VLVL What is Pynchon's attitude towards the "traveling Movement co-ordinators"?

[jbor]

> You wrote: "Speaking of Rex Snuvvle, would it be accurate to categorise
> his political affiliation as "radical left"?"
> 
> Of course.  So what?  Snuvvle was a dope.  I unfortunately knew many
> people like him in the late 60s, early 70s.  Academics who had no clue
> about the real world. IMHO, Pynchon's idea in having Snuvvle promote Weed
> Atman as the leader of PR3 is to express irony, since Atman is
> a-political.  I don't think Pynchon is suggesting that the machinations
> of the radical left resulted in any real world accomplishments.

I'm not sure what your point is. What (and where) exactly is the "moral
focus that is clearly left leaning" that you were insisting the other day
was the "side" Pynchon is "on"?

It is interesting, however, that you should again attempt to skip over
another extremely interesting passage in the text, where Pynchon's narrator
distinguishes between "the government's version of the Vietnam War" and "the
truth", and which explicitly introduces Rex as having come to know that
"truth" (207.19-208.10). I think the references in the text to the Fourth
International, the BLGVN (real or fictitious?) and Ho Chi Minh might warrant
a little more attention. Rex is the only character in the novel thus far who
has what could be called an overt anti-war agenda.

> You wrote: "in fact, their summation of Weed as "neither charismatic nor
> even personable" is  contradicted later in the chapter; he certainly
> exudes quite a bit of sexual charisma for the women, even 15 years on."
> 
> This is more irony intended to show the close-minded denseness of the
> movement people.
> 
> You wrote: "One cause which he does constantly endorse throughout his
> fiction and non-fiction is the Civil Rights movement."
> 
> True.  But the "movement co-ordinators" in this paragraph are anti-war
> movement people, not civl rights movement people.

I think you'll find that they are Student Movement people, i.e. activists
within the counterculture who went around from college campus to college
campus to escalate things, to stir up dissent against university
administrations, a bit like those old trade union organisers we saw earlier.
There's nothing in the text to say that they are explicitly "anti-war". I
think that "anti-authority" is probably closer to the mark. In fact, I think
their complaint about the lack of "analysis" pertains to the absence of any
tactical strategy amongst the PR3 crew, rather than to any specific social
or political commitment.

A pretext for the actual PR3 revolt, quite a long time coming apparently, is
described at 209.3-14. Not a skerrick of "anti-war" sentiment in sight.

best