M & D Group Read (cont)

Mon Jan 8 11:32:09 CST 2018

*Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 11:00:35 -0500 (EST) From: Paul Mackin To:
pynchon-l@[omitted] Subject: The E-word *

Below are my notes on the *occurence* of "edge" in M&D.
Have no way of knowing how much underreporting there is.
I read the book from start to finish and made a note
whenever the word jumped out at me. As far as the most common
usage of the word is concerned it would seem if anything that
P is quite reticent, i.e., "edge" would occur with greater
frequency  in average writing. However P's exotic usage of the
word seems ABOVE average in frequency. This is just gut reaction. I
haven't done any analysis.

			P.

10  It took me till I was lying among he Rats and Vermin, upon the freezing
edge of a Future invisible, to understand that my name had never been my own,__
24  How is he  suppossed to ignore this pure Edge of blood-love?
34  --the Cold of apprpaching Night carrying an edge, the possiblity that
by
Morning the Weather will be quite brisk indeed . . .
62   Somehwat as his Neighbors each strenuous Sunday profers belief in the
Great Struggle at the End of the World
93   Briefly we behold the gray edge of a cloud of despair . . .
110  Rol-ling out the Elkdge-ware Ro-od,--
121  'Tis the British Way to take the extra step that may one day give us an
Edge when we need one
137  "What?" Mason begins to edge toward the Tent opening.
132 Maskelyne's voice, in such times of stress, edges toward a throat-bas'd
Soprano
160  He was quite distraugh, and but a pace or two from the Edge of the
precipice.
171  She put upon her R the same vigorous Edge, as his father on a difficult
day,--
172 Maskelyne's Observing Suit is edging into Visability.
219  Over Wearside, here at Nightfall, exactly upon this Edge between
sunlight too bright to see much by and . . .
264 "My point exactly!" cries Ethelmer, who had been edging toward the
Spirits, mindful that at some point he shall have to edge past his cousin
Tenebrae.
271  is slowly absorb'd into a mirthful Cloud of tartan-edg'd Emerald
Green and luminous Coral Taffeta.
273  . . . sentimental ever held back even at the Edge of breaking forth, in
Fragments, as Glass breaks.
309  . . . the dogs run obssessibely to and fro, all 'round the Edges,
faces a-twist with Efforts to understand
324  by which if he kept to a Fiduciary Edge of Right Procedure, he might
profit, whilst retaining his Sanity.
329 . . . will have found its way by the poundful up the nostrils and
into the brains of these by then alert youths, lending a feverish edge
to all they  speak and do.
337  . . . suggesting locating the exact center of New Castle by taking
a sheet of paper showing a map of the Town, trimming 'round the edges
til only the Town remains, . . .
338  . . . , but fifteen years ago in the era of Don Vicente Lopez, there
was an apprehenisve Edge in this Town as soon as the Sun went down,
that . . .
345 He sets his Lips as for a conventional, or Toroidal, Smoke_Ring, but out
instead comes a Ring like a Length of Ribbon clos'd in a Circle, with a
single Twist in it, possessing thereby but one Side and one Edge . . .
(elipsis in  original)
354  Then one has Mr. Edgewise . . . . (eilips in orig.)
383  A close observer, did one attend, might see him begin to flicker
'round the edges.
387  Taking what seems far too long, he peers up and down the newly
glitt'ring Edge, . . .
387  She is so flabber-gasting this Macaroni with it that he seems to fall
into a contemplative Daze before the deep Undulations, a Dreamer at the
Edge of the Sea.
387  I am become a Target for his Instruments edg'd and pointed.
395  There is an Edge to Young Romance, this year, that none of those
testing its Sharpness may recoginize, quite yet.
396  Three young Ladies are peeping 'round the 'Door-way, like shorebirds
at the edge of the Water, stepping nicely in and out of that Aura of
Tobacco-Smoke that Men for centluries have understood keeps women away
as well as were they Bug

