American Death (and hope?)

[Hartwin Alfred Gebhardt]

TS sez:

>                          Here's
> my read: Slothrop is America, at first used by Europeans, then taking charge as 
> best he can, losing his identity & finally disappearing into the Los Angeles of 
> today. 

"Taking charge" and "losing his identity" at the same time? 
Interesting notion. And I don't think Slothrop represents America 
(that's Major Marvy's job). Slothrop, who's in physical love with the 
death of his race (humans) is in the zone to witness the assembly of 
his time (a la TRP). He 'escapes' because he is _over_determined, and 
in the end the confusion of stimuli on him allows him to slip away, 
dissolve. It's his only way out, and it's a lonely way. Who wants to 
be dead to his friends?

>     IMHO Pynchon was writing this as a warning to an Amerika that was divided 
> over the Viet Nam war, divided racially (still is...& remember TRP wrote the very
> elegant 'Journey Into the Mind of Watts' so this is not a casual theme I think), 
> and divided over technology, represented by no less than The Rocket -- VonBraun's 
> Saturn 5 & all those moon shots (anyone who was in HS or older will remember debates
> like "We can send men to the moon but can't feed the poor").

America is by definition hopelessly corrupted, and can at best be 
dismissed as totally irrelevant - a luxury hardly anyone can afford 
these days. I'm quite surprised that people on this list seem to 
think in terms of national identity. Quite startling on a list 
dedicated to the most unAmerican of American writers.
 
> The Roger-Mexico-as-Hope idea that I've seen before doesn't ring true for me. Roger 
> does try to change things, but loses what he loves (Jessica) in the process. Not 
> uplifting, and no encouragememt. 

Sounds like the Oprah Winfrey review of literature. I guess TRP 
didn't audience-test his ending properly before publishing. Roger 
Mexico is a symbol of hope precisely _because_ he manages to get over 
his silly obsession with Jessica by recognizing their love as a 
temporary / temporal, and thus more precious 'thing'.

Somehow, this comment reminds me of the difference between 
The Shawshank Redemption and Cool Hand Luke. The first, despite 
trying hard to "ring true" to the hardships of prison life, ends up being 
an awful steaming heap of sentimental kitsch. The second, despite its 
obeisance to sexual propriety and other cliches of its time, is still the 
prison film that rings most true to me.

>                    So I wouldn't go so far as to say GR holds out hope. 
> Warnings imply a way out, but they may not tell you how to escape. 

Just a question, maybe far too late. Escape from what, and to where, exactly?

>                 TRP kills us off 
> in the theatre, but it's only a book. Maybe the ideas was that when you were done you'd
> put the book down & do something, even if it was only a Kazoo chorus...

Good idea - as long as it's not rock 'n roll. Rock 'n roll is dead - 
and as Vineland has shown us, it smells. Seriously, though - saying 
GR is only a book is like saying the holocaust is only a film.

hg
hag at iafrica.com