Pynchon's "knewspeak"

[prozak at anus.com]

> Blicero is like Milton's Satan or that Pynchon is somehow like Milton or
> that the cliché (Milton/Pynchon was in the devil's camp...) applies to
> Pynchon. What he does (I don't have the book in front of me, but I have
> it up in the library so ...) is to argue that Pynchon's fictions develop
> toward the ideas of Eric Voegelin's studies of political gnosticism. 

Or just: gnosticism.

There's these two types of idealism, and one is about an all-
encompassing vibe and the other's about little bitty vibes all coming 
together, you dig?

> Recall that Eddins admits that he can not say with any certainty that
> Pynchon read Voegelin. Same goes for Nietzsche.

Yes -- But -- Nietzsche was clearly familiar with religious 
tradition. It's a moot point since he punted off so much of 
Schopenhauer, who was arguably a Gnostic in the sense that he 
embraced the root religion of Gnosticism.

> However, his readings of
> Pynchon, specifically his reading of GR as "Modernity without
> Constraint" and Blicero are the best I've come across. I think there is
> a lot of confusion about Pynchon the Gnostic. Eddins and others do not
> argue that Pynchon is a Gnostic (not even Bloom argues that he is).

No, he's a gnostic. As in, user of gnostic philosophical ideals 
without necessarily subscribing to their nameplated belief system.

> Nazism, according to Voegelin, was political religion.

I don't think any credible source would doubt this assessment.

> Blicero is both a
> Nazi and a god and a Gnostic.  

Or the image of a god... and a Nazi... in a situation described by a 
gnostic.

> PS  I'm looking for a test (an efl or esl assessment test) to place
> students.  Any suggestion would be much appreciated. 

Go old-fashioned: a newspaper.


-- 
Backup Rider of the Apocalypse
www.anus.com/metal/
DEATH AND BLACK METAL