GRGR(16) Opium Wars

[rj]

Peter Petto
> Tchitcherine also has a doper buddy, fellow opiomaniac Chu Piang. As 
> detritus from the Chinese Opium War with all the cultural baggage that 
> implies, he is a genuine tourist attraction. The situation goes beyond the 
> alphabetic level to valency grammar. Chu is the most detailed example of 
> Tchitcherine's attraction to undesirable elements.

We also see something of the complexity of Pynchon's own attitude to
drug use in this little vignette too, I think. The way that Chu Piang's
addiction was a deliberate strategy of economic imperialism (the Opium
Wars), the "sooty-gray complexion" (physical side-effects), and the
leering tourists with their hypocritical moral judgements on his habit,
and the "situations, journey, comedy" which his opium dreams bring for
him. I also love the cameo of he and Tchitcherine, the two scalliwags
sneaking off behind the 'boys toilets' to have a puff. (346-347)

best