M & D and ATD, thematic homage, parallels, etc.

[Monte Davis]

Keith wrote:

> This is quite an assumption about Pynchon which is impossible to  
> verify. There is no way to know whether Pynchon Edenizes or is  
> presnting Edenization from a neutral position or from a satiric/ 
> ironic position. When I look at his body of work I don't find much to  
> support the Edenization hypothesis.

What do you find to suggest that the Herero of V and GR, the trans-Ohio 
Indians of M&D, the Yurok of Vineland, or the Tarahumara and shamanic 
tribes of AtD *did* have their own contingent history, that they might 
be where they were and as they were when Europeans encountered them 
because of migrations and conquests and displacements of their own?

Among the few exceptions I can think of is Wren Provenance's description 
of the Aztlan rock carvings (277-78) and its later reappearances in 
dream, which is halfway to space-invader land. By and large, what the 
books say and imply about "natives" beyond their interactions with Us is 
timeless, ahistoric and skewed in the direction of "they live in harmony 
with What Matters, we're screwed up.".

As I've said before, I don't expect a novelist to be a historian, and I 
do enjoy Pynchon's chiaroscuro so much that I don't mind the loss of 
some shadow detail. Something new in history -- for better and worse -- 
surely *did* emerge in the age of European exploration, then the 
colonies and empires. I'm just not sure it was quite as cosmic, quite as 
unique, as is implied by "that special Death the West had invented," 
analysis as original sin, and so forth.