Pynchon and computers

[Penny Padgett]

Hi all,

I've been getting some interesting mail in response to my question
about Pynchon and computers.  Not all of it has made it to the
list at large, so if I may, I'll summarize the arguments made to
date.  (The PRO side argues that Pynchon is sympathetic/positive 
towards computers; CON, the opposite.)


PRO:  The way Pynchon treats the character of Prairie in _Vineland_
      may indicate where his "heart" lies viz. modern technology.
      It may be significant that Prairie finds out about her long-
      lost mom with the aid of a computer.  [Editor's note:  Yeah,
      and that computer is so cuddly, too!]

CON:  The essay "Is It O.K. To Be a Luddite?" seems to support
      generally Ludditic values, among which we can certainly
      number a hostility toward technology in general and computers
      in particular.  Not to mention Pynchon's friendship with
      Kirkpatrick Sale, deep ecologist and Luddite historian.

      The passage in _Vineland_ where human lives are imagined to be
      ones and zeroes in God's Big Database.  [Dehumanizing?]

      The fact that Pynchon himself did not use a word processor
      for the ms. of _Vineland_, and that Wanda Tinasky typed her
      letters on a manual typewriter.


I note that no one responded to my suggestion that we list members 
are all attached to a Tube, even as we read/write these notes.  Given
the treatment of Tubal devotees in _Vineland_, we might all be in
trouble.  :-)

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Penny Padgett          "There are no mistakes in life, some people say
Technical Writer        And it's true sometimes you can see it that way."
padgett at intellicorp.com           -- Bob Dylan
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