Is it OK to be a Luddite?

[Paul Mackin]

Oboyoboy, American p-listers are in a state of denial about their Nazi past.
Sounds promising.

            P.

---- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Millison" <DMillison at ftmg.net>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2001 12:01 PM
Subject: RE: Is it OK to be a Luddite?


> I agree this is an example of Pynchon's politics that make his work
> difficult for many American readers, even assuming they can work through
the
> complexities at a literary level. GR makes it very clear, to my mind at
> least, that multinational corporations that cross boundaries and alliances
> are responsible for the War that never ends, thus incriminating U.S.
> affiliates of said corporations, and their shareholders and directors.
> Speaking in his own voice in the Luddite essay, P would seem (again in my
> opinion) to make this judgement with regard to real corporations and the
> real WWII and its extension into the Cold War period (in addition to the
> names of real corporations he mentions in GR). I believe Pynchon realized
> early on that many of the U.S. companies known and trusted by Americans
had
> blood on their hands vis-a-vis the Nazi war crimes; and I think it's clear
> from his later novels that the same multinational companies are complicit
in
> the crimes Cold War period, especially the Vietnam War that serves as the
> backdrop for his composition of GR. Just my opinion of course.
>
> Otto
> This is the crucial point which puts the United States in one line with
the
> nazis, and this makes this essay "disturbing" for Americans I believe.
>