Horst-Maxine-Windust; tell me who do you love?

Sun Feb 23 20:45:38 CST 2014

Actually, I pictured Windust more in a quasi-governmental, economic
type role, e.g.,:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man

Or, as an op for a shadowy blend of private/governmental agencies, in
keeping with the general trend toward privatization of American Imperial
interests.  But, of course, Perkins was/is a crack-pot conspiracy
theorist.

Horst is not a particularly good role model- perhaps a libertarian
argument could be made for his brand of parenting. Windust makes
the world safe for Horst's hedonistic consumption and enables him
to play with the precious resources of third world countries as if he
were playing a video game, which is what, in effect, he's doing.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sun, Feb 23, 2014 8:15 pm
Subject: Re: Horst-Maxine-Windust; tell me who do you love?

I made an argument earlier that Horst can be seen as a kind of cypher
for the
banality of a certain kind of evil. I understand what Alice is saying
but does
human niceness and being a good father/provider justify a life lived in
a kind
of tubal oblivion? Not denying the attraction of beer and the Simpsons
or a good
Olympic curling match. Nuthin like 'at. But there is  in my  entangled
mind a
direct connection between Horst's money making and his  pleasantly numb
tubal
disconnect and Windust's SS like service to the American empire. It's
just hard
to dream the impossible dream without  certain idealists being quietly
sailed
without parachutes out the windows of airplanes.

Windust is connected to the Nixon/Reagan wave  of neo colonial US
imperialism,
and somehow manages to conjure enemies everywhere who are threatening
the
homeland and our way of life. He is  the JohnWayne side of our self
image. If he
occasionally gets frisky, rapes a nun or a 14 year old and splatters
her brains
on some primitive dirt floor, hey, war is hell: only someone who hates
the flag
would make make a big deal. Just move on and keep the good stuff on the
TV.

  Horst is the fulfilled dream of a college education that is the
current stuff
of Democratic politics. If you are good looking, and work hard, and
study hard,
and love ice cream and sex and TV, and are smart enough to know which
way the
numbers are headed then the magic will kick in and nothing will
threaten a life
of excellent Pizza, ball games  and TV, with occasional community
service to
keep the dream alive.  And if you are bright and know a thing or 2 and
have
troubling questions, well, it's ok to mention them but don't get all
worked up
and push it.  Just be glad that  both John Wayne  and Sterling Hayden
has your
back.

Max is the prize. The sexy( oh those taxes, yes mama!!!) confused
hard-working
american people who without constant supervision may drift into doing
the math,
asking questions and exploring the ins and outs of paranoid foot
fetishists,
troubling film footage,  old radicals and dead small time money
launderers who
knew too much and pinched a wad.   Thank God she always comes to her
senses come
election time.

I walk 47 miles of barbed wire,
I use a cobra-snake for a necktie,
I got a brand new house on the roadside,
Made from rattlesnake hide,
I got a brand new chimney made on top,
Made out of a human skull,
Now come on take a walk with me, Maxlne,
And tell me, who do you love?