AtDtDA(28): Brodyagi

[Michael Bailey]

Dave Monroe wrote:

>  That being said, I believe when we kicked off the AtD reading, I
>  mentioned that i'd be listrening in particular hear for echoes,
>  samples, even, of the earlier novels.  The next question, I suppose,
>  is what happens to such longstanding Pynchonian themes as, say, exile,
>  disinheritance, what have you, here?  Of what significance were and
>  are they?  And so forth ...

hmm, now that is a meaty question (or a protein-rich
meat-substitute for the vegans amongst us, I admire
you and hope one day to make cruelty-free my own intake)

what are the Pynchonian themes -
the ones I like,off the top of my paint-spattered head
(I've been painting the kitchen robin's egg blue in honor
of Easter - btw, caught a nice performance of the St Matthew
Passion on the DISH and am trying to remember which
Paul Simon song Bach seems to have borrowed from...)

i) upper-room lower-room zest for both the scholarly
and the quotidian (often cast in criticism as seeing the
shortcomings of each POV, but - glass half-full - also
indicative of how they complement each other since
they are both present...
Chums having the upper room, with the Webb saga
at street-level, at least at first glance
which positions Cyprian as maybe something new,
doing "that which is inconvenient" (St Paul) in search
of man-love...
Is this the reason for the airship's name, I guess I'm
wondering maybe...
then too, his simpatico sodomy presents the other side
of Weissmanm's impulse?

ii) Suckling's "light or pussy (sorry, Noseworth, I meant
'vagina')" echoes Dixon's "no fucking" in M&D...
and, maybe, the choices confronted by the doctrinaire
communist dude in Vineland who gave away his car,
the disappearance of Slothrop into his Quest,
and this feeds into the theme of dismantling of magic by science,
in the name of religion, state and capitalism,
as prominent as in M&D
but not without appreciation for the magic of their own that
science, religion and statecraft have...

iii) dreamscapes, palpable imagery, spinning out
the details of life, suggesting meanings but with an
easier yoke, a lighter burden than bare philosophy -
having Pig Bodine quote Sartre in V. but also showing
him revving his Harley in the alley;
here having Merle practice his photographic art to the
pitch of alchemy but produce real (within the fiction, of course)
inventions and do actual chop-wood-carry-water-dig-wells-
install-lightning rods labor on the physical plane

iv) the quest for romantic love and its difficulties
is all over V., in M&D is mostly seen in Mason's relationship
with his deceased spouse, in GR is conspicuous in its
absence (or is it? hmm, sure can't quote any), is shown
thwarted in Vineland - impulses flowing from Frenesi don't
quite meet the ones that are undeniably flowing from Zoyd - but
there again; here in AtD treated frequently, variously, enjoyably
and satisfyingly, more than ever before...

>
>  Okay, still running behind here, but I should be able to gather some
>  momentum a little later today.  Meanwhile, it's raining snow here, and
>  The Shining is in the HBO, so ...
>

come rain or come shine, eh?
BTW, I really enjoyed the Dogs of War short you linked to.  The pictures
were very crisp (I tend to think of old b&w silent stuff as being
primitive, but it wasn't really) the kids adorable, especially
little Farina
http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0803&msg=125139&sort=date

http://www.archive.org/details/DogsofWar