Sex & the Swastika

[rj]

tf
> Here in the U.S. I doubt Pynch had much to fear in terms of
> the law. Did he fear the unlawful reach of the law? Did he
> fear the unlawful reach of the book business in America? I
> doubt it and I think the fact that Pynchon's use of names is
> not something he invented, except that he puts his own spin
> on them, tells us more than the legalities of naming. 

I take your point, and my familiarity with the American "system"of
jurisprudence is limited to a 70s tv show called Divorce Court (I think?
anyone else remember that one? or was it People's Court?), the OJ trial,
the Clinton-Lewinski-Starr saga, Judge Judy, and Gaddis's *Frolic*; so I
guess you could say I've got a fairly warped perspective on it as a
"system". "Richard M." is enough though, and the Zhlubb addition seems
as if it might have all sorts of satirical connotations, as you
mentioned.

And I guess Mr P wouldn't be worried about alienating half of his
reading public either, coz anyone who supported Nixon's not gonna get
anywhere near to page 700-odd of *GR*. Still, I can still see the name
change here as something like reserve or reluctance on Mr P's behalf to
an extent (something which he *doesn't* feel the need to do in
*Vineland* for example), while he's not afraid of naming (and
satirising) Roosevelt or Melvin Purvis or JFK or whoever else in the
narrative of *GR*. I do agree that the Zhlubb moniker makes the satiric
caricature even more biting.

best