How does Gore's rose bud?

[Jason Witherspoon]

At 11:47 AM 2/27/97, Paul Mackin wrote:
>But overlooking Vidal's rough debating style (maybe he should join
>the p-list), IS there anything to his claim. DOES Pynch support IMmortal
>longings in us? I never would have thought so.
>
>Aren't the mystical trappings, including the Kabbala to the extent it figures
>at all,  used for entirely different purposes.

Hang on here.  What is Vidal's best novel?  I'd be interested in reading
it-- _Kalki_?  _Myra Breckenridge_?  Vidal's fiction (the very little that
I've dipped into) is on a much lower bracket than any of the "Plastic
Fiction" practitioners he's lined up against the Academy wall, esp.
Barthelme & Gass (& of course, Pynchon).

Funny he doesn't mention Gaddis, as I've always lumped Gore w/Basil
Valentine in my mind, somehow....

Don't get me wrong-- I *love* Vidal's political writings.  _Decline & Fall
of the American Empire_ is one of the most hilarious political obituaries
I've ever read; esp. the end, where Vidal pinpoints (pause for breath)...
MONOTHEISM as the root of all society's current ills.  And, yes, calls for
a return to the wondrous pagan ways of yore.  Meet you at _The Greek Way_ &
we'll discuss our "Mystery School" initiations!

Sorry, couldn't resist.  But the point is, I actually agree w/Gore, & we
are (I believe) seeing in some segments of the populace a return to more
inclusive, wholistic, earth-based spirituality (ie-- HEATHENISM).

Just thought I'd mention a great book I'm reading-- Alain Danielou's _Shiva
& Dionysus_ (more recently titled _Gods of Love & Ecstasy_ by a canny if
ham-fisted marketing department).

I think of Pynchon as very mystical, actually.  The whole Brigadier Pudding
sequence is a perverted journey through the qabalistic Sephiroth.  Other
examples abound.  Vidal referring to Pynchon as "quasi-Hindu" sounds kinda
ignorant to me.

                                                  Jason Witherspoon

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