Apocalypse: "Not for Sale in Canada"

[Dave Monroe]

... well, was working with a (now on the verge of falling apart) 2nd printing Viking
pbk., now slinging around one of those recent Penguins with the nifty V-2 blueprint
cover (reminds me, that "pornography of blueprints" @ V224/B261; see Michael Berube,
Marginal Forces/Cultural Centers: Tolson, Pynchon, and the Politics of the Canon, p.
255-6, n. 40), blank endpages in both, can't recall what went on in the Bantam ed.,
but, well, hey, dramatic effect, is all.  Plenty of blank space after that dash (not
to mention that gone-white movie screen), nonetheless ... or consider it as, indeed
(and, as suggested), that "final delta-t," after which the novel, indeed, ends,
comes to a full stop, leading into the (thankfully) as yet unnuked real world,
leaving that indeed unrepresentable (and, again, see Frances Ferguson on that
"nuclear sublime") apocalypse ("absolutely and forever without sound") ...

At any rate, keep in mind, these aren't real, individual people, these are notably
unusual characters in a notably NOT "naturalistic" or whatever novel, one with all
sorts of allusive, allegorical, whatever over, under, sideways, whatever tones.  And
one of those tones, a polar (in the sense of vs. black, as well as in the sense of,
well, polar, arctic, whatever) one, is white.  Which seems of some Significance in
the novel, "The White Visitation" (and note quotes within the text), the White
Woman, Weissmann, Blicker, Bleacher, Blicero (think those echoes of Frantz Fanon's
Black Skin, White Masks, at the opening, in the Zone, at the closing, even, of GR,
might be Signalling Something, but what ...?).  "Blaming Blicero"?  Again, these
aren't real individuals here, they're figures, figurations of something, the
question is, well, what?  But it be Blicero who launches (Gottfried shrouded in
Imipolex G in) that Rocket, that Rocket STILL poised, as of this reading, at that
"last delta-t" over that Orpheus Theater.  "Maverick"?  "Vision"?  Interesting terms
for someone with Their finger on the button, esp. having pressed it ... And, of
course, we're not talking a real, individual Rocket, or an actual, existing Theater,
either ... but I do think there might well be real, individual deaths--vs. abstract,
universal Death--"a delta-t away" from the words standing for them (V510/B594) ...

Disingenuous?  Hey, I didn't even notice that stuff until it was pointed out to me,
and I suddenly found myself looking (albeit in that latter half of the novel).
Might possibly never have (only got on the topic because it was suggested, and it
seemed reasonable.  Still does.)  But found it interesting that several people
caught it immediately.  Notice that there's no clue whatsoever that that "screaming"
MIGHT even be a V-2 until some pages later (unless, of course, you've got that nifty
Penguin ed. ...), and, even then, well, IS it ever really nailed down that that's a
V-2 there?  Hm ... Did eventually run across one who didn't read that as an
"evacuation" to a concentration camp ("people waiting in the subway?"), just to keep
up on the up-and-up, but ... well, not necessarily any less "ingenuous" than posting
here, or publishing, for that matter, and seeing who salutes.

But what IS "Is it O.K. to Be a Luddite?" Saying?  What do I want it to say?  What
do you want it to say?  "Curves of development ... plausibly converg[ing]" ... Seems
"we've" already established GR as a sort of lit'rary Rorschach test, so ....

jbor wrote:

> In my book there isn't a last page, just the inside back cover. It's blank,
> but so is the inside back cover in most books. Then on the back cover there
> is more writing: the publisher, title and author's name; excerpts from
> reviews; a credit for the cover design; pricing information; a note which
> says "Not for sale in Canada"; and an ISBN.
>
> As I've said I think the point was then, as it is now, that that final
> pokemon card has been suspended, but only just. I'm not convinced that
> Pynchon is saying that the whole Cold War and the amassment of nuclear
> arsenals thing is down to Blicero, as you seem to be saying. Perhaps there
> is a point in there that at the end of any war in our time of devilishly
> clever technologies when the about-to-be-vanquished army is in total
> disarray all it will take is one maverick like Blicero to launch the
> weapon/push the button or whatever, then game over everyone, but the
> connections you are making here (as with that disingenuous "survey" ploy you
> pulled re. the opening sequence) just aren't supported by the text.
>
> Again, the Luddite essay isn't quite saying what you want it to, either, if
> you read the whole thing, that is. It certainly isn't blaming Blicero, for a
> start ...