COL49 - Chap 2: San Narciso as a circuit board

[kelber at mindspring.com]

I don't know.  I can't think of any specific descriptions of technology in ATD that are as riveting as the ones in V, COL49 and, to some extent, GR (think of Gottfried at the end of the book). Think of Profane and Rachel sleeping together, which Pynchon describes as rotating 90 degrees, as if they were part of a machine. In the earlier books, Pynchon is exploring the love/hate relationship between humans and technology.  The outcome of the struggle is uncertain.    In ATD, no matter how frightful the technology, humans are separate from it; they use it but aren't ONE with it.  Humanity has won.  Can anyone come think of an example from ATD, where humans are physically subsumed by technology (not just killed or blown up by it)?

Laura

>----- Original Message ----
>From: Tore Rye Andersen <torerye at hotmail.com>

>
>
>Natalia:
>
>> In AtD there are elaborate descriptions of technology AND of characters and their psychological 
>> conflicts... That's one of the reasons the book's so thick - Pynchon focuses on both themes, and 
>> emphasizes the last one a lot more than he did in GR ou V.
>
>Good point, and I think you're absolutely right that Pynchon wants to have it both ways in AtD. 
>Still, I'd contend that the characters in AtD are much thinner than the main characters in VL and
>M&D. Lake, for instance, is but a shallow version of Frenesi.