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Malus</title></head><body>
<div>Allow me to talk to myself a moment; </div>
<div><br></div>
<div>The real world of 1904 may have had nary a clue that WWI was on
the way but Pynchon and his readers are on almost
heightened awareness of the fact. So whomever was writing about
WWI as being a source of tension in the book is totally on the money
(duh) but there is certainly a tension related to that between
the text and the reader - a real enough place. We have a
premonition that something is coming all the way (if we look)
from the appearance of Archduke Ferdinand in the first pages,
but they don't. They will. It's well done.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>And now back to Icelandic spar and bifurcation and Constant
Penhallow.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Bekah</div>
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<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>At 10:51 PM -0700 3/19/07, bekah wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>In 1904/5 most of Western
Civilization, Europe, North America, Australia,
etc. viewed the prospects of a multi-national war on a large
scale as being highly unlikely. After all, they had
their alliances and agreement to keep them safe and with a secret
maintenance to keep the balance of powers, all would be
well. And if it did come to a war, well,
technology being what it was, the war would be very short - 6
weeks or so at most. The last multi-nation war had
been Crimea in 1854. There were some sometimes very bloody
skirmishes in the colonized areas or the crumbling Ottoman Empire but
overall, nothing between the major players. The focus was on
nation building through material growth and imperialist interests.
It was generally thought that war was disruptive to trade and empire
building and the impetus was to keep the peace for the sake of
the goodies. The outcome of WWI was general societal
disillusion with so many things. the rise of Nazi Germany,
the Great Depression and WWII really.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>That said, I agree there is a sense
of foreboding in AtD, and there was a certain uncertainty
(along with unparalleled optimism) in the world at the time
(Gilded Age or not). But the fear was not of a
multi-national war.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>The fear was of the
Bolshevik/<font color="#000000">Menshevik</font> power struggle in
Russia and the immigrants here. V.I. Lenin wrote
"What is to be Done?" in 1902 and<font color="#000000">
"One Step Forward, Two Steps Backwards"</font> in 1904.
The<font color="#000000"> Second Congress of the Russian Social
Democratic Workers' Party split the factions and called for a
world-wide revolution. This was in 1903.</font> In
January of 1905 the Revolution really began (for all intents and
purposes). <font color="#000000"> resident McKinley was
assassinated by an anarchist in 1901 and Eugene Debs ran for president
in 1904. (I know that anarchism and socialism and the labor
movement are not the same thing at all, but they were all
interested in radially changing life as</font> it was known. -
they were all seen as a big, bad, horrible threat from
somewhere.)</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>That's the fear and foreboding I see
reflected in the book. The syndicalists and the capitalists are
going at each other. It's a war - (a statement from the next
chapter).</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>I don't know what the Vormance
(V + romance?) crew dug up - it may be something to do with the
evil that lurks in men's hearts or something. It may be a Red
Scare. I think that Dr. Vormance may be some kind of take-off
on <font color="#000000"> Luigi Amedeo, the Prince of
Climbers, for several reasons.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Amedeo,_Duke_of_the_Abruzzi<span
></span>>. </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
color="#000000"><br></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
color="#000000">Bekah</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
color="#000000"><br></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>At 2:00 PM -0600 3/19/07, rich wrote:
<blockquote type="cite" cite>
<blockquote>I rather tend to think that Pynchon's treatment of 'the
inevitability of<br>
historical events' aims to dispute that very 'inevitability'. All
the<br>
characters in AtD act as if WW1 truly is inevitable, and in that way
they<br>
help bring about its very inevitability. By having no doubts
whatsoever<br>
about the coming disaster, they submit themselves to the abstract
force of<br>
History and by doing so they deprive themselves of the opportunity to
change<br>
the course of events. Of course, the actions of a single individual
will<br>
hardly be enough to change the course of history, but if we all think
that</blockquote>
<blockquote>way (and most of the characters in AtD do so); if we all
try to evade<br>
responsibility by pointing to the inevitability of coming disasters,
then<br>
these disasters will surely come about.<br>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>_______________</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>most americans if you asked them today
will probably agree that another terrorist attack on american soil is
inevitable. I don't think we can divorce the mood of the current
events from Pynchon's fictional creations and psyche. Before WW1, I
think the mood was guarded as to a upcoming war but in reality the
general sense was of at least a short one (many were happy to see it
come). there were others, of course, who thought an impending
disaster, and a long bloody slog, curiously like in Iraq
today.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>********</blockquote>
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