VLVL2 (10) Realists and dreamers, 198

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

"The question then becomes, what is Pynchon's text attempting to
say regarding the hugely asymmetric relationship between the status
quo and the "ippy bums"? and, what should have been the responsible
actions of those otherwise typical American kids in dealing with that
asymmetry of power and the cognitive dissonance engendered by the
immoral actions of their own government and its corporate underwriters?"


In a message dated 1/1/04 11:46:38 PM, lycidas2 at earthlink.net writes:

<< Why must the text attempt to say anything regarding such matters? The
answer to your question is implicit, so what do you need Pynchon's book
for? >>

I don't need the text- I choose to engage it. The answers are not
implicit for me, at all, but if they are for you, what are they?

<< The 60s crew in VL is sick. Like the whole sick crew in the novel V., we
have a sick crew in Vineland.  In 1984, when the novel opens,  they are
still sick. >>

I don't think that any of them are sick, btw, but if you do:

Does that mean that Ditzah is only playing at being sick? If so,
does her current solvency and her job, whatever that may be,
mean that she is no longer playing at being sick? Is she more or 
less ill than Frenesi? Is there a cure for this illness of "the 60s 
crew"? Should they be forced to undergo treatment, or, just allowed 
to continue in their "ippy bum" ways and watched closely for any 
signs of their ailment spreading to the majority of Americans? 

respectfully

<< I doubt that we can extrapolate from this fact of the novel
and discover Pynchon's politics. Not that the obvious answers to
questions like the one you pose above can not be discovered by reading
his messays. >>