BtZ42, p.17: sandbagged

[John Bailey]

Could be more of a reference to Mesoamerican or SE Asian pyramids? Or
others? The gods in HP Lovecraft were big on offspring. And Aztec
would bring in the suggestion of human sacrifice (which is perfectly
appropriate at any point in GR).

On Sat, Apr 2, 2016 at 1:22 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> I would say that this narrator's insights re. pyramids and gods are meant to
> be prompts for the reader's own thoughts, a way of getting buy-in to the
> proposed paranoia. The reader is being overtly recruited into a paranoia.
>
> David Morris
>
>
> On Friday, April 1, 2016, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Too fragmentary for any deep diving, unless linked to other parts of the
>> text. The spiritual references are playing against what Bloat can't feel at
>> all, so the narrator is feeling the aura in his stead, which would then
>> include pyramids, etc.
>>
>> David Morris
>>
>> On Friday, April 1, 2016, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On the way into ACHTUNG:
>>>
>>> "... a certain  desperate aura here. But Bloat, going in the sandbagged
>>> entrance (provisional pyramids erected to gratify curious gods’ offspring
>>> indeed), can’t feel a bit of it..."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/men-resting-on-top-of-piles-of-sandbags-wwii-london-4-september-1939-picture-id102729664
>>>
>>>
>>> Help me out with that parenthetical description. "Provisional," sure --
>>> these aren't for the ages, just for the V-weapon Blitz 2.0. But what's
>>> Egyptian about it? Who are the curious (and is that 'peculiar' or
>>> 'inquisitive'?) gods... let alone their offspring? What desire is being
>>> gratified? And why that "indeed," as if this were reinforcement or
>>> confirmation of something stated or questioned earlier?
>>>
>>>
>>> I get an echo of p. 9, where the men crushing ice against the concrete
>>> Jungfrau were "wasted gods urging on a tardy glacier." But it's a faint
>>> echo, and doesn't help me understand this.
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l