V.V. (12) Pynchon's letter to Thomas F. Hirsch

[jbor]

----------
>From: Dave Monroe <davidmmonroe at yahoo.com>
>

> To clarify, to say that "the thing goes much deeper"
> is not to exclude "what later happened to the Jews in
> the 30's and 40's."

No, simply to say that such an observation is "hardly profound" and the one
he arrived at after explotring the topic only "superficially".

> Again, that concatenation there.
> Dodos, American Indians, Herero, Jews, Vietnamese
> Buddhists (though there's an interesting take on the
> Vietnam War, Christians vs. Buddhists).

I don't think he mentions dodoes in the letter. What he sets up in the
examples there are oppositions between Christian imperialists and
non-Christian societies or communities: Pizarro (a Catholic imperialist?) v.
the Incas; the Founding Fathers v. the Nth American Indians; the German
Christians v. the Herero (as well as "what later happened to the Jews in the
30s and 40s, so I don't really think he's suddenly talking about Nazi
neo-paganism as the persecuting force in that particular case); and, as you
say, somewhat unusually:

    ... what is
    now being done on the Buddhist head in Vietnam by the Christian minority
    in Saigon and their advisors ...

I'm wondering about the accuracy of that neat polemical construction myself.

But, regardless, the point of the letter is that, after the writing of _V._,
Pynchon's "deeper" interests in the history of the Herero civilisation
included studies in "comparative religion", and one conclusion that he came
to circa 1969 is that, "far from being a minor sideshow", the clash between
the missionary-colonials and the Herero in the Sudwest is "archetypical of
every clash between the west and non-west" throughout several hundreds of
years of history across the globe:

    the imposition of a culture valuing
    analysis and differentiation on a culture that valued unity and
    integration.

Another way of putting this, it seems to me, is that the first type of
culture arrogantly believes in its own superiority and Elect status, and
actively attempts to convert or destroy "the Other" whenever and wherever it
can, while the latter cultures accept the natural unity of all peoples and
things. I think I know which side Pynchon's sympathies lie in _GR_.

best