"Hold this a minute."
* * * * * * * * * *
Okay, this is it. The final corn grower of a short sentence because Merle transitions from a person learning a new thing at this moment to simply Roswell's assistant (as Roswell promised him, to be fair). "Here's the darkroom. Here's the ruby light. Here's the dry plate. Now focus your attention on holding this dry plate while I do a whole bunch of other shit that will make your head spin." Okay, maybe I've gotten a little too far ahead of the one line at a time context but remember Pynchon explained during the fire at Newburgh that the context of some lines together must be ascertained to appreciate what Pynchon's saying. It might seem a weird thing for Pynchon to clarify thousands of blog posts later but you need to remember: I'm still only on page 64! Pynchon's taking his time training me to read his book to the best of my ability! And by "Pynchon", I mean "the Pynchon that I made up in my mind to allow me to read his book as closely as possible and to get the most I can out of it." And while, overall, I think it's working, like understanding how all the displays at the Chicago World Fair weren't just appropriated cultures and people put up to gawk at but the natives taking agency over how they'd be presented by acting out and showcasing the moments in their peoples' lives where they defeated or humiliated the imperialists. That's just the one example that's at the forefront of my brain but I've noticed a lot more with the close reading. Other times, I'm just rambling. Like now where I'm taking a minute, standing here with a dry plate in my hands, to think through what the hell I'm doing here.
I should probably just sit down and read this book already!
