VLVL the Underworld?

[jbor]

>> I'm not sure about the allegorical, "Underworld" reading. Could you
>> elaborate on what you see as Pynchon's point and provide page refs?
> 
> The references to the underworld are overt.  Thanatoids residing in Shade
> Creek?  V&B transfer BV's boneless body acrass some metaphysical border?
> How much more explicit could Pynchon get?

Yes, but that doesn't really answer the question, does it. He names a place
"Shade Creek", just like he calls Weed "Atman", or one of the 24fps members
"Krishna", and there are all those *specific* references to Native American
myths and legends as well, particularly in that scene where Vato & Blood
meet up with Brock (379). What makes the names "Shade" and "Thanatoid",
which only vaguely relate to Classical mythology anyway, any more pertinent
than these others? What's the point? Page nos and passages?

best

> http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/greek/articles.html
> 
> Hades is the lord of the dead and ruler of the nether world, which is
> referred to as the domain of Hades or, by transference, as Hades alone.
> 
> Hades rules the dead, assisted by various (demonic) helpers, such as
> Thanatos and Hypnos, the ferryman Charon, and the hound Cerberus. Many
> heroes from Greek mythology have descended into the underworld, either to
> question the shades or trying to free them. Although Hades does not allow
> his subjects to leave his domain, on several occasions he has granted
> permission, such as the time Orpheus requested the return of his beloved
> Eurydice.
> 
> Hades possesses the riches of the earth, and is referred to as 'the Rich
> One'. Possibly also because, as Sophocles writes, 'the gloomy Hades enriches
> himself with our sighs and our tears'. Of all the gods, Hades is the one who
> is liked less and even the gods themselves have an aversion of him. People
> avoided speaking his name lest they attracted his unwanted attention. With
> their faces averted they sacrificed black sheep, whose blood they let drip
> into pits, and when they prayed to him, they would bang their hands on the
> ground.