BAR Loon's weapon of opportunity

[John Bailey]

>Loon apparently seizes a weapon from Lepescu's room, one of two crossed
>BAR's.
<snip>

>It is curious that Lepescu would have one of these, let alone two, 
> >displayed on his wall. I don't think people were allowed to keep fully 
> >automatic weapons as souvenirs. This would be the equivalent of >walking 
>into someone's apartment today to find AK-47s on display, >though the BAR 
>was far more powerful.

"A pose I found congenial in those days-fairly common, I hope, among 
pre-adults-was that of somber glee at any idea of mass destruction or 
decline." This statement by Pynchon is, I think, pretty honest, and a really 
useful key to understanding this story. I'll hopefully post much more on 
this topic in the next week, but briefly, Siegel's turning his back on the 
party, and knowing what will result (death and mass destruction) is a huge 
contrast to Pynchon's later work. I would even surmise that this immaturity 
is what caused Pynchon to leave the story out of Slow Learner, though that's 
really wild conjecture on my part. But in terms of both simple storytelling 
as well as the complex philosophical contortions for which P would later 
become known, Siegel's actions just don't cut the mustard.


>This is just a breakdown in verisimilitude that I spotted in this >story.
>Maybe TRP was using the Browning because its reputation would be >familiar 
>to
>people in 1959 who recalled the Korean war, or because of his naval
>experiences with Marines who considered it a favorite weapon.

>Just tossing it out there.

>Hey Otto,

>Thanks for throwing the text up on your website. I had never read it 
> >before.
>Kind of completes my Pynchon catalogue.

>Joe



_________________________________________________________________
MSN Instant Messenger now available on Australian mobile phones. Go to  
http://ninemsn.com.au/mobilecentral/hotmail_messenger.asp