SLSL Racial Differences

[David Morris]

--- Bahia Quasimodo <bahiaquasimodo at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> --- MalignD at aol.com wrote:
>  Pynchon  might believe himself "poor and powerless"; it's all relative and
there are the likes of Bill Gates, Saudi oil princes, and Rupert Murdoch to
compare himself to.
> > I don't think for a minute this is what he's saying.  if he is, he's an
idiot.
> 
> 
> It doesn't look like we're going to be able to make sense of this sentence.
However, if we look at some of Pynchon's other essays (circa 1980) we can
identify what I think is Pynchon's (maybe it's idiotic or simple) view. 
> 
> It's not too complicated. There is a powerful wealthy elite and then there is
the rest of us poor sheep. As sheep, we are relatively poor and powerless (even
if we have a million dollars in our IRA, a few thousand shares of MRK, property
on the gold coast of LI, Mexico, and Manhattan. Even if we are a famous Rock &
Roller or a Novelist or a film maker or M&M, we are relatively poor and
powerless. Sometimes it sounds like Pynchon is talking about Brazil and not the
USA.  Sometimes he seems to be talking about an elite that knows no boundaries
(Multinationals/Governments/Elite) and keeps the world poor while it grows
bigger and richer and more and more powerful. 
> 
> We're all familair with this view. 
> 
> Pynchon may hold this view or not but it is an essential view in his fiction
from V. to M&D. Not as politics, but as the traditional stuff that fiction is
made on--plot, character, narrative, theme, symbols, etc. 

All of the above is only one facet of what he portrays as a "THEY" group, and
it is maybe the least important facet (because in it's least black-&-white
sense "THEY" is "US").  I'm glad you included the "not as politics" qualifier,
because that's the only way (not as) that we can lend any credence to this
structure (because it is such a dumb exageration - but is perfect a example of
paranoia, and thus works in his grand scheme).

David Morris


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