Government Lies?

[Paul Mackin]

On Sat, 21 Oct 2000, Terrance wrote:

> 
> The Virgin is a positive, humanizing, life affirming,
> forgiving, unifying, Great Mother, earth centered feminine
> transcendental spirit in both Adams and Pynchon. Of course,
> she is now V or the dynamo. V, in TRP's film/pornography
> terms, is the assembled negative of the redeeming Virgin
> mother of Christ or Venus genetrix. What we find in TRP's
> novels is NOT an attack on the Virgin or the Church for
> incorporating into christianity the fertility deities, but
> the dehumanized degeneration of what the Virgin once was and
> represented and of the Civilization to which she was all of
> these. Of course, as Paul M. reminded us, If TRP is
> satirizing the West (not sure Paul agrees that he is), he
> must be satirizing the Church. 

Only thing WORTH satirizing, isn't it? The West is TARGET for
the same reason Willie Sutton once robbed banks. Plus the West is Us, 
or our parents, so it's oedipal.

Think I merely meant the West, Christianity, and the Virgin are
all inextricably tied together. Blame or credit one and you also blame
or credit the others. The qualification on this kind of generalization is 
that Christianity and the MODERNITY of the West went through a not
too amicable divorce in the 19th Century. But the two old sweeties can
still get together now and then for a romp or two.

Gary Wills handles the divorce quite skillfully I think in his recent book
Papal Sins.



				P.