Gnostic Pynchon

[Terrance]

"As for Voegelin in particular, those already familiar with
his political philosophy--a philosophy with admittedly
reactionary implications--will probably be shocked to hear
his ideas linked to those of a novelist who outlook seems to
derive in so many ways from the anarchist currents of the
1960s; but...demonstrate a selectively reactionary streak
in  Pynchon and show how ot colors the vision of humanity at
the heart of his norm."

					---Eddins, Gnostic Pynchon

The only other critics to develop the notion of gnostic
strains in Pynchon's work, as far as I know, are Harold
Bloom and Charles Hohmann. Eddins responds to Hohmann's
book. Hohmannn claims GR is gnostic/existential, there is no
way out, all attempts to escape or transcend only exacerbate
an already intolerable situation, Eddins and Bloom agree,
but Eddins takes a different view of Rilke's function in GR
and the function of MUSIC in GR, and most importantly,
claims that in GR Pynchon shifts away from the
existentialism of his earlier works and this step Eddins
calls Pynchon's "orphic naturalism." Both books are
excellent, full length studies of the extensive use of
Gnosticism in GR.