SLPAD - 29 & of course he goes on to add

[rich]

happy to contribute when the time comes, Michael. I'll only say now that as
I was re-reading Under the Rose, references to the opera kept popping up. I
admit to having a skeletal knowledge of Manon Lescaut from growing up in a
home where Italian opera via my Dad was much prevalent. If I remember
correctly, Lescaut was not performed as much as Puccini's other stalwarts
(Traviata, Madam B, even Girl of the Golden West, etc.). I think when the
times comes and after a re-read of the story, I'll be more informed in my
thoughts.

rich

On Fri, Mar 24, 2023 at 5:34 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Opera - “the undiscovered country”
>
> any chance you’d share more Manon thoughts, rich?
> Either now or in the fullness of time when we get to page 81 or so? Or
> both?
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 9:27 AM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Howdy all
>>
>> I'm re-reading Slow Learner. it's been a long time and I just finished
>> Under the Rose. I would recommend anyone reading it to have a general
>> idea/info of the novel Manon Lescaut and the Puccini opera.
>> The thing that strikes me about Slow Learner is how once can appreciate
>> Pynchon's progression from The Small Rain to The Secret Integration. You
>> can see it starting to blossom in Entropy onwards. I thought early on when
>> I first started to read Pynchon that he was a bit hard on himself with
>> regards to these stories, but being an old fart, I can see his point. The
>> Small Rain and Low-lands, though they have their charms, do include some
>> scenes that are a bit cringeworthy--e.g., in Low-lands where a woman's
>> corpse is hung by a man's ties out the window. Hadn't remembered that one.
>> MMV wasnt even worthy of inclusion by the man himself and that speaks for
>> itself (though there are elements in that story I like, too).
>>
>> If anything, it is nice to be reminded of him as a young guy and how he
>> worked out the kinks and delivered on that promise shown in these stories
>>
>> rich
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 5:08 AM Michael Bailey <
>> michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> how John Le Carré “upped the ante for the whole genre” - credit where
>>> credit’s due. Very true, but the appeal of all those historical scenes in
>>> UtR & V. is only partially from the spying and the Baedeker background.
>>> The
>>> contrast with Slothrop breaks away from spy craft, to mention the most
>>> obvious. But lots of other unique touches.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> “Most of it, happily, is chase scenes, for which I remain a dedicated
>>> sucker—it is one piece of puerility I am unable to let go of.”
>>>
>>> V. - check - chasing V. by Stencil, great Profane’s chase scene action
>>> onboard the USS Scaffold
>>>
>>> CoL49 - Oedipa’s of course chase after meaning thru the whole book, the
>>> Volkswagens when they steal the boat, sort of
>>>
>>> GR - Major Marvy after Slothrop underground
>>>
>>> M&D - ah, there’s gotta be one
>>>
>>> IV - the Vegas getaway by Doc Sportello
>>>
>>> BE - March & her ex with Maxine in the cigarette boat
>>>
>>>
>>> Porpentine - Hamlet I, v
>>> His father’s ghost refusing to describe the torments of Hell:
>>> “I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
>>> Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
>>> Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
>>> Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
>>> And each particular hair to stand on end,
>>> Like quills upon the fretful porpentine….”
>>>
>>> But also, it’s the name of an inn in The Comedy of Errors.
>>>
>>> & in Henry VI part 2, “[John Cade, under the name of John Mortimer]
>>> fought
>>> so long that his thighs with darts were almost like a sharp-quilled
>>> porpentine”
>>>
>>> & in Troilus & Cressida, Ajax warns Thersites, “Do not, porpentine, do
>>> not;
>>> my fingers itch”
>>>
>>> (To which Thersites replies, “I would thou didst itch from head to foot,
>>> and I had the scratching of thee; I would make thee the loathsomest scab
>>> in
>>> Greece.”
>>> Geez guys, get a room!)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Moldweorp from Old Teutonic (so he’s the one who’s lurking and skulking
>>> for
>>> Germany?) for “mole” unintentionally anticipating the Le Carré usage.
>>>
>>> “ Less conscientiously, there is also an echo of the name of the
>>> reluctant
>>> spy character
>>>                Wormold, in Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana, then
>>> recently
>>> published”
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Interesting article on the Intro in Pynchon Notes from Terry Reilly, who
>>> seems less than thrilled with it, but brings in some worthwhile
>>> perspectives nevertheless.
>>>
>>> https://pynchonnotes.openlibhums.org/article/2563/galley/2956/download/
>>> --
>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>
>>