M&D phrase; Deleuze & Guattari origin?

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

Daniel O'Hara writes:

> . . . I'd think rather that
> Pynchon draws on Deleuze and Guattari for this particular phrase. At least
> we know he's familiar with their work: witness the "Deleuze & Guattari
> ['s] Italian Fake Wedding Book" of Vineland vintage. So we also know for
> how long he's been reading D&G (if, that is, he's continued his studies.)
> Though it has to be said that many think he was reading D&G long before
> Vineland came into being.

Who said he *studied* it? That `fake book' pun sounds more like a
rejection to me.

> The phrase in question, though, must surely emerge from Deleuze &
> Guattari's "Anti-Oedipus", the first volume of "Capitalism and
> Schizophrenia." D&G elaborate a theory of libidinal materialism which,
> combined with their formulation of desiring-machines, provides a sure
> blueprint for Pynchon's telescope as a linear mechanism of
> desiring-production, or, a "vector of desire." See the Anti-Oedipus, p. 36
> ('The Machines') for an elucidation of desire as a directional,
> bootstrapping, Markov chain-like force (where also may be found Deleuze's
> critique of Lacan.)

Perhaps. But A and V words, includng arrow and vector are all over
`Gravity's Rainbow' often in connection with Venus and other symbols
of desire. The assumption that the phrase comes from Pynchon's own
obsessions *unprompted* seems more reasonable to me. And an
alternative source which we can be sure Pynchon has read and have good
reason to accept as an influence (i.e. something which formed his
views rather than landed in his reading pile) is Henry Adams who makes
much use of vectors in his `Education'.


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