MDMD: The Crime of Anonymity

[Judy Panetta]

"Ludgate, then? whichever, 'twas Goal. It took me till I was lying among the
Rats and Vermin, upon the freezing edge of a future invisable, to understand
that my name had never been my own, -- rather belonging all this time, to
the Authorities, who forbade me to change it, or withhold it..."

If there was any doubt that one was reading Pynchon, it was dispelled here.
This to me wsa the most compelling segment of chapter one. Any thoughts on
why the Revd' crime should be so agregious? That this crime - to this day -
shames his brother enough to pay him to stay away from Britain?

And on another note...the Revd's knowledge that his name is not his own (his
name, that is, rather than a body part) drives him to insanity. Insanity
"cured" by a cruise.

This passage brought to mind the Soviet asylums, but perhaps that's too much
of a strech.

Comments?