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

[ish mailian]

Right, David. Pynchon's "too clever" passage here can render the obvious
reading of the odd syntactic position of the word "contingency" a partial
reading, perhaps even a misreading. Getting at the word "contingency" here
(arguing, say, that it means "contingency plan") is nearly beside the
point, even for, maybe especially for a translator. First, one must deal
with the irony. Next, one must address the theme. The irony and theme, of
course, work together. The theme is a constant one in the novel, so it's
not too difficult to get at it. Weber will help. I suggest Moore's Style of
Connectedness, the chapter on Weber and Capitalism. The irony is that
magic, charisma, fairy tale, ancient Northern form, has been routinized by
the bureaucrat here as contingency plan.

On Mon, May 8, 2017 at 12:40 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Being too clever is the enemy of the obvious.
>
> On Sun, May 7, 2017 at 8:57 AM ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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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