ATDTDA (5.1) - The Etienne-Louis Malus

[David Morris]

What Keith says here makes sense to me.  If there is any "Christian"
grace in AtD it's man's (not God's) potential grace toward other men.
Pynchon is much more interested in the concept of Karma, where actions
have consequences, and, in paranoid fashion, everyone is connected to
everyone else in Karma's web.

On 3/28/07, Keith <keithsz at mac.com> wrote:
> I really don't think Pynchon is offering up Christian grace in AtD. That is not a Christian seal (arf) on the book cover. IMO, the Eastern concept of grace (illumination or en-light-enment) is more in keeping with the themes (darkness/light, invisible/visible, unconscious/conscious) of the novel than a Judicial-Christian view. Or maybe even saying "Eastern" is too limiting. There is a common structure underlying all the slag piles - beyond any one cultural form. Carvill is right that Pynchon is more universal than "American." More universal than "Christian," too.
>
> On Mar 27, 2007, at 11:36 PM, John BAILEY wrote:
>
> Can't recall if this has been covered already, but the whole idea of grace in AtD - isn't the Christian version of grace kind of a get-out-of-jail-free card for the preterite?
>