Back to AtD Cyprian again

[Ian Livingston]

Sorta combining the two, given Cyprian's fate and all: if the Communist
rebellion can be thought of as atheistic (following Feuerbach, as Marx
does, one might call the projected deity atheistic), could that be that
which is to feared by such as Cyprian? Is it his fate to station himself at
the last outpost of devotion to the mystery?

On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 2:24 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

> First para sez well stuff on my mind....
>
> But, reading further after "relaxing into his fate' shows equanimity, I
> think....acceptance of getting older, of no longer desiring the young,
> etc....
>
>   *From:* Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> *To:* Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
> *Cc:* pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> *Sent:* Saturday, July 21, 2012 4:28 PM
> *Subject:* Re: Back to AtD Cyprian again
>
>  I remember being a little inclined to caution on reading this. Not
> always one of my more prominent characteristics. What IS in the east? The
> Great War in Europe was not an Eastern thing, really, as I understand it,
> but the mortal spasm of the Empire succumbing to the triumph of capitalism,
> and all very European from start to finish (counting the US as essentially
> European on another continent, and an ally of the European capitalist
> class.) The war in the East was different. That was two great empires in
> extremis struggling for renewed footing, room to expand, and all that fun
> stuff. The only thing "building" in the east was the communist rebellion in
> Russia.
>
> Equanimity is central to Buddhism. Is Cyprian's relaxation into fate an
> expression of equanimity, or is it fatalistic? The two can be very
> different. Hm. How close am I re-reading AtD?
>
> On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 1:10 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  p. 939 "only some form of madness would take anyone east, right now.
> into the jaws
> of what's almost certainly on the move out there."
> What is he alluding to? the Repressed returning? War?, the Building-up?
> The Force of They?
>
> Lower down on 939:
> "Cyprian had begun to 'relax into his fate' "
> What means this? Nietzsche is one who is famous for the concept of
> accepting--loving, embracing-- one's fate. Amor Fati.
> Nabokov is another, along with some ancient Greek dramatists and
> This bracketed phrase in AtD does not show up except in Pynchon (and one
> unknown writer)'s allusion.
> Does Pynchon even give Nietzsche's concept a laid-back framing? Wiki calls
> Cyprian's response Buddhist.
>
> Has Cyprian gone beyond (society's) good and evil Nietzsche-like. Is that
> where Buddhism lies?
>
>
>
>
> --
> "Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all creeds
> the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the trust in
> reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments of darkness
> groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates than the simplest
> urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
>
>
>


-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all creeds
the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the trust in
reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments of darkness
groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates than the simplest
urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
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