VL-IV Un-Pop culture

[bandwraith at aol.com]

Several things occurred to me while re-reading VL so far.
First, the lack of high culture. No Botticelli, Beethoven, or
any of the other high culture references so prominent in
the novels that preceded VL- not even a cartoon or a
kazoo version. "Classic" in this book refers to a car, a tv
show, a movie or some other pop venue, and nothing
more. There is the Marquis de Sade, but I'm not sure how
to classify the Marquis- high, low or something else.

Which brings me to a related point. The current events
occurring in 1984, we can, I suppose, overlook the
lack of mention of H.I.V., which was just on the cusp of
ravishing L.A. and SF (although, the book came out in
1990), but wouldn't you think there might be a sign, or
two, that some of these folks had read V. or GR? at
least, COL49? Pynchon, as a cultural phenomenon, had
made a big impact by 1984, the year of the Luddite
essay.

Ah, but I guess that would have been a no-no, since
at least one character or two from COL49 reappears
in this text. It would have been too much of a blur for
any of them to recognize that they may, in fact, be part
of a fictional enterprise. Still, given the "simulacrumacious"
goings on, it wouldn't have been too outlandish for one
of them to suppose he or she was just a character in a
P novel.

A little too kute, I guess. On the other hand, they seem
to measure all their experiences against tubal references,
or imaginings of themselves reflected, somehow, in the
camera's eye.