Chapter 11

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Thanks for your reply, Otto. I know I was rather late in contributing something
to chapter 11 but Courtney asked for it and I had some time to spare (which is
not the case anymore, so excuse the brevity and hastiness). Freitag's comments
seem right to the point to me at this stage but I am certainly interested in
what Courtney has to say in favour of a religious pov of the author, if that is
what she is arguing. As for St. Augustine I believe you are quite correct: The
man in fact invented time as we know it in "De Civitates Dei" (this is
second-hand knowledge, too, I have to admit) and thus can be seen as the
originator of a teleological view of the world. In its secularized form as
"Geschichtsphilosophie" the "Geschichtstheologie" you mention appears as the
(ridiculous, just watch the news!) idea that there is progress in history. See
also Hegel and Marx for the notion of progress, but much more importantly, at
least as far as Pynchon is concerned, the concept served to justify the
subjugation of peoples that were considered "primitive" and "unenlightened" by
the oh so developed and enlightened European nations.

But then again, especially after having read "Mason & Dixon", I don't believe
Courtney is too far off the mark. Religion is a central theme in Pynchon, and in
"M&D" it does not seem to be discounted as "Opium for the masses" (or whatever
it was our "sly racist" famously stated), and the development of P's attitude
towards religion, as finding expression in those novels, is indeed a highly
interesting topic.

Thomas