GRGR(11) - the Master (PPF 1&2)

[rj]

RICHARD_WILSON at udlp.com:

> also, i suspect that the (im)morality of a mathematical eqation should be
> identically zero which would make the "creatures" (of the Master Eqn)
> arbitrarily (or 'singularly' perhaps) innocent...
> (how innocent do you want them to be?)....

That's very interesting, and in the context of your last question I
think that Pynchon is very eager to illustrate how far each of the
characters is wittingly or unwittingly serving a particular "Master", as
well as demonstrating that there can often be more than one master
involved, or a concealed hierarchy, which changes the odds. As far as
the Master Equation theory goes -- and it is a good one I think -- if it
is Jamf or Pointy who have intermediated on behalf of the Master
Equation then the ratio changes again. In fact, PfP #2 becomes a fairly
subtle arithmetic formulation of indeterminacy in itself, does it not?

I'm also thinking in terms of Slothrop's (and Profane and Zoyd and the
Thanatoid's) schlemielhood, in whose terms the "Master" is the
inanimate, cultural dross, society's wastes (the teev, comix,
Shit'n'Shinola) etc. In this context "innocence" is in fact *not* a
condition devoutly to be wished. Slothrop is gradually tainted by his
experiences: he becomes less "innocent", but somehow better, or more
whole (psychically, if not physiologically), as he gains knowledge of
himself and his history. I think Pynchon might be confronting the
traditional binary opposition of innocence and guilt as moral
extremities (cf. Butler's *Erewhon* perchance? Or is it
innocence/experience: perhaps Blake is pertinent here?) 

best