Sex and the Single Bomb

[Bonnie Surfus (ENG)]

I was afraid I'd get this.  The point was that the list discussion was 
turning into this competition that emerged in this declaration of a 
subscriber's vision, not Pynchon's, even going so far as to include "us" 
in his opinion.  Dangerous.  

Of course PYnchon addresses these issues.  But his is a more complex 
expression, coming as it does through narration.  I got a message from 
one regular guy to the next about how "we" all think bombs are sexy?  
Nope, not at all.

Weird how the competitive edge seen here lately has blossomed within the 
context of a discussion of the bomb (derived from the ultimate drive to 
know--the exploit the smallest--then--particle, etc.)  Ascent.

I choose the preterite hope and bow out by simply telling you that I find 
nothing sexy here--no immenent orgasm in my sights.


Bonnie

On Tue, 8 Aug 
1995, Penny Padgett wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> Don Larsson quotes Bonnie:
> 
> >> "The point is that there is nothing seductive about an ICBM, nothing 
> >> sexy about thermonuclear weapons ... "
> 
> and then goes on to remark:
> 
> > ... TRP himself uses the imagery (sometimes straightforwardly,
> > sometimes ironically) as in the ref. in GR to Col Tibbets "tickling the 
> > clit of Miss Enola Gay" (which was named for Tibbets' mother--I don't 
> > *think* TRP knew that and wonder what it means if he did!).  And then 
> > there's the whole phallic rocket business that is so central to Blicero 
> > and Gottfried, if not Enzian.
> 
> Indeed. Not to mention all those feelthy limericks about Doing It with
> the rocket or component hardware.
> 
> "There was a young fellow named Ritter/Who slept with a guidance
> transmitter ..."  u.s.w. 
> 
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Penny Padgett               "I have this hope that the Net is going to
> Technical Writer             revive the arts of conversation and
> padgett at intellicorp.com      letter-writing."     -Judith Martin
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> -------
>