I Think I'm a Loon, Now

[RuudSaurins at aol.com]

     As a dedicated, caring, and pro-bubbly over-paid medical professional, I think that one cannot address the "looniness" of Pynchon, Beckett, Poe, Pollack, etcetcetc.....without addressing the concurrent issue of the use and/or abuse of any of a variety of socially acceptable (or unacceptable) intoxicants.  Pynchon alludes to "that useful substance" in the SL intro, and also includes references in his novels that suggest more than a passing familiarity with various drug habits and cultures.
     This observation provokes a "chicken and egg" debate among those who concern themselves with these behaviors, namely; are these ill individuals who are self-medicating out of desperation in an uncaring society and culture, or are such mental conditions (labelled as pathologic) caused by the use of the intoxicant(s)?  To quote from National Lampoon's _Radio Dinner_, "Genius is Pain!".   But Syria's leaf oaks.....
                                               truly,
                                               ruud