Pynchon as propaganda

[s~Z]

>>>Christianity - which is the ontological framework from within which the
chaplains are preaching - is also certain about redemption and salvation and
the existence of God. The narrator and the text, however, are not. There is
a difference. Thanks for the discussion.<<<

You just make more than I about the text mentioning that some of the
soldiers who heard the chaplains are dead now. You read that as a contrast
with the chaplains' message of redemption. I read it as emphasizing the
context of death in which the chaplains are bringing their message. The
chaplains are not preaching to children in Sunday School. They are preaching
to soldiers surrounded by the threat and reality of death. I don't think the
text emphasizes death's finality. I think it emphasizes death's
inevitability.

And then there is the context of the entire section in which the paragraph
lies, beginning with the moon and snake and trees and poles of 30 y/o wood,
and ending with the Cross/phallus and Tree and Virgin and sun and
sovereignty.

Thank you, as well. You are fun to argue with, but most of the time I agree
with you.