I'm gonna ask the question....
Paul Mackin
mackin.paul at verizon.net
Tue Apr 12 12:41:34 CDT 2011
On 4/12/2011 12:48 PM, Erik T. Burns wrote:
> >And I'm going to be difficult and ask those
> >gaddisites who may know not to answer....
> I'm going to answer because my answer is "I don't know".
> And to be honest, I don't care.
> There is a man in _T R_ who proclaims his religion. I am bridled from
> revealing it, but it is funny.
> A-and as far as I am concerned, that's Gaddis' religion: comedy.
Once upon spending the night in Georgetown University Hospital, a very
nice Jesuit Priest stopped by my room to chat. I told him that I was
NOT a believer. He asked, are you an atheist. No, I answered. Then,
are you an agnostic? No, again. I'm not trying to be coy, Father, I
said. But when people ask me if I think God exists I can only honestly
(I think) say that I don't understand the question.
What does "God" even mean? And by the same token what is a Christian?
So I guess my answer to the question at issue is I don't understand the
question. (or can I make myself understand)
I do wish I could or did practice the Christian virtues. I'm afraid I
don't, very much. Many do, both who do and who do not call themselves
Christians. Like them (or many of them) I am very much a product of
Western Civilization, so Christianity has had a decided effect on who I
am. A long period of time elapsed between the fall of Rome and 1789.
But even with things relative au courant, Christianity still has its
sway. I would say that the movement (or whatever it is) of Post
Modernism--with its emphasis on the inclusion of all cultures and points
of view--is without question Christian influenced.
Yeah, I guess Gaddis IS a Christian (in a manner of speaking)
P
> etb
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 3:35 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com
> <mailto:markekohut at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
> And I'm going to be difficult and ask those
> gaddisites who may know not to answer....
>
> Spoiler.
>
> Let's see what the reading brings.
>
> So far, I'd say he's anti-Christian BUT it has
> been said of John Milton, Christian, he was on
> Satan's side in his major work.....
>
> And then there is Gaddis Eliot love----
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com
> <mailto:himself at richardryan.com>>
> To: Pynchon-L <pynchon-l at waste.org <mailto:pynchon-l at waste.org>>
> Sent: Mon, April 11, 2011 10:10:34 PM
> Subject: I'm gonna ask the question....
>
> ...since we're all begging it: is Gaddis a Christian author?
>
>
>
> --
> Richard Ryan
> New York and the World
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
> Thanks to everyone who saw VTM's new production!
> www.kingstheplay.com <http://www.kingstheplay.com/>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20110412/affc2484/attachment.html>
More information about the Pynchon-l
mailing list