The Gnostic Pynchon

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

Dave Monroe schrieb:

>  Am intrerested, by
>  the way,
> in where the Sloterdijk (all I have is The Critique of Cynical Reason) and
>  Filoramo
> quotes came from ... 

  peter sloterdijk: die wahre irrlehre. über die weltreligion der weltlosigkeit. 
  pp. 17-54 (- the quote in m.o.p.a.t comes from page 23)in:
  peter sloterdijk/thomas h. macho (eds.): weltrevolution der seele. ein lese- 
  und arbeitsbuch der gnosis. zürich 1993: artemis & winkler.


  giovanni filoramo: a history of gnosticism. cambridge/oxford 1990: blackwell.
  (- quote from page xvi) [italian original: l'attesa della fine, storia della 
  gnosi]


> but, while Pynchon no doubt makes use of gnosticism,
> gnosticisms--his interest in the Pentecost, the Holy Ghost, seems to me to
>  exhibit a
> certain tendency towards gnosticism, for example--it also seems to me that,
>  again,
> he, his texts, are largely countergnostic, precisely in their frequent,
>  recurring
> emphases on, precisely, the worldly, the material, the vulgar, the Preterite.
> Indeed, he seems to suggest that Slothropian Preterition precisely as a sort
>  of
> counterheresy to gnosticism.  Transcendence thereof often seems problematized,
> parodied, even, say, the Rocket, do note, for example, that that gravitic
> rainbow--"light and gravity," indeed, about as immaterial as one can get
>  (leaving
> aside, for the moment, just what constitutes "the material" vs. "the
>  immaterial" in
> a quantum physical world)--is, indeed, parabolic, what goes up does indeed
>  come
> down, returns to the world, and, in the case of the Rocket, with decidedly
>  material,
> decidedly devastating results ...


  well said. i'll chew on it for a while.

        
kfl