Special Agent Roy Ibble reporting . . .

[Doug Millison]

Andrew,

Great to see you back on Pynchon-L and thanks for the long post re _White Out_.

I agree with you that the CIA's involvement in drugs seems to run as a deep
sub-text throughout TRP's novels. Earlier in the current GRGR attempt I
posted at length about the German role in developing military uses for
psychedelics, and how the leading  scientist involved was one of the Nazis
brought in to work on the U.S. space program -- quoting _Acid Dreams_ which
is a book I also highly recommend. I could dig it out and re-post if
anybody's interested.  The truth serum passages in GR seem to me to lend
themselves to interpretation as a commentary on the CIA experimentation
with drugs in the 50s and 60s that have been amply documented by
investigative journalists.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, check out the latest _Pynchon Notes_
where Charles Hollander's fine article makes a case for COL49 as a coded
expose by TRP of the CIA's direct manipulation of US domestic politics.

I had a chance to interview Gary Webb at the time he published the Web
version of _Dark Alliance_ (a brilliant demonstration of how an online
journalist can tap the unique capabilities of the medium, by the way),
before his editors at the SJ Mercury apparently bent to pressure from the
powers-that-be and disavowed his work -- they later squeezed him out of his
job. He is a brave journalist, and only the latest in a long line of
reporters who have been screwed when they challenged the CIA.  Their fate
may provide at least a partial explanation for why TRP stayed out of sight
for so many years.



d  o  u  g    m  i  l  l  i  s  o  n
http://www.dougmillison.com
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