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[Doug Millison]

You make some good points, Rich, but I don't agree with some of your
conclusions.

I don't think what Pynchon does is "make it easier to swallow the
bullshit."  I agree that he presents a dark picture, that he does an
amazing job of approximating in his fiction the mind-boggling and sometimes
disheartening complexities of being alive in this world, but a few things
remain constant in his work -- the ability of love to transcend the bs even
if only for fleeting moments, the redemptive power of community and family
(this becomes especially evident in Vineland and even more so in Mason &
Dixon), his sympathy for the victims of war, his savage critique of
politicians and corporations that profit or otherwise benefit from war, and
the presentation of a cosmology in which existence continues beyond the
life/death interface.  I don't agree with those who argue that P undercuts
these affirmations, they persist throughout his fiction, and seem to be
growing more affirmative as he gets older.

I don't agree that "Artists know they can't change anything".  For
starters, that's a generalization  that can't be true about every artist.
I assume that Pynchon writes with the belief that his work will in some way
affect his reader.  I know from my own experience, and from the experience
of other Pynchon readers, that P's writing does work in the consciousness
of the reader in a way that leaves the reader changed vis-a-vis the
reader's state of mind prior to reading Pynchon.  The reader may respond
with delight, disgust, may learn something new about a little-known
historical reality, may discover a new link between things that the reader
previously hadn't thought to connect in her mind, etc.  But the encounter
of reader and book certainly produces changes in the reader. I don't
believe, and have never argued, that Pynchon is writing in order to produce
specific political changes, or to motivate people to specific political
actions.  I do believe that he looks at the world, and with a certain
degree of outrage (as well as delight, humor, amazement, puzzlement,
disgust, etc.) at what he sees, responds in his fiction in was that can
help us to see the world differently.

I agree that P seems intrigued by some of the accomplishments of "systems"
but I think his horror far outweighs his admiration.

With regard to the alternative press essays I've posted or pointed to, I
agree with you that they aren't always particularly well-balanced --
editorials or opinion pieces rarely are, they are written to persuade
readers to agree with a particular point of view; I've also specifically
said I believe that people need to read a broad spectrum of news and
opinion in order to get a better understanding of what's going on.   I've
mentioned these on the P-list to counter the pro-war stuff that other
participants have brought to the discussion, as well as to point to the way
I see some specific points of view about the current war reflected in
Pynchon's works.   I'm confident that I've presented my views as tentative
and have avoided drawing hard and fast conclusions about the war -- except
that I think the war is wrong, I do believe it is wrong and that we could
find better ways to accomplish what we need to accomplish and protect
ourselves.

I'll admit to getting angry about this war, the suffering it's causing, the
way it stems -- in part, only in part -- from specific policies that the US
government has pursued for decades, and the way it reflects our human
failure to find more creative, non-violent ways to protect ourselves from
those who have and would harm us and to create conditions that foster peace
and justice.


Thanks,
Doug



Doug Millison - Writer/Editor/Web Editorial Consultant
millison at online-journalist.com
www.Online-Journalist.com