Not P but Moby-Dick (15)

[Mike Jing]

Thanks all for responding.

On Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 4:56 PM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Great madness is solipsistic.
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 1:54 PM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Great madness is most aggravated when confronted with rationality, and
>> finds calm in its own company, i.e., when alone.
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 1:01 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Three previous translations rendered it as "Only someone who is
>>> completely
>>> mad can calmly comprehend his own madness", which doesn't seem right to
>>> me.
>>> Another interpreted it as "Such ridiculous madness is only the calmness
>>> needed in order to comprehend itself", which makes even less sense. I'm
>>> still not quite sure what it is saying myself.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 4:56 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > If madness can be doubled or squared---as in "madness maddened"---then
>>> > stepping down
>>> > from that, simple madness leaves enough mental space---so to speak---to
>>> > comprehend itself.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 9:44 PM Mike Jing <
>>> gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>> > wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> From Chapter 37:
>>> >>
>>> >> What I’ve dared, I’ve willed; and what I’ve willed, I’ll do! They
>>> think me
>>> >> mad—Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild
>>> >> madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself! The prophecy was that I
>>> >> should be dismembered; and—Aye! I lost this leg. I now prophesy that I
>>> >> will
>>> >> dismember my dismemberer.
>>> >>
>>> >> What does "That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself"
>>> mean?
>>> >> --
>>> >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> --
>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>
>>