BtZ42 Back to some basics: White Visitation

Fri Jun 10 11:26:52 CDT 2016

Thomas Schaub, *Pynchon: The Voice of Ambiguity* (1981), pp. 50-51:

:The dreams and spiritualist visitations of the characters Feldspath,
Rathenau, Blobadjian, and Bland are part of Pynchon's design to create a
ubiquitous present which undermines the rationalist enterprises of
Pointsman and the men above him. The imagery of their determinist schemes
in *Gravity's Rainbow* -- ice, whiteness, now, gray skies, and
pearl-colored London fog -- is embodied in Pointsman (whose place of work
is 'The White Visitation') and his trained gray octopus Grigori, sent to
the Riviera to do battle with the gaudy Tyrone in his Hawaiian shirt."

[with the usual Davis caveat that while "determinist schemes" is fair
enough, "rationalist enterprises" glosses over the important point that
these enterprises -- however methodically conducted -- are *parodies* of
rationalism. As previously noted,

1) the V-weapons were, per their German nickname, for vengeance rather than
strategically or economically rational military effect

2) the belief in Slothrop's map (and the inference from it that
understanding more about Slothrop might lead to a defense against the V-2)
is based at least as much on faith and wishful thinking as on rational
weighing of evidence

3) The actual state of Pointsman's Pavlovian neuroscience and psychology --
while adequate for manipulating a dog's salivation (or allegedly, an
octopus' appetite and hunting behavior) -- falls absurdly short of the
control of human behavior that's tossed about in the book's conversations.
That extrapolation is, again, wishful thinking *in excelsis*.]

On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 11:18 AM, Smoke Teff <smoketeff at gmail.com> wrote:

> The way I understand Pynchon's cosmology, white exists on an end of the
> spectrum in the opposite direction of black. But really the spectrum is an
> Ouroboric cycle. Perfect whiteness or blackness then are not only
> realizations of the end of one direction of the spectrum, but are the
> conditions of passage between. When the conscious mind glimpses something
> powerful in the unconscious mind. When we approach death, er,
> transformation.
>
> Perfect whiteness obviously the unification of all light--light before it
> scatters into the differentiated colors of a rainbow, say.
>
> As whiteness approaches infinity, Slothrop's personal density approaches
> zero. Or vice versa. I forgot which.
>
> On Jun 9, 2016, at 5:52 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> First, after we've just gone thru the 'race' chapter, the White means
> whites, in its major meaning, right?
>
> vis·it·a·tion
> ˌvizəˈtāSH(ə)n/
> *noun*
>
>    1. *1*.
>    an official or formal visit, in particular.
>    -
>
>       <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+visit&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIHzAA>
>       <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+survey&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIIDAA>
>       <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+examination&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIITAA>
>       -
>
>       <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+apparition&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIJDAA>
>       <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+vision&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIJTAA>
>       <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+appearance&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIJjAA>
>       <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+manifestation&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIJzAA>
>       -
>       -
>       2. *2*.
>    a disaster or difficulty regarded as a divine punishment.
>    "a visitation of the plague"
>    synonyms: affliction
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+affliction&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoILDAA>
>    , scourge
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+scourge&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoILTAA>
>    , bane
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+bane&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoILjAA>
>    , curse
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+curse&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoILzAA>
>    , plague
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+plague&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIMDAA>
>    , blight
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+blight&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIMTAA>
>    , disaster
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+disaster&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIMjAA>
>    , tragedy
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+tragedy&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIMzAA>
>    , catastrophe
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+catastrophe&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoINDAA>
>    ; More
>
>
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+punishment&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoINjAA>
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+retribution&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoINzAA>
>    <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&biw=1301&bih=876&q=define+vengeance&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZ3JyZbNAhWGGz4KHQ0SDIQQ_SoIODAA>
>
> And, in Catholicism at least, the visitation is what some call the
> invitation and fact of visiting the family w the newly-deceased body in a
> funeral home.
>
>
> Acts of Visitation: The Narrative of J.M. Coetzee
> <https://books.google.com/books?id=MvXLbOb49HYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=visitation&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMh7GPyZbNAhWGWD4KHTCsCcM4ChDoAQhUMAk>
>
> <https://books.google.com/books?id=MvXLbOb49HYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=visitation&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMh7GPyZbNAhWGWD4KHTCsCcM4ChDrAQhVMAk>
> https://books.google.com/books?isbn=9401206945
> María J. López
> <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&sa=N&biw=1301&bih=898&tbm=bks&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Mar%C3%ADa+J.+L%C3%B3pez%22&ved=0ahUKEwjMh7GPyZbNAhWGWD4KHTCsCcM4ChD0CAhWMAk> -
> 2011 - ‎Preview
> <https://books.google.com/books?id=MvXLbOb49HYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=visitation&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMh7GPyZbNAhWGWD4KHTCsCcM4ChC7BQhXMAk> -
> ‎More editions
> <https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&safe=active&sa=N&biw=1301&bih=898&tbm=bks&q=editions:VJ1k9ss_gGwC&ved=0ahUKEwjMh7GPyZbNAhWGWD4KHTCsCcM4ChCYFghYMAk>
> The seminal dimension of the categories of penetration and visitation is
> highlighted, as these are shown to operate not only on a spatial level but
> also on an epistemological, physical, psychological, hermeneutic,
> metafictional and ethical ...
>
>
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