Reading 1001 discussion

So, I broke down the book into sections (page numbers from the Penguin edition pictured above). Some are super short, others are super long, but if we read between 10-12 pages a day, we should be finished by mid-December. (Note: I cannot start until Monday, Oct 5 because I'm plowing through Crying of Lot 49.).

Perhaps we can agree to “meet here” every Sunday to share some thoughts and questions. I’ve made breaks for every week and also marked chapter breaks which could be another occasion for posting. Of course, anyone should feel free to post at any time. Happy reading everyone!

Monday, October 5 = 8
Tuesday, October 6 = 17
Wednesday, October = 20
Thursday, October = 30
Friday, October 9 = 38
Saturday, October 10 = 42
Sunday, October 11 = 48

Monday, October 12 = 54
Tuesday, October 13 = 60
Wednesday, October 14 = 72
Thursday, October 15 = 74
Friday, October 16 = 85
Saturday, October 17 = 94
Sunday, October 18 = 116

Monday, October 19 = 122
Tuesday, October 20 = 139
Wednesday, October 21 = 147
Thursday, October 22 = 156
Friday, October 23 = 170
Saturday, October 24 = 180 (end of chapter 1)

Sunday, October 25 = 191
Monday, October 26 = 208
Tuesday, October 27 = 229
Wednesday, October 28 = 239
Thursday, October 29 = 247
Friday, October 30 = 252
Saturday, October 31 = 273
Sunday, November 1 = 282 (end of chapter 2)

Monday, November 2 = 299
Tuesday, November 3 = 319
Wednesday, November 4 = 334
Thursday, November 5 = 341
Friday, November 6 = 363
Saturday, November 7 = 377
Sunday, November 8 = 389 (HALF WAY THROUGH!!)

Monday, November 9 = 396
Tuesday, November 10 = 398
Wednesday, November 11 = 403
Thursday, November 12 = 440
Friday, November 13 = 455
Saturday, November 14 = 464
Sunday, November 15 = 476

Monday, November 16 = 480
Tuesday, November 17 = 490
Wednesday, November 18 = 496
Thursday, November 19 = 500
Friday, November 20 = 514
Saturday, November 21 = 527
Sunday, November 22 = 534 (happy birthday to me!)

Monday, November 23 = 541
Tuesday, November 24 = 546
Wednesday, November 25 = 558
Thursday, November 26 = 567
Friday, November 27 = 573
Saturday, November 28 = 576
Sunday, November 29 = 587

Monday, November 30 = 590
Tuesday, December 1 = 601
Wednesday, December 2 = 621
Thursday, December 3 = 627 (end of Chapter 4)
Friday, December 4 = 638
Saturday, December 5 = 652
Sunday, December 6 = 653

Monday, December 7 = 669
Tuesday, December 8 = 676
Wednesday, December 9 = 687
Thursday, December 10 = 714
Friday, December 11 = 720
Saturday, December 12 = 732
Sunday, December 13 = 739

Monday, December 14 = 748
Tuesday, December 15 = 749
Wednesday, December 16 = 776 (this last section is super long, so I'll probably break it up into a 2-3 day read)

Some quick thoughts, at the end of the first week of reading.

What the hell was that scene with Lord Batherard Osmo’s giant adenoid?!?

An important theme is reversal: V2 rockets are faster than sound, so you “hear” them after they have hit, unless you’re dead, then you don’t hear them at all. Or, later, he puts it: "the normal order of stimuli reversed."

This may be linked to something I read yesterday: p.49: “…you weaken the idea of the opposite, and here all at once is the paranoid patient who would be master, yet now feels himself a slave.”

Thank you for the insight on “the reversal”. That is very helpful.
I had the same Lord Osmo question. Novi Pazar is a city in Serbia and the adenoid is likely Lord Osmo’s dream which Prentice is “managing”, so I got the Balkan fears but that is about it.
Another question, what department exactly is the “white visitation”? And why does Pointsman need the dog?

I suspect this is going to be another theme:
Page 31: “there is no control, things only happen”

I'm not sure what "White Visitation" is... a government agency, I think. These are my notes: "The White Visitation” houses an agency called PISCES: Psychological Intelligence Schemes for Expeditioning Surrender. Devoted to psychological warfare, with Pavlovians and behaviorists."

Pointsman needs dogs because he experiments on them, ala Pavlov.

I think you're right about control vs. free will. I think that was a theme in Mason + Dixon too.

I'm only at page 23 (Vintage edition; 902 pages), but I can't help but notice the numerous direct and indirect phallic references and sexual double-entendres so far. For example, the Snipe and Shaft can be interpreted in myriad ways (including anagrams). And lots of bananas throughout...

I've also spotted a subtle cartoon reference: (p. 13) "...in a dented green Lagonda by his batman, a Corporal Wayne." I bet his name first is Bruce!

