BtZ42 Back to some basics: White Visitation

Fri Jun 10 16:16:02 CDT 2016

Alabama.

The Sensibility of Postmodern Whiteness in V., or Thomas Pynchon's Identity
Problem Author(s): David Witzling

On Fri, Jun 10, 2016 at 3:10 PM, Smoke Teff <smoketeff at gmail.com> wrote:

> Do you think there are non-parodic instances (endorsements?) rationalism
> in the book?
>
> On Jun 10, 2016, at 11:26 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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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