Religious Fundamentalism in Orwell and Pynchon

[Terrance]

jbor wrote:

 Pynchon actually parodies
> this type of in(s)anity in the Foreword:
> 
>     "Wow, the Government has turned into Big Brother, *just like
>     Orwell predicted!* Something, huh?" "Orwellian, dude!" (xvi)

Sure he does. And this example actually supports the very  sane readings
of the Foreword (not to mention the SL Introduction and the rest of P's
wacky and loopy prose) that have been badly botched and bungled by this
entire debate (mostly by Doug's  crusade--remind anyone of Mucho's
"Natch"-- which, ironically, doesn't include a propensity for
proselytizing about the "evils of drug abuse" but only the evils of
legalized liquid libations). You see, once you get a feel for P's prose
(it's not a matter of listening to his Jazz or having magic balls or
being in the know or agreeing with his politics) characters like Mucho,
P's parodies make sense. 

You see, Robert, P does in fact parody the common left leaning pot
smoking paranoid dude in the Foreword, but the dude in the parody is not
his target. He's just your average American "schlemiel." 

Much predicts the Reagan administration. Was he a 60s prophet? Did he
have magic balls. Did LSD open his mind to the future. Well, of course
not. His prescience, as Patell notes in his excellent study _Negative
Liberties_ is a joke. So is the parody of the dude. At the same time,
Mucho is right. More importantly, Mucho live in Vineland and Vineland is
a magical world. In P's magical worlds (see the Luddite essay), while
we're not in Garcia's Colombia or anything, we are not Kansas anymore
and so prophecy and revelation are possible. 

The parody and the target (of the satire) seem to be at odds at times.
But don't get stuck on this. If you do, you'll miss all the fun. And
what P communicates too.