GRGR(19): The Victim in a Vakuum

[Lycidas at worldnet.att.net]

Jeremy Osner wrote:
> 
> Lycidas at worldnet.att.net wrote:
> 
> > He can't reconcile his private dream, his personal need to
> > be a victim ( and this seems to be OK in the book) with his
> > taking care of business--which translates to being a victim
> > of the Dominatrix-substitutes you mention above.
> 
> So "can't reconcile" means he is in denial about his need for victimhood? That
> sounds like a good reading to me -- he is redirecting his OK personal need
> onto non-OK political venues. I can't express that very well though, it comes
> out sounding kinda pop-psychological. My understanding of psychology is rooted
> pretty firmly in the realm of the pop. Would you take a stab at phrasing this
> better? Thanks,
> Jeremy

OK, is "in denial" like when I deny that I am what I am, say
a guy that has a serious foot fetish, and this denial causes
me all sorts of problems? Let's say that's what it means, in
which case it is not that HE is directing his OK personal
needs onto the political, but that he can't reconcile his
personal needs with the needs of the SYSTEM. And this is
what the system requires. The System is what denies him is
personal need and his ability to act in accordance with his
personal needs and desires. Why does it do this? Because if
folks are getting their need to be victims satisfied in
their personal way, they will not need to be satisfied by
the System. The System wants control. The S&M in GR is
complicated because it affects nearly every relationship in
the book. Needs, desires, feelings for dominance and
submission simply can not be Wasted at the personal level.
The Systems needs must be met, and the System needs to
control individual lust for dominance and submission so that
it may co-opt individuals into its power game. If the system
allowed the S&M to go on at the personal level, the System
would end. Pokler knows that everything goes into the
dossier--including my foot-fetish. The System uses all of
this very personal information for synthesis and control. If
only me and my lover know what we need and desire, only we
can satisfy each oher, but if the System finds out or first
manufactures or conditions me to have needs and desires and
than destroys my private and personal relationships by
finding out how I am satisfied by my lover and than getting
me to reconcile my personal and their political, human
relationships are destroyed in the interest of the State.
Conspiratorial? I think Pynchon is really concerned about
this breakdown of human relationships and the substitutes
and surrogates you listed--the rocket, Blicero--the
substitute father etc.--which fill in the void or vacuum,
because I think, that he cares about all those things Henry
listed here in very complex ways, for example, he cares
about freedom, and he cares about freedom of the thought and
expression.