Re: Oedipa’s Planetarium

[Michael Bailey]

It’s implicit in
“…and trace out your Dragon, Whale….”

It may refer to Pierce - or Driblette, or Wharfinger -

 my first impression was it’s a generic “you”:

Like a tour guide, or cab driver - here’s your Parthenon, here’s your
London Bridge…


On Sun, Jun 2, 2024 at 4:19 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> Who is the antecedent of “You”? At this point I think she still means
> Pierce
>
> I find no "You"....
>
> On Sun, Jun 2, 2024 at 4:13 PM J K Van Nort <jkvannort at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Pynchon’s vision is cosmic, and I do think Driblette’s metaphor is
> > Pynchon’s response to both critics and his readers.
> >
> >
> > However, Oedipa says at the beginning of ch 4 that “it was part of her
> > duty, wasn’t it, to bestow life on what had persisted, to try to be what
> > Driblette was, a dark machine in the center of the planetarium, to bring
> > the estate into pulsing stelliferous Meaning, all in a soaring dome
> around
> > her?”
> >
> >
> > She then remembers the bond she posted with probate court, identifying it
> > as a monetary valuation of the obstacles she faces. She looks at the
> > notebook with the muted horn where she wrote “Shall I project a world?”
> > Then she says: “If not project then at least flash some arrow on the dome
> > to skitter among the constellations and trace out your Dragon, Whale,
> > Southern Cross. Anything might help.”
> >
> >
> >