Pynchon and women

[Bill Burns]

Okay, so I'm having a little trouble with my mailer. IS THAT SO WROONG?

>Murthy writes:
>
>>What would be helpful here is some explanation of the Japanese subplot
>>in Vineland. I've asked on the list before, but came up empty.  Pynchon
>>seems to want to say something about agency and responsibility (and the
>>illusion of control, that one can _do_), but it doesn't come through
>>clearly. Had he managed to do that, it would've been quite a synthesis
>>of the traditional left and right - the desire to radically change
>>things and the realization that no one can _do_, or in other words, the
>>desire to change the other and the desire to realize oneself.
>>
>
>I can't get into the depth I'd like to on this just yet, but here's a teaser.
>
>The concept of karma plays a major role in *Vineland* and finds
manifestations >in a number of the characters (major and minor). On page 218
of my copy >(Little, Brown, 1st ed.), Pynchon notes Weed Atman's (a pun,
perhaps on "atmen" >or "to breathe" auf Deutsche--also, I believe, a cognate
for the Sanskrit >"atman," which means "self"). I can't find the source at
the moment, but I've >read analogies comparing karma to wind blowing on the
surface of a pond--a Zen >koan possibly. The point is that karma causes an
effect on a "surface" that, of >itself, has no qualities (or, better yet, is
de-void of qualities). Karma is >the individual's state of enmeshment in the
world, whether one has good karma >or bad. The aim in Hinduism and Buddhism
is to gain release from the >never-ending karmic cycle, and to do this, one
must be free from ego >attachment--they have to be free from the "illusion"
of distinctions that >posits a self. 
>
>You mention that both D.L. and Frenesi have in some way given up (or
attempted >to relinquish) their agency or, perhaps, their selfhood. I think
you're correct >that Pynchon is demonstrating two flawed means by which to
achieve this >(although I don't believe he's positing the impossibility of
relinquishing >one's agency through discipline). Neither D.L. nor Frenesi
has truly reached >this point because they are either unaware of the
possibility of release >(Frenesi) or they are not capable of willng
themselves to be released of the >will's desires (D.L.). Weed Atman, and the
other Thanatoids, seemed to be so >enmeshed (due to their desire for
revenge), they've actually passed over the >other extreme--permanent
enmeshment or negative enlightenment--that they can't >even escape their
current station. This layer of the novel is informed not just >by a Japanese
subplot, but a Hindu-Buddhist mindset. 
>
>Anyway, I have to go pick my daughter up from daycare before they start
>charging by the minute. I'll write more on this subject later. I wrote a
good >portion of my thesis on this theme in a section I titled "Strip-Mining
the Zen >Mindscape."
>

And here are a few more ideas for you.

I read one article (I'll follow up with references tomorrow) that suggested
that Weed Atman was based on a mathematician by the name of Galois--a French
revolutionary and a theoretical precursor of group theory. His name also
happens to be a popular brand of cigarette (a "weed," so to speak--or that's
what the author purports). The article goes on to suggest that the insurance
company uses a technology (whose design is based on group theory) to
postulate that the destruction of the coastal facility was caused by 90(?)
ft. tall sauropod.

I'll try to provide more details tomorrow when I actually have the time to
dig though them. Meanwhile, it's 11:00, and I have to be at work at 7:00
(the real job). 

G'Night.
Bill Burns
WDBurns at micron.net
============================================================
  Brought to you by W.A.S.T.E. and your local postmaster.
============================================================