Discuss

[Markekohut]

And such observations and quotes make me think, following Laura's first remarks, that TRP 
Is surely subverting Heraclitus' famous line in re Slothrop.

And with the Chance theme later, and with Slothrop's "luck" and disappearance in GR, he too
Believes more in Chance than any Greek concept of Fate---for ' modern' characters. 

When I had Philip Roth on Google Alerts for a long while, the line about "No one understands anyone" (later Roth) ...you can look it up....was the most-quoted from new readers' blogs....

Modern man can't be known at all, mostly, is one theme. 

Sent from my iPad

On Feb 9, 2013, at 1:27 PM, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com> wrote:

> And then there's Chance, the gardner.
> 
> On Sat, Feb 9, 2013 at 9:52 AM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>> And there's: "Chance is the fool's name for fate," the secret password from the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie, The Gay Divorcee (1934).
>> 
>> LK
>> -----Forwarded Message----- 
>> From: Al Haidar 
>> Sent: Feb 9, 2013 12:43 PM 
>> To: kelber at mindspring.com 
>> Subject: Re: Discuss 
>> 
>> "A man's character isn't his fate; a man's fate is the joke that his life plays on his character." — Philip Roth, Operation Shylock: A Confession ...a rather appropriately paranoid offering from PR.
>> 
>> 
>> On Sat, Feb 9, 2013 at 9:18 AM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>> Your "lazy" definition of fate sounds pretty much like my definition.  Both are a far cry from "a man's character is his fate," which emphasizes a single variable.  That may work for playwrights, but isn't much help outside of the theater. 
>>> 
>>> Laura
>>> -----Original Message----- 
>>> From: Ian Livingston 
>>> Sent: Feb 9, 2013 11:35 AM 
>>> To: kelber at mindspring.com 
>>> Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org 
>>> Subject: Re: Discuss 
>>> 
>>> Well, on the other hand, is fate a lazy way of referring to complexity too great to succinctly reference? That would fit with Hindu, Buddhist, Kantian, Spinozist frames of reference on the subject of fate. In which case, all the variables that come together to shape us impel us to given behavioristic styles, such as, for instance, dressing up in a pig suit to score some hash, but we have always the capacity for novelty, like using the pig suit to get laid along the way to the score.
>>> 
>>> On Sat, Feb 9, 2013 at 8:18 AM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>>> Don't really believe in any sort of deterministic Fate - there are too many incalculable and unpredictable variables.  At any rate, I'd say that what happens in Slothrop's life has more to do with the fact that he was experimented on as a baby, than anything to do with his friendly, and smart but hedonistic character.
>>>> 
>>>> Laura
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> >From: Markekohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
>>>> >Sent: Feb 9, 2013 8:30 AM
>>>> >To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>>> >Subject: Discuss
>>>> >
>>>> >"A man's character is his fate" with special reference to Slothrop.
>>>> >
>>>> >Sent from my iPad
> 
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