ATDDTA (3): Control issues, Chums, They (Vineland)

[Robert Mahnke]

The suggestion that “Vineland was written as primarily a critique of the
failures of the left of the period it covers” reminds of Edward Mendelson’s
review of the book in The New Republic.  At the time, I found it compelling,
though who knows if it would stand up if I read it again.  Maybe Mendelson
wouldn’t use the word “primarily” there – no one can walk away from Vineland
feeling more sympathy for Brock Vond than for Frenesi or Zoyd, but what’s
the point in writing about where Vond went wrong?

 

Sorry to take a week and a half to respond, but I’m working through a hefty
backlog here.

 

  _____  

From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Joseph T
Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 7:43 PM
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: ATDDTA (3): Control issues, Chums, They 

 

 

On Feb 17, 2007, at 7:25 PM, Joseph T wrote:





Sorry if I misinterpreted the direction or implications of your comments .
So I guess my argument will have to function as an argument against  an idea
that was not fronted. But just in case someone wanted to make that argument,
they have my apparently presumptive but  passionate riposte to deal with.

 

I still don't know if I agree with you about WW1 though. It seems far more
apocalyptic from a European point of view, since they were the ones now
subject to their scientific advancements in warfare;  but really it is just
colonial wars turned inward, obedience to god and country  transformed into
mass suicide. The world since is only hell if one refuses to leave the
paradigm that enabled it behind. 

 





On Feb 17, 2007, at 6:40 PM, Tore Rye Andersen wrote:

 

From: Joseph T:

 

For several reasons I find myself in serious disagreement , as I did  the
first time around with the argument that VL was written as  primarily a
crtique of the failures of the  left  of the period it  covers though it
functions that way very effectively.

 

It seems to me that you are "in serious disagreement" with an argument which
hasn't been advanced, at least in this thread. No one said that "VL was
written as primarily a critique of the failures of the  left  of the period
it covers." If VL is "primarily" about anything, it is probably about the
persistent betrayal of the original American Promise; it is about the
soiling of that "fresh, green breast of the new world" the Dutch sailors see
towards the end of The Great Gatsby, and it tries to answer that question
from the end of Lot 49: "how had it ever happened here, with the chances
once so good for diversity?" (and in M&D, Pynchon will elaborate this
answer). The answer is a complex one, of course, and the greed of characters
like Scarsdale Vibe is an important part of it. ....

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