I FEEL like I'm driving on black ice

[Terrance]

"Judith A. Panetta" wrote:

 It comes from being
> systematically harassed. It comes from seeing your neighbor dragged out of
> their house and having the shit beaten out of them. It comes from being
> suspect simply because of color, income or geography...but mostly color. I
> remember the hot summer nights and the anger. I've not met many people who
> understand the anger that grows from shame and frustration that can erupt in
> a heartbeat.
> 
> It's not rational, but neither is the situation. It's not a disease. It just
> is. And it is who you are.
> 
> I reread the Watts article after many years. It rang true for me. I didn't
> find it patronizing. The were two cultures. There are two cultures. Perhaps
> the casting is more fluid now. Perhaps not. I'd like to think the cultures
> have come closer together. Although I fear I am delusional.

What did Churchill say, "if you don't fear being delusional
after forty you are probably going to vote conservative in
the next election." No, just kidding. 

Pynchon  admits in his Intro to Slow Learner that some of
the offensive language, thoughts, of his early characters
are his own. In  that Introduction, he also says that race
is not the same concern it was. He writes "The Secret
Integration" and V. and the Watts essay. In all three, his
understanding of Black America is wanting. I think Paul's
reading is correct. Paul and I agree that P should be, might
be, embarrassed for making those comments and for creating
characters like McAfee and Sphere. But he was, a Slow
Learner and boy did he ever learn--M&D's Gershom.  That
being said, Carl Barrington is a brilliant creation and the
Story is, despite its flaws, imho, Pynchon best and most
important Short Story. Yes, it's much better and in some
ways more important than Entropy. Again, Pynchon's heart is
in the right place. In the Watts essay he speaks ironically
about Black virility, but as Dave Monroe asked some time
ago, why take the risk. Why does Pynchon play on the
stereotypes? It's a risky business. In the Watts essay he
doesn't quite understand the two cultures, even if he
understands one and recognizes that one is sick with racism
and the other is not. His comments on the violence are
hedged with "maybe this" and "maybe that" and "who knows", 
and it is clear to me, he doesn't quite know himself, even
if he thinks he's hip to it.  The comment on Violence is
also well meant I'm sure, but very naive and offensive. In
GR Pynchon succeeds for the most part. He plays on the
stereotypes.  He creates a naive white Harvard boy and he
compounds the black/white scenes with abstractions and
theories and the encyclopedia and he creates bad guys  like
Pointman, who is a misogynist. He succeeds, I think, because
of the distance he creates with, (I'm remembering that Judy
prefers to read how we feel about the books and not our
vicariously lit-crit readings)  that self conscious,
self-effacing, ironic, postmodern, black humor or whatever
and all the skills a master of the craft can bring to a
epic. I have suggested, others have too, you see it's all
been said by one of the critical studies, that Pynchon's YOU
in GR (see especially, Brian McHale, sorry) is male and
probably a lot like Pynchon, though not as smart and surely
not as witty.  

"Claude recognized the tone of bitter irony that a man
seldom uses except when speaking of himself, or of his lot." 

		--Marlaux, The Royal Way






Well there's one thing you can't lose
It's that feel
Your pants, your shirt, your shoes
But not that feel
You can throw it out in the rain
You can whip it like a dog
You can chop it down like an old dead tree
You can always see it
When you're coming into town
Once you hang it on the wall
You can never take it down


But there's one thing you can't lose
And it's that feel
You can pawn your watch and chain
But not that feel
It always comes and finds you
It will always hear you cry
I cross my wooden leg
And I swear on my glass eye
It will never leave you high and dry
Never leave you lose
It's harder to get rid of than tattoos


But there's one thing you can't do
Is lose that feel
You can throw it off a bridge
You can lose it in a fire
You can leave it at the altar
But it will make you out a liar
You can fall down in the street
You can leave it in the lurch
Well you say that it's gospel
But I know that it's only church

And there's one thing you can't lose
And it's that feel
It's that feel