Harvard Law Review cites Pynchon

[jbor at bigpond.com]

Mm. I didn't even consider it a controversial observation. I accept 
that Zoyd's attitude and behaviour in the '60s might be described as 
countercultural. But I think part of the point of the novel is to 
contrast Zoyd's political passivity and general ambivalence and 
obliviousness at that time with the activism (pro- as well as 
anti-government) and pseudo-activism (psychosis, vandalism, betrayals) 
of some of the other characters, from Frenesi and the 24fps kooks, 
through Weed, Rex, and even Brock. I don't think of it as a pejorative 
thing to say that Zoyd was not a '60s activist. His was some middle 
way; scepticism, withdrawal, hedonism, acquiescence. A goyim schlemiel. 
(A '60s youth characterisation not straitjacketed into some artificial 
"right wing vs left wing" binary metanarrative.) Makes him a pretty 
reasonable parent, too, far preferable to the other "activists" we 
encounter-- though RC and Moonpie are more "countercultural" (and more 
empathetic parent characters) than Zoyd is.

The context of the reference in the Harvard Law article does make it 
seem to be a lapse. I think it's stretching to meaninglessness the 
definition and denotation of the term "'60s activist" to lumber Zoyd 
Wheeler with it.

best

On 30/04/2005, at 12:05 PM, Otto wrote:

> To fresh up an old quarrel:
>
>>
>>  it inaccurately describes Zoyd as "a former '60s activist"
>>
>
> Why inaccurately? It seems to me that the term "'60s activism" 
> includes more
> then just the SDS, the Black Panthers or the the Civil Rights 
> Movement. Back
> in those days music and drugs were part of the political scale.

Otto

----- Original Message -----
From: <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2005 1:40 AM
Subject: Harvard Law Review cites Pynchon

> A "Note" in a recent issue of the _Harvard Law Review_ refers to
> _Vineland_ in its concluding paragraphs (pdf available):
>
> 'The Impermeable Life: Unsolicited Communications in the Marketplace of
> Ideas'. _Harvard Law Review_ 118.4, Feb. 2005, pp. 1314-1338.
>
> Abstract:	
> Focuses on the allowance and protection of unsolicited communications 
> as a safeguard for what is termed as the central constitutional goal 
> of creating a deliberative democracy. Need for persons to be exposed 
> to unsolicited communications; idea behind a private space; steps that 
> should be taken to preserve the role of unsolicited communications in 
> a democracy.
>
> While it's only a brief reference, a couple of paragraphs in total, 
> and it inaccurately describes Zoyd as "a former '60s activist", I'd 
> say it's pretty unusual to see a literary text cited as a precedent 
> amongst all the other legal ones in this particular journal. The topic 
> of the exposition is quite interesting too.
>
> best
>