VLVL The Sisterhood: evil capitalist fascists?

[Otto]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Fiero" <rfiero at pophost.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 3:33 AM
Subject: Re: VLVL The Sisterhood: evil capitalist fascists?

> jbor wrote:
> >     By the 1960s the kunoichi, looking for some cash flow
> >     themselves, had begun to edge into the self-improvement
> >     business (107.22-3)
> >
> >At the outset Pynchon highlights the capitalist ethos of this "ninjette"
> >Sisterhood . . .
> >  in which DL is a loyal and subservient member, and it's
> >reiterated at the close of the chapter when DL tells Prairie about the
> >"financial consultant name of Vicki" and "Amber the paralegal" down in LA
> >who administer the finances (128.134-7). I don't believe that Pynchon is
> >characterising this aspect of the organisation or DL as "fascist",
> > however,
> >as some here seem to want to have it. It strikes me as a fairly gentle
> >satire on the irony of a New Age-style resort preaching selflessness but
> >being in it for the cash.
>
> "In it for the cash" is questionable. However I'm pretty sure
> there is a rather strong reactionary tendency (fascist) in New
> Ageism. Secrets of the masters, ancient wisdom and all of that.
> The Sisterhood is very much fashioned after Frank Lloyd
> Wright's Taliesan West near Scottsdale Arizona which was a
> '40's and '50's phenomena. I'm not saying that Taliesan West is
> the uber-cult-commune just that joining up and kitchen work as
> described in the Sisterhood follows that model. There are a lot
> of models running in recent memory from Aliester Crowley
> through Carlos Castenada and beyond. They didn't have the Puncutron
> though.
>
> I think jbor is on to something here but isn't going to find it
> due to jbor's baggage weighing so heavily. By the way, Century
> City is where you would have found lawyers -- lots of them.
> Man, you haven't lived until you're in an attorney's suite of
> offices maybe on the 28th floor and in one of the two original
> towers not far below Jack Benny's penthouse, leaned against the
> glass and peered at the ant-sized humans crawling far below.
> Fuck, I'll take another toke of that.
>

I wouldn't call it a "strong reactionary tendency" but there's surely a
danger of this in every master-apprentice relationship in those ashrams.

I agree to Rob that Pynchon is offering a "fairly gentle satire" of the New
Age scene. In my opinion Pynchon has depicted some points very well. But I
think you're right that there are a lot of models from Crowley to Castaneda
that found their ways into this.

First there's the observation of the strong 60's/70's feminist-aspect in
these circles. Then there's the kitchen-question: "We're notorious here for
having the worst food in the seminar-providing community" (109.20-21)
explained with the "science" they preach: "The karmic invariance is, is
we're paying for high discipline in the Sisterhood with a zoo in the
kitchen" (109.23-24). It's pretty obvious that these people here cannot
"take responsibility" for their input like Prairie, that they are used to go
to McDonalds to eat and to a Howard Johnson when they travel.

The lesson for people who only have accepted "services" before is that they
first have to learn to serve before being able to reach a "higher" state of
mind.

One of the first things Carlos is being taught by Juan Matus is how to catch
a rabbit in the desert (but don't forget to offer your apologies to the
animal for eating it).

Otto