BTZ42Read: it has happened before

[Mark Kohut]

Immediacy of the present tense. NOW. Screaming now. pain coming. And like
all immediate
danger or pain, it is always new, it always fills the mind so full, the
past, memory, history is
Gone.

Ever full of such fear, you can think of nothing else? Ever full of such
pain, all past suffering pales?

On Mon, Mar 14, 2016 at 1:20 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> Hey, wasn't the official group read start date tomorrow? Will we have
> anything to compare the discussion to then?
>
> I take the opening sentences at closer to face value - the prosaic view:
>
> A screaming comes across the sky. The V-2 rocket, super-sonic, so its
> sound is out of kilter with time. "Screaming" reflects that more than "a
> scream."
>
> It has happened before … Again, the prosaic read - if you're hearing the
> V-2, it's already landed - no need to kiss your ass goodbye.
>
>  … but there is nothing to compare it to now. This is the toughest nut to
> crack.  " … and, therefore, there is nothing to compare it to now," seems a
> more logical end to the sentence. The word "but" emphasizes the word "now."
> It implies that when it happened before (when this rocket was launched? Or:
> whenever these rockets have been launched in the past?) there WAS something
> to compare it to. So I guess what I'm saying is that the word "but" derails
> the simplistic V-2 reading. What in hell does Pynchon mean?
>
> Laura
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Ray Easton <raymond.lee.easton at gmail.com>
> >Sent: Mar 14, 2016 12:51 PM
> >To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >Subject: BTZ42Read: it has happened before
> >
> >How do you (any of you) read the second sentence?
> >
> >Ray
> >
> >-----
> >You don't need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>
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