ATDTDA (3) Dynamitic mania, 80-86

[Mark Kohut]

Spoiler Jump Ahead Alert:
   
  In this discussion, may I ask what we all think is the meaning of Lew Basnight's
  living through the bomb scene?

David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
  You'll notice that I listed a graduated scale of outlawry plus
violence. Bombing is surely violence, but are innocents (and the
question is raised as to whether this category is even valid) fair
game? Police? Politicians? Lots of judgement calls to make, no? If
one engages in outlawry and is then shot at, is it OK to shoot back?
And if a bystander gets shot is that OK? The violent aspect of
outlawry is clearly a concern of Pynchon's in AtD, and it's by no
means clearly endorsed (nor completely off-limits).

And I'd argue (despite Pynchon's listing Dillinger, Jesse James, Rob
Roy) that most outlawry is non-violent, and committed in as much
secrecy as possible. The real focus of Pynchon's essay is about
underground (and non-violent) outlawry.

David Morris

On 2/27/07, Chris Broderick wrote:
> Well, none of those outlaws that he mentions in the essay (Dillinger, Jesse James, Rob Roy) were exempt from acts of violence (whether on innocents or less than innocents is a judgement call). And sure, there's a distinction between outlawry and violence, but the two are still quite connected. The outlaws who don't engage in violence are the exception rather than the rule (MLK, Gandhi, ???)
>
>
> --- David Morris wrote:
>
> > The thing is, outlawry is one thing. Violence is quite another. And violence likely to kill a "relatively" innocent bystander is even yet another. Webb understood this, and thus chose to bomb objects valued by the Owners but not populated by anyone. Outlawry resulting in death is pretty clearly sin.


 
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