VLVL The Sisterhood: evil capitalist fascists?

[jbor]

>> 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 . . .

on 27/10/03 1:33 PM, Richard Fiero wrote:

> I'm really at a loss on how "capitalist" connects with the
> Sisterhood. Please explain.

Sure. "By the 1960s" the sisters were "looking for some cash flow", so they
decided to become self-improvement entrepreneurs and so started up a
"business" (107.22-3). At the end of the chapter, while "on a break", DL
gives details about the corporate and financial structure of the
organisation to Prairie (128.33-6).

Don suggested Werner Erhard's est seminars as a model and provided a link:

http://skepdic.com/est.html

I suggested that Pynchon's depiction of the Kunoichi sisterhood might,
characteristically, be something of a composite creation, alluding to the
way in which various gurus and moguls had combined self-help with
faux-Eastern paraphernalia after the '60s. It really had burgeoned into a
huge industry by the late '70s and '80s, with many different organisations
vying for their market share.

best