GRGR: The Gnostic Blicero

[Doug Millison]

Read Hans Jonas' discussion in the chapter, "Gnostic Imagery and 
Symbolic Language" of his book _The Gnostic Religion_, then read the 
Gottfried/Blicero passage currently in question and you'll see how 
Blicero might be characterized (or how Pynchon's characterization of 
Blicero might be characterized) as Gnostic.  I've heard that Jonas' 
book (first published in 1959) is considered to be one of Pynchon's 
sources, although I don't recall where I heard that, maybe somebody 
knows something about that. I expect that this has all been gone over 
in P-list discussions of the past, and I imagine it's covered pretty 
well in the book, _The Gnostic Pynchon_ which I haven't yet read.  If 
I have time I might be able to make some side-by-side comparisons to 
demonstrate the point, but with the Labor Day weekend coming up, 
out-of-town guests arriving tomorrow, and a beach house waiting at 
Capitola (not very far at all from a house in Aptos where Pynchon is 
known to have spent some time working on Vineland, by the way) about 
70 miles south of here, so you may have to fend for yourselves.

Otherwise -- nice to hear from you Meg, on a topic we've discussed in 
the past. Thanks for reminding me that most of the Pynchon scholars I 
know take such a magnanimous view of reading Pynchon, and that it's 
only some cranks on the P-list who throw rocks at people who express 
an interest in Pynchon's life and what he's had to say about his work 
outside of his stories and novels. I'm not committed to any 
particular theory of literary criticism and feel free to cobble 
together my own interpretations, based on what I find in his fiction, 
what P has said under his own byline in other essays and articles, 
what other critics have said about it, what I know of life from my 
own experience, & etc. Agree with them or not; I could care less 
whether they're  permitted or valid, or not, according to some theory 
that somebody thinks has to govern all readings of literature. 
Pynchon pitches a big tent.
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