Pynchon as propaganda

[s~Z]

>>>The term "nothingness" derives from Sartre and Heidegger and not from
>> Christian theology<<<

Interesting to read the OED definition in light of the above assertion:

    1. Non-existence; that which is non-existent.

  a1631 DONNE Nocturnall Poems (1654) 36 His art did expresse A quintessence
even from nothingnesse. 1690 BAXTER Kingd. Christ ii. (1691) 30 Here we have
Anihilation and Nothingness in themselves. 1797 LAMB Let. to Coleridge 10
Jan., My letter is full of nothingness. I talk of nothing. 1831 CARLYLE
Sart. Res. I. i, The immeasurable circumambient realm of Nothingness and
Night! 1866 ALGER Solit. Nat. & Man IV. 251 He sees man suspended between
the two abysses of infinity and nothingness. 1884 19th Cent. Mar. 500 Its
sole dogma is the infinity of Nothingness.

    b. The condition of being non-existent.
  Common in 19th cent., esp. in phrases to sink, fade, etc., into
nothingness.

  1809 IRVING Knickerb. VII. xiii. (1849) 449 Each has returned to its
primeval nothingness. 1875 MCLAREN Serm. 2nd Ser. i. 18 It must..be done by
Faith, whose rod disenchants them into their native nothingness, and then it
is blessed. 1894 JESSOPP Rand. Roam. i. 3 How beautiful plans do fade into
nothingness.

    c. Cessation of consciousness or of life.

  1813 BYRON Giaour iii, The first dark day of nothingness. 1816  Let. to
Murray 30 Sept., A sort of grey giddiness first, then nothingness. 1818
SHELLEY Rosal. & Helen 403 They themselves were weaned each one..even from
the thirst Of death, and nothingness, and rest.

    2. The worthlessness or vanity of something.

  1646 H. LAWRENCE Comm. Angells 150 By the foolishnesse, that is, by the
Nothingnesse, of Preaching hee saves them that beleeve. 1693 G. FIRMIN Rev.
Davis's Vind. i. 10 Why should a Man look after anothers Righteousness, till
he see the nothingness of his own? 1724 Lond. Gaz. No. 6240/3 Sensible..of
the Nothingness of this World and the Vanity of its Grandeurs. 1771 SMOLLETT
Humph. Cl. II. ii. 14 June, A sarment upon the nothingness of good
works..was preached. 1822 BYRON Juan VII. vi, Must I restrain me, through
the fear of strife, From holding up the nothingness of life? 1867 LEWES
Hist. Philos. (ed. 3) I. 43 Which first called men's attention to the
nothingness of knowledge. 1884 W. S. LILLY in Contemp. Rev. Feb. 257 This
self-renunciation..founded itself upon the vanity and nothingness of what
was given up.


    b. That which has no value; the condition of being worthless.

  1654 WHITLOCK Zootomia 251 A whole Dictionary where~of would hold forth
but Muchnesse of Nothingnesse. 1743 H. WALPOLE Lett. (1903) I. 376 My
letters are now at their ne plus ultra of nothingness. 1800 COLERIDGE
Piccolom. I. iv, Mere bustling nothingness, where the soul is not. 1863
KINGLAKE Crimea (1877) II. vi. 54 The political conversation between the
booted Czar and the men of peace was sheer nothingness. 1880 'OUIDA' Moths
II. 384 What a confession of internal nothingness.

    3. Utter insignificance or unimportance.

  a1652 J. SMITH Sel. Disc. ix. (1821) 419 Triumphing in nothing more than
in his own nothingness, and in the allness of the Divinity. a1672 STERRY
Freed. Will (1675) 142 The nothingness of the Creature prevailing in the
absence of the Divine beams. 1721 R. KEITH tr. T. à Kempis, Solil. Soul
xxii. 291 Accept however the Sacrifice of my Humility, my Poverty, and my
Nothingness. 1749 G. LAVINGTON Enthus. Meth. & Papists (1820) 51 She sunk
down to the centre of her own nothingness. 1821-30 LD. COCKBURN Mem. 80, I
entered the Faculty of Advocates; and with a feeling of nothingness paced
the Outer House. 1874 SYMONDS Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. i. 9 Many..have
found a deep peace in the sense of their own nothingness.

    4. A non-existent thing; a state of non-existence or worthlessness; a
thing of no value, etc.

  1652 BENLOWES Theoph. II. vi, Soul, Th' Architect of Wonders blesse Whose
All-creating Word embirth'd a Nothingnesse. 1660 tr. Paracelsus' Archidoxis
I. VII. 110 A Specifical Corrosive..wholly Consumes Metals even to a
nothingness. 1748 HARTLEY Observ. Man I. iv. §3. 460 They..afterwards fix a
positive Nothingness and Worthlessness upon them. 1751 SMOLLETT Per. Pic.
xxxix, A nothingness of conversation which he could never attain. 1884
Lotze's Metaph. 235 Just as little could that which separates them and makes
them diverge be a mere nothingness when compared to the space..itself.



  pl. 1680 Refl. on Late Libel 33 Though he..speak hard Words, and new
Words, or..cries Incomes, Outgoings, &c. which are indeed Nothingnesses.
1826 SOUTHEY Lett. (1856) IV. 1 The follies and impertinencies and
nothingnesses with which I am pestered. 1879 BARING-GOULD Germany I. 324 The
professors..do not waste the hour of lecture with verbose nothingnesses.