Less is More...

[Jan KLIMKOWSKI]

Don writes (re my comments on TP as revolutionary bard):

>Well, since COL49, yeah, but I think COL49 catches Pynchon at that point 
when
>he was becoming more overtly politicized himself--"The Secret Integration"
>and "A Journey into the Mind of Watts" are the even more overt 
manifestations
>of that urge.  There is little in the early short stories, or even V. that
>is overtly political--P seems much more concerned with metaphysical matters 
in
>those works, even when they do relate in some way to an image of lost 
chances
>or dispossession (as in "Lowlands").
>I think COL49 marks a turning point.

Hmmmm - the Education of Thomas Pynchon, eh?

The Watts piece is published 12 June 1966, a year after the Watts riot 
itself.  GR's years of grease and passage are 1966 to 1971. And Pynchon was 
certainly mixing with the Farina, Mimi & Joan Baez etc crowd thru this time. 
  As regards V., I'd have to reread the Weissman/Herero sections before I'd 
be willing to agree that their political content is minimal; certainly the 
history itself is radical and new and the product of TP's own digging around 
obscure texts and magazine articles.

But I do think the suggestion of a Pynchon getting more politicized thru the 
sixties is an intriguing one.  Guess we'll have to ask the man himself...

jan