Sounds of Silence; was Re: VLVL(6)... and 'Slothrop'

[Howard, Jesse]

On Wednesday, December 16, 1998 1:55 AM, rj [SMTP:rjackson at mail.usyd.edu.au]
wrote:
><snip>brian's question about Slothrop's dis-assembly in the narrative, and
psmale's hypothesis about Slothrop's fragmentation as being like the
working out of some mathematical function are part and parcel of this
refusal to conform to the conventions of narrative exegesis, this
baulking at 'system' of any kind. Slothrop scuffles off into 'real'
world anonymity, away from 'the stage' of the novel. It's like the film
running backward, another reversal of cause and effect, defiance of
logical sequence. It's an anti-mathematical function: Slothrop becomes
'us'...


Is that how you read the end?  That slothrop fades not only into folklore
within the book but also into folklore within our minds?  What kind of
curious mirror is Pynchon holding up here?
You point out the tension between the identification as a destructive act
and writing as a creative act, but I don't understand how you see that
working in the context of GR.  Can you 'splain w/an example?  Slothrop
becoming the Rocketman for a day becoming the Rocketman all over becoming
the Rocketman for all time (in myth)? I'm a little slow today, so use short
sentences and small words...

confusedly
jch