GR translation: two wartime pros used to field expediency

[Mike Jing]

Thanks for the clarification, Michael.


On Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 11:17 PM Michael Lee Bailey via Pynchon-l <
pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:

> Exactly: Muffage’s highly placed brother has kept him away from the front
> lines, as did Spontoon’s Ace-of-Spades birthmark and migraines.
>
> Slothrop’s doffed the pig suit to cavort with Bodine’s masseuse friend
> Solange; Major Marvy dons it to avoid being caught with cocaine - couldn’t
> happen to a nicer guy….
>
> Their faux-efficiency isn’t from operating in wartime hospitals at all,
> but from performing (Muffage performing - but not since 1927; Spontoon only
> ever assisting) castrations prewar in mental hospitals
>
> Google AI mentions the practice -
>
> “Without legal authority: The UK did not pass eugenics sterilization
> legislation as was common in some US states and Scandinavian countries.
> However, some sterilizations, including castrations, were carried out on
> individuals in institutions for eugenic reasons, albeit without legal
> sanction.
>
> - “Medical justification:AProspect Magazinearticle notes that a British
> doctor was known to have castrated three young men for "eugenic means"
> sometime around or before 1927. The Ministry of Health reportedly told the
> doctor not to do it again, but no further action was documented.
> - “Other sterilizations:In the late 1920s, some doctors in London were
> performing "sterilizations of convenience," sometimes using the "Steinach
> operation"—a vasectomy-like procedure—and justifying it under questionable
> scientific claims.”
>
> On Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 8:45 AM, Mike Jing <[gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com
> ](mailto:On Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 8:45 AM, Mike Jing <<a href=)> wrote:
>
> > V609.14-19, P620.6-11 Both men have scrubbed, and donned masks and rubber
> > gloves. Muffage has switched on a dome light which stares down, a soft
> > radiant eye. The two work quickly, in silence, two wartime pros used to
> > field expediency, with only an occasional word from the patient, a
> whisper,
> > a white pathetic grope in his ether-darkness after the receding point of
> > light that’s all he has left of himself.
> >
> > This must be sarcasm, since both of them are civilians and avoided
> > participating directly in the war, is that correct?
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>