ATD SPOILER p. 95

[pynchonoid]

--- Andrew Pollock <ahpollock at gmail.com> wrote:
[...]  In
> other words, young
> Traverse is only in danger of being a suicide bomber
> because he's
> young, dumb and full of cum...which implies a
> question about the
> purity of motive for self-identified ideologues
[...]

Yes it does. The current geopolitical climate and
specific events ongoing in Afghanistan an Iraq, make
it difficult not to think about extra-textual (if such
be possible) instances of Pynchon's "radius of
annhilation" that include the bomber him-or herself.

Worth observing that Pynchon writes his book in a
world where suicide bombers - whatever their
motivations - are not typically thought of as
American, in that the novel goes against the grain.  
 

pynchonoid:

> "Subject: ATD SPOILER p. 95
> 
> "a radius of annhilation that, if it could not
> include
> the ones who deserved it, might as well include
> himself" [95]
> 
> ...hair-raising to see Pynchon put the suicide
> bomber/terrorists back in the US where they also
> have
> a home; the effect also to make them (the suicide
> bombers over there somewhere - Afghanistan, Iraq,
> etc.) a bit less foreign, an to make ourselves, good
> US citizens, appear foreign to ourselves.
> 
> September 11, 2001 and its consequences seem obvious
> on this novel, at least in these first 95 pages."
> 



 
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