Against The Day Review By Publishers Weekly
David Morris
fqmorris at gmail.com
Wed Oct 25 11:12:29 CDT 2006
<robinlandseadel at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> I'll bet anarchy will be a big, big theme in "Against The Day". Anarchism is the central mcguffin of all of Pynchon's books. The great primordial scene of pure anarchy in literature has got to be "Suck Hour" from V. "The Zone" is the stateless state. "Mason & Dixon" tells a tale of our land's last moments of statelessness. "The Crying of Lot 49"—modes of getting messages through without the slightest chance the government will ever get their paws on your mail. And Vineland obviously is just a bunch of freaks kicking the gong around (and probably closest to Pynchon's true, everyday voice, riffing on passing social detritus and squeezing in a couple of appearances on the Simpsons in the bargain). If Against the Day is headed where I think it's headed, anarchy/statelessness will be a central and explicit theme.
Pynchon toys with anarchy, but usually in a self-knowing romantic way,
an unachievable ideal dreamed about by romantics, but unsustainable
except in short bursts.
David Morris
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