ATD: unanswered questions #2-3
robinlandseadel at comcast.net
robinlandseadel at comcast.net
Sun Sep 21 11:48:14 CDT 2008
bandwraith:
The scientific perspective iteself, as a worldview, has
probably been in play in all the novels, but the "particular"
scientific metaphor has differed with each:
V. -I would argue, Molecular Biology
The Crying of Lot 49 -Thermodynamics, Information Theory
Gravity's Rainbow -General Relativity
Vineland -Complex Systems, Chaos Theory
M&D -Quantum Mechanics
ATD -?*
=================================
* = Quaternions?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To_FmzOoJe8&feature=related
A couple two three, if I may. First off, threads concerning animated
cartoons in the work of Thomas Pynchon rarely get off the ground
mainly on account of the lifestyles of those who endorse such views.
I would point to the lifestyle of Zoyd Wheeler as a paradigm. But there
you are, a piepan full of shaving cream thrown in a direction that
damps discussion in general [on account of you can't make some
overpowering and odious but intellectually respectable paper out of
it before somebody starts grabbing the nitrous, there's nothing
respectable about that (emphasis on the word "that") kind of
laughter^] nevertheless lives in the heart of Pynchon's work. Elmer
Fudd in Shambhala ought to be enough right there but wait, there's
much more. While it is in no-ways true that Our Beloved Author
spends all his time in cartoonsville, it is a place he is both well versed
and comfortable in. Even if all you-tube connections to the miraculous
sighting have mysteriously vanished. . . .
Now, ways I figure, them Quaternions seemed too durned complicated
back then, one whole hell of a lot to write down and all that, and we're
talkin' bout industrial design here, which somehow [Pynchon sez]
heads off to vector-land, saving countless reams of paper and setting
off the futurist meme.
But the Quaternions returned—you're soaking in them [that's right,
Madge!]—in forms dictated by the possibilities of the computer. Thus,
Computer Animation and Computer Assisted Graphics programs
use Quaternions all the time. All through Against the Day is a
general cartoonishness—Vineland's probably the best in that regard+,
Crying of Lot 49 really starts up a lot of themes relating to animated
cartoons as part of media's tubal flow—but there you are, Against the
Day is the most obviously cartoonish of the whole lot. In the infinite
universes of the Multiverse proposed by String Theory [which, I
guess is the true "correct" answer to: * ] there is the universe of the
rules of animated cartoons. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon has an
undying faith in the ultimate 'balloon boys', the Bugs Bunnys and
Chip & Dales & Mac 'n' Toshs and Road Runners of the world.
As much as Against the Day deals in heavy-duty themes like the
onslaught of modernism it is the most cartoon-like of all of his books.
+Blood & Vato work-out on "I'm Chip!", "I'm Dale!" being a
particular favorite in these quarters. "ees pos-see-blay!"
^ More "Transgressive Behaviour For The Hell Of It!"
"And there you are." The cultural cauldron that spat out OBA
was bubbling during a peak era for sick or "black" humor. And
then there's those mysterious "Springfield" connections, every bit
as tenuous as crop circles:
"I was Matt Groening's Two-Headed Lovechild!"
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