CoL49 (5) Inamorati Anonymous

[Ian Livingston]

It seems to me there are two pervasive forces at work in existence:
eros and thanatos.  Or, as our friend Robbie the Zimmer-Man said, "He
not busy being born is busy dying...."  Accretion and entropy are the
fundamental nature of existence.  They are opposites, too,
conveniently enough.  I wonder, how might a soul hover in that space
between, equally in the embrace of coming and going, so to speak?
Seems to me the Taoists offer the most insightful paradoxes about this
question in their discussions of "the Way."  (Anybody get a resonance
between "the Way" in Taoism and "the Street" in V.?)   In AtD
(unfortunately I've packed all my books away in preparation for my
move next week) someone at some point near the end says something
about being among the generation whose time is coming, so they are not
bound by the laws of the generation whose time is passing.  The erotic
theme plays heavily in AtD, both in this guise and in the guise of
sexual innovation.  Is the erotic theme there other, do you think,
from the eros we see Oedipa encountering in '60s Californica?

On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 10:49 AM, Mark Kohut<markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> "entropic progression" writes Robin.................................
>
> Or, Oedipa is in the entropy of the surround-sound Tower?......but
> ultimately leaves it after stumbling upon the counter-culture and awaiting the crying?
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:23:23 PM
> Subject: Re: CoL49 (5) Inamorati Anonymous
>
> On Jun 24, 2009, at 9:06 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:
>
>> Is it possible that swearing off 'love' altogether, of any and all sentient beings IS another way to "suicide"?
>
> Yup:
>
>     Well I don't care-for, th' things I eat,
>     Can't stand that boogie-woogie beat—
>     But I'm sold, on, suicide!
>
>     You can keep Der Bingle too, a-
>     And that darn "bu-bu-bu-boo."
>     Cause I'm sold on suicide! . . .
>
> On Jun 24, 2009, at 9:06 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:
>
>> I mean Nefastis suggesting "sexual intercourse" just like that?...As if 'free sex' was being judged (by Pynchon).
>> As if we have to know that Oedipa wants ..something like love---per Robin--- as she figures it all out.
>
> What I'm seeing is an entropic progression [depression?] of Oedipa's relations with everybody [particular her significant others] as the book moves from Tupperware Party to the final auctioning off of Lot 49. Perhaps after the book is over and Mucho & Oed break up things get back to "normal" [whatever the hell that was in 1967], but the novel seems to be charting Oedipa's progress as "a calculated withdrawal" from America, something like what the author must have been going through as he moved from Boeing to the Underground, circa 1966. With friends like Kirkpatrick Sale, who needs a phone tap, anyway?
>
>
>
>
>