Against the Day/Songs

[rich]

that apolcalypse now, won't be the second coming it'll be when that little
bitty problem with oil this planet has comes to spank us on the fanny--it's
the lifeblood of the system (or System(s))
theme song would be Neil Young's Vampire Blues

there is a certain ambiguity about that title--ATD could be a warning (steel
yourself against the day, e.g.) or a call to arms not to accept what
oppression lives amongst us--against the day, i.e. the staus quo.
prepare and fight

or

a useless odyessy--how does one fight against the coming of the day--it's
coming regardless and in ill humor

rich

On 7/21/06, Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>
> On Jul 21, 2006, at 12:12 AM, Chris Broderick wrote:
>
> > Hello.  I'm one of those who just joined the list
> > thanks to Slate, though I knew of it, thanks to the
> > someone passing out free copies of Lineland at Burning
> > Man, which I finished reading before I washed off the
> > crust of Black Rock City.
> >
> > Anyway, I just wanted to comment on the various bits
> > of speculation about the title Against the Day.  It
> > seems that this is all in a piece with a significant
> > (to my mind at least) thematic element in GR, that of
> > preterition.  If so, the part in Pynchon's blurb (I
> > cling to the belief that it was him!) that begged off
> > any comparison of the Day in the title to the present
> > is at least a little disingenuous, considering how
> > many American foax are of the belief that, to
> > paraphrase Robert Anton Wilson, the eschaton is
> > immanent (as evidenced by the horrors in the Mideast,
> > Gay Marriage, parents unwilling to whip their kids,
> > etc.)
>
> It's important that the Day of Judgement be seen to be just about as
> fully applicable to the secular world and to the world of belief
> other than fundamentalist Christian.  In all realms it is a judgement
> from which there  is no appeal (GR page 1).
>
>   A notable and apposite example would  be Malcolm-X's  famous "The
> Chickens Come  Home to Roost" speech after the Kennedy assassination.
>
>
> http://www.malcolm-x.org/speeches/spc_120463.htm
>
> >
> > But I digress (I'm on the Pynchon list, so digressions
> > are welcome, right?)  My point is that an element that
> > was prevalent in GR of those who struggle against the
> > idea of apocalypse seems to be front & center in this
> > latest novel, at least as far as these mysterious
> > missives are concerned.  That warms my heart
> > considerably, not that I would shun any work by Mr.
> > Pynchon at this point regardless of its level of
> > apocalypse shunning.
> >
> > Another element that makes me particularly hungry for
> > this piece is the time period.  To my mind, one of the
> > stronger elements of GR (and one of the lesser
> > elements of the subsequent 2 novels) was Mr. Pynchon's
> > facility with song lyrics that fit the period.  The
> > man obviously knows his Cole Porter and Rodgers &
> > Hammerstein, and knows how to tweak them
> > appropriately.  It has long been a fantasy of mine to
> > put many of the lyrics of GR to music, simply because
> > it would be so easy (which is less true of Vineland
> > and M&D, since he seems to have less facility with
> > rock both punk and hippie and early American music,
> > respectively.  So a novel by TP set in the dawn of the
> > 20th-Century sets this musician's heart aflutter.
> >
> > Anyway, I blather on too long.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Chris
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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>
>
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