Mindless

[LARSSON at vax1.mankato.msus.edu]

Susan sez:
"of course we can start a discussion, which is always needed, about
exactly how mindless the pleasures are in GR.       Course there are
two stances on the word "mindless"--i can see mindless, in the sense
of brainless, thoughtless.  but also mindless implys to me a listless
[heh] lack of direction, thus of meaning.           i think it would be nice
to talk, and someone has started recently, about how much meaning/morality
there is in Pynchon.  i want to be careful to separate out the effect,
which varies of course by person, from the general intent of the works.
is the Pynchonian moral stance just really complex?"


I think the term "mindless pleasures" can be taken in several directions, and
indicate the deliberate ambiguity of Pynchon's attitudes.  There is Mindless
Pleasure as mere pleasure--the deliberate enjoyment of the simple things in
life.  Then there's the fact that such pleasures *are* mindless, and therefore
distracting from any purposeful direction--consider the many sidetracks that
Slothrop takes in his quest to indulge in one pleasure or another.  Some
pleasures, like drugs, induce mindlessness, which is not always (or maybe even
ever) a Bad Thing.  Think for instance of Pointsman's agents Speed and Perdoo
who are distracted from their mission while munching on melons (if memory
serves).

And then there's the Pleasure of Mindlessness as a state of being--Slothrop
simply looking at a rainbow and being cleared of all thought.


There's undoubtedly some Buddhist or other eastern elements mixed in with this!