V-2nd - Chapter 8 - Section IV - Stencil's soliloquy

[kelber at mindspring.com]

-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
>
>  What if the courtly tradition is true, the female *is* holy, and
>when the imperialist invokes divine mandate for his depredations, he
>misstates God's (ie, the female's) intentions, confuses her and
>commits her to a tragictory like V.'s?

First of all, Mr. Bailey, fantastic postings!  I've read and ruminated on all of them, and apologize for not getting it together to write pithy responses of agreement and wonder.

The above point that you make as you head out the door is worthy of a week's discussion on its own. The observation seems very much in keeping with the developing Pynchon persona:  ignore the goddess, the natural, the mystical, and you end up with a phallocentric, imperialistic, technocratic stand-in, i.e. V., which is a metaphor for the 20th century, and certainly seems to be Pynchon's dominant theme by the time he gets to ATD.

Laura