A Note on Genre

[Otto Sell]

Terence,
Is *Towing Jehovah" by Jim Morrow an anti-religious novel? Strong believers
surely would claim that but I don't think so. If God is dead he once has
been alive - how do atheists cope with that?

Pynchon writes in my opinion not specifically anti religious, but
anti-religious in the sense that as a postmodern novel it is necessarily
deconstructing the basics of any "Meta-Erzählung" like a Religion that tells
us there's someone out there watching and judging, controlling our lives.
Some reference point outside our world of binaries.
Like he is deconstructing an understanding of History that claims to tell
the Truth of what has happened in the past.
There are lot references to religion in his novels, and they all "turn down"
in a way the concept of religion, looking for all the binaries in it. Is
this anti religious? I don't know if this can be said as it sends us off
into reading all that stuff, reading Bunyan, re-reading the Bible, even
getting familiar with Puritanism and the Quabalah.

There's William Slothrop in episode 54 with his turning of the binaries of
Jesus vs Judas.

There's John Bunyan referenced in the fourth episode -Slothrop's Progress-
from This World to That Which Is to Come, how the original long title of
Bunyan's book is - one is to have this in mind when thinking of Bunyan in
the fourth chapter. The beautiful binary opposition in the title is of
course lost in the German translation, but it's available at
http://www.bibliomania.com/Poetry/Bunyan/Progress/index.html
"I am for certain informed that this our city will be burned with fire from
heaven;" is said on the first page already.
"London the secular city..." (GR 25) - the German translation tells in a
footnote that 'city' here stands for the 'world' - so London terrorized by
the German Rocket is Pynchon's metaphor for our world threatened by the
American and Russian ICBM's.

The missionaries that *corrupted* Enzian (100) and the Hereros with the
'Christian sickness of death' (episode 32).
We've talked about that.

The dodo-story in episode 14 (Frans van der Groov, p. 111).
"Indeed, if they save us from hunger in this world, then beyond, in Christ's
kingdom, our salvations must be, in like measure, inextricable. Otherwise
the dodoes would only be what they appear as in the world's illusory
light-only our prey. God could not be that cruel.
Frans can look at both versions, the miracle and the hunt of more years than
he can remember now, as real, equal opportunities. In both, eventually, the
dodoes die. But as for faith . . . he can believe only in the one steel
reality of the firearm he carries."
and so on...for what is religion being used here - for justifying the
extinction of a race. But this only works if there's a reference point
outside the binary of us (Frans) and them (dodoes), "Otherwise (...)"

No, definitely not anti-religious but "intended" to makes us think about our
concepts of religion.

Otto

----- Original Message -----
From: Terence <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
Cc: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2000 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: A Note on Genre
>
> PS Otto, why do you suggest that TRP writes anti religious
> fiction?