M & D deep duck: section 4 -- orders not to sail. Puzzled.

[alice malice]

Noting these sourcing helps us remember what P is up to. It's easy
enough to forget that Wicks and, to a lesser though still very
important extent, the others gathered to hear, are making this story,
and that at times Wicks and the others are profoundly confused, or
deliberately confusing, self-deceived, wrong-headed, possibly insane
or pretending to be (which may be as complex as Hamlet's machinations
or as outrageous as Baron  Munchhausen's tall tales), or have
incentives, political, economic...to bend the story and the ears of
their listeners. The subject, Mason and Dixon has a rival, and at
times, the rival overshadows our co-protagonists. Those, such as James
Wood, who complain that such rivaling destroys characters because we
are too focused on the telling, and so, on the author's method of
telling, nostalgically and ironically long for Henry James, the leader
of the parade so to speak.

On Sat, Jan 24, 2015 at 10:46 AM, jochen stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com> wrote:
> that's not P, sourcing the term for us, but the Reverend doing the same for
> his audience, preventing unduly merriment ...
>
> 2015-01-24 16:32 GMT+01:00 Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>:
>>
>> p. 36.....the vessel is a Jackass Frigate...."jackass, a nautical term".
>> a jackass is a Hawse--bag, a ship wherein its holes are stuffed.......
>>
>> why did Pynchon source the term "Jackass" for us?....so unlike him
>> who just uses his jargon and specialty words and lets us get them
>> ourselves.
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 24, 2015 at 10:22 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > The Vessel had a Reputation for Nerve (courage).....fearless in
>> > the battle at Beauport, "her Glory assured". She has done her duty in
>> > the service
>> > of a miracle in that year of miracles, 1759......
>> >
>> > Year 1759 (MDCCLIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will
>> > display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year
>> > starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). In Great
>> > Britain, this year was known as the Annus Mirabilis because of British
>> > victories in the Seven Years' War.
>> >
>> > On Sat, Jan 24, 2015 at 10:15 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >> p.35 Notice how Capt Smith's 'scruffy Sixth Rate' is perceived by the
>> >> Cap'n: ...."and if Glories there be, glorious light....'from a
>> >> Dream"...
>> >> a Light in which all Pain and failure, all fear, are bleach'd away.."
>> >>
>> >> Wha Tha all about?
>> >>
>> >> On Sat, Jan 24, 2015 at 9:48 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>> Before this analysis, I simply assumed the orders had come somewhere
>> >>> in the spaces of the text.
>> >>> Now, I am inevitably reminded of the Orders to the Chums, of They,
>> >>> etc.
>> >>>
>> >>> The happy Captain is in the pocket of the Royal Society.
>> >>>
>> >>> p.41 "They knew the French had Bencoolen,---what else did they know?
>> >>> Thah's what I'd like to know"---[Dixon]
>> >>>
>> >>> On Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 7:49 PM, James Robertson
>> >>> <james at themutedposthorn.com> wrote:
>> >>>> I am a little puzzled by this passage:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On the eighth of December the Captain has an Express from the
>> >>>> Admiralty,
>> >>>> ordering him not to sail. "Furthermore," he informs Mason & Dixon,
>> >>>> "Bencoolen is in the hands of the French. I see no mention of any
>> >>>> plans to
>> >>>> re-take the place soon. I am sorry."
>> >>>>
>> >>>> "I knew it...?" Dixon walking away shaking his head.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> "We may still make the Cape of Good Hope in time," says Capt. Smith
>> >>>> "That'll
>> >>>> likely be our destination, if and when they cut the orders."
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Without any further explanation the Seahorse proceeds down the
>> >>>> Channel
>> >>>> towards its bloody encounter with the l'Grand. But why? Captain Smith
>> >>>> has
>> >>>> orders from the Admiralty, which is responsible for command of the
>> >>>> Navy, not
>> >>>> to set sail. And as we have seen in the proceeding matter of the
>> >>>> hundred
>> >>>> pounds for expenses the Captain has "no wish to offend" "the Great
>> >>>> Circumnavigator" George Anson, the then First Lord of the Admiralty.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Does this mean the orders not to sail should be read as "do not sail
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> Bencoolen"? This makes sense as it has been taken by the French, but
>> >>>> "furthermore" suggests Bencoolen is an additional reason not to sail
>> >>>> not the
>> >>>> primary one. Is the Admiralty aware of the danger posed by the
>> >>>> L'Grand?
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Who is the "they" Captain Smith is referring to when he talks about
>> >>>> cutting
>> >>>> orders? If it's the Admiralty, then why would they order the captain
>> >>>> not to
>> >>>> sail and then not cut orders. Surely the two are one and the same. If
>> >>>> it is
>> >>>> the Royal Society then this raises other questions.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Judging by the threatning letter the Royal Society send Mason and
>> >>>> Dixon in
>> >>>> reply to their letter from Plymouth, it is they whom the captain is
>> >>>> referring to. So why then would he follow their orders over those of
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> Admiralty not to sail?
>> >>>>
>> >>>> "Happen," Dixon contributes in turn, "we were never meant at all to
>> >>>> go to
>> >>>> Bencoolen,-- someone needed a couple of Martyrs, and we inconviently
>> >>>> surviv'd?"
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Dixon's suspicions about the motives of the Society (on page 44)
>> >>>> offer
>> >>>> another glimpse of an explanation hinted at by captain Smith earlier.
>> >>>> That
>> >>>> Mason & Dixon are not the only ones sent out to observe the Transit
>> >>>> of
>> >>>> Venus.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> "No one else is going there to observe," Mason "Odd, isn't it? You
>> >>>> think
>> >>>> there'd be a Team from somewhere."
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Capt. Smith look away, as if embarrass'd. "Perhaps there is?" he
>> >>>> suggests,
>> >>>> as gently as possible.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Of course this suggestion is absolutely correct, Maskelyne has also
>> >>>> been
>> >>>> sent out by the Society to observe the Transit from St. Helena. But
>> >>>> it is
>> >>>> his mission that fails not theirs. Why the captain should know about
>> >>>> this,
>> >>>> almost to the point of embarrsement, is unclear. But certainly Mason
>> >>>> & Dixon
>> >>>> are being kept in the dark.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> --
>> >>>> James J. Robertson
>> >>>> @jamesjrobertson
>> >>>> james at themutedposthorn.com
>> >>>> themutedposthorn.com
>> >>>>
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l