pynchon-l-digest V2 #9514

[John Bailey]

In my reading, the distinction between paranoia and conspiracy theory in
P's writings comes down to confidence. The conspiracy theorist has a
determined worldview, whereas the (pynchonesque) paranoid has had those
shackles cast off and is looking for a new anchor. Both seem equally awful.
But I quiver a bit more in the face of someone with the confidence to state
that they've sorted the universe out. Ivory-tower academic or manhole-cover
welder.

Pynchon's novels have always interested me because they're not
confidence-man tricks, and the P-list is just as honest and hopeless and
powered by wonder, which, as Descartes says, is the first of the passions.

On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 10:15 PM, alice wellintown <
alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Well, it is an open forum, so one is free to post whatever....and this
> works well enough for what it's worth...has worked for those of us who
> stick around or come and go...and, while I agree with Ian here, Bled & Co.
> Is a list Nanny who tries cut off threads he doesn't like. For example, he
> doesn't like Mark's tweet posts and he doesn't like lit-crit, anything he
> considers too pedantic.
>
> As far as who knows P, well...as I've posted recently, as I'm reading that
> corrupted pilgrim's guide, I'm astounding to see how wrong I think some of
> the professional readers, people who have been reading and writing about P
> for decades, are. That Hume, for example, argues that P advocates violence,
> is, I think, a gross misreading.
> On Tuesday, February 26, 2013, Ian Livingston wrote:
>
>> What? We're going to censor the anarchists and the paranoid? Hm.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 7:10 PM, Don Antenen <dantenen at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> You make some enormous logical leaps in your reply.
>>
>> This is a list-serv for discussing Pynchon, so I assume all of us give a
>> fat Fuck about his opinion. Still, he's a novelist, so I'm not sure what it
>> means to 'trust' him. I guess I trust that his fiction will be good.
>>
>> The death of 3000+ at the hands of Islamist terrorists was a tragedy (a
>> tragedy repeated on a smaller scale across the middle east every week). The
>> idea that the event was planned or orchestrated by the US government (or
>> Israeli government or both, depending on the conspiracy theory) is
>> ludicrous. At this point, all of the various (contradictory) conspiracy
>> theories about the event have been so thoroughly debunked that their
>> proponents are not worth engaging with.
>>
>> If one denies illogical, bizarre conspiracy theories, it does not follow
>> that one believes America to be "eternally good" or even momentarily good.
>>
>> I generally find Pynchon fans to be intelligent and interesting, so it's
>> disappointing that such nonsense is given any quarter here.
>>
>> all the best,
>> Donald
>>
>>    ------------------------------
>> *From:* Bled Welder <bledwelder at gmail.com>
>> *To:* Don Antenen <dantenen at yahoo.com>
>> *Cc:* "pynchon-l at waste.org" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 26, 2013 8:42 PM
>> *Subject:* Re: pynchon-l-digest V2 #9514
>>
>> God I'm so fucking sorry to disappoint you, bro.
>>
>> What did I say.  That the buildings were built to be destroyed by their
>> builders?
>>
>> Who gives a fat Fuck what Thomas Pynchon's opinion is?  If he wants to be
>> a reet about it, then fair enough.  It's scary, I know.
>>
>> The question was how can we trust Pynchon.  The answer glued over your
>> eyes is clearly : "Implictly."
>>
>> Mmmm, Oooohhhhhh, what's Pynchon's take on the falling towers?  Such a
>> tragedy.  "We" would never do that to "ourselves".
>>
>> America is eternally Goooood.
>>
>> Right.  I'm sure Pynchon thinks that.  Why do you think he's been in
>> hiding for 60
>>
>>
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