Tabbi: Pynchon's Psychology of Engineers

[jbor at bigpond.com]

Something which caught my eye:

[...] Pynchon's own sources, David Irving's _The Mare's Nest_ and James 
McGovern's _Crossbow and Overcast_, show that the looting of German 
technological achievements did in fact go on among competing Allied 
powers, much as Pynchon describes it in _GR_. (172-3)

Irving, David. 1964. _The Mare's Nest: The Secret Weapons of the Third 
Reich_. William Kimber Ltd, London.

http://www.fpp.co.uk/books/MaresNest/

best

On 10/08/2005, at 8:13 AM, jbor at bigpond.com wrote:

> One of the classic critical essays on _GR_:
>
> '"Strung Into the Apollonian Dream": Pynchon's Psychology of Engineers'
> by Joseph Tabbi, _Novel: A Forum on Fiction_ 25.2, Winter 92, pp. 
> 160-180.	
> Abstract:
> Examines the related, yet contrasting, symbolism in Pynchon's book 
> _Gravity's Rainbow_. It is a novel famous for its treatment of science 
> and technology, with many references to tarot cards, witchcraft and 
> primitive religion. Technical images; Rocket, the most dramatic 
> symbol, embodies immortal dreams and aspirations of an entire 
> generation; Technology becomes a means of unifying the psyche.
>
> Begins:
> It is a curious fact that _Gravity's Rainbow_, a novel famous for its 
> treatment of science and technology, should include amid all its 
> technical detail so much that is dreamlike, spiritualistic, or in some 
> other way "non-scientific." For every equation or popularization of 
> science cited in the text, there are again as many references to tarot 
> cards, witchcraft, and primitive religion, while more often than not 
> Pynchon's most complex technical excursions are embedded within 
> dreams, hallucinations, or psychic transactions among the living and 
> the dead. The book's central symbol--the rocket--might be described 
> equally by mandalas as by ballistics, and that unimaginable corporate 
> totality--the Firm--seems to employ as many psychics as scientists. To 
> the reader looking to sort out the significance of Pynchon's many 
> technological metaphors, analogies, and images, this is all very 
> disconcerting. One can try to ignore the extraneous details, but 
> sooner or later the most single-minded investigator into the novel's 
> technological material must be "thrown back," like Tyrone Slothrop at 
> the height of his quest, "on dreams, psychic flashes, omens, 
> cryptographies, drug epistemologies, all dancing on a ground of 
> terror, contradiction, absurdity" (p. 582). [...]
>
> Pdf available.
>
> best
>