VLVL "closed ideological minds" (232)

[jbor]

otto
> Rex is not talking about Asian dictators but about America explicitly in
> that quote.

I disagree. As I've said, I don't think that Rex is talking about America,
the Bushes or WASPs specifically in the passage on p. 232. It's a general
historical and ideological analysis, part of a conversation Rex once had
with Weed when he was trying to persuade the latter to bail out. It
certainly doesn't support the contention that Pynchon has chosen to avoid
publicity and journalists for over 40 years because he is afraid of
McCarthyism and anti-communist witchhunts, which is why you cited it
initially. I also think there's quite a bit more nuance in Pynchon's
depictions of and references to American Puritanism in _GR_ than you're
implying in your comparison of Rex's sentiments (5 1/2 lines) to that novel
(758 pages). 

And why do you leave out the passage on 207-8 where Pynchon introduces Rex
and equates his quest to help instigate a true revolution in South East Asia
to "finding" Jesus? Are you avoiding specific pieces of the text? To me it
seems you ignore that passage and the ironic juxtaposition of it to the
later one because you disagree with the inherent critique. You keep
repeating yourself, etc.

best