Bleeding Edge, pp. 312-313

[Mark Kohut]

This bit is maybe too obvious to be commented on in the way I have,
 but...I can't quite follow the thread below. So, went back to basics as I
see it.

My major overt 'reading' of these lines goes like this: Pynchon has the
largely sympathetic perceiver (and character) Maxine notice that religious
Fundamentalism--God's known words---, that self-justifying,
self-righteousness that pervades so many religions of which so many
believers of,  will want to kill heretics and unbelievers. History is
filled with.
In a 9/11 novel, Pynchon superbly places it subtly in an unexpected place
but relevant way. Another example of why he is so good.




The only word Maxine recognizes, and she hears it more than once, is
*Inshallah*. "Arabic for 'whatever,'" Horst nods.
   They're waiting at a light. "If it is God's will," the driver corrects
him, half turning in his seat so that Maxine happens to be looking him in
the face. What she sees there will keep her from getting to sleep right
away. Or that's how she'll remember it.




On Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 10:54 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Why call this disconnect a clash of weak versus strong?  What makes that
> charaterization valid?  Flesh this out instead of assuming agreement.
>
> It seems you think rigid thinking is "strong" and fluid thinking is
> "weak."  I think that equation is the opposite of anything Pyncon would
> posit.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 9:32 PM Kai Frederik Lorentzen <
> lorentzen at hotmail.de> wrote:
>
>>
>> By contrasting Horst's 'whatever' with the Islamic cab driver's
>> *Inshallah*,
>> Pynchon points out the Western weakness in the "clash of civilizations".
>>
>>
>> Am 16.11.2015 um 11:12 schrieb Mark Thibodeau:
>>
>> Hm.
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 5:02 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen <
>> lorentzen at hotmail.de> wrote:
>>
>>
>>    In the taxi on the way home, there's loud traffic in Arabic on the
>> radio, which Maxine figures at first for a call-in show till the cabbie
>> picks up a handset and joins in. She glances at the ID up on the Plexiglas.
>> The face in the photo is too indistinct to make out, but the name is
>> Islamic, Mohammed somebody.
>>    It's like hearing a party from another room, though Maxine notices
>> there's no music, no laughing. High emotion all right, but closer to tears
>> or anger. Men talking over each other, shouting, interrupting. A couple of
>> the voices might be women's, though later it will seem they could have
>> belonged to high-pitched men. The only word Maxine recognizes, and she
>> hears it more than once, is *Inshallah*. "Arabic for 'whatever,'" Horst
>> nods.
>>    They're waiting at a light. "If it is God's will," the driver corrects
>> him, half turning in his seat so that Maxine happens to be looking him in
>> the face. What she sees there will keep her from getting to sleep right
>> away. Or that's how she'll remember it.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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