I was wondering too about the meaning of the adenoid and Lord Blatherard Osmo. A bit of googling helped me to find a possible reference to the Chaplin classic "The Great Dictator", whose main character in Adenoid Hynkel. So the enormous adenoid is a metaphor of the Hitlerian fear that was gripping the population of London.

I didn't even think of the bananas as phallic symbols. (smacks head)

Okay, so the White Visitation is actually a place, like an asylum that also houses PISCES.

Section 10, Slothrop's "memories" of Roxbury includes some of the most disgusting descriptions of toilets I've ever read.

There are at least 3 important revelations in this section:

1. Operation Blackwing: seems to be about aggravating race relations in Germany by making propaganda about the Schwarzkommando or “black command"

2. Slothrop underwent Pavlovian experiments as a child which involved a stimulus (x) giving him an erection. Not clear what the stimulus was. Also, despite the fact that Jamf would have "extinguished" this reflex, there is a point "beyond the zero" (p. 86). The significance of the title of the chapter. It seems to mean that Slothrop maintains the reflex...?

3. Pavlov thought that the ultraparadoxical explained all diseases of the mind: the patient no longer responds to the stimulus, but actually turns away. Only when the stimulus is removed does he respond. “The confusion of ideas of the opposite.”

Not quite sure I understand all of this, but I'm glad I made it through section 14 and I'm taking a day off :)

Yes, we definitely have some "reversal" or opposition themes going: There is God the creator and the destroyer (p107). Theme of master and slave, and the accompanying do you control your dreams or do your dreams control you. There is stimulation and response, with the accompanying stimulation and NO response (this ultra paradox was very confusing).
The actual structure of the book also bakes the 'not hearing the rocket until you are dead theme' into it. You hear about a situation or meet a person and it is not until much later that you are given more information in which to interpret that situation or understand that person. For example, page 19, in my edition, you have someone taking a photo of Slothrup's girlfriend's star map and not until page 87 is that explained. Or at least illuminated.
I remember someone telling me about the toilet sequence in this book. I think it is considered a classic sequence because of Jack (JFK) but boy that was a number of pages dedicated to literal s**t.
Structurally, also, it is so difficult to know if everyone we meet is actually important or not...are we going to meet all of them again and do we have to remember who they are?
And the whole Kenosha Kid sequence in which we have the famous toilet sequence, is that explained by Slothrup undergoing light narcosis to illuminate his country's racial problems or do we have to remember Kenosha, Malcolm the Red, Crutchfield and Whappo for something in the future?
Every book has these issues but boy he sure knows how to stretch them!
I do have to say that I am enjoying the reading though.

"The actual structure of the book also bakes the 'not hearing the rocket until you are dead theme' into it."
This is a really good way to think about it. Like in section 14, when we jump from the subjectivity of Katje to Blicero to Gottfried, back to Katje. It's only after a paragraph or 2 that you realize you're in a new perspective.

"Structurally, also, it is so difficult to know if everyone we meet is actually important or not...are we going to meet all of them again and do we have to remember who they are?"
I am making notes of most of the names because I'm not sure. I do know that Malcolm the Red is a reference to Malcolm X (who had reddish hair), but only because I read it somewhere.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. For me, it is like homework, but I like a challenge. :)

I've now gone past the end of the first chapter. I'll ad lib a few comments:

- The poop hallucination experienced by Slothrop was a bit graphic, but probably not as graphic as the Worst Toilet in Scotland scene in Trainspotting; I have seen it, not yet read it though.
- Apparently, Salman Rushdie theorized that Tyrone Slothrop is an anagram for "sloth or entropy", which also links with some themes explored in the novel.
- I am quite happy (and biased) by the appearance of all things probabilities and statistics. The big focus is on the Poisson distribution which is used in general to model the number of occurrence of events within a given period of time. As alluded in the text, it was famously used by Bortkiewicz in 1898 to model the frequency with which soldiers in the Prussian army were accidentally killed by horse kicks (...cavalry accidents...). But there is another reason why the focus is on Poisson particularly. While the mathematician who created the distribution bears this name, it is also French for fish. There is an immediate connection with PISCES. And remember that Dr. Porkyevitch is also conditioning an octopus in the same lab (I think) as Pointsman's dogs.
- The Disgusting English Candy Drill scene was hilarious. When Mrs. Quoad said: "Here: wine jellies. They're prewar.", I knew this section would degenerate into a not-so-subtle dig at the English and their food/sweets.
- During the 1922 (?) meeting at Peter Sachsa's with Rathenau and Smaragd, Rathenau made the following statement, which I think goes to the core of some of the themes of the novel: "You must ask two questions. First, what is the real nature of synthesis? And then: what is the real nature of control? / You think you know, you cling to your beliefs. But sooner or later you will have to let them go.
- While there are so many threads hanging around in the first chapter, they start linking themselves in the second chapter. And, without giving away too much, it really helps that most of the action is in one location in that chapter.