Political Philately

[Mark Kohut]

LIKE. 

Sent from my iPad

> On Aug 12, 2015, at 6:36 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de> wrote:
> 
> 
> "The Brussels Exhibition Issue of 1958 included in its aerial view of th US pavilion at Brussels, and set slightly off from the other tiny fairgoers, the unmistakable silhouette of a horse and a rider."
> 
> (The Crying of Lot 49, chapter 6)
> 
> Unmistakable?
> Actually I have no idea where to find this "silhouette" ...
> 
> http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:Brussels_stamp.jpg
> 
> It's my guess that Pynchon did not include this stamp because one could really, "unmistakable" or not, find there a trace of Trystero or some other (perhaps non-fictional) alternative system of communication. That's just how the actual theme, the US pavilion from 1958, is integrated in the text.
> 
> Here's a description of the US pavilion in Brussels:
> 
> > The US pavilion was quite spacious and included a fashion show with models walking down a large spiral staircase, an electronic computer that demonstrated a knowledge of history, and a color television studio behind glass. <   (Wikipedia: Expo 58)
> 
> Being described as "quite spacious," the US pavilion must have been one of those typical Pynchon buildings which appear to be much bigger once you're in.  And while models walking down spiral staircases are a timeless classic, the other two features are telling: "A color television studio behind glass" recalls to the reader "the greenish dead eye of the TV tube" by which Oedipa is "stared at" on the novel's first page. And "an electronic computer that demonstrated a knowledge of history" embodies this dream, to replace historical struggle and the human freedom therein by technological control, on a higher and more dangerous level. A dark dream Pynchon writes against in all of his books. So there should be that silhouette ...
> 
> 
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