ATDTDA (5.1) - The Etienne-Louis Malus

[Carvill John]

Monte Davis:

<<I'm with you that the *destruction of the city* has no other resonance 
nearly as loud as 9/11, but I'm not sure that extends to the expedition 
itself -- which as davemarc says, owes more to Shelley, Poe, and Lovecraft. 
 >>

Yes, part of the brilliance of the episode lies, I reckon, in it not being 
some sort of straightforward allegory. There's no doubt that in a sense this 
segment is 'the 9/11 episode', but the fact that it's so much more as well 
in some ways makes it a more powerful evocation of that terrible day. Again, 
the really weird thing is that while the episode is going on there's every 
suggestion that its effects will be just as far-reaching as 9/11, yet 
afterwards (if we can be sure we know what we mean by 'afterwards') it seems 
to disappear without trace.

<< Whatever we (or for that matter Al Qaeda or the conspiracy buff on the 
corner) may advance as the "causes of" or "reasons  for" 9/11, I don't see 
how they map to "scientists dig up and bring home an ancient artifact, 
suggestive of pre- or non-human origin,  that they should have left 
untouched." >>

Very boradly, what I took it as was a reference to meddling in other 
cultures and assuming that your superior technology or wealth or military 
might gave you the right to ride roughshod, with impunity, over other 
cultures, or the hubristic conceit that your actions would have no 
consequences for yourself. Not wishing to raise the stink of 9/11 
controversies but there has of course been teh suggestion - sometimes 
hysterical, sometimes reasoned - that the events of that day did not spring 
from teh brow of a lone madman, but were instead, at least to an extent, 
part of the phenomenon of 'blowback', ie a result of US foreign policy. Ther 
has of course been a widespread tendency to paint anyone who suggests this 
as a terrorist's friend or someone who regards the 9/11 atrocities as 
'justified', but there is a big difference between thinking that 9/11 may 
hav been 'caused' by foreign policy and thinking it was 'justified' by 
it..... Enough of that.

The other interesting aspect is that you could also read the 'meddling in 
things you were warned not to mess with' angle as referring to the invasion 
of Iraq, which would mean that the Vormance episode encapsulates both ends 
of the Iraq/Sept 11th Axis.....

It's a mark of Pyncon's genius that he can mix al this in with so many 
historical and fictonal elements and styles that he comes up with something 
which is strikingly familiar yet at the same time mysterious and out of 
reach. How anywone can have read these sections, and felt their atmosphere, 
yet written a negative review of the book is beyond me.

Cheers
JC

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