C of L 49: "That's how it is..most of the time."

[Campbel Morgan]

Any system that fines individual members when they do not participate or use
the system a certain number of times per month or year or whatever is an
obvious target of satire in this work and in others by this author. It seems
to me that shifting the critique to individual workers or groups of workers
or types of workers or types of radicals (anarchists, luddites, beats ...)
is to misread a central theme of the author's writings: the workers are
caught in a double-bind; they need to organize, but any system they device
will, by design, restrict their freedoms and impose the will of the system
on the individual worker.

On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 9:53 PM, Rob Jackson <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:

> On 12/07/2009, at 6:55 AM, pynchon-l-digest wrote:
>
>>
>> Fallopian at this point isn't yet anywhere near as unlikeable as he
>> becomes later on in the narrative, and I think I've always taken the
>> substance of this letter and the bitterness which "Mike" expresses
>> about the inanity of the W.A.S.T.E. communiques he receives, along
>> with Metzger's incredulity towards him and the burgeoning cabal, to
>> reflect a satiric impulse on Pynchon's part. Perhaps, though, the
>> satire is directed towards the specific clique/s - Yoyodyne (i.e.,
>> Boeing) workers, science-y and tech-y types, anarcho-radicals, et al.
>> - - and those two characters, rather than the "principle" of
>> communicating "sub rosa" ... yes, the "social cement" idea seems to be
>> a valid and pertinent one.
>>
>
> ... on second thoughts, the rule that members of this particular W.A.S.T.E.
> group must send one letter per week is an authoritarian one, and ironic
> considering Fallopian's political leanings.
>
> Representations of the Trystero or Tristero System in the novella are
> largely satiric, and the overall attitude towards such cabals seems
> ambivalent at best.
>
>
> It's remarkable how detached, non-judgemental and research-oriented
>> Oedipa is in this scene too. It's only gradually that she starts to
>> lose it.
>>
>> with best regards
>>
>>
>> On 11/07/2009, at 1:07 AM, pynchon-l-digest wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>   "It's the principle," Fallopian agreed,
>>>> sounding defensive. "To
>>>>   keep it up to some kind of a reasonable
>>>> volume, each member
>>>>   has to send at least one letter a week
>>>> through the Yoyodyne
>>>>   system. If you don't, you get fined." He
>>>> opened his letter and
>>>>   showed Oedipa and Metzger.
>>>>
>>>>   Dear Mike, it said, how are you? Just
>>>> thought I'd drop you a
>>>>   note. How's your book coming? Guess
>>>> that's all for now. See
>>>>   you at The Scope.
>>>>
>>>>   "That's how it is," Fallopian confessed
>>>> bitterly, "most of the time."
>>>>
>>>
>
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