M&D, Vineland, GR, Reagan-Bush, fascist architecture, etc.

[Doug Millison]

In Vineland's 1984 time frame, Brock is a functionary of the Reagan-Bush
Administration, as is Nazi Karl Bopp; the novel's association of Nazi
Germany and Reagan-Bush America stands.  I agree that Reagan-Bush inherit
the "fascist architecture" from previous administrations, just as they pass
it on to later administrations (including the current Bush Administration
-- check that recent Supreme Court decision that gives Bush the Younger,
Slayer of Evildoers, the right to imprison whomever he wants for however
long he likes with no public hearings ) -- Pynchon's critique of the
perversion of  the American dream cuts across traditional party lines,
cuts deep, and as we see in M&D has roots at least as far back as the
colonial period.

That Reagan continues what Nixon inherited -- a "fascist architecture" onto
which they both apply their own inimitable stains -- would seem to be an
important element of Vineland, and constitutes an important link between GR
and the later novel, which moves back and forth between the earlier and
later historical periods.  Vineland associates Nixon, Reagan, and Bush with
the Nazis; I can see how that might be unpalatable for readers who admire
those presidents, or who accept the utopian myths of "free enterprise" and
"American democracy" . GR takes the critique further into the past, showing
how multinational corporations played both sides of the War for profit in
part by manipulating nationalist symbols and sentiments, and how Nazi
science ad technology and values take over the U.S. military-industrial
complex in the post-War period.  M&D takes it  back centuries more, when
governments and corporations begin to fuse in the project of European
imperialism, beginning the objectification of people and nature that
permits the genocide, slavery, environmental destruction for profit that
continue to the present day.

Pynchon appears to leave open the question of whether these evils are the
fault of particularly nasty individuals or if it's the System, or something
inherent in the human condition, or some sort of combination of many
factors; he also raises deep philosophical questions, at times wondering
how we know what we think we know... yet he continues to identify evils and
name the agents responsible.

"Brock [...] leaning darkly in above her like any of the sleek raptors that
decorate fascist architecture." (Vineland, p. 287)

"all working under contract to CAMP and being led by the notorious Karl
Bopp, former Nazi Luftwaffe officer" (Vineland, p. 220)

"this Age sees a corruption and disabling of the ancient Magick.
Projectors, Brokers of Capital, Insurancers, Peddlers upon a global Scale ,
Enterprisers and Quacks,-- these are the last poor fallen and feckless
inheritors of a Knowledge they can never use, but in the service of Greed.
The coming Rebellion is theirs,-- Franklin and that Lot,--and Heaven help the
rest of us, if they prevail." (M&D 487,488)

"Unfortunately, young people," recalls the Revd, "the word *Liberty*, so
unreflectively  sacred to us today, was taken in those Times to encompass
even the darkest of Men's rights [...] This being, indeed and alas, one of
the Liberties our late War was fought to secure." (M&D, 307)


jbor:
>Let's have the whole passage, shall we:

    "Unfortunately, young people," recalls the Rev.d, "the word *Liberty*,
    so unreflectively sacred to us today, was taken in those Times to
    encompass even the darkest of Men's rights,-- to injure whomever we
    might wish,-- unto extermination, were it possible,-- Free of Royal
    advice or Proclamation Lines and such. This being, indeed and alas, one
    of the Liberties our late War was fought to secure." (307.15)

>Wicks's comments here, and the narrative and conversation on either side of
>them, relate to the massacre of Native Americans, not to slavery.

Wishful thinking! I don't think you can pick apart the threads of Pynchon's
tapestry quite this neatly.  The same European Imperialism project
responsible for the genocide of Native Americans in M&D brings slaves like
Gershom (and his ancestors) to America, by individuals and chartr'd
companies exercising  "the darkest of Men's rights", to make of another
human being a thing to be eliminated as necessry, or appropriated as
property and exploited for profit. -- Pynchon weaves these strands quite
tightly through the fabric of M&D, and the rest of his writing.