re Amerikaka (NP?)

[Jasper Fidget]

I'm not talking about being surprised, oh-my-god how could this have
happened, and I'm not stating that history is irrelevant--in a way, I'm
saying the contrary: Sept. 11 is now history, and for the foreseeable future
it will remain the most significant event of recent American history.  It
cannot be forgotten, and it should not become irrelevant (as it already has
to some); and neither should it be reduced.  But because of its overwhelming
effect, and because of its immediacy, it reduces other historical events in
their scope, significance (to Americans anyway), and yes, relevance.

These *are* extraordinary times; you're spending too much time in the past
if you can't see that.  The present should not blind us to the past, but
neither should the past blind us to the present.  I find it extremely
strange for you to compare "this war", or Sept. 11--which was my intended
comparison for the cusps quote--to events that occur every day.

Jasper Fidget

----- Original Message -----
From: "Henry Musikar" <scuffling at hotmail.com>
To: "Pynchon List" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 12:39 PM
Subject: Re: re Amerikaka (NP?)


> It worries me that they (politicians and other media) are getting people
to
> believe that history is no longer relevant in these "extraordinary times."
> There is, of course, historical precedent for that belief....
>
> History is larger than individuals. If this war is a cusp, then there are
> cusps every day. History doesn't get hit by lightning. The events of
11-Sep
> didn't surprise the politicians whose report on terrorism was ignored by
> Bush.
>
> It's been a long time coming.
> It's gonna be a long time gone.
> And it appears to be a long time before dawn.
> And you know, the darkest hour
> is always just before the dawn.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jasper Fidget" <fakename at tokyo.com>
> To: "Pynchon List" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 11:42 AM
> Subject: Re: re Amerikaka (NP?)
>
>
> > On historical relevance, I think that after catastrophic events,
formerly
> > relevant history tends to get boxed up and stored in the attic, not
> because
> > it's necessarily *less relevant*, just that its context suddenly belongs
> to
> > a place prior to the catastrophic dividing line (in this case,
obviously,
> > Sept 11).  History has a way of segmenting itself in this manner
> > (prelapsarian, ante and post diluvian, pre and post Holocaust, etc)
> > especially to the culture-society-zeitgeist to which it's occurred.
"That
> > was then, this is now."
> >
> > I've posted before that Sept. 11 is a dividing point for contemporary
> > American history, blowing the past out of context, revectoring the
future.
> > I've since recalled through discussion that Pynchon talks about this in
> the
> > context of the lightning flare that highlights a single moment and
divides
> > past from future: "the ones who do get hit experience a singular point,
a
> > discontinuity in the curve of life" (664).  And Slothrop: "Do you know
> what
> > the time rate of change _is_ at a cusp?  _Infinity_, that's what!  A-and
> > right across the point, it's _minus_ infinity!  How's _that_ for sudden
> > change, eh?" (664).
> >
> > Sudden change indeed and oh-boy.
> >
> > Jasper Fidget
> >