meta [part the second]

[Carvill, John]

<< Pynchon makes art.  Not history, and not proscriptions for life in
general.  >>

Yes but he is an artist who can be (and has been, by himself) broadly categorized as 'a historical novelist', so the art and history all get scumbled together, don't they.

GR wouldn't have been such an original work if Pynchon had just focused on Hitler, the Nazis, et. Poking around the margins and shining lights into lesser known corners, was one of the ways he made his book unique. It also enhanced the sense of ambiguity in terms of exactly which historical period(s) the book was really examining. Maybe/probably Robin's 'innate corruption' statement goes too far, but we all sorta know what he means, yes?

> > those GIs, Tommys, and Ivans did die for something. 

Yes.

> that was apparently the last time, alas.

Well, NATO's intervention in/over Kosovo in 1999, that was probably the 'last time', to date. Often gets forgotten, partly because of revisionist history on the part of Chomskyites, etc., partly because the reasons for intervening were at least partly attenuated by guilt/regret/embarrassment over not acting more decisively against Milosevic's Serbs earlier in the decade.