ATDDTA (6) 175 S 2

[mikebailey at speakeasy.net]

bekah earmarked: 
> 
> 175:4 "At the next convenient rise, he paused and regarded the 
> peaceful valley. Maybe he had not yet seen it all, but Lew would be 
> reluctant to wager more than a glass of beer that Chicago, for all 
> its urban frenzy, had much on this country out here.... "
(reluctant snippage)
> 
> I just typed that out because it's so beautifully written in a 
> classic western style (only with long sentences) but briefly very 
> different from most of the book. It's McCarthy-ish/esque 

and owes a bit to Arthur Conan Doyle as well:
"It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys of London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside" ("The Copper Beeches")


There are 
> no Luddite or anarchy sympathies in that passage, no nostalgia or 
> meditation on the frontier, no science, no history, no 
> anti-capitalist sentiments and not much paranoia. It's just a human 
> being looking at some devastating scenery. Pynchon is not blaming 
> the capitalists for the personal difficulties of the people. At 
> this point, Lew seems to be a kind of fulcrum or counter-point or 
> balance to the anarchists as well as the capitalists. 
> 
> ***************

well, those darn capitalists, if they had provided a free psychological 
clinic and public horse-training...
but truly, the passage is alive to the possibilities for
evil choices, and the frequency with which they're taken; culminating
in a speculation about the ghosts of the aboriginal victims.