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

[Mark Kohut]

So, Page 37 bottom.
from "One reason Humans remain young so long,....etc.

pretty amazing aside to me. Do we have some later-in-history
psychological explanation here from the Rev or wha?

A--and, the effect on the adults' fear of death????

On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 4:50 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've known a few who were hooked on the series; book after book, day after
> day .
>
> And if you want a powerful psychological novel of what it is like to be
> hopelessly in love with someone happily married to another, in a small
> pre-McLuhan village where you virtually worked together, virtually LIVED
> together, so the mental torture, the utterly different being you become
> cannot go away from itself, I recommend TESTIMONIES.
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: jochen stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com>
> Date: January 24, 2015 at 7:27:44 PM CST
> To: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>
> Subject: Re: M & D deep duck: section 4 -- orders not to sail. Puzzled.
>
> Yes, of course, thank you, Mark.
>
> But if you are interested - the books I mentioned are great fun to read! He
> really is the best Yarn-Spinner in all the Fleets!
>
> 2015-01-25 2:20 GMT+01:00 Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>:
>>
>> We know O' Brian is alluded to in M & D.
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On Jan 24, 2015, at 7:17 PM, jochen stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> A-and let's not forget that the author of the best historical novels in
>> your language before Hilary Mantel's, Patrick O'Brian, wrote two novels
>> about George Anson's mission - The Golden Ocean and The Unknown Shore -
>> before he, well, embarked on the finest series of seafarer novels that I
>> know (not saying much, sure), with two heroes, a British captain and an
>> Irish-Catalan physician and natural scientist who can communicate quite
>> freely with French colleagues despite the war, and I have the impression
>> that it is all very well researched. The author wrote a biography about Sir
>> Joseph Banks as well.
>>
>> A-and any boy who read the Hornblower novels of C.S. Forester knows that
>> captains in the Royal navy had to pay for their own victuals.
>>
>>
>>
>> 2015-01-24 20:01 GMT+01:00 <kelber at mindspring.com>:
>>>
>>> This whole sub-section, from p. 31 ["He wants whah'?"] to p. 34 ["Perhaps
>>> there is?" he suggests, as gently as possible.] is rife with conjecture and
>>> unreliable narration. Cherrycoke recounts or conjectures about Mason's
>>> conjectures about what went on at a meeting at which he was not present.
>>> Various names are referenced: Mead, White, Stephens, Lord Anson
>>> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Anson,_1st_Baron_Anson], adding up to a
>>> "Them," maybe? The sequence sets up a backdrop for the paranoia that
>>> consumes M and D after the attack. Meetings are being held, letters sent, by
>>> persons they have no contact with. What other decisions are being made by
>>> unseen parties?
>>>
>>> Laura
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> >From: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>> >Sent: Jan 24, 2015 9:48 AM
>>> >To: James Robertson <james at themutedposthorn.com>
>>> >Cc: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> >Subject: Re: M & D deep duck: section 4 -- orders not to sail. Puzzled.
>>> >
>>> >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
>>
>>
>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l