my reading this weekend

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Haven't read the book yet, but it sounds like a lot of what was best in the book didn't make it to the screen. The book is social critique, the movie is more psychological.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Daniel Julius <daniel.julius at gmail.com>
>Sent: May 29, 2008 12:31 PM
>To: grladams at teleport.com
>Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: my reading this weekend
>
>Maybe he was listening to a lot of Godspeed You! Black Emperor when he wrote
>the book
>
>Have you seen the film yet, Jill?
>
>On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 5:39 PM, grladams at teleport.com <
>grladams at teleport.com> wrote:
>
>> I think: The completely insane excitement that ensues as drilling strikes
>> black gold, and oil forces it's way up from millions of years ago to the
>> moment, filling the air and falling all over them, well, it makes people
>> shout "Oil!". The book delivers very fine descriptions of this on many
>> occasions. Also, noteworthy, is how in dialogue, the word _slacker_ is used
>> to describe certain workers in the chapters before the war, during the
>> labor union part..
>>
>> Jill
>>
>> Original Message:
>> -----------------
>> From: Daniel Julius daniel.julius at gmail.com
>> Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 16:15:01 -0500
>> To: grladams at teleport.com, pynchon-l at waste.org
>> Subject: Re: my reading this weekend
>>
>>
>> Why does he put an exclamation point in the title, do you think?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 1:46 AM, grladams at teleport.com <
>> grladams at teleport.com> wrote:
>>
>> > I have read most of Oil! by Upton Sinclair, since I want to see the movie
>> > but want to read the book first. It's amazing to get halfway finished
>> with
>> > it in two sittings, Pynchon's ATD primed my reading mind so that this
>> book
>> > is a page turner. Will return to ATD feedback later. But I'm struck by
>> > visions of the characters in this book and their preocupations meshing
>> and
>> > being partly a thread inside ATD. Most obvious is the theme of pulling up
>> > from the earth this "stuff" so quickly, which took so long to get there,
>> > and suddenly with this rearrangement, for so much to change for so many
>> > people. And the way that the war was a handy trade market for Oil (and
>> > maybe how all wars are). Scarce are railways but still there. Flying
>> > overhead just out of view are the Chums I'm sure. All the little details,
>> > the riproaring speech snippets from Roosevelt marking human nature's
>> desire
>> > to believe in a comforting propaganda, double edged sword of capital,
>> > advantages it gives some, the humanity that gets taken away from others,
>> > and how all socialists get washed out with tossed bathwater of any
>> > anarchist destruction. I'll one up myself with expanding the motif:
>> > dualities or maybe n plus one dimensionalities emerge as sides of a coin,
>> > the shiny corporate side buys the grease for the rails, the idealist soft
>> > side that bears itself openly to predators with sharpened grabbing
>> talons.
>> > Other sides, anyone? Also noteworthy and familiar to ATD readers were the
>> > references to increasing debauchery of sex and free love. I was educated
>> by
>> > references to the Trans Siberian Railway being a locale for allied help
>> > that was provided to both rebelling-against-the german-BohemiansCzecho
>> > Slovakians and Russian-non Bolsheviks
>> >
>> > sigh. back to my book
>> >
>> > Jill
>> >
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