rubrics (I like that word), wrecking crews and hugfests

[Carvill, John]

Robin: You know I know you're on the side of the angels, right? (By 'angels' I mean, as in agents of altitude, not those soap-phobic fascist beardies who beat a guy to death at Altamont.) 

I honestly never meant to attack you. I admit to having got a wee bit tired of the Chandler thing. I mean, you've been hammering us with Chandler since before IV's publication. Can there be many here who weren't pretty familiar with Chandler? Chances are the majority here are very familiar.

Never would I wish to discourage you from doing your own Hollander-style digging and theorizing. And I do read all your posts, unlike Terrance's, where I would read maybe one in twenty or something like that.

Michael: That Pynchon balloon patent - I certainly learned about that on this list, along with a *lot* of stuff I otherwise wouldn't know. 

<< have difficulty understanding how Pynchon could be writing works
informed by occultism while at the same time satirizing them as TWITS,
but willing to consider the possibility... >>

I've often wondered how seriously Pynchon takes that sort of thing. Tarot in GR, ferrinstance. But writing occult-informed/inflected works, and satirising occultism, well, it's that sort of duality that makes Pynchon Pynchon.  That and the beautiful prose, unrivalled imagination, and humour, of course.


Robin: If that was Pynchon balloon patent was one of your discoveries, then mucho kudos.

There sure are plenty of references to the CIA in Pynchon. But given that he is (among other things) a historical novelist, and given the timeframe(s) he covers, how could there not be? The extent to which he's nudging us in the direction of Them in IV is still very much open for debate, imho.

Cheers
J