BtZ42 pages 116-121

[Mark Kohut]

Kenneth Burke via Susan Sontag:
"Completely inside his own enthralling way of unpacking a text. He spent
almost a year with the class reading Conrad’s *Victory* word by word, image
by image. It was from Burke that I learned how to read. I still read the
way he taught me."


P. 116 "surfriders on the combers of morning"......[a comber, a long sea
wave]...so simply lyrical with a simple perfect analogy....

interesting that he chooses the word surfrider. First, it is the earliest,
almost archaic way, as such compound nouns usually move
to split themselves, as this word was doing,  might have done, by the time
of GR even. (Anyone have OED access?). Almost any uses now, according to
Google's
N--Gram are as "surf rider," the natural way it is suggested via prompts as
well. But surfrider to me seems somehow better,
suggesting in itself in one word the image of what a surfer does. (more low
explication, God help us)

He used a couple such compound nouns early in V, I remember.

And, the word or phrase has not lasted, it has been wave-buried by
"surfer".

On Tue, Jun 28, 2016 at 6:29 AM, Eileen Pierce <eileenpierce333 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> They’ve cut Slothrop loose again, he wanders, seeking places the followers
> might not follow.  Released from St. Veronica’s, he is reunited with
> Darlene from St. Veronica's.  Then tea and candies with Mrs. Quoad.  (Ha!)
>
> "The Meggezone is like being belted in the head with a Swiss Alp.  Menthol
> icicles immediately begin to grow from the roof of Slothrop’s mouth.  Polar
> bears seek toenail-holds up the freezing frosty-grape alveolar clusters  in
> his lungs.  It hurts his teeth too much to breathe, even through his nose,
> even necktie loosened, with his nose down inside the neck of his olive-drab
> T-shirt.  Benzoin vapors seep into his brain.  His head floats in a halo of
> ice.”  (Wow.)
>
> Slothrop in bed with Darlene, “hunting across the zero between waking and
> sleep”.  Mrs. Quoad is in the parlor dreaming of the King’s hand on her
> neck.  (Huh?)  Rocket and erection.  All the while, watched from behind the
> orange shade.
>
> Thank you p-listers for this fascinating group read.  I look forward to
> reading your thoughts on this section.  Enjoy the day!  e
>
>
> Eileen Pierce
> 608-512-6451
>
>
>
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>
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