MDDM Ch. 65 strange inconsistencies

[Otto]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Mackin" <paul.mackin at verizon.net>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2002 9:11 PM
Subject: Re: MDDM Ch. 65 strange inconsistencies


> 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?
>

Not crazier, just as . . . Paul's questions can make a pomo-man feeling
uneasy . . .

> 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.
>

Of course especially those two beliefs have always been trying to catch
disciples and to tell the world that every other point of view is devilish.
Christianity tells you that there's paradise in heaven, and Marxism tells
that there will be paradise here on Earth, but in a very far future. In any
case after you're dead & gone.

I agree to Bandwraith that this has little to do with Christianity (or any
other code) in particular. I think that it sometimes looks as if Pynchon is
focused on Christianity, busy pointing to the weak points, because he's
coming from a country with such strong religious beliefs & bonds (*God's own
country*), that he's an American author. And he saw quite clearly that
Marxism, as it existed & praised by the Left, couldn't be the answer too.

Otto

>
>
> 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.

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