NN Friedman V. Pynchon

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/2/2003 10:35:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
pynchonoid at yahoo.com writes:


> Forgive me if I don't read a ringing endorsement of
> cyberspace, but no doubt Pynchon recognizes the value
> of access to information and the value of the computer
> as a replacement for typewriter.  


If Brian Stonehill was saying that Pynchon's "vision" of the
internet in GR- a speculative position given its antecedence
to the internet- was only negative, then he is calling that
"vision" ironic in his penultimate paragraph:

       The very circuits that signalled the Cold War's threats 
       of annihilation now make up the benign and gossipy 
       information superhighway, just as the colorful sign of 
       God's promise to Man was suspended on drops of 
       moisture left over from the Flood.

http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/gr/bsto.html

This subverts the notion of the gnostic vision of annihilation
by the atomic bomb (technology) put forth in GR. With respect 
to the internet, then, he's saying Pynchon got it wrong. Since Mr.
Stonehill is no longer with us I cannot discuss it with him, but I 
think Brian's initial premise that Pynchon was alluding to the net 
in the Byron the Bulb piece was itself wrong, or at least, a stretch-
so the whole argument is moot.

I think that if Brian were still alive today, though, he would accept that
Pynchon's vision has evolved since GR, and that it has become
more nuanced, recognizing both the promise and the danger of
the net.

respectfully




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