The Sadness of America

[John Doe]

I think "the ideal that ain't gonna happen" is a very
good observation, and I shoulda thought of it - yes,
you have hit on, if not the major component, then at
least one of the main ones to the American
Sadness...the profligate Slaughter of the Buffalo is
probably one of the first emblems of that
dissillusionment...with more to come...

--- Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> 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
> >>
> 
> 



	
		
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