"Something was in the air . . . "

[LARSSON at vax1.mankato.msus.edu]

Andrew Walser writes:
"        All of these writers were men, all American, all in their
thirties at the time these novels were composed.  All of them
started writing in the Sixties -- although Auster did not publish
a novel until 1985.
        Does this collection of coincidences seem significant, or should I go
home and get some sleep?"

Without looking for direct influences and cross-references (which may exist,
for all I know), it is true that there are points where a certain nexus
of interests and concerns will coincide.  Consider P's meditations on King
Ludwig, which are themselves coming at about the same time as other inquiries
into this interesting character, not least of them Luchino Visconti
's film LUDWIG, which--coming 1n 1973--is probably too late to have had
direct input for P, but still reflects certain cultural concerns.  Also see
Visconti's THE DAMNED, about a Krupp-like German family, whose scion likes
to cross-dress and don Nazi regalia as well, while also being responsible for
a child's death--the correspondences with Blicero in particular are
interesting, though again I doubt a direct influence.

There's also Pynchon's critique of the cinematic apparatus, which mirrors
much of the post-structuralist criticism of cinema coming from French
theorists like Baudry, Comolli, Oudart and Dyan and others in the late
1960s/early 1970s.  However, contrary to the earlier poster who thought
GR was rooted in a *materialist* critique of society, P's basis is
metaphysical--precisely the "hippy dippy bullshit" condemned by the poster.
But, even Karl Marx once said something like, "Better an intelligent
idealism than a stupid materialism."

--Don Larsson, Mankato State U., MN