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

Sun Jan 25 09:11:16 CST 2015

Or, it should have occurred to me earlier with that
Total irony in play---"he's always messing with you in his prose"--PTA
(paraphrase)

HERE'S that Ahab story......

On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 10:00 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> p. 38 Misc. Ancestor of Troubles italicized. When you put this phrase
> into Google,
> the first hit is to M & D, naturally, but the most links to the phrase go to
> 'ancestor' as in Native Spirits and so forth.....
>
> p.39. Capt Smith, after he has lost 30 men "the Lazarette is crowded
> and pil'd with
> bloody Men" and HAS A SPLINTER IN HIS LEG and is full of resentment at
> M & D.....
>
> We get our bookish joak, a Moby Dick/ Cap'n Ahab allusion and this
> fits into some of
> the other presentations in these chapters....the 'secular
> ocean"....The sailors singing of
> another Paradise, Sumatra.....the Light that Smith
> sees around the Seahorse glorifying the whole Sixth Rater and its adventure.
>
> This Sixth Rater is the World; The Peqoud will be America.
>
> On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 7:17 AM, alice malice <alicewmalice at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 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
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l