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[Ian Livingston]

“A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is
nothing to compare it to now…."

Okay, this is pure and simple association, but I must say the whole of
Jung's dream plays out quite well with the opening section of GR. Further
parallels as we go.



“The crucial dream anticipating my encounter with alchemy came around 1926:
I was in the South Tyrol. It was wartime. I was on the Italian front and
driving back from the front line with a little man, a peasant, in his
horse-drawn wagon. All around us shells were exploding, and I knew we had
to push on as quickly as possible, for it was very dangerous.

“We had to cross a bridge and then go through a tunnel whose vaulting had
been partially destroyed by the shells." C G Jung, MDR*,* 203.


The Great Wars and the Depression between them left deep scars all across
Europe. It wasn't just the soldiers who suffered nightmares in the
aftermath. Jung's descent into the maelstrom led to his fascination with
alchemy, which in turn influenced the work of Campbell, Eliade, and others.
MDR was quite popular at about the time Pynchon was working on GR.


Any other associations folks can relate to this opening? I think it
deserves all the color it elicits.
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