Gnostic Pynchon and the Cartels

[David Morris]

This is very good stuff.  I've not read Eddin's GP, but what he says here is 
a very clear analysis of what is probably the most prominent theme in GR.

David Morris

>From: "Terrance F. Flaherty"
>
>From The Gnostic Pynchon, Dwight Eddins, Indiana University
>Press, 1990.
>Pg. 128
>The cartel aspires to create an absolutely pervasive system
>of connections, a definitive and inescapable nexus that
>would usurp nature's orderings and "correct' nature's
>randomness with its framework of controlled causality. The
>shattering of natural nexuses, the interdiction of organic
>renewal, the conscious elaboration of death-orientated
>processes are not simply the unfortunate by-products of
>ruthless power hunger. Rather they are conscious
>desecrations that are integral to satisfying that hunger,
>which is ultimately to see Earth nullified and sterilized in
>the triumph of the artificial and the mechanical---in other
>words, of the purely man-made. As long as nature transcends
>man, concealing her ultimate mysteries and sentencing even
>the Cartel to preterition sure, there must be a constant
>gnostic assault upon this transcendence, spearheaded by
>scientists and technologists. The aims are the destruction
>of nature's sanctum sanctorum through omniscience and
>through mastery over her life processes in a man-made
>Kingdom of Death.
>
>GR.539
>"DEVIL"S ADVOCATE'S what the shingle sez, yes inside is a
>Jesuit…."
>
>Eddins GP.129
>What the Jesuit is making clear is the metaphysical scope of
>the usurpation in which They are engaged.
>
>Eddins GP.111
>Out of this dance of parodic opposites (GP.109 GR is a
>daunting intricate web of reciprocities, ironic
>correspondences, inversions and unexpected doubleings-ie V-1
>and V-2, Outside Inside, Pointy, Spectro GR.144) rises the
>basic concept of GR, the religious dialectic that structures
>the novel. It is marked by mystical and supernatural
>manifestations on both sides, by the presence of fanatical
>devotees and by the drive for nothing less than metaphysical
>dominance….the right to define ultimate reality and to
>decide what the individuals relation to this reality is to
>be.

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com