Pynchon & rap

[Dave Monroe]

This is what I meant by "contextual likelihoods."  Cf.
The Vietnam War (or the Holocaust, for that matter,
though that does come up intratextually; this cannot
eb mentioned here, hwoever, without calling forth some
sort of hissy fit, so ...) and Gravity's Rainbow. 
Consternation over royal succession in Renaissance
England and much Sahkespearean drama.  Et al.  I guess
I don't think of such contexts as "absent" as I tend
to take them into consideration as a matter of course,
perhaps in the same way one might invoke such notions
as "the author," "his/her oeuvre," "literary history,"
et al., which also tend to go unmentioned in any given
text.  By the way, in re: JFK and "The Courier's
Tragedy," do note that note on teh U of Texas site
Judy spotted for us recently in re: TRP's
consternation over the Kennedy assassination.  I hope
Hollander's booking some archive time ...

--- Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> I think it is exactly right.  For example, the
> assassination of JFK is nowhere to be found in CL49.

> The event is absent, a total absence. 
> 
> Hollander says, 
> 
> "Chapter by chapter, step by step, Pynchon leads us
> to the assassination of President Kennedy, without 
> ever mentioning the then-recent event directly." 
> 
> P never mentions it at all. The event is not present
> in the text. 
> 
> This total absence is a presence as Hollander reads
> the story. If you go back and read his Pynchon Notes
> Essay, you will discover that after he says that
> absence is in fact a presence in P's works, he never
> explains what he means. He goes into the
disinherited 
> theme and the "need" or desire to be cryptic. It's
> being totally absent is what makes it the most
> important thing. Hollander begins by acknowledging
> the total absence of the assassination. Pynchon
> never mentions it directly. Also, what he says is
> that the word Dallas is critical because it
mentioned 
> only once.  The assassination event, in not being
> mentioned, mentioned not once, and only once, but
> never, is what P wants us to see. 

Oh, and, good one here ...
 
> Yes, but


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