Fairgoers would see the ship overhead and yet not see it, for at the Fair, where miracles were routinely expected, nothing this summer was too big, too fast, too fantastically rigged out to impress anybody for more than a minute and a half, before the next marvel appeared.
* * * * * * * * * *
In other words, it's a perfect way to spy on Fairgoers. It's not suspicious because it's just as awesome as every single other thing at the Fair.
Is Pynchon also discussing subtext of the novel as it's about to transition from Boy's Adventure Novel to something else, something more difficult? Here we are at the Fair in a vaguely steampunk Boy's Adventure Novel with so many amazing and fantastic things to read about that the reader hardly notices the subtext at all! All the exhibits and wonders described at the Fair? Were they just there to amaze readers with the attractions the boys were seeing? Or did they all have a deeper meaning to the white imperialism subtext pervading this entire chapter? Who would notice the subtext with all this other crazy stuff to look at!
"too fantastically rigged out to impress anybody for more than a minute and a half, before the next marvel appeared"
This describes reading this book so densely packed with examples and allusions to various imperialist operations happening around the globe. Each one is described one sentence after another, giving the reader no time to really wrap their head around each one. Reading this book multiple sentences, multiple paragraphs, multiple pages at a time leaves little room for contemplation of everything that was just read. The only way to take in all of these sights is to slow down and take them one at a time, or in other words, "to single up all the lines."
This is one of the reasons people take television so less serious an art form than movies. Because television programs come at you non-stop, one after the other, leaving little time to think about or discuss with others what was just experienced. Whereas movies give you an immediate break afterward, whereupon the viewer can walk out and ponder what was just experienced, perhaps discussing it on the way home with a friend with whom they had gone to see it.
Maybe that's all changed now with streaming services and everything instantly at our disposal. But in some ways, it's also worse. When you binge a full season of a show, you barely think about it at all. It's a visceral experience, felt more than thought about. Have you ever noticed how when seasons of a show drop the full season at one time, when you're ready to watch the second season you can hardly remember the details of the first season? This probably doesn't happen if you've had repeat viewings or if you engage in discussion of the program online. But that's sort of the point! Marvels that appear before you for a minute and a half apiece are soon forgotten. More time must be put in. Understanding and comprehension take patience.
Doing this project has taught me two main things: 1. Reading a book by stopping after each sentence and contemplating that sentence as much as possible truly fills out the experience of the book; and 2. Life is too short to read very many books this way but now it's the only way I want to read them.
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