Outlaws revisited

[Paul Mackin]

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul Nightingale 

  I hope this does not sound like the worst kind of (reactionary) postmodernist pessimism: we can never know something so why bother trying. Pynchon's work simply asks us to think about how we know something, how we construct meaning; what is the status of the information on which we base our understanding? 

  Me:
  The thing I tend to take away from my own realization of the uncertainty of whatever knowledge we think we have of the world and terrorism which might surely be seen as a cause for pessimism though not necessarily reaction is a doubling ot the advisability of avoiding extreme positions--political, religious, aesthetic--of either the revolutionary or reactionary type--perhaps not exactly what Paul N. is getting but an important adjunct to the discussion. Personally I think such postmodernist and just plain common sense realizations have been fairly well absorbed both by p-listers and the American govenment despite a few gaffs and W's obvious inadequacies.

  Speaking of possible gaffs the term "infinite justice" has been taken notice of over on the Wallace List.

  P.

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