Not Drugs The Anatomy of Melville's Melancholy (Thoreau: "when men are prepared for it")

[Robin Landseadel]

On Nov 14, 2009, at 3:59 PM, alice wellintown wrote:

> . . .how do you account for the fact that the
> characters who chase down these CIA projects and/or complain that the
> government has taken LSD off the free market because it fears a
> population that will gain new insights into government corruption, are
> made fools of in the P-texts?

Well, like the Dude says—Not OUR Dude, the other Dude—"Yeah, well, you  
know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." You say they're—I guess  
you're talking about Mucho Maas and El Espinero—made fools of and I'm  
sure in the voluble outpourings of your essentially Puritan mindset*,  
you'll find a way to track it all back to Hawthorne in the process.  
You know—you're no more impervious to projection than anyone else  
here. But I don't see how to get around the fact that these folks [in  
TRP's books] did have insights, that the forensic info gathered by  
Frank in fact was on the mark. But hey—it's your bummer, you're  
entitled to get what you need out of it. I don't think the insights  
gained by Doc during his Acid trips make him a fool, though what he's  
learning indicates what fools we've all been while pursuing mindless  
pleasures of our very own.

> Darker than Dark. IV is ugly and Dark. And, P seems pissed off.
> I suspect that AGTD took  a lot out of him.

Can't say I'd disagree with you on that one. Of course "The Long  
Goodbye" ain't exactly no Swiss Picnic either.

*Always thought Glenn Gould was the Last Puritan.