VL-IV pgs. 98/99: Postmodern Mysticism

[jbor at bigpond.com]

I suspect the reading of Weissmann's Tarot is a set-up (i.e., Pynchon  
tailored the reading to suit the messages he wanted to convey).

However, the parenthetical aside when mention is made of Slothrop's  
Tarot (p. 738) is, or seems to be, a 'true' reading. In fact, it's  
Pynchon, Slothrop's 'chronicler', reading his own cards and being  
deterred from his task of documenting the outcome and upshot of  
Slothrop's life (Slothrop is the American everyman). The implication  
is that Pynchon, like his protagonist, is, according to the cards that  
were laid out, destined to be 'a tanker and feeb'.

That Pynchon defers to an aleatory method to resolve his character's  
fate demonstrates his unwillingness to allow even authorial 'Control'  
or the conventions of literary narration (e.g., a character lives and  
then dies) to determine 'what happens'. It's interesting also that,  
after the unpromising Tarots, he (Pynchon) decides to go off 'to the  
tube to watch a seventh rerun of the Takeshi and Ichizo show', which  
is a sort of inverted mirror of Gilligan's Island, featuring the very  
same Takeshi who figures so prominently in the tv-saturated world of  
Vineland.

However superficial Pynchon's knowledge of the various religions,  
belief systems, methodologies, etc., which his novels address (and I'd  
say that his demonstrated knowledge is thorough enough, it's just that  
he isn't indoctrinated, not a 'true disciple' of any one ideology or  
faith, is in fact totally averse to doxies and zealotries of any kind  
as being the root cause of conflict, war and human misery), he conveys  
a fairly heady dose of ironic skepticism towards each one:

"Holy-Center-Approaching is soon to be the number one Zonal pastime.  
Its balmy heyday is nearly on it. Soon more champions, adepts,  
magicians of all ranks and orders will be in the field than ever  
before in the history of the game. The sun will rule all enterprise,  
if it be honest and sporting. The Gauss curve will herniate towards  
the excellent. And tankers the likes of Narrisch and Slothrop here  
will have already been weeded out." (p. 508)


  From: "Simon Bryquer" <sbryquer@[omitted]>
Subject: Re: VL-IV pgs. 98/99: Postmodern Mysticism
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:38:17 -0500

> but who layed out the Tarot cards that leads to the Weismann
> reading?  Was it some unknown Tarot card reader, or is the ever  
> changing
> narrator who probably does subscribe to your above description or is  
> Pynchon
> himself employing a literary device as a knowlegeable voice above it  
> all in
> on the true power or lack thereof of the Tarot and Kabbalah.