The Sadness of America

[Bekah]

I think that some Americans recognize a sadness in America, 
Pynchon, as case in point.  But do we perceive the same kind of 
sadness as non-Americans?

I think that our sadness is more for an unfulfilled promise,  a 
dream, an ideal that ain't gonna happen or maybe that never was. 
Or perhaps our sadness is about declining power, corrupt as it is and 
was,   a  misguided nostalgia of sorts.   Then too there is the 
sadness of what we have done to this beautiful land,  our 
environment.  This is the awareness of the destruction of greed. 
All of the above could be put under the general heading of "what a 
waste."  (so to speak)

What kind of sadness do you perceive in Pynchon?  Some or all of the 
above?  Something different?

Bekah



At 2:54 PM +0200 10/9/05, Thomas Eckhardt wrote:
>Indeed. The sadness of America may have to do with "changing all 
>from subjunctive to declarative, reducing Possibilities to 
>Simplicities that serve the ends of Governments". Or the ends of 
>multinational corporations, one might add.
>
>On a different note: According to my experiences, most US-citizens, 
>for better or worse, are not capable of perceiving "God's own 
>country" as sad. Perhaps sadness and melancholy are sentiments we 
>Europeans bring to America. Just a thought.
>
>Thanks for your posting, Heikki.
>
>Thomas
>
>
>Heikki Raudaskoski schrieb:
>
>>One reason I loved America when I lived there was that it
>>was so immensely sad. When I left my Austinite home on
>>Joe Sayers and was suddenly confronted by the miracle mile
>>of Burnet Road, the melancholy of it all almost crushed me
>>sometimes. Pynchon can convey this sorrow very well.
>>
>>
>>Heikki
>>