VLVL2 work

[pynchonoid]

jbor: 
>The other thing to consider is the
>self-referentiality of all of this. How
>much of what Pynchon himself does could be considered
>"work"? 


[...] Writers of course are considered the mavens of
Sloth. They are approached all the time on the
subject, not only for free advice, but also to speak
at Sloth Symposia, head up Sloth Task Forces, testify
as expert witnesses at Sloth Hearings. The stereotype
arises in part from our conspicuous presence in jobs
where pay is by the word, and deadlines are tight and
final -- we are presumed to know from piecework and
the convertibility of time and money. In addition,
there is all the glamorous folklore surrounding
writer's block, an affliction known sometimes to
resolve itself dramatically and without warning, much
like constipation, and (hence?) finding wide sympathy
among readers.
Writer's block, however, is a trip to the theme park
of your choice alongside the mortal sin that produces
it. Like each of the other six, Sloth was supposed to
be the progenitor of a whole family of lesser, or
venial, sins, among them Idleness, Drowsiness,
Restlessness of the Body, Instability and Loquacity.
"Acedia" in Latin means sorrow, deliberately
self-directed, turned away from God, a loss of
spiritual determination that then feeds back on in to
the process, soon enough producing what are currently
known as guilt and depression, eventually pushing us
to where we will do anything, in the way of venial sin
and bad judgment, to avoid the discomfort. 
But Sloth's offspring, though bad -- to paraphrase the
Shangri-Las -- are not always evil, for example what
Aquinas terms Uneasiness of the Mind, or "rushing
after various things without rhyme or reason," which,
"if it pertains to the imaginative power... is called
curiosity." It is of course precisely in such episodes
of mental traveling that writers are known to do good
work, sometimes even their best, solving formal
problems, getting advice from Beyond, having
hypnagogic adventures that with luck can be recovered
later on. Idle dreaming is often of the essence of
what we do. We sell our dreams. So real money actually
proceeds from Sloth, although this transformation is
said to be even more amazing elsewhere in the
entertainment sector, where idle exercises in poolside
loquacity have not infrequently generated tens of
millions of dollars in revenue. [...] 
--Thomas Pynchon
"Nearer, my Couch, to Thee"
>From The New York Times Book Review
6 June 1993 
<http://www.libyrinth.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_sloth.html>


>Zoyd's (dishonest) way of earning a living?

I doubt Pynchon would characterize it as "dishonest." 

"IF WE ACCEPT THE NOTION THAT USING POWER AGAINST THE
powerless is wrong, a clear enough set of corollaries
begins to emerge. We become able to distinguish, as
populations (thought not always their rulers) have
usually been able to do, between outlaws and
evil-doers, between outlawry and sin. Not much
analysis is needed, because it is something we can
sense in all its dead-serious immediacy. "But all they
are are bandits," the rulers whine indignantly,
"motivated only by greed." Sure. Except that, having
long known the difference between theft and
restoration, we understand the terms of the deal
whereby outlaws, as agents of the poor, being more
skilled and knowledgeable in the arts of karmic
readjustment, may charge no worse that an agent's fee,
small enough too be acceptable to their clients, ample
enough to cover the risks they have to take, and we
always end up loving these folks, we cheer for Rob
Roy, Jesse James, John Dillinger, at a level of
passion usually reserved for sports affiliation. [...]

-Thomas Pynchon
1997 Introduction to Jim Dodge's _Stone Junction_ 
<http://www.libyrinth.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_stone.html>





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