Watts article (Re: NP Genoa)

[jbor]

on 7/24/01 11:06 PM, Terrance at lycidas2 at earthlink.net wrote:

>> Pynchon does not refer to the Watts article in the _Slow Learner_ 'Intro'.
> 
> Correct. I meant that he admits that some of the offensive
> language in 
> the early Short Stories are not simply the character's, but,
> as Pynchon admits,
> his own. I have argued, I think you agree with me, that the
> Slow Learner Introduction is
> an honest retrospective.

Yes indeed. He also writes, honestly and retrospectively, that 'The Secret
Integration' marks a highpoint in his early career, a "positive or
professional direction". In this context I believe that 'TSI' can be twinned
with the 'Watts' article, and for a number of reasons. First, they were both
written during the period 1964-1966, that interval of time between his first
two novels. Second: they deal with the same thematic content. Thirdly, they
are significant departures from his work to that point: both see Pynchon
striking off in new directions. The 'Watts' article is investigative
journalism; 'TSI' is, to my mind, a children's story. Both have a strongly
didactic purpose.

If 'TSI' still appealed to Pynchon in 1984 when he wrote the _Slow Learner_
'Intro' then I see no reason to suggest that he would be ashamed of the
'Watts' article at that time either. Nor, indeed, now.

The events in Genoa, the reportage of same, and the subsequent
propagandising on the net and elsewhere, bring _Vineland_ to my mind also.
_Vineland_ shows the opportunism, dearth of ethics, and fickleness of all
sides -- the Establishment, the "anti-government" factions, the media --
during the American 60s. Weed is the leader of PR3 because he's tall;
members of 24fps stage or incite the "news" footage they film; Frenesi
betrays the counter-culture because she has a genetic predisposition (yeh
right) which makes her lust after uniformed men; Brock's personal obsession
drives his professional agenda; the loyalties and commitment of the members
of PR3 are questionable at best &c.

All "sides" in Genoa tried to manipulate (global) public opinion through the
media before, during and after the talks there. The fact that so-called
"authoritarian" and ultra-conservative governments are being
democratically-elected across the globe is due to, in part and imo, the
hatred, vitriol and violence of terrorists like the Unabomber and Timothy
McVeigh and the masked rioters and the rabid on-line propagandists. In the
public imagination the actions of this extremist minority, and the overt
threats they pose to public and personal safety, overshadow the policies and
potential of those legitimate protest groups and "liberal" factions in
society which, sometimes voluntarily, align themselves with these creeps.

best