GR translation: a phantasmagoria, a real one

[Mike Jing]

Here, as a "real" phantasmagoria, it most certainly must be referring to
the following definition:

a. An exhibition of optical illusions produced chiefly by the use of a
magic lantern, first exhibited in London in 1801 (now historical); any
optical exhibition, esp. one in which preternatural phenomena are
represented using artificial light; an apparatus for creating such
illusions.

So the apparatus is not a camera, but a slide projector of some sort.


On Sat, Apr 16, 2022 at 10:30 AM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I read this as reference to the camera on it's tracks, an effect achieved
> in current times more effectively with the zoom lens. A sort of
> psychomimesis might be achieved through perceptual distortions resulting
> from excessive indulgence of certain chemical substances, or from brain
> damage due to stroke or other severe brain trauma.
>
> On Fri, Apr 15, 2022 at 8:57 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> V12.32-38, P13.7-13   Accompanying will be a phantasmagoria, a real one,
>> rushing toward the screen, in over the heads of the audiences, on little
>> tracks of an elegant Victorian cross section resembling the profile of a
>> chess knight conceived fancifully but not vulgarly so—then rushing back
>> out
>> again, in and out, the images often changing scale so quickly, so
>> unpredictably that you’re apt now and then to get a bit of lime-green in
>> with your rose, as they say.
>>
>> Here we are talking about the projector (magic lantern) moving rapidly
>> back
>> and forth on little tracks, is that correct?
>>
>> I'm asking because the published translation offers a completely different
>> interpretation.
>>
>> Also, why the emphasis on "a real one"? As opposed to what?
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>