Pynchon's politics, as exhibited in Vineland

[mikebailey at speakeasy.net]

> -----Original Message-----
> Subject: Pynchon's politics, as exhibited in Vineland
> 
> Indeed, a classic quotation from a rare rave review of Vineland.
> 
> I would say that for anyone who shares a broadly left-leaning political 
> worldview, the fact that Pynchon does too is readily apparent from reading 
> his other works, Vineland aside. It's comparable to standing next to someone 
> at a concert who's smoking a joint: if you don't know the smell of burning 
> marijuana then you'll maybe not recognise it, but if you do then there's no 
> mistaking it. With Vineland, he just made the politics explicit.
> 
> Cheers
> 


ah, maybe; but what I like best about Vineland is that although yes it shows familiarity and affection for the lefties, it strives for a more mature perspective, translating political movements into emotional components and life consequences, and (for me, at least) suggesting that family and love trump politics; suggesting that the fact that political power comes out of the barrel of a gun taints political power irremediably and renders it not worth striving for...
but that's almost a subsidiary point behind the evocation of the emotions and the working out of the different characters' karma, and the fulfillment of the ancient artistic charge: reaffirm stock values, urge the abandonment of the revenge ethic, and as Austin Powers said "Show me love!"