Putz: The Art of the Acronym

[jbor at bigpond.com]

Nifty little essay (pdf available); very informative, and very relevant 
to the opening sections of GR in particular. Also makes note of another 
obvious connection (cf. the start of the episode with Slothrop at St 
Veronica's) between Pynchon's work and Heller's Catch-22:

'The art of the acronym in Thomas Pynchon'
by Manfred Pütz, Studies in the Novel 23.3, 1991, pp. 371-382.

Abstract:
Explores the use of acronyms in the novels of Thomas Pynchon. Stage of 
development where playing with acronyms is turned into literary art 
with sophisticated functions and effects; tendency towards growing 
disagreement on definitions; tradition in the use of abbreviations; 
parodistic dimension of acronyms in Pynchon's fiction; playfulness in 
the creation of acronyms.
	
Begins:
The term acronym, the OED states, designates "A word formed from the 
initial letters of other words." Originally coined in the US, the term 
is regarded as a neologism which allegedly became current during the 
forties of our century, while the phenomenon itself is considered to be 
a growing fad of our time. Today acronyms and abbreviations of all 
sorts are not only a standard, often irritating, feature of 
non-literary discourse, but they are also in the process of becoming a 
conspicuous element in works of literature. In this context, the 
frequent and almost provocative use of acronyms in the novels of TP 
marks a stage of development where playing with this form of words is 
turned into a literary art with sophisticated functions and effects. 
Before we can examine these effects, it is necessary to have a look at 
certain aspects of the general linguistic discussion of the phenomenon 
in question. [...]

best