afterthought per Ray and Richard

[Carvill, John]

<< Because the jumping off point for my posts in this thread(s) was a 
"duality" on one side of which was satire, I may have given you the 
impression that I believe that the occult, conspiracy theories, etc... 
are present in the works only as targets of satire.  That is not what I 
am saying, as I think later posts should make clear.  Satire is not the 
only weapon in the author's critical arsenal.  >>


Well, I can't honestly recall now who it was who posed the question, "What duality?", but someone did, I'm (reasonably) certain of that!

Oh well, whatever, never mind.

<< What I do maintain is that the occult, etc... are subjected by the 
author to the same critique as is, say, "scientific rationalism", that 
the presence of these views in the texts does not mean that we are 
intended to "take them seriously", and that the texts do not endorse any 
such views.
>>

Sounds reasonable to me. I just get the feeling that pynchon does take an equivocal view of some supernatural/occult matters. I guess it's yet another instance of 'ambiguity', a subject which was disputed here not long ago, as in 'do pynchon's texts suggest that he is ambivalent about technology'.