Vineland and smoking dope..

[Henry M]

Seems to me cocaine figures quite prominently in GR.

On  9 Jan 97 at 16:58, hb wrote:

> It seems to me that really the only drug Pynchon writes about
> frequently is marijuana, hashish....  and LSD I believe in Zoyd's
> case, but the only one he really takes to effects is pot/hash which
> he is most likely familiar with.
>         Due to his lack of main stream use of harder drugs like
>         other
> 60s-70s writers, ex. Dilaudid, Morphine, Heroine, intravenous drugs
> in particular, It is very likely he didn't dabble like these others.
>  Hell, he didn't need to.
>         While all these other dudes were needin to get high to write
>         the
> most freaked out shit...Pynchon was the true freak.  He didn't need
> it.  He didn't rely on drugs or have to entwine them as much, he
> had/has better tools and mediums which is what separates him from
> the pack.
>         I'm sure smokin pot and hash was enough for Pynchon... 
>         Smoke
> probably got him just as high as the junkie...
>         I hope i didn't write this in haste, meaning over looking
>         characters
> in his novels and/or the drug use...  No brainstorming, just what I
> recalled at glance at these posts.
>         I can't remember much drug in _V._ and that thing is
>         whacked...the
> Priest Rat...  V. and her cybernetics...  Veishu (sp?)..some place
> that it seemed everything was on acid... and the orgy at whatevers
> house...crazy
>          _Lot 49_ was the begin of his novel use of smoke and such
>          but as he
> says...the 60's etc.... and his short stories too...Everyone was
> doing it... It just took him awhile to veer from it and grow into
> other stuff.
>         _GR_ of course used drugs in a carefree funny way, w/
>         Slothrop
> rampaging Europe in his cape and helmet....but such a small thing to
> the book as a whole.
>         _Vineland_ had to have'm for Zoyd and the punks...  The 60's
> stereo-type stoner and the 80's stereotype Sid Vicious/Johnny
> Rotten/Young Ones punks.
> 
>         So anyway...  I don't think he was ever a serious dabbler
>         but what
> do i know?  I guess that's what this list is for.  Surely he smoked
> or smokes...again, what do i know?
> 
> 
> 
> At 02:37 PM 1/9/97 -0800, you wrote:
> >Also, I recall Tokin' Tom referring to mj as "that very useful
> >drug" (or something like that) in the intro to "Slow Learner" (I
> >think).  So who knows about that drug-ladder, eh?
> >
> >John
> >
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From:	Chris Stolz [SMTP:chstolz at canuck.com]
> >>Sent:	Thursday, January 09, 1997 11:10 AM
> >>To:	pynchon-l at waste.org
> >>Subject:	Re: Vineland and smoking dope..
> >>
> >>
> >>>
> >>>And while this newbie is at it, what's the consensus on 
> >>>TP's drug usage. Verifiable?
> >>
> >>
> >>If Jules Siegel wasn't lying, TRP apparently told Siegel that he
> >>was "so fucked up" writng _GR_ that he couldn't figure out what he
> >>was talking about when he went back later to re-read stuff.  Of
> >>course he's smoked tons of pot.  I imagine, though, that he's
> >>climbed the drug-ladder and has left it behind.
> >>
> >>chris
> >>Chris Stolz      Internet:  chstolz at canuck.com
> >>		Hard mail:  405-7A St. N.E.  
> >>                            Calgary, AB, Canada
> >>                            T2E-4E9  (403) 234-8653
> >>
> >>	Modern man likes to pretend that his thinking is wide-awake.  But
> >>this wide-awake thinking has led us into the mazes of a nightmare
> >>in which the torture chambers are endlessly repeated in the
> >>mirrors of reason.  When we emerge, perhaps we will realise we
> >>have been dreaming with our eyes open, and that the dreams of
> >>reason are intolerable.  And then, perhaps, we will begin to dream
> >>once more with our eyes closed.
> >>
> >>			-- Octavio Paz, _The Labyrinth of Solitude_	
> >>
> >
> >
> 
> 

Keep cool, but care. -- TRP
Moderation in moderation. -- Husky Mariner

http://www.nicom.com/~gravity