AtD and 9/11

[jbor at bigpond.com]

On 18/08/2006:

> But the refraction of a fictional
> past with the present day is a consistent element of
> all of his novels, from V. to M&D.  Considering the
> appearance of Nixon in GR, pretty much everything in
> Vineland, and the various anachronisms in M&D, it
> seems silly to dismiss this out of hand.

The paragraph in the blurb doesn't seem to be referring to the jokey 
anachronisms or the fast-forward to Pynchon's self-consciousness about 
himself writing the novel and the Nixon era around him in the last part 
of GR. If the second sentence is read as ironic or sardonic, then he's 
making a broader statement about the similarity between one time (the 
lead-up to WWI) and another time ("the present day").

"With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time 
of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic 
fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the 
present day is intended or should be inferred."

In fact, it's either a pretty dire prediction of a "worldwide disaster 
looming just a few years ahead" of us, or an analogy between the 
current world Situation and WWI.

I agree with you that his works aren't meant (thankfully) as political 
polemics.

best

> Which is
> exactly why the statement in the blurb dismissing any
> relation to the present day comes across as ironic.
> That said, I'm sure that AtD is not going to be some
> 1000-page anti-Bush (or, for that matter,
> pro-Bush)polemic.  Thank goodness.
>
> -Chris