Not Drugs The Anatomy of Melville's Melancholy (Thoreau:

[Mark Kohut]

Yeahp. I now think Rich's feelings are more right than what I wrote. That Denis is a tube freak does not make him an early thanatoid. That Denis rhymes with penis is also an ok thing since penises are pretty positive
human appendages in TRP, I would argue.

I think of the just-reread line in GR about movies [TV?]: Making the unreal reel, evidently a Cocteau allusion, and maybe that is the worst of Denis: he is the friendliest guy, nice as can be, from whom you could always borrow sugar or a TV Guide who, basically though, lives in unreality
happily. (I do think TRP's remarks about TV as social control might apply
to Denis thereby)

--- On Sun, 11/15/09, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: Not Drugs The Anatomy of Melville's Melancholy (Thoreau:
> To: "Mark Kohut" <markekohut at yahoo.com>
> Cc: "Robin Landseadel" <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>, "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Sunday, November 15, 2009, 10:05 PM
> its hard for me to feel anything but
> warm feelings for Denis. i think
> being a tube freak does not make you an automatic
> thanatoid--Denis
> doesn't seem to have any heavy karma hovering say like Weed
> Atman or
> many of others so described in Vineland
> he reminds of fond friends, those who are just wonderful to
> be around
> when stoned--good weed helps but good friends and good weed
> is
> thousand-folds better
> 
> rich
> 
> On Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> > Robin writes LOLoudly:
> > Denis might seem like a casualty of weed, but it's
> equally possible he was born stupid. After all—one does
> not get to pick and choose one's neighbors in an apartment
> complex.
> >
> > And it is possible his stupidity is shown, enhanced?,
> by the constant TV watching? I mean, even Lawrence Welk (as
> well as the 'cool' shows.). An emerging thanatoid. TV as
> 'social control" when it is so uncritically total?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- On Sun, 11/15/09, Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
> wrote:
> >
> >> From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
> >> Subject: Re: Not Drugs The Anatomy of Melville's
> Melancholy (Thoreau:
> >> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> >> Date: Sunday, November 15, 2009, 7:40 PM
> >> On Nov 15, 2009, at 4:25 PM, Mark
> >> Kohut wrote:
> >>
> >> > I was so blinkered. I do not remember seeing
> our
> >> soldiers on drugs on TV news. Just remember the
> major 'news'
> >> shots and the steady drumbeat of the war and
> protests
> >> against.
> >>
> >> I remember my uncle coming home from Vietnam
> around '66,
> >> working post-war for an aerospace firm but also
> still a
> >> junkie from experiences in 'Nam..
> >>
> >> > Discussion question:
> >> > Were "addictive" drugs, as they spread out
> from more
> >> limited circles, such as musicians' worlds, the
> inherent
> >> vice?
> >>
> >> "Inherent Vice" also pretty much includes a galaxy
> full of
> >> entropic processes including self-destruction via
> drugs and
> >> late capitalism. I suppose the Inherent Vice of
> simply being
> >> alive—the inevitability of death, a subject the
> author
> >> touched upon quite eloquently in "Slow
> Learner—needs to be
> >> figured into the mix as well. Getting old, memory
> getting
> >> messed up or maybe even pre-messed on account of
> an excess
> >> of Mindless Pleasures; it all comes with the
> territory of
> >> turning 70 or so.
> >>
> >> > This question presumes pot is not addictive
> yet that
> >> 'harder' ones are. Which might be one way Pynchon
> sees it??
> >>
> >> Remember that the one time Doc gets a bad trip on
> weed is
> >> when he's dosed with PCP. Other folks throughout
> the book
> >> get burned by a host of other drugs, but getting
> burnt by
> >> weed is comparatively rare. Denis might seem like
> a casualty
> >> of weed, but it's equally possible he was born
> stupid. After
> >> all—one does not get to pick and choose one's
> neighbors in
> >> an apartment complex.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
>