Death

[matthew.percy at utoronto.ca]

> 
>  It is however clear enough that central to Pynchon is the recognition
> that death and life are part of the natural cycle; one is needful to the other. 
> The desire for trancendence or immortality in the same state of being is
> tied deep to troupes of inanimate mecanistic assembly, abuse of power, 
> anti-humanism, facism.
> 
>       I wonder how my favourite charecter, Byron the Bulb, is implicated
> in this. I'm not sure. But it might be instrutive to think on it.
> 
> Eric Alan Weinstein
> Centre For English Studies
> University Of London
> E.A.Weinstein at qmw.ac.uk
> 

I've always thought of Byron as being a metaphor for the reclamation of 
the inanimate/sterile objects of late-capitalism- an attempt by Pynchon 
to restore the human into our world (a desire also reflected by The 
Counterforce).   Most of Section 4 seems to be predicated on the maxim 
"using their tools for our purposes" in a carnivalesque (Bakhtinian) moment-
i.e. Steve Edelman and the Kazoos at the Orhpeus theatre of Richard M. 
Zhlubb.  Obviously, this over-simplifies just a litte, but works pretty well
esp . with the Orpheus iconogrpahy).

Too tired to spell check,
 Matt