The Gnostic Pynchon

[Terrance]

Muchasmasgracias at cs.com wrote:
> 
> Uh...  well, first I should say I'm no scholar or anything and so I'm easily
> prone to fuckups, but for one thing trp's work doesn't strike me as dualist
> (tends to mock that, doesn't he?), 

Yes, Pynchon mocks the dualistic. The ideas of Gnosis
include a dualistic view of the world. In fact, the
dualistic view determines all of its statements on a
cosmological and anthropological level. This dualism is
interwoven with the monistic idea (the notion of "wholeness"
is central to GR, as in Rilke) which is expressed in the
upward and downward development of the divine spark, which
is the basis for the identification of man and deity (God
Man). 

Pynchon's use of Gnosticism may have nothing to do with his
personal beliefs, but it has everything to do with his
fiction.  The question of transcendence is important too. Is
Pynchon a gnostic without transcendence? I think he is, but
more importantly, he shifts the idea of transcendence (in
this sense he is anti-gnostic and anti-christian) to a
nostalgic presence and  "orphic naturalism" that
incorporates (his sycreticism) christian, Herero, etc.
Focusing on Slothrop may not be the way to deal with these
issues, but the brotherhood thing... Slothrop and Enzian...
Here in the Byron episode Pynchon presents the gnostic god
profaned and  mocks Matthew 10.  If you read Matthew 10 with
Pynchon in mind it will be clear why he would mock it and
why it fits into this episode. 

 Sorry, I guess my first statement that Pynchon is a
"Christian Gnostic "
confused--my f---up. What I meant is that  Pynchon is, as he
intimates in the Slow Learner Introduction, a literary
thief. What he takes he bends to his own purpose.