Fidel & Cuba

[Paul Mackin]

----------
From: 	Fakhereddine Berrada[SMTP:fberrada at csd.uwm.edu]

Paul, how about the Hereros in GR? Not the Empty Ones, though. Enzian
comes to mind as a possible representative of that voice that tries to
speak without reproducing the basic assumptions of Western power and its
(dominant) cultural manifestations. His position, however, is made
ambivalent by his complex relationship with Blicero, hence his Rilkean
name, his language, and his physical presence within the Geographic and
cultural West. But as always in Pynchon, this manifestation of a different
(countercultural) voive remains very marginal and more a promise or a
possibility than an actual presence assuming power. What do you think? 


Yes, not the empty ones but the aardvark faction. Enzian IS an attractive presence  though not a member of the counterforce in the strict sense of the word I suppose. Well, I'll make a stab at your question by suggesting that Oberst's effectiveness is not DESPITE his complicity in the dominant culture but BECAUSE of it. He strives to reach the launching site and establish the sacred Rocket City even though he knows full well the project is also part of the culture of death. To quote from that infuriating antepenultimate episode,
". . . Manicheans who see two Rockets, good and evil, who speak together in the sacred idiolalia of the Primal Twins (some say their names are Enzian and Blicero) of a good Rocket to take us to the stars, an evil Rocket for the World's suicide, the two perpetually in struggle." Enzian is not a revolutionary, but a compromiser. He wants to reconcile opposites, not obliterate either pole. Black/ white, Enzian/ Blicero, etc., etc. He's a walking contradiction, a Black man who fought the war on the side of the Nazis. His rocket dilemma is not unlike that of Pokler and vonBraun. To be a part of the big multi-outcomed show they have pitched in for all they are worth. So, we have to ask, is this the "answer"? Many p-lister will be appalled by it. And Pynchon himself may not be too happy either. The viability of what Enzian is trying to accomplish is undermined at every turn by those outlandish comic book methods that come at us from all angles in that same episode just quoted from. What else are we to make of a solution in which  X-ray vision has to be employed, not to say jumping tall buildings faster than the speed of light by men of steel. But I do suppose we have to atleast consider the reconciliation model. The old standard struggle-to-topple-the-system doesn't work too well either. There's always the Iron Law of Oligarchy standing in the way, not to forget that Lord Acton. Well, I tried folks.

				P.