Bleeding Edge takes place in 2001
Markekohut
markekohut at yahoo.com
Wed Feb 27 16:46:09 CST 2013
Terrif witticism.
Sent from my iPad
On Feb 27, 2013, at 5:29 PM, malignd at aol.com wrote:
> One hopes he's not that stupid.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Allan Balliett <allan.balliett at gmail.com>
> To: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>; pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Tue, Feb 26, 2013 7:15 pm
> Subject: Re: Bleeding Edge takes place in 2001
>
> 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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