On Mar 22, 7:24 pm, Psmith <
Ewagner...@aol.com> wrote:
> I wonder what the Pynch thinks of Crowley and/or the Kabbalah.
p. 665-666:
"From somewhere came a repeated figure being played on an alpenhorn.
Though he was not ready to share it with his brother, not even Reef
had been exempt from the folly up there. "What kind of dog's that?"
he asked Ruperta at one point.
"Mouffette? She's a papillon . . . a sort of French ladies' lapdog."
"A --You say," gears in his mind beginning to crank, "' lap' --
French . . . lap-dog?"
I really enjoy how much music Pynch employs. Never heard of an
alpenhorn before ... I assume it's a horn played in the Alps. This
reminded me of an old Beatles song:
Alp, I need somebody.
Alp, not just anybody
Alp, you know I need someone
Aaaaaaaaalp!
What follows, the biting lapdog segment seems to strongly drive home
the "Against the Day" theme. By coincidence, most of it appears on p.
666. Mouffette seems related in demeanor to a Tatzelwurm (p. 655,
659). Pynch maybe suggests the relation when he describes the
Tatzelwurm as "a snake with paws." Yet I don't see a one to one
correspondence between the dog and the wurm more like it corresponds
with the gestalt of that scene, the interaction between Reef and
Mouffette. Mouffette translates to "skunk." Once again I salute
Pynchon's profound sophistication in these matters and his willingness
to confront and explicate unpleasant subjects.
I also really like the first paragraph in the new section that starts
halfway down p.659.
> I've decided to teach Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the
> Looking Glass in my science fiction and fantasy class in 2013,
> assuming the class makes the schedule.
What a great job you have!