CH 15

[Mark Kohut]

Joseph,

Salutations for a job very well done. I, too, read all the posts and learned. am still learning. Am still digesting. Am still following-up.

Best,

Mark

--- On Mon, 11/23/09, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> From: kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>
> Subject: Re: CH 15
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Monday, November 23, 2009, 1:22 PM
> Thanks, Joseph, for your greatly
> illuminating little essays on Chap. 15 and beyond. 
> I've read all your postings with interest and apologize for
> being too distracted to respond.
> 
> Laura
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
> >Sent: Nov 23, 2009 12:42 PM
> >To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >Subject: CH 15
> >
> >Not the best hosting job on the Chapter.  I came
> in with an obscure  
> >memory of the remainder of the book,  which I just
> read through a  
> >couple days ago and saw several errors I had made. On
> the positive  
> >side there was an element of the un"spoiled"  view
> of a first read.  
> >On the negative side I was misreading Bjornsen's 
> authenticity in  
> >divulging information as plausibly sincere. This is
> clearly the  
> >intent of Bjornsen (who is as good an actor as Doc or
> Shasta)    
> >towards  Doc  and of Pynchon for the reader.
> He is giving Bigfoot and  
> >by proxy , whatever there might be of "good cops " room
> to show some  
> >humanity and commitment to "liberty and  justice
> for all" .   In the  
> >context of the book it is a little like deep throat, or
> John Meier's   
> >report of what Hoover said about the RFK killing. It is
> a leak  that  
> >acts as a confirming witness of murderous internal
> corruption . I  
> >think the idea of the leak is hard to overstate in
> Pynchon. The  
> >references leak into history and into our own times, as
> these leak  
> >into the fictional world, the books leak into each
> other and  nothing  
> >is hermetically sealed and there is no God to explain
> it, no  
> >authorial intent that by any critical approach can be
> pinned down.
> >
> >I am writing this way because having read the book
> twice I am finding  
> >the word pastiche inadequate. There is a level on which
> this is a  
> >tightly plotted noir mystery along the lines of
> Chinatown, but with   
> >broader political focus. (Crocker Fenway seems a direct
> nod to Noah  
> >Cross) I think this layering of styles and forms that
> coexist and yet  
> >hold up on their own levels is essential Pynchon. One
> could easily  
> >argue that this is  a subtle and widely directed
> satire of addiction,  
> >role-playing, fascism posing as freedom, consumerist
> counter-culture,  
> >pornography and criminal insanity among other things.
> And  I find  
> >that when I focus in on the specifics of a satiric
> inquiry it is  
> >usually more substantive than it  at first seems.
> But is it satire or  
> >comic book farce or is it is really a serious attempt
> to expose the  
> >key corporate and political players in an historic
> fascist coup.   I  
> >could go on here about the parallel worlds of the
> collective  
> >unconscious and  the coming flood, but my question
> is whether the oft  
> >used "pastiche", or "post-modern" may obscure as much
> as they reveal.  
> >It is a pastiche but it is also fundamentally unlike
> other examples  
> >of that mode of work.
> >
> >other levels  have to do with classic tensions
> that we find in P's  
> >work: paranoia v reality , narrative v entropy, pursuit
> of justice v  
> >delusions of purity and parallel worlds , the biosphere
> v industrial  
> >technology. Many of these could be threeways instead of
> dualities and  
> >I suppose one could get kinkier still, with as Gary
> Snyder said creek  
> >music, heart music , the soil of Turtle Island and the
> beings who  
> >thereon dwell , one ecosystem under the sun , with
> joyful  
> >interpenetration for all.
> >
> >All of this is just my clever way of avoiding the fact
> that I really  
> >don't have much or perhaps anything more to say
> about  Chapter 15.  
> >Happy feasting for all those enjoying Thanksgiving, and
> happy rest,  
> >reading and relaxing to all .
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >       
>     
> >
> >
> 
>