pynchon and (versus) his ...

[LOT64 at aol.com]

Paul,

I feel Pynchon's <proper subject> is contained in the themes and ideas he is
expressing in his work.   WWII is not a subject it was a historical event
which precipitated incredible changes in social organization that we are
still dealing with.  The war in itself is not the concern but it is a petrie
dish in which the bacteria of depersonalization, the growing importance of
objects over people, paranoia, the conglomerate of government and industry
fighting its war against people grow with unchecked abandon.  One of the most
permanent and pervasive aftereffects of war is not the defeat of armies nor
the changing of boundaries but the absolute increase of the power and size of
the central government.  This was the subject of an interesting book whose
name  and author I forget.  It was a scholarly work in which he demonstrates
the incredible exponential increase in size of the federal government
pre-1941 and post-1945.  Its funny just how the language changed.  We went
from the War Department (a no-nonsense name ) to the Department of Defense
(the beginning of an orgy of eupehemism).  This is also seen in the evolution
of the phrase <shell shock> to <battle fatigue> to <post traumatic stress
syndrome>.

Anyway, WWII in GR is a subject that is a near perfect medim for Pynchon's
message.  Pynchon is able to craft an extremely personal expression out of a
subject that is not linked to him personally and directly.  Thomas Wolfe
created his out of a setting that was extremely personal.  

I think that is the key distinction..  WWII is not the subject of GR, it is
the setting.  

Ron Churgin