BtZ42, p.21

[Monte Davis]

I love these lines because they could almost be from Catch-22 or From Here
to Eternity or any American WWII fiction or memoir. Servicemen and units
griping about being shuffled around without explanation, clueless upper
echelons, SOE not cooperating with ACHTUNG, etc. -- that's basic, meat &
potatoes stuff. But "MMPI" starts the slow unfolding.

There was some psychological testing for US recruits even in WWI. But the
Minnesota test, coming out in 1943, embodied state-of-the-art thinking
about not just psychology, but the sociology of organizations -- who had
the Right Stuff to be a leader or a good team player, who'd be likely to
resist authority, etc. It's implied that Slothrop has already taken it at
least once -- why again, he wonders? This could also fit the generic "aw
shit, more pointless paperwork" frame.

Yet while we're still absorbing Slothrop the Grousing Lieutenant who could
be in any WWII story, we also start to get Slothrop Whose Psyche is of
Special Interest, and Slothrop Sent Off to be Hospital Lab Rat, and
Slothrop as Cog for Wheels Within Wheels -- and everything will flow from
that.

On Tue, Apr 5, 2016 at 6:04 PM, nick heindl <nheindl13 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Not really sure where to start, this is my first time hosting, and as a
> long-time lurker it can be intimidating trying to keep up... so I am just
> going to Dive Right In. Side note I am typing on my tablet which can be a
> pain in the ass so if some of the formatting is off sorry in advance but in
> the spirit of Pynchon it does seem to have a thing for capitalization...
>
> "This morning in his IN basket were orders sending him TDY some hospital
> out in the East end. No explanation beyond an attached carbon copy of a
> note to ACHTUNG requesting his reassignment " as part of the P.W.E. Testing
> program."
>
> Testing? And by whom? Slothrop thinking of P.W.E. as more of that
> Minnesota Multiphasic shit... Minnesota Multiphasic shit??
>
> Sorry if I'm missing or repeating anything I've been unable to keep up
> with the discussion the past few days.
>
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