BtZ42: p. 27-30

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Just pausing to savor this sequence (one of my many favorites):

Starting from: "On the old schist of a tombstone …" to the end of the section (italicized in the book): this is how it does happen - yes the great bright hand reaching out of the cloud …

There are so many Pynchon passages that send us scurrying to Google (or whatever the hell we used to do) an obscure reference. This one, though, sends the brain a-sparkling with associations - death from the sky - hand of God - V-2 rocket - differences, similarities - religion - terror - inevitability - resignation - quaint acceptance - death from the sky has always been with us, does it really matter what form it takes - take comfort from treating it as old family history … etc. etc. No Googling required!

Laura
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l