Byron the Bulb, Blade Runner and other topics (was Re: Death)

[marc issue robinson]

matt percy makes many useful references to discssions of Pynchon and
Cyberpunk, and then continues:

>Personally, I've always thought a comparison b/w Pynchon and J.G. Ballard
>would be most interesting, esp. since the two discuss very similar
>themes.  Of course, Pynchon seems to retain a certain morality which
>Ballard seems to eschew...i.e. Baudrillard's comment that "nowhere [in
>Crash] does that moral gaze surface": Ballard's chars. tend to be
>completely dehumanized, whereas Pynchon's still contain the possibility
>of redemption (even Blicero).

Well, there's a discussion of Pynchon and Ballard in Christopher Lasch's
The Minimal Self (1986, Picador in the UK) - I'd cite the page numbers, but
a good friend of mine borrowed the book, decided it was having a bad
influence on me and has refused to return it...sigh... you could check the
index.

rgds, marc.


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