Watts article

[Otto]

> http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_watts.html
>
> Pedantry and provocation aside, the point remains that, as an example both
> of news journalism and public activism, the Watts article is quite unique
> in Pynchon's oeuvre.
>

Arrogance and deliberate misreading aside, the article fits quite well into
the topics presented in the novels.

> What the article announced to the world in no uncertain terms in 1966 was
> Pynchon's personal commitment to the Civil Rights cause -- not as a subset
> of or metaphor for anti-War or anti-capitalist agitprop, but the Civil
> Rights cause in its own right.

Where do you conclude that from? The Black Muslims and Malcolm X are
mentioned as well. And in his point about justified violence (from the point
of view of the young blacks) he takes a strong anti-capitalist stand.

> Not before and not since has he written
> anything as provocative or as current for the media. In fact, it's the one
> unambiguous political statement he has made publicly on an issue of the
> day.
> It also illustrates the fact that since 1966 Pynchon has enjoyed an open
> invitation to voice his opinion in the mainstream press on any political
> issue he feels as strongly about as he did Civil Rights in 1966; he
> hasn't.
>

I don't consider the Watts-article as provocative.

Well, it's his "only" political statement if you continue to ignore the
"1984"-Foreword and the Playboy-text as political statements & opinion.

Otto