VLVL "betrayal, cowardice, destructiveness, and lying" (81)

[jbor]

otto
> Why do you leave out the third quote that shows the historical dimension
> from the Pilgrim Fathers to the Bush-dynasty.
> 
> "You're up against the True Faith here, some heavy dudes, talking crusades,
> retribution, closed ideological minds passing on the Christian Capitalist
> Faith intact, mentor to protégé, generation to generation, living inside
> their power, convinced they're immune to all the history the rest of us have
> to suffer." (232)
> 
> Are you avoiding specific pieces of the text? McCarthyism was based
> precisely on this ideology.

I don't think Rex Snuvvle is talking about McCarthyism especially -- his
perspective is emphatically internationalistic, and he's more interested in
the looming Évenements in Paris and the war and ideological struggles in
Indo-China. And I don't think you can infer that the character is simply a
mouthpiece for his author's opinions on this issue or any other, or that
this quotation in any way supports your original argument that Pynchon has
avoided making public appearances because he is fearful of McCarthyism and
anti-communist witchhunts.

best