Drugs in Pynchon's fiction

[Paul Mackin]

On Tue, 26 Oct 1999, rj wrote:

> Paul Mackin <pmackin at clark.net>:
> 
> > between the poles of writing from life and writing from the library P
> > comes a lot closer to the latter than the former
> 
> I'd contest this, I think, too, and particularly in the context of magic
> ritual (eg Tarot, seances) and drug and dream vision experiences as
> represented in the texts. And, no, he doesn't write about writers or
> creative artists all that much, except that I've sometimes got the sense
> with Pynchon's cast that they are in fact writing their own lives. And I
> think of that Busby-Berkeley vision Pirate has of himself, or the way
> Tyrone imagines himself as Clark Gable or Plasticman, in this context.
> 
> But I do agree with you that Pynchon's art fits somewhere in between the
> two poles -- I've got him placed somewhat closer to the field than the
> studio, however. 

It's like the difference between creating music in the open air (field) or
large stadium with all the raw emotion of kids boogalooing in the aisles
and methodical, precise recording-studio work done under the watchful
eye  of a director and sound  engineer. Well perhaps not exactly. But yes
there are elements of both in our man. 

rj makes good points. I do like the idea that certain characters in
the books are themselves Artists of a sort. Might we call them
Action Artists? 

And yes there is Bodine. Having been a Navy enlisted man myself I came
across many Bodines. If you're not already a Bodine when you go in, you
will certainly get lots of encouragement to become one, if you have any
inclinations along thos lines at all--there's such a big appreciative
audience to draw upon.  I don't see Bodine as being a REAL person. However
Bodine-ness is exceedingly Real. I remember upon reading V. feeling
certain to the core that Pynchon had himself been in the Navy and had
heard the same sea stories (as they are called) that I had. I would have
recognized  P to be a fellow swabby before ever hearing it stated as fact
that he was.

Here's something a bit similar. Though I think I said in the previous post
that P-characters are not Real in the sense of being fully developed
three-dimensional human persons there is another sense in which the
writing is Ultra-Real. When I first read GR I felt certain P would have
had to have lived  through the War Period in order to write about it the
way he did. The verisimilitude was so striking--at least the equal of the
Mailers and other cats who had actually  been there. P's relative youth
ruled out any first hand experience. So here is another plug for the
library research side of the guy--but Reality was produced. (as a
correlary, whatever else GR may be ABOUT it is truly about the seminal
event in history we know and (yes) love as World War II.

 

			P.