ATDTDA (17): Pulling It Together (pp. 460 - 62)

[Tim Strzechowski]

This is a question/consideration for those who have read ALL his works and want to start pulling motifs together:


For many readers of Pynchon, the brilliance of ATD lies in the author's ability to incorporate elements of all his previous novels, and this particular section is part of the payoff.  
 
Frank "wondered if he could be his own ghost," paralleling the Thanatoids of Vineland.

"The town abruptly became an unreadable map to [Frank]," which harkens back to M&D.
 
Later, Linnet's reference to "reflexes" echoes the stimulus-response motif throughout GR.

Are these motifs *developing* over the course of his novels?  If so, how?  For example, how is Pynchon's treatment of, say, "maps" and "mapping" in ATD different from his previous treatments of this motif?

If they aren't really "developing," then how do they (in ATD) contribute to the motif as it is depicted in his entire body of work?

Who here thinks that his treatment of these motifs in ATD differs from his previous works?

Thoughts??