Going Postal as Anarchism

[Mark Kohut]

Yes, love the 'training wheels' metaphor.......and true and positive.
   
  I might argue that the anarchism mentioned [no sourcing at hand]  and hinted at in CoL49 
  with the Tristero is the historical possibility/fact that 'things got done'--mail delivered, etc., 
  entirely cooperatively, volunteeringly.
   
  I would also argue that there are older, 'lost' definitions of anarchism that TRP is (also) using
  and alluding to, (or playing with, as you say). I think part of 'getting' AtD is understanding the meanings of various "anarchisms".....
   
  I think TRP is more likely telling us that the boundaries of all of his texts are porous....

Richard Fiero <rfiero at gmail.com> 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, the underground postal system from 
The Crying of Lot 49. If it is here, it too is undercover, operating 
on some of the mail that finds its recipients even at times when the 
normal channels seem to be down. The spat between Ewball Oust and his 
stamp-collecting father may also suggest the Tristero's presence in 
Against the Day."

I find two things that are questionable in the above paragraph
1. Mr. Duyfhuizen states that the Tristero anti-system might be 
expected "in a novel so devoted to anarchist activities . . 
." CoL49's Tristero may be disinherited, betrayed and marginalized 
but it does not have any anarchist features such as decision by 
consensus. The Peter Pinquid Society does have anarcho-capitalist 
qualities as do many other partially successful anti-systems in 
CoL49. The deaf mute (mute like the muted horn) ball ends as if by consensus.
2. Mayva's gunshot during the "spat between Ewball Oust and his 
stamp-collecting father" loudly reminds us that we are in AtD not 
CoL49. Why did the author put this reminder of CoL49 here? Is he 
rapping us upside the head because the boundary between texts is one 
that we should not cross?
What purports to be a review of AtD by Mr. Duyfhuizen is actually a 
Pynchon Introduction with Training Wheels and really isn't bad.
A culturally sanctioned definition of anarchist from WordNet is:
"nihilist, syndicalist -- (an advocate of anarchism)" and syndicalist is:
"anarchist, nihilist" That's about as good as "bearded bomb-throwing 
foreigner." I assume the author is playing with the conventional 
sanctioned definitions.



       
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