pynchon's strictly humanist concern

[CyrusGeo at netscape.net]

Dear Kai,

being a humanist does not necessarily mean being a luddite. Not all of us who have studied English Lit. or the Classics etc. hate or fear technology. In the case of Pynchon (and being strictly subjective, of course), having studied physics and having worked at Boeing has influenced his writing as to his use of metaphor. In other words, the external aspects of his writing. But what he has to say (I can try to back this up based on GR, if you like) is about humans, men and women, their passions, their fears, their merits and shortcomings, their struggle to find meaning in a basicly inhuman world. And, you know what? They manage, finally, if you want to read him optimistically. I'm not saying he rejects technology; I'm saying he sees it within a human context.

As to solar power and wind power and stuff, I'm totally with you.

Cyrus

lorentzen-nicklaus at t-online.de (lorentzen-nicklaus) wrote:


>     so this has influenced pynchon's writing heavily, and i think we do miss 
>     most of the pretty interesting (& often ambivalent) details the 
>     rainbow-maker has to tell us about non-humans, like robots or elves, when  
>     we act as if early-modern humanism has just been invented and would prevent 
>     the world from deadly crimes ... perhaps pynchon did really "switch" to 
>     english literature out of some humanist intention (personally i doubt 
>     this), but you probably know what they say about old nuns...they all were 
>     beasty bitches once. one of the fellows interviewed in "a journey into     
>     the mind of p." worked with tommy at boeing and reported that trp, unlike  
>     we all loved to think for years, did not (only) do the soft-science-clown  
>     inside the steely house of yoyodyne, yet was deeply involved into the      
>     construction of trans-continental flying-machines ... & then the man's 
>     artistic interest in technology is a little to intense for a luddite with  
>     pure heart ... which of course doesn't mean that you cannot read his works 
>     like this ... let's support solar-technology now! kai, rational luddite
>     
>     ps: bruno latour's article "actor/network-theory. some clarifications",    
>     though far away from being unproblematic, might work as kinda short-cut to 
>     an updated understanding of technology.


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