SL/"Emtropy"

[Krafft, John M.]

Pardon what may be a dead horse, but in case I haven't mentioned it to
you before. I think it's possible to exaggerate the story's alleged
gloominess (and any supposed glee therein). The quotation from Miller
used as the epigraph is followed shortly in T of C by "I am the
happiest man alive." Also, Callisto's anxiety about whether the
transfer of heat has already ceased is ironically inappropriate and/or
misdirected, since it has continued to work all too well: a bird's
normal temperature is usually 8 to 10 degrees F higher than a
person's, so Callisto has sucked heat out of the bird rather than
conveying his own to it. I'm sure Pynchon would have known that.

John