Entropy, Frank & Dot

[White, Rich]

I liked Frank's World but found it really creepy and I felt unclean while 
reading it.  Something mighty disturbing about it psychologically.  I 
suspect that was part of the intent.
 ----------
.*++From: owner-pynchon-l
.*++To: CO27447; SY19058
.*++Subject: Entropy, Frank & Dot
.*++Date: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 7:27AM
.*++
.*++<<File Attachment: HEADERS.TXT>>
.*++
.*++My apologies to hag at iafric and perhaps even the rest of the list, but I 
feel
.*++compelled to visit this entropy/death of the universe thing again.
.*++
.*++I finished reading "Frank's World," by George Mangels, and maybe he has
.*++offered me up a way to bridge/arch/rainbow/parabola the
.*++gap/divide/chasm/dilemna represented by the living/dying universe, which 
I'm
.*++convinced is represented in both "GR" and  in "Frank's World."
.*++
.*++          Frank is the world. And we are the Dots on it.
.*++
.*++(Maybe even the thousand Dots of light.)
.*++
.*++If there is hope in this entropic world (Frank), it is because we (Dot) 
put
.*++it there, we fabricate it, we contrive it. The world is Death and Life, 
world
.*++with and without end.
.*++
.*++Mr. Mangels puts hope/life there ironically enough in the form of the 
Tibetan
.*++Book of the Dead preaching Dot. Mr. Pynchon puts it there by freezing 
the
.*++frame, stopping the narrative, just before the rocket makes contact. He 
puts
.*++Death on hold, so we can hold out hope.
.*++
.*++Entropy says the universe will die, but while we're here we  make death
.*++tolerable by insisting on life.
.*++
.*++Of course, that handy little fabrication falls apart rather quickly when 
you
.*++look at the very very end of "Frank's World."
.*++
.*++Mangels: "It just doesn't work that way."
.*++
.*++As Mr. Pynchon puts it, there's the screaming that comes across the sky. 
Then
.*++as Mr. Mangels puts it -- silentium post clamores --
.*++
.*++Enough of that. It's easy to talk in circles. Thankfully, there is humor
.*++mixed in to the books/life/world or one couldn't bear to continue 
thinking
.*++about this heavy b.s., huh?
.*++