CH 15 Brave New World

[Joseph Tracy]

The topic of Huxley made me too think of Brave New World  and how  
Pynchon has  combined the Orwellian  with Huxleys vision  of using  
pleasure and immersion in the dreamy feelies to control a  
population.  In Pynchon's America,  which seems a hell of a lot like  
the one I live in, these 2 approaches are like guard rails to keep  
the people on the straight and narrow, the path that leadeth unto the  
holy mall and the sacramental purchasing therein. Amen, Let us bow  
our heads, and buy.

I kind of liked Island, not a great novel, but a worthy attempt to  
envision a healthy functional society. This doesn't make for good  
drama, but should always find some expression in a literate society.  
Glass bead Game, Sermon on the Mount, Small is beautiful, Yes  
magazine, Yz-les-Bains, the Big Rock Candy Mountain, Imagine.