GR translation: their own pitiable contingency here, in its midst

[ish mailian]

The Plan. The routine. The form, Northern and ancient, that is never
discussed, but is nevertheless, a contingency, pitiable as it is, the plan
provides a routine in the midst of what proceeds without form, the war. It
is the theatre / theater.

On Sun, May 7, 2017 at 8:48 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> One possible reading, obvious or not, but 'contingency' also has those
> ultimate metaphysical notes of pure existential chance as a reading as
> outlined by Mike and others above...vs. any kind of plan--a GR
> theme--pattern vs no patterns; causes and effect vs. none. I have a
> tendency to read it as ultimate, as the very fact of being vs. not being.
> The concept was around a lot in the existentialism ethos of P's GR time.
> See sartre for example.
>
> This major book from 1970-71 has been mentioned here before:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_and_Necessity
>
> From Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: 4. Necessity and Contingency4.1
> Historical context
>
> The Condemnations of 1277 and John Duns Scotus impelled the view that the
> world could be other than it is. The idea that God’s omnipotent power
> provides him with an infinity of choices out of which he chooses to create
> only one set of possibilities became a governing idea among subsequent
> English schoolmen. Scotus also argued forcefully for the idea that each
> moment was open to contingent possibility, such that for any time t, the
> events at t were possible not to be the events at t.
>
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/contingency
>
> This 'contingency [plan]' reading has to incorporate the word 'outside' in
> that clause 'against what outside none of them can bear' since it is THERE
> that "the pitiable contingency" exists --The reading works, one can argue,
> and Morris has and will, but one wonders why the word "here' and why P did
> not write 'contingency plan" maybe?
>
> On Sun, May 7, 2017 at 1:30 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> As usual, this seemed very obvious, and will likely be met with the usual
>> humbugs.
>>
>> David Morris
>>
>> On Sat, May 6, 2017 at 9:23 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> "Their own pitiable contingency [plan]"
>>>
>>> Refers to their "preserving routine" enacted (pitiably) as protection
>>> against the real War of chance going on outside.
>>>
>>>
>>>    - a provision for an unforeseen event or circumstance.
>>>    "a contingency reserve"
>>>
>>>
>>> David Morris
>>>
>>> Sat, May 6, 2017 at 7:22 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> V96.5-16, P97.40-98.10   How seriously is she playing? In a conquered
>>>> country, one’s own occupied country, it’s better, she believes, to
>>>> enter into some formal, rationalized version of what, outside,
>>>> proceeds without form or decent limit day and night, the summary
>>>> executions, the roustings, beatings, subterfuge, paranoia, shame . . .
>>>> though it is never discussed among them openly, it would seem Katje,
>>>> Gottfried, and Captain Blicero have agreed that this Northern and
>>>> ancient form, one they all know and are comfortable with—the strayed
>>>> children, the wood-wife in the edible house, the captivity, the
>>>> fattening, the Oven—shall be their preserving routine, their shelter,
>>>> against what outside none of them can bear—the War, the absolute rule
>>>> of chance, their own pitiable contingency here, in its midst. . . .
>>>>
>>>> What does "contingency" mean here?
>>>> -
>>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>>>
>>>
>
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