M&D, the Internet&W.A.S.T.E

[Bill Burns]

The Bovine Remailer (?) regurgitated:

>>>The previous novels follow a clear pattern in
>>>their embracing the various technology of communication (communication
>>>and the way media frame and shape the message being a perennial theme
>>>in Pynchon's work). V and the early fiction is full of references to
>>>mythology and (iconic) images.  Gravity's Rainbow is chock-a-block
>>>with film. Vineland is saturated with TV. (I'll follow Pynchon in
>>>discounting TCOL49). So, the obvious conclusion to draw wrt Mason &
>>>Dixon is that it should centre on the Internet as the next logical
>>>progression (and/or regression) in the chain of communication media.

Pardon me for being so dense the other day, but Henry M. asked about the
significance of the Anubis in GR. Anubis in Egyptian mythology, as I think
I noted before, is parallel to Hermes in Greek mythology. He was the
courier to Zeus, but he was also the god of commerce. So in the Greek
mythos, is there a connection between communication and the marketplace?

Like Anubis, he also conducted souls of the dead to the underworld. He had
a reputation for mischief (especially involving his brother Apollo--the Sun
god), and he possessed power over dreams and sleep. His symbol, the
caduceus, can be seen as the embodiment of certain medical principles--a
staff with twin snakes, the opposition of toxicology and pharmacology (yep,
I'm probably stretching it a bit here). But I think the interesting thing
here is that the entity who has power over life and death, over commerce,
and over communication is one and the same--a-and he has an antagonistic
relationship with the sun god to boot. 

Well, Henry, there's something goin' on here, but I'm not sure what it is. 


wdburns at micron.net
"There are three kinds of people in this world: those who can count and
those who can't."