Why Windust & Maxine?

[Fiona Shnapple]

Wolfley does an exceptional job of showing how P makes use of Brown in
GR: LAWRENCE C. WOLFLEY ,   Repression's Rainbow: The Presence of
Norman 0. Brown in Pynchon's Big Novel


Here is an excerpt from the article's Introduction:

The determining factor in Pynchon's allegory of the human condition is
the unholy alliance that has developed between, on the one hand,
media, technology, and the inanimate in general and, on the other
hand, the will to power of those who control the dominant commercial
and bureaucratic structures. It is suggested that at some point during
World War II Western culture (like that atomic pile at the University
of Chicago) reached a "critical mass" (see p. 539) that evoked
revolutionary changes in the nature of experience. The egalitarian,
pop-culture esthetic of GR has disturbed many readers. But this is
precisely the relevance of Pynchon: that, more successfully than
anyone else to date, he has assimilated into an essentially novelistic
sensibility the pertinence of those powerful anti-literary modes and
tendencies that presently threaten to swamp a large part of the
humanistic tradition.

So, based on an allegorical reading, Wolfley posits two ideas here,
and the first is obvious enough to P readers, the unholy alliance. The
second argues that P has done something to counter the unholy forces
with his egalitarian approach to culture, weaving film and pop into
his novel, thus saving the novel from the forces that threaten the
humanistic tradition.

The second first point is on solid ground. The second, not so.

Tale a look at what Jameson does with those shoes.

Here's another helpful link.

http://www.route57.group.shef.ac.uk/non-fiction-10-aesthetic.html
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l