Religious Fundamentalism in Orwell and Pynchon

[jbor]

on 23/5/03 12:00 AM, Otto at ottosell at yahoo.de wrote:

> We have said that it's a warning because today a
> Big-Brother-state *would be* a much bigger threat
> then at Orwell's time. I think this is the point he makes
> since at least 1984 (The Luddite-essay).

This pretty much illustrates the issue. How can Pynchon have been alluding
to 9/11 and what came after 9/11 since 1984?

> It's *would be* not *is* already. Saddam's Iraq has
> been a Big-Brother-state, but more in the orwellian sense
> (the goofy moustache tyrants Hitler, Stalin and Saddam).

I don't disagree with the "warning" aspect. But I don't think you even need
to manufacture or invent an allusion to 9/11 or the Patriot Act to make that
case. As others have said, apart from the fact that it's a Centennial
edition, so some reference to "2003" is warranted and perhaps even expected,
the actual content of the Foreword could have been written at any time in
the last twenty or thirty years.

Re: the "fascistic disposition" paragraph

> But there is an allusion to the Patriot Act: "With the homeland in danger..."

It's unlikely, in my opinion, as I've said before.

best