Ratfucker

[mikebailey at speakeasy.net]

"Duffy" Duyfhuizen produces the Pynchon Notes.
He seems to be a regular guy...put a nice note
in with the set I ordered.

I find myself in agreement with you, at least
to the point of not immediately thinking "anarchist"
when I think of "Tristero"

I think of them more as an opposition party
(definitely not a "loyal opposition") 
but they aren't incompatible with anarchy --
anarchist opportunists could certainly use the
W.A.S.T.E. network to communicate and propagandize,
for one thing, and the program of the Tristero
to disrupt "establishment" communications could
be appealing to anarchists.

at the risk of stating my views and calling them Pynchon's...

I think that in Lot 49 particularly, 
Pynchon begins with the picture of discontent and
malaise that are a very natural reaction to the ills of the
world, and to the abuses perpetrated by the dominant culture...

...and through fiction he's able to succinctly show
these ills and also sift through various possible responses
not ignoring their appeal, while at the same time - (seems to me) 
- subtly winnowing out the violent, the
unreasonable, and focusing on the possibilities 
for an intelligent person to find out more and to 
play a responsible role in setting the world right...

I think he's not against leadership via merit,
but against an entrenched power elite with all its
attendant abuses...

now if you're asking for page references where he says
all that, I'll get back to you...




> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Fiero [mailto:rfiero at gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 03:39 AM
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: Ratfucker
>
> robinlandseadel at comcast.net wrote:
> >. . .
> > "The Exact Degree of Fictitiousness":
> > Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day
> >
> > Bernard Duyfhuizen
> >
> > In a novel so devoted to anarchist activities, the reader
> > might also expect to encounter the Tristero . . .
>
> I know he's some kind of big shot but where is there any evidence
> that the Tristero has any anarchist qualities?
>
> >The spat between Ewball Oust and his stamp-collecting father also
> >suggest the Tristero's presence in Against the Day. . .
>
> Is that the same error that the rich and pampered kid Ewball makes?
>
>