AtD translation: This was spirit, after all.

[Monte Davis]

More generally than "breath," "spirit(s)" also means the light, airy,
volatile component of anything: "spirits of camphor," or alcohol  distilled
(upward) and then condensed (downward). Reduced gas pressure over a liquid
also lowers its boiling point. So there's a spatial metaphor here that
whatever "spirited" impulses of rebellion may be in the unconscious emerge
more readily at higher altitudes.

Mann's The Magic Mountain, much of which takes place at an Alpine
sanitarium,  also works this cluster of metaphors hard in its alchemical
themes of spiritual transformation..


On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 3:44 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> But what does it have to do with altitude and barometric pressure though?
> Is it because spirit also means "breath"?
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 2:35 AM Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
>
> > One of the words for people who are feisty and resistant to being bullied
> > is ”spirited”.  Does that answer your question?
> > > On Apr 10, 2018, at 2:00 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > P172.26-32   Did something, something essential, happen to human
> > > personality above a certain removal from sea level? Many quoted Dr.
> > > Lombroso’s observation about how lowland folks tended to be placid and
> > > law-abiding while mountain country bred revolutionaries and outlaws.
> That
> > > was over in Italy, of course. Theorizers about the recently discovered
> > > subconscious mind, reluctant to leave out any variable that might seem
> > > helpful, couldn’t avoid the altitude, and the barometric pressure that
> > went
> > > with it. This was spirit, after all.
> > >
> > > What is being implied by the last sentence?
> > >
> > > P.S.
> > > I've been working on a translation of Solaris for about a month.
> There's
> > > another book coming up as well, but I'll try to squeeze in some work on
> > AtD
> > > whenever I can.
> > > --
> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>