the Tube in VL WAS Re: Literacy (is Re: Harry Potter)

[Doug Millison]

A major character, brought forward from COL49, explains that the Tube 
is what co-opted the 60s revolution, a view  echoed strongly by one 
of the most sympathetic characters in Vineland (Isaiah 2:4). Another 
major character is being treated for addiction to the Tube. The fake 
TV program listings mock the medium again and again. Character after 
character is seen to value their relationships with the Tube shows as 
high or higher than their relationships with other people, and we 
often see their relationship with the Tube getting in the way of 
getting what they want, or preventing them from even knowing what 
they want.  That adds up to a devastating critique of the Tube, in my 
reading of the novel.  I think we all agree that Pynchon is subtle 
and complex; the critique of TV that I read in Vineland comes with 
the novel's sometimes playful attitude towards TV that shows, at 
least, Pynchon has done his homework (jumping from that to say that 
Pynchon values TV as high or higher than books, or the Western high 
culture in general, or some other argument designed to shoe-horn him 
into some PoMo niche, is problematic, in my opinion); Pynchon also 
subverts Tube genre narrative strategies in a way that some critics 
say amounts to an homage to the medium. I don't think those arguments 
undercut the negative critique of TV in the novel. This will all be 
familiar to those who took part in our discussion of Vineland, 
apologies for the repetition.

Morris -- FWIW, when talking about books and authors, it's permitted, 
even expected, to state an opinion clearly and, if possible, simply. 
It's also OK -- expected, even --  to defend such an opinion with 
evidence from the texts in question.   That way, the discussion can 
amount to something other than "Yes it does" and "No it doesn't."
-- 

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