BtZ42 Section 9 (pp 53-60): before the war

[Mark Kohut]

I vote Yes to the question re a larger claim. I think this chapter, the
"between two worlds' chapter as I now
refer to it, in "like" with my own post, puts down P's vision that War now
defines the world since WW2...and although it
"has happened' before" [WW1 at least and some wars always], we now live in
a State of [Constant] Siege.

"You can't quite remember what mattered about the things that mattered
then"...another superb sentence that should
live in the great annotation archive......simple, but profound
psychological insight P has: the trauma of war wipes out simple
life, love and family happinesses...even in memory.




On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 9:59 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:

> pp. 58-60
>
> The broadcast "Frank Bridge Variations a hairbrush for the tangled brain"
> -- creating smooth, traceable contours like the waves of cortical activity
> Pointsman envisions in his mosaic of off/on cells?
>
> Mark K has noted Jessica's prevision of children and domesticity. It's
> followed by one more memory of an earlier moment with Roger, and the nested
> reflections pile up: that conversation was itself a comparison of their
> pre-war memories, five or more years back. We might have a memory, too:
>
> "Once upon a time Slothrop cared. No kidding. He thinks he did, anyway. A
> lot of stuff prior to 1944 is getting blurry now. He can remember the first
> Blitz only as a long spell of good luck..." (21.6)
>
> There's a measure of realism, simple truth to experience, here. The war
> has been a rush of vivid, intense experience, with your whole environment
> telling you you're part of a great world-shaping narrative, so of course
> what came before is foreshortened into an old scrapbook, and you can't
> quite remember what mattered about the things that mattered then.
>
> Is there more, though? Is it only the effect of the war on the personal
> narratives of  Jessica and Roger (and Slothrop) and a billion others? Is
> Pynchon laying the groundwork for a larger claim to come: that something
> was changing in the relationship of history and memory? Even if it has
> happened before, is there anything to compare it to now?
>
> The question hangs as "the entire fabric of the air, the time, is
> changed..." There's a train (as there has been, as there will be), there
> are dogs (ditto), and there's a question whether lust or even love will be
> enough.
>
> Thanks for your attention. Take it away, Janos!
>
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