GRGR(17) The act of "bad" naming

[jporter]

jody:

>>I think Pynchon might be serving up a little para able on this theme...
(snip)
>> All avenues of
>>transcendence, that have, in one way or another, been given a bad name.

David:

>Funny, I read the exact opposite attitude in this segment: veneration of the
>root.

But that's it, isn't it? The debased avenues of transcendence have been
given a bad name by the powers that be (or were), throughout history.
Pynchon inverts the inverted- including the uprooted tree. But it is a
covert message, this business of funny naming. Saure ain't so bad. The
group think does not result in loss of identity or evil domination by
certain members. The pregnant moment does not necessarily result in an
abortion.

At least on a small scale, these avenues, in the midst of the bombed out
zone- a back drop to remind us of the comparative "success" of orthodoxy-
ain't necessarily evil. It depends. I'm not claiming that P. advocates or
puts down any of them. I think he is striving for some form of neutrality
based on the situation- not a relativism exactly, but leaving judgement to
the reader, if the reader cares to, in the context of the larger vision.


jody