Oh, no! War talk on Pynchon-L?

[Scott Badger]

Doug:
> 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.

All corporations?  Including the coffee houses that provided assembly, as
well as ample -- and competitively priced, I'm sure -- java, to the
revolting Americans in M&D?  Or, only if there had been a Starbuck's then?

Scott