V--2nd how about that ending, eh?

[Mark Kohut]

Well, I'm gonna hold out for some shade of my darker meaning re Benny & Brenda.
Paola, whom Benny took to Malta, is (all of) those positive associations re the 
future.
She still embodies living Malta, a different future from the Wasteland that is. 

Benny, who learned nothing, is the dead end of historic America and Brenda 
offered
some mindless pleasure as well as doom.




----- Original Message ----
From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
To: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
Cc: Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>; Dave Monroe 
<against.the.dave at gmail.com>; pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>; 
braden.andrews at gmail.com
Sent: Fri, March 4, 2011 3:27:44 PM
Subject: Re: V--2nd how about that ending, eh?

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 2:14 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I like all the attendant readings that this embodies, Ian's, Michael B.'s but
>
> I haveta ask: they run 'toward the edge of Malta"...not into it..and to the 
>[sea] beyond....
>
> If all that good stuff is true, are Benny and Brenda not up to it in V.?

Diving into the depths and digging into the earth are symbolically
kindred acts.  A body of water, especially the sea, is symbolic of an
invisible realm teeming with life.  Likewise the earth is symbolic of
fertility and hidden riches.

Benny is the prototype of Slothrop.  And remember Slothrop's destiny
in GR is essentially Nirvana (at least that's how I see it).

David Morris