AtD translation: This was spirit, after all.

[Mike Jing]

Now I understand. Thanks, Monte.

On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 4:05 AM Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>
>
>