04.34: Gravity’s Rainbow

In which we start out trying to cover chapter six of The Counterforce section of Gravity’s Rainbow…but only end up getting through half of it. This is the first chapter of the books that’s broken up into sub-sections. We’ll continue with the second half in two weeks!

Alan thinks that there might be a book called The Radiant Hour, a phrase that comes up in this chapter of the book. While he’s right, the book was published in 2000. The author may have taken the title from Gravity’s Rainbow, rather than vice versa.

Again in relation to the Radiant Hour, Liam recalls a line from a poem by William Blake called Milton. Here is the line reproduced:

There is a Moment in each Day that Satan cannot find Nor can his Watch Fiends find it, but the Industrious find This Moment & it multiply. & when it once is found It renovates every Moment of the Day if rightly placed[.]

(Milton, Plate 35:42-3 )

Here’s the source from Bo’s discussion on the phrase ass-backwards, from The Oxford English Dictionary Online.

Lastly, Liam mentions a documentary called A Journey into the Mind of . It is available on YouTube. You can watch it here.