Prosthetic Paradise(2) Enfetishment&MS

[Paul Mackin]

Terrance writes: (at the end of a post)

>This use of the ironic
> process of enfetishment is traditional in Satire and reminds
> us that Pynchon is a Satirist in the tradition of some of
> his more influential predecessors, like Swift (GT), Dickens
> (HT), Conrad (HoD) and of course T.S. Eliot (WL). In any
> event, in V. we see enfetishment functioning satirically, as
> ironic comments on those that are dull of mind or
> single-mindedly analytical. Is this a reader trap? 

Or possibly this time a WRITER trap? Did P overdo the inanimate
business a little in V. and when it came time for GR decide to more or
less reverse the process reification-wise--so that the INVESTING would be
no longer  so much the human with the inanimate--though that may
still be present--but rather very cleverly (and distinctively P)
projecting upon our modern  theoretical, scientific understanding of the
world--both animate AND inanimate--the cozily and familiar human all too
human? Starting with behavioral psychology and advancing forward. It was a
brilliant coup.

		P.