401  We've seen 'em all, all manner of Traveler, saints and sinners, green
and season'd some who could teach Eels to wriggle and some who were pure
fiduciary Edge, and I'll tell you, this one . . . I don't know.
403  The Telescpe stands in its own Window'd Observatory at the Top of
the House, before it the Edge of the River, . . .
406  The tone balanc'd upon a Blade's Edge, between Pity and Contempt.
415 Whereupon a golden Edge of Pleasure proceeds to bisect him upwardly
all the way from his Ballocks to his heart, which these days is a
lengthy journey.
416 advised by friend and enemy that his only decent course would be to
step off the Edge of the World.--
423 "What, this? 'tis a Tub, Sir." Hoping the Echo may give him and Edge.
450  "Why are you all edging away from me like that?"
441  . . . curiously prostrated before the chunk of Rose Quartz where
cross the Latitude of the south Edge of Philadelphia . . .
485  then returning to this Radiance that flares from behind edges of
Shapes uncertain,--
517  reaching with her arms, run to the roof's edge and into the Air, . .
528  . . . tho their Wonderful Telegraph gives them in that Article
an Edge over the rest of Christendom, . . .
545 .. .  for the struggle Zarpazo and I must enact upon the very mortal
Edge of this great Torrent of Sha,--
561  . . . then at the edges of my vision, Blurs appear'd, . . .
577 . . . Ev'rybody's feeling edgy.
589 --flowing up over the edge . . . indeed, it keeps coming for longer
than it should.
592  . . . with hundreds of firmly attach'd sword-quality Blades, whose
hone edges flicker with sanguinary light.
594  looking for someone who can help him out of the edg'd ,and now
perhaps even venomous, iron weapon he is wearing.
597  The breeze has a cold edge.
601  Yet removing Trees to create a pair of perfectly straight Edges,
is to invite Sha, . . .
638  form up at the western edge of town, . . .
650 --thro' some Energy  unknown, ever are we haunted by the Edge
so precise, so near.
553  as if they liv'd at the edge of some great lighted Sky-Structure,
692  Smugglers of Tobacco, Dye-stuffs, and edg'd Implements flee their
Storage-Cabins in the middle of the night,
697  at which point the Enterpriser has edg'd his way as far as the door.
704  saw at the edges of Rooms from the corners of Eyes, shouted to up
or down a Visto.
746  As if here, at the Edge of the World,
752  The Fret has gather'd in the waste places, cross'd them, and come
to the Edge of the Town.
754 Busy withd rebellion, America drew back toward the edges of Dixon's
Frame, where the shadows gather'd.
758  and so she turn'd terrible, as she had ever been a shadow's Edge away
from doing anyway.
766  At the last of the Day-light, providentially, at the Edge of York,
they smell wood-smoke with a sensible Fat Component,

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 4:42 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> in the chapters around the LED, there are lots of
> animal references. Ape. The LED lusting after blood
> at Cock-Fights. "How is he supposed to ignore this Edge of
> blood-love?"--another Bleeding Edge allusion
> and the edge itself--not around the edges as Joseph recently noted ---
> is another hard geometric bad shit trope in Pynchon.
>
> "Back at the Cock-Fights", Fender-Belly Bodine.....I seem to just now
> notice that the Cock-Fights were ongoing
> fictionally in the whole chapter...a backdrop of the whole LED section....
>
> There are the lines about the LED being like a human.
>
> In the wake of the Age of Reason, with the LED as the synecdoche,
> it seems Pynchon wants to remind us--delightfully, of course, yet
> fully---that we
> are still animals, enjoying Cock-Fights---"that Substance which we are not
> supposed to acknowledge drips and flies 'ev'rywhere.." Humans, like the
> LED,
> will not acknowledge the blood upon which their lives rest.
>
> In a notional associative way, I remember that luxury liner in AtD which
> is also
> a battleship albeit unknown to the luxury travelers.
>
>
> What was that line some Big Political Leader Guy said, last century, when
> asked
> about the salutary effects of The Enlightenment on the world?
> "I'm still waiting to see it." (very paraphrased and shaky memory)
>
>
>
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