Is this Book just a book? (was re: Religious Fundamentalism in Orwelland Pynchon)

[Otto]

"Dear Mom. I put a couple of people in Hell today. ." (537)

I can't help but I always thought of Michael Herr's "Dispatches" (1968) when
I read this.

The soldiers in GR aren't presented as we would expect in a WW-2 novel,
their drug use for example fits more to the Vietnam-war.

Otto

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terrance" <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
Cc: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 1:39 PM
Subject: Re: Is this Book just a book? (was re: Religious Fundamentalism in
Orwelland Pynchon)


>
>
> lorentzen-nicklaus wrote:
> >
> >                               David Morris schrieb: "This passage is
just fine
> >                               as a paragraph in a fictional world."
> >
> >     this mail of yours is just fine as a posting in a consumer world ...
damn,
> >     dude, we're not talking about grisham or such: this is the rainbow,
this is
> >     radical art! since the avantgarde stepped on the scene around 1910,
> >     authentic art is always up to dissolve the barriers between beauty
and our
> >     every day life ... in 1973, when gravity's rainbow came out, you'd
probably
> >     have been arguing that the war is south east asia plays no role in
it cause
> >     you cannot find the word "vietnam" anywhere in the novel ... kfl
>
>
> I've never read a convincing critical reading of GR that argues that the
> War in SE Asia plays a role in GR. Can you point me to one or can anyone
> point me to a few passages in the novel and explain to me how these
> passages support such a reading.