why I am not a Hindoo

[David Morris]

Since you've proposed this difference between agon and dialectic, would you
mind filling out what you see are the differences between the two?  I could
start speculating, filling in your blanks, but why should I?  It is your
argument.  Only after this is settled can we examine your statement that
Pynchon favors agon over dialectic

David Morris

http://www.bartleby.com/61/58/A0145800.html
agon  
  
SYLLABICATION: ag·on 
PRONUNCIATION:   g´n, -n, ä-gn´     
NOUN : Inflected forms: pl. a·gon·es (-g´nz) 
1. A conflict, especially between the protagonist and antagonist in a work of
literature. 2. The part of an ancient Greek drama, especially a comedy, in
which two characters engage in verbal dispute. 3. A test of will; a conflict:
“Freud's originality stemmed from his aggression and ambition in his agon with
biology” (Harold Bloom) 4. A contest in ancient Greece, as in athletics or
music, in which prizes were awarded.      
ETYMOLOGY: Greek agn. See AGONY.  


dialectic  
  
SYLLABICATION: di·a·lec·tic 
PRONUNCIATION:   d´´-lk´tk    
NOUN : 1. The art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of
logical arguments. 2. a. The process especially associated with Hegel of
arriving at the truth by stating a thesis, developing a contradictory
antithesis, and combining and resolving them into a coherent synthesis. b.
Hegel's critical method for the investigation of this process. 3. a. The
Marxian process of change through the conflict of opposing forces, whereby a
given contradiction is characterized by a primary and a secondary aspect, the
secondary succumbing to the primary, which is then transformed into an aspect
of a new contradiction. Often used in the plural with a singular or plural
verb. b. The Marxian critique of this process. 4. dialectics (used with a sing.
verb) A method of argument or exposition that systematically weighs
contradictory facts or ideas with a view to the resolution of their real or
apparent contradictions. 5. The contradiction between two conflicting forces
viewed as the determining factor in their continuing interaction.    
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English dialetik, from Old French dialetique, from Latin
dialectica, logic, from Greek dialektik (tekhn), (art) of debate feminine of
dialektikos, from dialektos, speech, conversation. See DIALECT.  


--- Swing Hammerswing wrote:
>Pynchon's texts  never advocate 
> or support a dialectical solution. Hinduism and the Yin Yang are not a  
> solution, are not in P (in Brown's terms) "A Way Out" of the Freudian S&M 
> (in GR's terms).  Yin Yang is dialectic, not a sustained tension, something 
> has to give, Pynchon's texts sustain a paradoxical Agon.




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