Von Braun in the Rainbow

[Mark Kohut]

A-and brought "to the surface" one might say in Against the Day,
yes?


----- Original Message ----
From: Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de>
To: robinlandseadel at comcast.net; P-list <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 2, 2008 6:50:09 AM
Subject: re: Von Braun in the Rainbow

 
 
> Gravity's Rainbow kicks off with a quote from Dr. von Braun, concerning 
> the Transmigration of Souls, a topic that consumes Our Beloved Author 
> like no other. 
 
Ain't you the guy who keeps insisting on the satirical bassline in all of
Pynchon's books? And correctly, imo. As Luhmann once said: All the 
theories about what happens after death come from people who never
ever died in their life before. Regarding von Braun, it's not alone the
slave labour issue. It's also the whole project he stands for. All that
Leary-like grandiosity madness about colonies in space and such.
"Oh brothers, stay faithful to the earth!", as Nietzsche's Zarathustra
once said. If Gravity's Rainbow has a macro-political agenda, it's an
ecological one. The title already says this. In occidental culture the
rainbow is, first of all, connected to the story of Noah. The rainbow
says that the final destruction will not take place. At least not now.
Who is providing the rainbow? The earth and its elementary powers.
Living in the so called age of reason we can understand these only
as restrictions. So we speak of "gravity" or "Schwerkraft". But this is
the only possible source of salvation. The utopia of the zero-option.
 
Kai       
 
PS: Where is that "Enochian material" in AtD?
 
> This exploration of the "Spirit World" culminates in Against 
> the Day, but the sense of the presence of a descending Angel of Death
> accounts for many moments of dread in Gravity's Rainbow. From Vineland 
> on, OBA seems to be on better terms with these spirits, but the disquiet he 
> felt in the sudden absence of Richard Farina can also be witnessed in the 
> broader implications found in the combination of the dedication for the 
> novel and the seemingly paradoxical [for some, anti-scientific] quotation of 
> Mad Scientist von Braun. Of course, the White Visitation, P.I.S.C.E.S., 
> quotes from the Duino Elegies all add upto ritual conjuration of Spirits 
> derived from practices of the Golden Dawn and other, older Gnostic routes 
> of communication with the spirit world. The notion of "death from above", 
> of a descending Angel of Death pervades Gravity's Rainbow and is offered
> in an interesting variation in Vineland. Much Enochian/Gnostic material gets 
> repurposed in Against the Day, where Pynchon's comedic sense overtakes 
> his earlier grim vision of decline. At the same time, the scale of devastation 
> is greater---Tunguska represents the ultimate "Anarchist Miracle." As Mr. 
> Davis points out, we are very purposely made to feel uncomfortable. "God"
> may not be on our side.
> 
> Our continuing exploration of the author's family history has led me to
> observe a constant in TRPV's concerns: heresy is at the very foundation 
> of the Pynchon legacy, William Pynchon is the historical stand-out. The
> heresy of inclusion also admits all other heresies, like "the set of all sets".
> That "Now everybody---" that ends GR really means "everybody."
> 
> Gnosticism naturally comes to mind. The forces that Uber-Creep von 
> Braun assembles suggest the demiurge's awful agenda, the work of an 
> anti-god. Von Braun is a very compelling preacher for this cult,
> as inspired a "Mad Scientist" as you're ever going to find.


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