Target city and greenhouse

[Joseph Tracy]

I noticed this iron/glass contrast while reading earlier today about the bannery. Iron/steel and glass are materials linked to the technological era. They both responded to mass production techniques and are inexpensive, technically flexible and durable. How we look at them is equally flexible. They can be cold, sharp,  and ominous; they can imprison.  They can also carry us swiftly in comfort,  open us to the light, provide lenses micro and macroscopic. Pynchon seems to use this contrast in aspects of the same materials to show the dualities of the technologies of the modern era.



> On Mar 17, 2016, at 12:12 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> p. 2: "Above him lift girders old as an iron queen, and glass somewhere far above that would let the light of day through. But it’s night. He’s afraid of the way the glass will fall—soon—it will be a spectacle: the fall of a crystal palace."
> 
> p. 7: "Trusswork is pierced by daylight, milky panes beam beneficently down. How could there be a winter—even this one—gray enough to age this iron that can sing in the wind, or cloud these windows that open into another season, however falsely preserved?"
> 
> As different as nightmare and daybreak. The bananery is benign, although this description is bracketed by Pirate's waking rocket terror: "He feels he's about to shit... The pores of his face are prickling... sweat lies on his skin almost as cold as ice."  Are these two iron-and-glass enclosures the same, seen from two sides of the gate of horn -- or is it ivory? Alternatives? Either/or? Both/and?
> 
> And don't forget Callisto's change-defying (-denying?) greenhouse in "Entropy."
> 
> *
> "All that was left standing [of the relocated Crystal Palace] after the 1936 fire were the two water towers.... The south tower to the right of the Crystal Palace entrance was taken down shortly after the fire, as the damage sustained had undermined its integrity and it presented a major risk to houses nearby.
> 
> "The north tower was demolished with explosives in 1941. No reason was given for its removal, although it was rumoured that it was to remove a landmark for WWII German aircraft, but Luftwaffe bombers actually navigated their way to Central London by tracking the River Thames. The Crystal Palace grounds were also used as a manufacturing base for aircraft radar screens and other hi-tech equipment of the time. This remained secret until well after the war."
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace

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