ATDTDA (5.1) - The Etienne-Louis Malus

[bekah]

In 1904/5  most of Western Civilization,  Europe,  North America, 
Australia,  etc.  viewed the prospects of a multi-national war on a 
large scale as being highly unlikely.   After all,  they had their 
alliances and agreement to keep them safe and with a secret 
maintenance to keep the balance of powers,  all would be well.    And 
if it did come to a war,  well, technology being what it was,  the 
war would be very short - 6 weeks or so at most.    The last 
multi-nation war had been Crimea in 1854.   There were some sometimes 
very bloody skirmishes in the colonized areas or the crumbling 
Ottoman Empire but overall, nothing between the major players.  The 
focus was on nation building through material growth and imperialist 
interests.  It was generally thought that war was disruptive to trade 
and empire building  and the impetus was to keep the peace for the 
sake of the goodies.    The outcome of WWI was general societal 
disillusion with so many things.  the rise of Nazi Germany,  the 
Great Depression and WWII really.


That said,  I agree there is a sense of foreboding in AtD,  and 
there was a certain uncertainty (along with unparalleled optimism) 
in the world at the time (Gilded Age or not).   But the fear was not 
of a multi-national war.


The fear was  of the Bolshevik/Menshevik power struggle in Russia and 
the immigrants here.   V.I. Lenin wrote "What is to be Done?" in 1902 
and "One Step Forward, Two Steps Backwards" in 1904.  The Second 
Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party split the 
factions and called for a world-wide revolution.  This was in 1903. 
In January of 1905 the Revolution really began (for all intents and 
purposes).  resident McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist in 
1901 and Eugene Debs ran for president in 1904.  (I know that 
anarchism and socialism and the labor movement are not the same thing 
at all,  but they were all interested in radially changing life as it 
was known. -  they were all seen as a big, bad, horrible threat from 
somewhere.)



That's the fear and foreboding I see reflected in the book.  The 
syndicalists and the capitalists are going at each other.  It's a war 
- (a statement from the next chapter).


I don't know what  the Vormance  (V + romance?)  crew dug up - it may 
be something to do with the evil that lurks in men's hearts or 
something.  It may be a Red Scare.  I think that Dr. Vormance may be 
some kind of take-off on  Luigi Amedeo,  the Prince of Climbers,  for 
several reasons. 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Amedeo,_Duke_of_the_Abruzzi>. 

Bekah



At 2:00 PM -0600 3/19/07, rich wrote:
>I rather tend to think that Pynchon's treatment of 'the inevitability of
>historical events' aims to dispute that very 'inevitability'. All the
>characters in AtD act as if WW1 truly is inevitable, and in that way they
>help bring about its very inevitability. By having no doubts whatsoever
>about the coming disaster, they submit themselves to the abstract force of
>History and by doing so they deprive themselves of the opportunity to change
>the course of events. Of course, the actions of a single individual will
>hardly be enough to change the course of history, but if we all think that
>way (and most of the characters in AtD do so); if we all try to evade
>responsibility by pointing to the inevitability of coming disasters, then
>these disasters will surely come about.
>
>_______________
>most americans if you asked them today will probably agree that 
>another terrorist attack on american soil is inevitable. I don't 
>think we can divorce the mood of the current events from Pynchon's 
>fictional creations and psyche. Before WW1, I think the mood was 
>guarded as to a upcoming war but in reality the general sense was of 
>at least a short one (many were happy to see it come). there were 
>others, of course, who thought an impending disaster, and a long 
>bloody slog, curiously like in Iraq today.
********






-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20070319/16c7bdb5/attachment.html>