Pynchon and fascism

[Paul Nightingale]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
> Behalf Of pynchonoid
> Sent: 29 May 2003 17:04
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: Pynchon and fascism
> 
> --- Malignd <malignd at yahoo.com> wrote:.>>
> > Really.  I think there are any number of illiterates
> > who might give a fair description of fascism who
> > "know" fascism in rather more direct ways.
> 
> 
> By "illiterates" do you mean human beings?
> 
> I agree with the larger point, that humans do not need
> text to represent the world to them, given the
> pre-textual representations provided by the brain.
> 
I define text as representation, and vice-versa, therefore no
pre-textual representation is possible.

However, if you mean some kind of pre-linguistic sensory perception (ie
pain) that's another matter, perhaps.

If I'm tortured, I'll find it painful.

But how do I know this is fascism? If I know anything, it's that I'd
rather not be there. Anything else, recognising that the people doing
this to me are fascists, has to be part of a learned response to the
world and the everyday events that make up social life. That learned
response, that making sense of something, is a form of representation.