M & D Deep Duck. Go East, Young Man.

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Perhaps this has already been mentioned:

This --

"Sea voyages in those days being the standard Treatment for Insanity, my 
Exile should commence for the best of Medical reasons." (M&D, 10)

-- recalls:

"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a 
damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily 
pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every 
funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand 
of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from 
deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking 
people's hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as 
I can." (MD, "Loomings")

Nowadays we would not equate insanity and depression (which is what 
Ishmael's "hypos" seem to be about), but historically the two are 
closely related via the notion of Melancholia as mental illness.

Of course, whereas Cherrycoke seems to be merely "styl'd" insane by 
others, "each in his Interest", so as to get rid of him in the 
time-honored tradition of authoritarian states and dictatorial regimes 
everywhere, Ishmael actively chooses the sea voyage as a means of self 
therapy.

Still, they are both exiles, outcasts, unreliable narrators...

Thomas



Am 10.01.2015 um 19:04 schrieb Mark Kohut:
...and notice 'madness' again, as the Rev said, the way he
> was seen---I guess I should drop Foucault's MADNESS & CIVILIZATION
> here because it does seem very likely
> P is setting up a contrast between outlier/outlaw experiences (and
> actions) as madness vs the narrowness of 'civilization'?
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l