Bernadine Dohrn

[Ian Livingston]

Hm.  Well, it may be that some elements of Frenesi's character resonate
slightly with Dohrn's history.  Both are anti-government radicals, anyway,
each serving up their "propaganda" after their own fashion.  But I can't
help but think Frenesi's struggle is more subjective.  She, after all, loses
the big battles for integrity at every turn, whereas Dohrn holds to her
ideas of right action right through.  The Prairie Fire connection is very
interesting.  Have think about if and how that relates.
I certainly agree with Laura that TRP was really exploring these issues most
acutely in AtD.  It seems apparent that TRP was planning his novels well in
advance and so certain themes and arguments show up in sketch in earlier
novels and refined form later on.  That may be what's happening here.  After
all, she, of all the characters, historical or otherwise, that Frenesi
resembles to my strained vision is Lake Traverse.
On Joseph's question, Who Would Jesus Bomb?:  what was Jesus' only act of
violence sketched in the Testaments?  That's right, scourging the Temple to
chase out the money-lenders.


On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 10:07 AM,  <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> If we can admire Dohrn (I admire her passion and commitment, if not her
tactics and results), then doesn't this lead to an at least theoretical
understanding of why people around the world might admire the suicide squad
of 9-11?  I still think this good anarchist/bad terrorist dichotomy is some
of what Pynchon was exploring in ATD.
>
> Laura
>
> -----Original Message-----
>>From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
>>Sent: Feb 2, 2009 2:26 AM
>>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>>Subject: Re: Bernadine Dohrn
>>
>>I can't hate Frenesi either, but I respect Dohrn more than any FBI
>>snitches. After all Frenesi is not following her conscience and
>>Dohrn  arguably was.
>>The underlying issue with Dohrn is that she was for violent
>>revolution against an empire with a dark side  much the same as
>>European Fascism. To me her tactics are futile. Did the American
>>revolution end colonialism? Did the war against Fascism end fascism?
>>Still it is hard to renounce all bombings.  Most still favor some.
>>Who would Jesus bomb?
>>
>>My house has a mortgage and may still when I die or move. Most of the
>>world is owned by a very few and it is hard to know how to fight
>>them. I find myself far more disgusted by the happy blather of the
>>first fighter pilots to drop bombs on Iraq than by Dohrn. To me
>>Frenesi and the youthful Dohrn and the Pilots are all too easily
>>seduced by violence, but who isn't?
>>On Feb 2, 2009, at 12:57 AM, rich wrote:
>>
>>> sure someone mentioned this already
>>>
>>> in some ways to me this is what Frenesi resembles in my minds eye:
>>>
>>> www.pbs.org/.../images/film_bernadine.jpg or
>>> images.usatoday.com/.../2005/08/15/dohrn-mug.jpg
>>>
>>> interesting woman--hard to fault the anti-war sentiment of 60s
>>> radicals though the painful folly of its youthful blather is rather
>>> sad and the smugness unattractive
>>>
>>> how did the orgies in the back of vans on the way to detroit or
>>> somewheres roaring down the highway become bombings?
>>> such bravery and anger wasted and misdirected
>>>
>>> all became the pointless 70s
>>> but what the fuck do I know
>>>
>>> i just can't hate Frenesi I guess is what I'm saying
>>
>
>
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