Counterflying on the Pynchon drug 'connection"

[Bryan Snyder]

Someone else said:

"Note, in the very start of the section we're on right now, page 296:

     Frank obtained his mount, an Indian paint named Mescalero 
     with mischeif in his eye. . . .296

The significance of this pops up on pgs 390/394, in a Peyote trip of
notable Magical qualities."

I say:

See The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Casteneda.  I love that book, even
if I spelled the author's name wrong (which I'm not even sure I did).
"Mescalito" is the name given to and is considered by the brujo to be an
entity whose spiritual residence is within Peyote.  

Great postings!
B

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of robinlandseadel at comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 11:58 AM
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: RE: Counterflying on the Pynchon drug 'connection"

     David Morris:
     I don't know who asked this question below, but my answer is an
     emphatic YES!  I'm certain that much of GR is drug-inspired.  That
     doesn't mean he was tripping WHILE writing.  But much of the imagery
     is a downright description of a heavy acid trip.  And just try reading
     GR while stoned.  It's much more understandable that way.

. . . .Hmmm. . . . wonder if that was the important variable parameter?

     mikebailey:
     supporting that notion is the statement in Easy Rider -- er, 
     Slow Learner -- that a favorite technique is to write about 
     unfamiliar territory from Baedeker's.
 
     ...so, read some Burroughs, some Leary, some Masters & 
     Houston, some Grosz, and write things that'll have stoners 
     recognizing a fellow in the craft...
 
     not at all implausible  // now, are you going to explode my 2nd 
     hypothesis (suppression by the powers that be) by showing that 
     his later books are at least as subversive as the earlier?  or that 
     GR wasn't in any way a threat to the hegemony of Them?

Watts + San Narcisco = Owsley?

     Mark Kohut:
     Do we really think that beautiful, lyrically relentless and incredible 
     to-the limit comic prose of  GR was written while his mind was 
     'on drugs"?.....

Yes, most certainly, no doubt, not even in the least. Drugs are absolutely
central in Pynchon: AtD is practically a celebration of Drugs. 

Note, in the very start of the section we're on right now, page 296:

     Frank obtained his mount, an Indian paint named Mescalero 
     with mischeif in his eye. . . .296

The significance of this pops up on pgs 390/394, in a Peyote trip of
notable Magical qualities. There are particular regions of power and 
control that TRP juggles, and those control systems---Religion, Govern-
mental Authority, Descriptions of Reality, Narcs!!!! have a Nexus
around envisioning drugs. For what it's worth, this is one of my favorite
passages in all of Pynchon's writings, his best depiction/description of
a state of mind he doubtless has repeatedly accessed. This is one of 
the primary connective threads for Pynchon's concerns for alternate
religious systems of all stripes, all circling around issues like who gets
to say what's real today and what's not? I doubt that TRP would include 
so many visionary experiences in his books if he didn't find value or 
meaning in visionary experience.