Y'r Ob'd't S'v'nt

[Steven Koteff]

No fiction writer strikes a better aphorism, I think. Maybe some are tied. And TRP's, unlike most every such thing I've ever had what you might call faith in, don't seem to lose potency, nor to take on any patina of bullshit or wrongthinking. 

But of course the tools needed for the best joke and the best aphorism are the same, and the best examples of either feel like examples of both. 

Your explanation is appreciated, Monte. And really nicely put. Not irruptions but Thankyouforaskings. I'll be turning that around in my head for a few weeks. 

> On Jan 28, 2016, at 2:34 PM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> ​With that ever-modulating relationship in mind... In M&D I love best an exchange just before they depart for America. Mason recalls his uneasy state of mind on their first outing, when the encounter with the l'Grand began to reveal conspiracies behind conspiracies and taint the "purity" he sought in the transit of Venus.
> 
> 
> ​" ​‘...not at war​ with the sciences,’— Poh. In Plain Text, that Brass Voice announc’d,—​ ‘The Business of the World is Trade and Death​, and you must engage​ ​with that unpleasantness, as the price of your not-at-all-assur’d​ Moment of Purity.— Fool.’ ”
> 
> ​   "​Eeh! Tha were trans-lating all thah’ French Jabber? hardly a bonny
> Sentiment, Mr. Mason.”
> 
>   “Mr. Dixon, I am cerrtain that you, as the unwaverring Larrk of the
> 
> Sanguine, will find us a way past that.”
> 
> ...which connects to the single line I remember most often, a joke that's a Proverb: "If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers" (GR 251) 
> 
> It's perfect for that moment (one of Slothrop's cascading revelations that Jamf, IG Farben, Shell Mex, and CHURCHILL'S FKIN SON-IN-LAW are All In On It Together.)
> 
> It perfectly encapsulates all the McGuffins of GR. Mysterious erections, mysterious A4 components, mysteriously missing A4s themselves, mysterious arrangements and cross-purposes (or are they?) among Zone wheeler-dealers, multinationals, WWII "winners" and "losers"... WWII itself... aren't irruptions into history, mysteries that require explanation, but Everything Going Along Quite Nicely As Planned Thankyouforasking.
> 
> It's the perfect summation of all the quests in all of Pynchon, from Stencil's to Maxine's. And for me at least, it's a funny/cautionary guide in trying to understand the world outside the books, too.  
> 
>> On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 1:43 PM, Steven Koteff <steviekoteff at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Yes, the escalating deferentiality/cordiality/abbreviality of the sign-offs. 
>> 
>>> On Jan 28, 2016, at 12:30 PM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> What's the referent for "this joke" -- the exchange of letters on pp. 12-13? 
>>> 
>>>> On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 12:37 PM, Steven Koteff <steviekoteff at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Friends, I think about this joke from M & D almost every time I sign any kind of correspondence. It is with me every day. I have so much dumb affection for it. Not his most elaborate gag, but a personal favorite nonetheless.
>>>> 
>>>> Any other Pynch jokes you think about every day?
>>>> 
>>>> Love,
>>>> SK
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -
>>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
> 
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