White Horsemen,
> > carrying long Rifles styl'd "Sterloops," each with an inverted Silver
> Star
> > upon the Cheek-Piece."  (p. 101)
> > I think “Sterloop” means “star loop” in English -
> > http://mymemory.translated.net/t/Dutch/English/what-is-ster--loop
> >
> > I think for Americans this "White Horsemen with Rifles"  will have
> > resonance of the KKK,  and Pynchon is American and this is an American
> novel
> > and I suspect this is deliberate -  so -  why is it there?
> > https://www.pynchon.net/owap/article/view/77/165
> >
> > Both inverted stars and “sterloops”  come up again much later in the
> novel.
> >
> > -
> > Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>
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