M&D Deep Duck: Why Start Here?

Tue Jan 20 04:39:26 CST 2015

Laura, I do not think Dixon's comment (at the end of ch. 4) would mean they
were bound for a transit of Mars but that the transit of Mars was now
behind them, after the skirmish, and that's what Mason's reply seems to
play with: With us going 'cross *its* face.

And the story starts here because here is where the two men from the title
met for the first time.

Am I the only one that hears (sees, smells) an echo, just 3 lines before
Dixon's comment, in "the insides of Trees, and of Men....", of another,
less harmful battle at the beginning of the book, namely of the Snow-Balls
that have "starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins"?

2015-01-20 0:15 GMT+01:00 Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>:

> agree about the England>Africa>America> triangle which is the golden
> triangle( rum sugar slaves) and relates to other aspects of the colonial
> and early corporate ventures( tea, East India Co,  whale oil as energy
> source of early industrialism) and also to the increasingly fast movement
> of peoples  to and from all over the world north south east west. Finally
> there is something about the pursuit of precise linear distances as
> negotiated on spherical bodies in space- real estate speculation writ
> large, a topic which seems to carry through all of Pynchon.
> On Jan 19, 2015, at 1:33 PM, Keith Davis wrote:
>
> > Lines everywhere! Equators, transits, rigging, personal and
> interpersonal barriers....
> >
> > David, these lines of yours are fascinating! Probably built by aliens!
> >
> >
> > Www.innergroovemusic.com
> > Sent from Beyond the Zero
> >
> >> On Jan 19, 2015, at 1:17 PM, David Ewers <dsewers at comcast.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> I agree with all you say.  Bringing the equator into the equation is
> important, I think. ... "To change hemispheres is not abstract thing,--".
> I see it as the point where the image gets inverted: "So there must be a
> Ritual of Crossing Over, to focus....".   I also think there's something to
> the England>Africa>America>...England triangle, and
> >> I get a Moby Dick vibe here too (obviously, I suppose...).
> >>
> >> To my connection-happy Mind, anyway, a somewhat related aside:
> >> Every year around my birthday, I get to drag my wife and young daughter
> out on a dorky day/road trip of my choice... I live in N.California so it's
> usually Missions or weird old towns.  Today, we're going to look for some
> of these:  http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/berkeley-mystery-walls
> >> Anybody know anything about these?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Jan 19, 2015, at 9:46 AM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> I love Dixon's later comment, after the attack, that perhaps they were
> bound for a transit of Mars.
> >>>
> >>> Why start here rather than in America?
> >>>
> >>> For one thing, there's all that geometry - ripe for metaphor -
> entailed in the transit of venus and the crossing of the equator.
> >>>
> >>> And how could Pynchon resist recounting the Seahorse incident, which
> transformed M and D from colleagues to war buddies?
> >>>
> >>> If he'd started in America, maybe Mason and Dixon would have faded
> somewhat into the background of a larger cast of characters?
> >>>
> >>> Other opinions?
> >>>
> >>> Laura
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> From: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> transit of Venus must bring us thoughts of Venus, the goddess, yes?
> Why did TRP start their trip with this? He could have just had them in
> America.
> >>>>
> >>>> Sent from my iPad
> >>>>
> >>>>> On Jan 18, 2015, at 10:13 PM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I love chapter summaries. Huzzah! The only question I would have
> would be whether the fight was that one-sided. The next chapter has them
> speculating that the French were hard after them possibly because of the
> transit mission.  The battle is told from their POV and says little about
> damage to the French vessel, but the L'Grand did give up after a serious
> attack. Maybe I am missing a textual clue here. Tere was also something
> about Smith hiring skilled rear gunners.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Interesting tidbit about the Captain being required to pay for his
> own victuals.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> On Jan 18, 2015, at 4:42 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> <
> kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> My summary. Please, everyone, point out and attack my misreads.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Part 4:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Cherrycoke reminisces to his assembled audience -- which includes
> his niece Tenebrae, her brothers Pitt and Pliny, their father LeSpark, who
> we now learn made his fortune in weapon sales, and LeSpark's nephew
> Ethelmer -- on break from Princeton. Cherrycoke is reminiscing about
> traveling with Mason and Dixon on the frigate Seahorse, en route to
> Sumatra, to observe the Transit of Venus. But an event occurs -- well-known
> already to Cherrycoke's assembled audience -- which he now relates to us.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Mason and Dixon are annoyed to discover that they're apparently
> being charged for their passage by Captain Smith. It turns out to be a
> misunderstanding, and Dixon warms up to the Captain when he discovers he
> enjoys a drink. But there's impending doom on the horizon -- we and
> Cherrycoke's immediate audience know that the French warship l'Grand is
> lurking in the Channel. Mason, in particular, seems to sense it. It turns
> out Ben Coolen (their destination on Sumatra) has fallen to the French, and
> the Captain's been warned by the Admiralty not to sail for it. So they’re
> going to head for the Cape of Good Hope instead.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> As the ship sails through the Channel -- considered the most
> dangerous body of water in the world by some of its sailors -- we learn
> something of both the captain and his ship. Smith, captain of a
> near-warship (it lacks the full complement of guns) is, himself, no man of
> war. He'd prefer to be sharing a drink and having a philosophical chat with
> the two Men of Science on board. The ship, though, has a proud military
> record, having served with distinction in Quebec. While the sailors sing a
> chanty wherein they rhyme Sumatra with Cleopatra, Cherrycoke discourses on
> the meaning of the ship's motto, Eques Sit AEques, which he translates as
> "Let the Sea-Knight who would command this Sea-Horse be ever fair-minded."
> At which point the l'Grand appears on the horizon, and, being a French
> ship, its intentions are clearly hostile.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> The l'Grand proceeds to kick the shit out of the Seahorse.
> Cherrycoke, Mason and Dixon, terrified, are dispatched below to serve as
> makeshift medical aides as the casualties pile up. Finally, the l'Grand
> stops the mayhem and moves on. Cherrycoke's never been sure what
> transpired, and he speculates that either the French captain realized there
> were men of science aboard, signaling: France is not at war with the
> sciences. Or maybe he just realized that the Seahorse was not a worthy foe:
> You are leetluh meennow -- I throw you back. Captain Smith, distraught over
> the dead and wounded lashes out at M and D: Are you two really that
> important? On deck, Mason and Dixon commune over a couple of bottles of
> grog. Dixon: More like a Transit of Mars ...? And the Seahorse limps back
> to the dockyard.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> -
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