BTZ42Reed: Von B's epigraph

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Steven C. Weisenburger ("Gravity's Rainbow Companion", 2nd edition, p. 
15) quotes Pynchon's source for the epigraph, William Nichols's "Third 
Book of Words to Live By" from 1962, as determined by Joseph Tabbi 
("Postmodern Sublime", 5-6, according to Weisenburger) in full. What 
Pynchon left out is at least as interesting as what he used.

Here is the former SS-Sturmbannführer in his own words, presumably at 
the end of the 50s or the beginning of the 60s:

-----

Why I Believe in Immortality

"I believe ... that the soul of Man is immortal and will be treated with 
justice in another life respecting its conduct in this."
--Benjamin Franklin

Today more than ever before, our survival--yours and mine and our 
children's---depends on our adherence to ethical principles. Ethics 
alone will decide whether atomic energy will be an earthly blessing or 
the source of mankind's utter destruction.
Where does the desire for ethical action come from? What makes us want 
to be ethical? I believe that there are two forces that move us. One is 
belief in a Last Judgment, when every one of us has to account for what 
we did with God's great gift of life on earth. The other is belief in an 
immortal soul, a soul which will cherish the reward or suffer the 
penalty decreed in a final Judgment.
Belief in God and immortality thus give us the moral strength and the 
ethical guidance we need for virtually every action in our daily lives.
In our modern world many people seem to feel that science has somehow 
made such "religious ideas" untimely or old-fashioned.
But I think science has a real surprise for sceptics. Science, for 
instance, tells us that nothing in nature, not even the tiniest 
particle, can disappear without a trace.
Think about that for a moment. Once you do, your thoughts about life 
will never be the same.
Science has found that nothing can disappear without a trace. Nature 
does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation!
Now, if God applies this fundamental principle to the most minute and 
insignificant parts of His universe, doesn't it make sense to assume 
that He applies it also the masterpiece of his creation---the human 
soul?  I think it does. And everything that science has taught me--and 
continues to teach me---strengthens my belief in the continuity of our 
spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace."

-----
The irony is overwhelming. As far as I am concerned, Tom Lehrer has said 
everything there is to be said about von Braun's "ethical principles."

For all I know, however, von Braun may be serious. Compare the 
interesting press statement he gave after he surrendered to the Americans:

"We knew that we had created a new means of warfare, and the question as 
to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust 
this brainchild of ours was a moral decision more than anything else. We 
wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just 
been through, and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to 
people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to the world 
be best secured."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun#Surrender_to_the_Americans

"Ethical principles", "moral decision"... Perhaps von Braun actually 
believes this. Perhaps he is only telling the American public what he 
thinks is best for him. Which, if you ask me, is more likely.

"A new means of warfare", indeed, leading to the possibility of 
"mankind's utter destruction."

Note the prominence of the Last Judgment in the source text for the 
epigraph and the "judgment from which there is no appeal" close to the 
beginning of GR:

"The road which ought to be opening out into a broader highway, instead 
has been getting narrower, more broken, cornering tighter and tighter 
until all at once, much too soon, they are under the final arch: brakes 
grab and spring terribly. It is a judgment from which there is no appeal."

The passage obviously alludes to the final judgment which is so 
important to von Braun's argument in support of "ethical principles." 
This is probably no concidence.

Pynchon adds the "final arch" which I would argue is the "strait gate" 
from Matthew 7:13--23, one of the most important sources for the idea of 
a final judgment:

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the 
way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto 
life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which 
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or 
figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; 
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring 
forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast 
into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every 
one that saith unto me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of 
Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Many 
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy 
name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many 
wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: 
depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

In GR a total inversion of this passage takes place: The ever narrowing 
roads (a long-standing Pynchon trope -- compare, for example, the 
narrowing of possibilites in M&D) running towards the strait and final 
gate lead to the final judgment. And in this case, as we have already 
heard about the "second sheep", there can be no doubt about the judgment.

Against this background, I propose to read the passage in GR as a dark 
satire of von Braun's stance in the source text for the epigraph, made 
American by the recourse to Calvinist theology: While von Braun speaks 
of "ethical principles" that presumably would allow people like him to 
get through Judgment Day unharmed, his own scientific accomplishments 
have in fact only lead to death and destruction for the not so elect 
during WW II as well as to the threat of nuclear holocaust.

Not his department...
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l