Line in Vineland on "Unspeakable"

[Mark Kohut]

The phrase *"The Unspeakable"* in English carries a fascinating duality: it
refers to both the *divine* (that which is too glorious for words) and the
*diabolical* (that which is too horrific to name). Its history reflects a
shift from religious awe to psychological horror and the modern "uncanny."
1. Etymological Origin and History

The word *unspeakable* emerged in Middle English around *1400*. Its meaning
has evolved through two primary lenses:

   -

   *The Ineffable (c. 1400):* Originally, it meant "inexpressible" or "too
   great for words." This was often used in a religious context to describe
   the glory of God or the "Unspeakable Being."
   -

   *The Wicked (Mid-15th Century):* By the mid-1400s, the meaning shifted
   toward "indescribably bad or wicked." It became a way to categorize crimes
   or entities so heinous that naming them would be a secondary violation of
   morality.


   For Freud, the Unspeakable was the content in his concept of The
   Uncanny. Simplified, The Unspeakable is the 'return of the repressed' --a
   phrase P uses somewhere, I believe, or at least a concept he uses fer sure..


On Wed, Jan 21, 2026 at 8:03 AM Hübschräuber via Pynchon-l <
pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:

> Usually, the Unspeakable is below the surface...
>
> The title of Thomas Merton's collection of essay "Raids on the
> Unspeakable" (1966) comes to mind, which was inspired by T.S. Eliot's
> description of poetry in "East Coker" as a "raid on the inarticulate".
>
> https://merton.org/ITMS/Seasonal/36/36-4Labrie.pdf
>
> I only know Merton through Jim Douglass' "JFK and the Unspeakable" (2008).
>
> Douglass writes:
>
> -- "The Unspeakable" is a term Thomas Merton coined at the heart of the
> sixties after JFK’s assassination—in the
> midst of the escalating Vietnam War, the nuclear arms race, and the
> further assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin
> Luther King, and Robert Kennedy. In each of those soul-shaking events
> Merton sensed an evil whose depth
> and deceit seemed to go beyond the capacity of words to describe.
>
> "One of the awful facts of our age," Merton wrote in 1965, "is the
> evidence that [the world] is stricken indeed,
> stricken to the very core of its being by the presence of the
> Unspeakable." The Vietnam War, the race to a
> global war, and the interlocking murders of John Kennedy, Malcolm X,
> Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy
> were all signs of the Unspeakable. It remains deeply present in our world.
> As Merton warned, "Those who are at
> present so eager to be reconciled with the world at any price must take
> care not to be reconciled with it under
> this particular aspect: as the nest of the Unspeakable. This is what too
> few are willing to see."
> When we become more deeply human, as Merton understood the process, the
> wellspring of our compassion
> moves us to confront the Unspeakable. --
>
> https://ratical.org/ratville/JFK/Unspeakable/index.pdf
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Gesendet mit Proton Mail: Ein sicherer E-Mail-Dienst.
>
> mack devon <mackdevon74 at gmail.com> schrieb am Dienstag, 20. Januar 2026
> um 18:04:
>
> > Page 174 I've been stuck on for a little while. The book normally stays
> > pretty literal with its depictions, oftentimes getting a bit tricky with
> > what to take as metaphor or not. This is my 2nd read-through, I must not
> > have thought too much of this my first time around. Anyways, around early
> > page 174, after the Thanatoid introduction and DL & Takeshi explore
> > their village, a paragraph pops up that I'm still confused with.
> >
> > With a little context:
> >
> > "Yep, one foolish mistake, now I'm payin' it off for the rest of my
> life."
> >
> > "Only for the rest of mine, angel!" as up out of a calm and sunny ocean
> > the killer sub Unspeakable briefly poked its periscope, eyeballed their
> > vessel, ascertained that it was not the Love Boat, and withdrew. But they
> > were learning, together, slowly, how to take evasive action, and at the
> > moment it was down through an austere maze of Shade Creek alleyways and
> > vacant lots for an extended breakfast and another day's business.
> >
> >
> > Now, I've got a couple guesses as to this Unspeakable passage, as I'm
> > almost certain it's not meant to be taken literally (unless in reference
> to
> > the men after Takeshi currently spying...but that's way off it seems.)
> > There's a very likely chance this is not in reference to an actual Killer
> > Sub on the prowl.
> >
> >
> > 1. Could this be a classic Pynchon erection joke meant to reference
> > Takeshi's lust towards DL being unfulfilled due to her lack of desire &
> her
> > contract? The Unspeakable being The Unspeakable Erection, poking out, and
> > withdrawing when not encountering a Love Boat. I feel like there might be
> > some old-school slang for Unspeakable/unmentionable wrt a penis, but I'm
> > too young to know. (This is the most likely option to me.)
> >
> > 2. Could this be just a strange reference to Thanatoids spying on the
> duo,
> > noticing that they aren't in love, but rather that they're truly
> partners?
> > (Very unlikely, just made up to not have to 100% align myself with
> Erection
> > Theory.)
> >
> >
> > This is my first post here, I wanted to discuss this topic as I haven't
> > seen these lines discussed anywhere, I hope I formatted this well enough.
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>