MDDM Ch. 65 strange inconsistencies

[Paul Mackin]

The part of p-text directly connected with Christianity would be his tendency to
dwell from time to time on the resurrection of the body.

However, the point about the possibility of irony seems quite important.

My question is: would it be positively shocking if Pynchon did turn out to have
some kind of Christian belief?  Garry Wills who is as accomplished a historian
and essayist as Pynchon is a novelist claims in Why I Am a Catholic to accept
what he calls "the Creed" of which resurrection of the body is at least arguably
the most important element.  Of course Pynchon hasn't stated any such thing about
himself but what if someday he does?
What if he happened for some reason to NEED to believe in something (outside
himself, I mean)?

Some people hope for the revolution of the proletariet. Some for getting cleared
through Dianetics.  Why not everlasting life. Why is that crazier  than anything
else?

And who knows what mental reservations people have when they say they believe in
something. Maybe all they are saying is that maybe Christianity or Marxism or
whathaveyou is a good thing for me to believe in.



Religious beliefs are freely made and freely unmade. They are not like belief in
gravity. Or the consequences of gravity. We are not free to lean too far out the
window. Not if we don't want to die.

P.





Bandwraith at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 7/28/02 11:25:50 AM, millison at online-journalist.com writes:
>
> << The sense of yearning for liberation and
> the infrequent but intense focus on small moments of human solidarity
> characterized by love and acceptance in Pynchon's texts seem to show an
> inability to let  go of a powerful undertow of belief in something that
> transcends material existence as we know it.  I think it's the co-optation
> of that yearning in institutions that betray and abuse believers that
> Pynchon's texts indict, but it's all nuanced and problematic.  Just my two
> cents, don't have a cow, man.>>
>
> I can see no evidence that "the infrequent but intense focus on
> small moments of human solidarity characterized by love and
> acceptance in Pynchon's texts" have anything particular to do
> with christianity.
>
>  "Pynchon's texts seem to show an inability to let  go of a
>  powerful undertow of belief in something that transcends
>  material existence as we know it."
>
> I might agree here, but if anything, this "powerful undertow"
> and the "inability to let [it] go" are portrayed as ironic or as
> the means by which greater forces result in death and
> destruction. If anything, I see a recognition that "the sense
> of yearning for liberation" is the real problem which itself
> needs to be transcended, shrouded in imipolex and launched.
>
>  "I think it's the co-optation of that yearning in institutions that
>  betray and abuse believers that Pynchon's texts indict..."
>
> No question, but nowhere do I find the texts suggesting that
> christianity is the answer to that dilemma. I do not think there
> is a priviledging of any christian institution, belief system or
> code of ethics.