ATDTDA (5.1) - The Etienne-Louis Malus

[bekah]

Allow me to talk to myself a moment;

The real world of 1904 may have had nary a clue that WWI was on the 
way but  Pynchon  and his readers are on almost heightened awareness 
of the fact.  So whomever was writing about WWI as being a source of 
tension in the book is totally on the money (duh)  but there is 
certainly a tension related to that between the text and the reader - 
a real enough place.  We have a premonition that something is coming 
all the way (if we look) from the appearance of Archduke Ferdinand in 
the first pages,  but they don't.  They will.   It's well done.

And now back to Icelandic spar and bifurcation and Constant Penhallow.

Bekah



At 10:51 PM -0700 3/19/07, bekah wrote:
>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.
>********
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