Von Braun

[Dave Monroe]

On 10/11/07, Monte Davis <monte.davis at verizon.net> wrote:

> Dave Monroe writes:
>
> > > That's not to say Pynchon *endorses* the Manichaean view ...
> >
> > I think it's precisely NOT being endorsed there, in fact ...
>
> Uh-huh, that was my own pre-emptive strike. If there's one game P loves most
> of all, it's playing both ends against the glozing neuters, and against
> anyone trying to pin down what *he* thinks.
>
> Before there was pomo, there was set and reset, flip and flop.

I think the Kubrick comparison was right on, that continuum between
(constructive) tool and (destructive) weapon (and what might possibly
go unnoticed in 2001 is that that jump cut goes not just from bone to
spacecraft, but from bone club to orbiting weapons platform ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0bnL3HyfUo

... my single favorite cinematic sequence, by the way).  I wish I
could claim to understand Heidegger well enough to suggest some
possible similarities there as well, but ... but I think that, while
the point may be prosaic (i.e., same technology, same , both Pynchon
and Kubrick make it quite poetically on their own, so ...