M&D: "We reverse our Sectors"

[Smoke Teff]

Maybe the notion of the two--or the twain (as the narrator amends
himself in reference to the Bodice Vroom)--is emphasized as a
compulsive tendency toward the binary, which our English astronomers
bring to the colonies? Twoness--because the Line makes the world so.

On Thu, Feb 1, 2018 at 12:57 PM, Smoke Teff <smoketeff at gmail.com> wrote:
> p. 121
>
>
>
> “’Tis said of the French Astronomers, that they never turn their
> Instruments, be it out of Pride or Insouciance or some French
> Sentiment we don’t possess, whilst what seems to distinguish us out
> here, is that we do. We reverse our Sectors, we measure ev’rything in
> both Directions[…]’Tis the British Way, to take the extra step that
> may one day give us an Edge when we need one, probably against the
> French. Small Investment, large Reward. I regard myself as a
> practitioner of British Science now.’”
>
>
>
> This fits in with my general notions of how the British understand
> their taxonomickal differences from the French. I don’t know if this
> reflects actual contemporary scientifick practice. Also don’t exactly
> feel like I have a firm handle on how this instrument reversal fits
> into any of the thematic schemata running through the novel. The
> underbelly/subequator stuff involves reflection and translation—but
> reversal?
>
> I believe reversals are important in the tarot?
>
> Can anybody else shed a little light on this passage, what P is doing,
> through Dixon?
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l