Mr. Pynchon, meet M. Godard ...

[Dave Monroe]

... have been meaning to get to this.  From A.O. Scott, "'Soigne Ta
Droite': Godard Rears His Equivocal Head," New York Times, Friday,
January 5th, 2001 ...

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has invited further speculation about
the shape of Mr. Godard's career by showing "Soigne Ta Droite" on a
double bill with his 1968 film "Weekend" — part fantasia, part satire,
part third-worldist polemic, plus a traffic jam of world-historical
dimensions — about a civilization in headlong, absurd and
self-destructive motion. That movie is one of the great documents of its
time, but its apocalyptic view of decadence and materialism has dated
somewhat. We're all still sitting in traffic, but we've gotten used to
it, and so has Mr. Godard, who now seems to take for granted the
bourgeois self-delusions he once took it upon himself to assault.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/05/arts/05GODA.html

...  substitute, say, "English Candy Drill" or "New Turkic Alphabet" or
"orgy" or what have you for "traffic jam," and you have not a bad
description of Gravity's Rainbow as well here.  I will levae it to
others to speculate on whether r not Mr. Pynchon's subequent career may
or may not have had a similar "shape" and so forth.  But thanks for the
follow-up, Jody, gotta run now, but will no doubt respond.

In the meantime, I believe we are at long last @ that ALLIGATOR PATROL
in V.   Again, cf. Paul N. Edwards, The Closed World: Computers and the
Politics of Discourse in Cold War America (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
1996), on "Operation Igloo White" (pp. 3-4).   Posted @ length on this
some time back, ca. last October 6th.  Do believe there are interested
and knowledgable parties here, hope they'll chip in ...