M&D, the Internet and Henry Holt

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

RICHARD ROMEO writes:

> Why discount 49?  Isn't 49 the most direct emblem of communication, 
> namely the Word itself.  There wasn't any subsuming mode/vehicle  to 
> encapsulate 49, like TV or film--is this why you discount? Just 
> curious... 

Well, maybe because it didn't fit neatly into my simple logical
progression (call me Casaubon). Pynchon does not completely dismiss
the book. Far from it. He says (from memory) `I forgot everything I
ever knew about writing when I wrote TCOL49'. Which I take to mean
that he considers it a technical failure. It's message (in so far as
it has a message) is a different thng altogether. I've just been
rereading Tony Tanner's book on Pynchon and I was very much struck by
all the religious themes in the novel. In particular - given your
mention of the Word - the notion that Pierce, Oedipa and the Trystero
represent an Unholy Trinity of Word (I know it's supposed to be World
- but then remember following LudWit that the world is all that is the
case and we are back to the logos), Word, Flesh and Devil as well as
the Holy Trinity of Father, Daughter and Holy Ghost. This makes me
believe that the 49 in the title is a definite reference to the 49
days between Easter and Pentecost.


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.