Not P but Moby-Dick (49)

[Ian Livingston]

Precisely. If one is not fully able to keep upright and alert in the action
of the moment that "buoyancy" is lost and he is at risk of "being made a
Mazeppa of" by being caught in line dragged into great harm.

On Tue, Nov 28, 2023 at 12:52 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I thought "being made a Mazeppa of" meant being caught in the line and "run
> away with where the all-seeing sun himself could never pierce you out",
> therefore the boat would not be compared to the horse, although there are
> some similarities here.
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 27, 2023 at 11:25 PM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> It may help to have this context:
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazeppa_(poem) which inclines me to the
>> notion of the ability to stay upright and mobile in the tossing boat.
>> So I'll suggest the intent is to elicit "nimble footed and lithe in the
>> limbs."
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 27, 2023 at 8:48 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Optimistic -(enough) equanimity...
>>>
>>> On Mon, Nov 27, 2023 at 11:44 AM Mike Jing <
>>> gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> > From Chapter 60:
>>> >
>>> > It is worse; for you cannot sit motionless in the heart of these
>>> perils,
>>> > because the boat is rocking like a cradle, and you are pitched one way
>>> and
>>> > the other, without the slightest warning; and only by a certain
>>> > self-adjusting buoyancy and simultaneousness of volition and action,
>>> can
>>> > you escape being made a Mazeppa of, and run away with where the
>>> all-seeing
>>> > sun himself could never pierce you out.
>>> >
>>> > What does "buoyancy" mean here?
>>> > --
>>> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>> >
>>> --
>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>
>>