Good Works & what Weber actually wrote

[David Morris]

>From: Terrance Flaherty <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
>
>And another thing, while I can agree with the sound and wise reminder from 
>Jbor that M&D is also not Anti Agnostic or Anti Atheistic (and I agree with 
>this) the novel, being a "historical novel" set in the 18th Century in 
>America, is full of anti-Catholic and Anti-Pietist, Anti-Jesuit, 
>Anti-Quaker, and so on, statements by the characters that can be 
>misconstrued and have been misapplied to the the sentiments of the author 
>of the fiction.

After this last fist/face interlude, it is evident that some will endeavor 
to twist even simple and obvious text into personal agendas.  And as you 
say, sentiments expressed by characters can easily be misconstrued as the 
author's POV, which is a meaningless grail to pursue.

>Couple this with the fact that America has a very long and horrible history 
>of Anti-Catholicism and Anti-Jesuitism and the fact that Pynchon 
>deliberately foregrounds (setting the Jesuits at the center of conspiracy) 
>this history in the text and we have the potential for a terrible 
>misreading of the fiction that would have some on this list (again, I will 
>provide the posts if need be) confusing Jesuits with Standard Oil of New 
>Jersey and misreading the development of the American economy as the 
>Invisible Hand of Rome.

I haven't seen this expressed on this list.  If you have time, I'd like to 
see some of the archives attributing anti-Catholicism to Pynchon (would this 
be a Hollander POV?).  You must admit that he does have fun with the 
Jesuits' conspiracy potential, and with the religion itself in the Widows of 
Christ segment.  Again, I said "fun."

David Morris

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