AtD translation: This was spirit, after all.

[Joseph Tracy]

I was going to comment on this component , but not sure what was in question. Monte does a better job than I would have. There were also widespread emphasis on barometric pressure as causing headaches and affecting human temperament. The inclusion of “the uncoscious” into the mix seems just seems  like  a new basis of speculation.

> On 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
> >
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> >
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