WARLOCK and Loss

[jbor]

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>From: CyrusGeo at netscape.net
>

> From Mikeweaver:
> 
>> I still think Pynchon champions resistance to the Man (Pynchon, T. 1973, p.
> 712)
>
> You could be right, or you could just be projecting your own feelings into
> the text (something quite common with GR, in more than one aspects). In any
> case, pp. 712-713 are not about resistance, but about failure; the failure
> of the Counterforce, the failure of the whole 60's "movement" and the
> failure whose seeds lie at the very heart of every revolution in the
> history of mankind.

Yes, it's a fairly pessimistic description of human nature right there:

    The Man has a branch office in each of our brains, his corporate
    emblem is a white albatross, each local rep has a cover known as the
    Ego, and their mission in this world is Bad Shit. We do know what's
    going on and we let it go on. (GR 712-3)

Much more than simple complicity, the politics of dominance and submission
is wired right into the human (male?) psyche (cf. 722-4). The exertion of
power, whether material, intellectual or moral, is the drive;
ego-gratification is the end. And far from "championing resistance to the
Man" Pynchon demonstrates the way that human consciousness positions the
self, the way our rational minds instinctively strive for individuation, how
we covet "Control". For Roger, suddenly brought to epiphany at what might be
his own Last Supper, there are only *two* choices, not three.

best


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                Unless we convince developing
    countries that globalisation really does benefit them,
      the backlash against it will become irresistible.
      That would be a tragedy for the developing world,
            and indeed for the world as a whole.
                                Kofi Annan, Seattle

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