Bleeding Edge takes place in 2001
Allan Balliett
allan.balliett at gmail.com
Tue Feb 26 18:15:41 CST 2013
Can we trust P to address many of the 'facts' that contradict the
'official' 9/11 story? -Allan in WV
On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 4:48 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I would only argue, if pressed, that P's 1984 start of Vineland is to show
> that IT--Orwell's vision--- had arrived.
> Had started at the time period that IV ends and was full blown.
>
>
> *From:* "kelber at mindspring.com" <kelber at mindspring.com>
> *To:* pynchon-l at waste.org
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 26, 2013 10:33 AM
> *Subject:* Re: Bleeding Edge takes place in 2001
>
> Don't think it's so much the number of years between the novels' settings
> and "now," as the idea that each setting is what triggered the "now" we're
> in. GR takes place mostly in 1945, which could be seen as the official
> start of the Cold War (and the book traces some of its earlier rumblings) -
> the Cold War being a defining characteristic of the era Pynchon conceived
> of and wrote the book. Vineland takes its starting point as1984, which
> Pynchon saw as the start of his present: post-Cold War, Reaganism,
> incipient fascism. In retrospect, aside from its Orwellian connotations,
> 1984 wasn't a significant milestone for anything that happened later. And
> the COINTELPRO flashbacks didn't foreshadow the worst excesses of
> Reaganism, which were more economic than politically repressive. The year
> 2001 seems fresh because it is a distinct milestone ushering in our present
> period, whatever it turns out to be: the War On Terror, the Drone Wars, the
> Demise of the Nation States and Rise of the Corporatocracy (my own pet name
> for this period), or who knows what else.
>
> Laura
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Bailey
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 10:27 PM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
> > V., COL49 and Vineland are the closest to contemporaneous, right?
> > Vineland was published in 1990 and set in 1984, so it might be the
> > most relevant comparison here, maybe? Is what I'm now thinking. I
> > imagine it came together in the mid to late 80s. And Bleeding Edge
> > might have been percolating for around the same time recently, though
> > all probably have threads reaching back to whoever knows when.
> >
> > What really interests me is the way the 2001 setting of BE feels so
> > current, when in fact it's more 'historical' than some of Pynchon's
> > other novels.
> >
> > On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 10:10 PM, Heikki Raudaskoski
> > <hraudask at sun3.oulu.fi> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> William Slothrop and Kekule also come to mind from earlier centuries.
> >> But yeah, there isn't that much century hopping in GR.
> >>
> >> I just realized that the main bulk of V.'s framing narrative is also
> >> set in the NYC of the former decade.
> >>
> >> In V., the framing narrative acts as something of a sounding board
> >> for the historical chapters. It remains to be seen if BE bears some
> >> similarity to V. in this respect too.
> >>
> >>
> >> Heikki
> >>
> >> On Mon, 25 Feb 2013 kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
> >>
> >>> You're absolutely right! Now I'm wracking my brain to think of all the
> >>> sequences is GR and ATD. LK
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: Antonin Scriabin
> >>> Sent: Feb 25, 2013 7:16 PM
> >>> To: kelber at mindspring.com
> >>> Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
> >>> Subject: Re: Bleeding Edge takes place in 2001
> >>>
> >>> Well V. takes place in the late 19th and early 20th
> >>> centuries, if I am not mistaken. Mason & Dixon is a purely
> >>> 18th century affair, barring Vulcans.
> >>>
> >>> On Feb 25, 2013 7:08 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> >>> ATD spanned two centuries, late and early, and
> >>> it's hard to see how anyone could write about
> >>> 2001, without referencing back into the previous
> >>> century. Aside from a brief hop back to the
> >>> demise of the dodos, doesn't GR (and all the
> >>> others) remain in a single century? Previous
> >>> centuries are talked about in COL49, but we don't
> >>> actually go there. Any other instances of
> >>> intra-book century hopping that I'm forgetting?
> >>> Laura
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: Antonin Scriabin
> >>> Sent: Feb 25, 2013 6:56 PM
> >>> To: kelber at mindspring.com
> >>> Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
> >>> Subject: Re: Bleeding Edge takes place in 2001
> >>>
> >>> Something tells me we won't be in this century
> >>> for long, or to the exclusion of other centuries.
> >>>
> >>> On Feb 25, 2013 6:34 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com>
> >>> wrote:
> >>> Oops! Working through earlier
> >>> emails, I see this was already
> >>> posted. Exciting news, anyway. With
> >>> all his zigzagging (yoyoing?) back
> >>> and forth in time, he's finally
> >>> arrived in our century.
> >>>
> >>> Laura
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> >From: kelber at mindspring.com
> >>> >Sent: Feb 25, 2013 6:22 PM
> >>> >To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> >>> >Subject: Bleeding Edge takes place
> >>> in 2001
> >>> >
> >>> >Dave Monroe posted this on Facebook,
> >>> but hasn't posted it here yet. Dave?
> >>> Dave?! Are you here? Great find!
> >>> >
> >>> >
> http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/02/thomas-pynchon-new-book-bl
> >>> eeding-edge/62483/
> >>> >
> >>> >"The book is about the early 21st
> >>> century tech scene in New York City.
> >>> According to the log line from the
> >>> reports' preview, "it is 2001 in
> >>> Silicon Alley, New York City, in the
> >>> lull between the collapse of the
> >>> dot-com boom and the terrible events
> >>> of September 11."
> >>> >
> >>> >Laura
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
>
>
>
>
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