VLVL Rex and the BLGVN

[Otto]

----- Original Message -----
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: VLVL Rex and the BLGVN


>
> Rex's "Southeast Asian studies", the proximity and interconnections
between
> Vietnamese and Cambodian history in the period, and Rex's documented
"hopes"
> (207-8), legitimately bring the Khmer Rouge into the picture as part of
"the
> historical depth the novel offers" (Thoreen). In my book, anyway.
Whichever,
> it's certainly clear that Pynchon is no apologist for Ho Chi Minh. And nor
> for Pol Pot either, I'd wager.
>
> best

The narrator calls Rex's "Southeast Asian studies" an indoctrination "in the
governments' version of the war in Vietnam," but nevertheless Rex has been
able to tell the propaganda from the truth. But unluckily only on one side
of the equation. His obsession "with the fate of the Bolshevik Leninist
Group of Vietnam" (note: of Vietnam, not Cambodia, at least in my book)
"left" of Uncle Ho seems to me a comment on the many different ML-sects in
the seventies, pointing to the fact that the communist world hardly wasn't a
united empire threatening the free world at that time. Not in real politics
and not on the side of the uncritical admirers from the New Left. The story
of Communism even begins with a split:

Bolshevik
"A Bolshevik ("Большевик", derived from Russian word loosely translated as
"majority") was a member of a faction of Bolsheviks of the Russian Social
Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) led by Vladimir Lenin. The other faction was
known as the Mensheviks, derived from "minority". The split occurred at the
Second Party Congress in 1903. Shortly after the Bolsheviks seized power
during the Russian Revolution of 1917, they changed their name to the
All-Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1918 and were generally known as
the Communist Party after that point. However, it was not until 1952 that
the party, which since the 1930s had been the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union (Bolsheviks), formally dropped the word Bolshevik from its name.
The word "Bolshevik" is sometimes used as a synonym of Communist. It was
often used by right-wingers outside the Soviet Union as a derogatory term
for left-wingers, not all of whom were necessarily Communists. The Bolshevik
political platform has often been referred to as Bolshevism."
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Pynchon is certainly no apologist for any human rights violations that
certainly have happened under Ho Chi Minh too. But he surely doesn't think
of him as the "enemy."

"Ho was a moderate within the Communist Party, and steadily lost influence
to militant radicals. He was a leading force in trying to re-unite North
Vietnam with South Vietnam through invasion during the 1960s (Also called
the National Liberation Front). Ho led a nearly continuous war against the
French and, later, the American backers of South Vietnam until his death in
1969. During his presidency, Ho was the center of a large personality cult,
which increased in force after his death. In 1975 the city Saigon (Sàigòn)
was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, after him. Ho was well-known for his simple
lifestyle, moderation and integrity by his supporters, who often
affectionately called him "Uncle Ho." "
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"In 1919, Woodrow Wilson arrived in France to sign the treaty ending World
War I, and Ho, supposing that the President's doctrine of self-determination
applied to Asia, donned a cutaway coat and tried to present Wilson with a
lengthy list of French abuses in Vietnam. Rebuffed, Ho joined the newly
created French Communist Party. "It was patriotism, not communism, that
inspired me," he later explained."
http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/hochiminh2.html

"In his will he specified that his ashes be buried in urns on three hilltops
in Vietnam, saying, "Not only is cremation good from the point of view of
hygiene, but it also saves farmland." "
http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/hochiminh4.html


Since Pol Pot isn't mentioned explicitly in the novel I don't see how
Pynchon could be an apologist for the "killing fields." You have mentioned
this repeatedly but I still don't see why.

"Pol Pot, an enemy of the Soviet Union, also gained support from Thailand
and the US. In particular, the US and the PRC vetoed the allocation of
Cambodia's United Nations General Assembly seat to a representative of Heng
Samrin's government. Influenced by realpolitik the US directly and
indirectly supported Pol Pot, who espoused a radically revised variant of
Maoism adapted to Khmer nationalism. Envisaging a perfectly egalitarian
agrarianism, the Khmer Rouge favored a direct route to communism, thus
bypassing the intermediate stage of socialism. An autonomist, Pol Pot was
quite the opponent of Soviet orthodoxy. Because he was anti-Soviet, the
United States, Thailand and People's Republic of China considered him
preferable to the pro-Vietnamese government."
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Otto