Not P but Moby-Dick (49)

[Mike Jing]

Right. I see what you meant now. Thanks, Ian.


On Tue, Nov 28, 2023 at 8:58 AM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I would think of the whale, not the boat, as the horse.
>
> On Tue, Nov 28, 2023 at 5:56 AM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>>>>
>>>>