calculated madness on the way to the transit of Venus-

[David Ewers]

Ship-as-prison:

My dad once told me that if I ever found myself in prison, my best method of self-protection would be to act crazy.  

On Jan 27, 2015, at 11:27 AM, David Morris wrote:

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feigned_madness
> 
> "Feigned madness" is a phrase used in popular culture to describe the assumption of amental disorder for the purposes of evasion, deceit or the diversion of suspicion.
> 
> Historical examples[edit]
> Lucius Junius Brutus, who feigned madness until the time when he was able to drive the people to insurrection— he more faked stupidity than insanity, causing the Tarquins to underestimate him as a threat.
> Alhazen, who was ordered by the sixth Fatimid Caliph, al-Hakim, to regulate theflooding of the Nile; he later perceived the insanity and futility of what he was attempting to do and, fearing for his life, feigned madness to avoid the Caliph's wrath. The Caliph, believing him to be insane, placed him under house arrest rather than execute him for failure. Alhazen remained there until the Caliph's death, thereby escaping punishment for his failure to accomplish a task that had been impossible from the beginning.
> King David, in 1 Samuel 21, feigns insanity to prevent the servants of Achish the king of Gath from recognizing him.
> Ion Ferguson, an Irish psychiatrist in the British Army in a WWII German prisoner-of-war camp, successfully feigned madness to get himself repatriated.[1] He also assisted two other prisoners in doing the same.[2]
> In fiction and mythology[edit]
> Shakespeare's Hamlet, who feigns madness in order to speak freely and gain revenge,— possibly based on a real person; see Hamlet (legend),
> Odysseus feigned madness by yoking a horse and an ox to his plow and sowing salt[3]or plowing the beach.
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 11:52 AM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
> "At this turn in his Life, Capt. Grant has discover'd in his own feckless Youth, a Source of pre-civiliz'd Sentiment useful to his Praxis of now and then pretending to be insane, thus deriving an Advantage over any unsure as to which side of Reason he may actually stand upon."
> 
> What is this "Advantage"? For the "pre-civiliz'd" there is an association with madness and divinity/the spirit world/second sight/hidden powers.  This shamanic  advantage may trace to the claimed divinity of rulers, to simple fear reinforced by social and technical powers, and may have a modern global role as M.A.D.  But my first thought was that it lines up with Pynchon's role as captain of his literary enterprise: part shamanic lightning rod, part  traveler through a world he did not create, part godlike creator of something always simultaneously both imaginary and real.
> 
>    The captain is self aware and affably sensitive to the fact that  respect for his authority is a kind of negotiated magic that has to make sense to the crew and the superstitions and practicalities of seafaring.
> 
> This magical aspect of commanding a ship is set against the imperial mechanics of orders to be opened at Tenerife. Why? Is he supposed to take them to a naval post to witness the proper timing of the opening. What would keep him from opening them as soon as the messenger leaves. Are they fucking with his head the way he is with his crew to keep the lines of power clear?
> 
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
> 

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