[David Morris]

Adenoids were thought to be useless tissue. Might as well remove 'em with
tonsils.  They did mine. And their name is comedic. I don't think they need
thunk beyond The Blob movie (except the Burroughs thing).  Sometimes a
Blob...

David Morris

On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 3:03 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> Adenoids are different from tonsils - they're higher up, behind the nose.
> Swollen adenoids are generally a problem in childhood, after which they
> tend to shrink. When swollen, they hamper breathing, and so they may need
> to be surgically removed.
>
> Some thoughts on the giant adenoid:
>
> It first appears to Pirate, some time between 1935 and 1939,  together
> with "the unmistakable smell of gas." Gas - giant adenoid preventing either
> a giant child or mass numbers of children from breathing - could be a
> vision/premonition of the kids who will die in the Nazi gas chambers. "The
> Army shows up in full battle gear with bombs full of the latest deadly
> gas." But the giant adenoid cannot be gotten rid of, communicated with or
> understood. Eventually, Lord Osmo is able to ignore it and focus on the
> Novi Pazar beat. Osmo dies in a tubful of pudding (connecting him with the
> soon-to-appear Brigadier Pudding). Two old-school Brits who are still
> focussed on the politics of WWI - totally unable to address the brewing
> holocaust.
>
> Laura
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Kohut
> Sent: Mar 26, 2016 9:21 AM
> To: Monte Davis , pynchon -l
> Subject:
>
> MD---So... why an adenoid (i.e. a tonsil), rather than an appendix or
> spleen or hypothalamus? Why human tissue at all, rather than some other
> stand-in for Osmo's fears? Its slimy protoplasmic aspect led me on first
> reading to think of SF movies:
>
> more to come but remember that Richard Schlubb, when he is brought in to
> loop the history is described as 'adenoidal" .....
>
> - Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
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