Is CoL49 essentially a "blueprint for all conspiracy theories"?

[John Bailey]

I discovered Pynchon at university, where COL49 was taught as a
metatextual novel in which the various conspiracies therein are
analogous to the search for final meaning in texts themselves. It was
easy for us undergrads in the 90s to embrace the idea that no text is
closed, the hunt for definite resolution is both fun and foolish,
attempts to impose order on chaos are futile...
But I don't think anyone who writes novels actually believes that
meaning is entirely subjective and their own project is without
purpose.
Pynchon's interests seem both conspiracy-adjacent and also utterly
critical of the conspiracy theorist's faith in themselves. COL49 is a
satire of conspiracy thinking, but a sympathetic satire.
In other thoughts, it's fascinating to me how conspiracy thinking used
to be associated with progressive and leftist sorts, whereas now it
seems more often enlisted for deeply reactionary and right-wing ends.
Although looking back on the 60s-80s I think the definitions of those
various poles has become extremely muddy.

On Thu, May 21, 2020 at 8:02 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've been involuntarily thinking about Pynchon thinking about these times
> and all I think I know is he
> is noticing differently like the artist he is......I have little idea
> what...except that the preterites suffer the most as always.
>
> Like the calm in NYC after 9/11 retreated in Bleeding Edge.
>
> On Wed, May 20, 2020 at 5:04 PM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Yes. Indeed, there is quite a difference between Pynchon's historical
> > investigations into real-world conspiracies among IG Farben, the East India
> > Company, the FBI etc. and say the batshit nonsense of the QAnon folks, say
> > today.
> >
> > I was actually thinking about this past week reading up on the Q people. Is
> > Pynchon still valuable in the age of widespread conspiracy thinking? I
> > would say yes. I also was thinking this week how Pynchon sees the state of
> > the world/nation today after writing about it for so long. Is he just
> > depressed how things have gotten steadily worse or is it one of those I
> > told you so attitudes as he in the latest works after M&D that moved away
> > from knotted unknowable conspiracies to more direct critiques of power in
> > AtD and onwards.
> >
> > in any case, i'm sure to quote Adam Curtis, today all feels like being
> > trapped in the mind of a depressed hippy
> >
> > rich
> >
> > On Wed, May 20, 2020 at 6:33 AM Kai Frederik Lorentzen <
> > lorentzen at hotmail.de>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > It's always nice when someone recommends a Pynchon novel. Then again I'm
> > > kinda sick of being told -  this is going on for years now & could also
> > > be found in the media coverage about the GR radio play - that it's all
> > > just a big inkblot test the reader alone can make sense of. Pynchon's
> > > work is so much more than just an "exemplary blueprint for all
> > > conspiracy theories" ... & the distinction between sense & nonsense
> > > remains, in contrary to what the article says, always fundamentally
> > intact.
> > >
> > > + Dass Literatur ein ebenso großer Stifter von Sinn wie von Unsinn sein
> > > kann beziehungsweise dass die Unterscheidung von beiden vollkommen, nun
> > > ja, unsinnig ist, sobald man ein Buch aufklappt, das in anderer Absicht
> > > als dem Übermitteln von Informationen geschrieben ist, führt kaum ein
> > > Roman so formvollendet vor wie „Die Versteigerung von No. 49“ von Thomas
> > > Pynchon. In unserer von Hygiene-Demonstranten bevölkerten
> > > Fake-News-Gegenwart bietet er sich an als mustergültige Blaupause aller
> > > Verschwörungstheorien ...Leider endet der Roman eine Seite vor dem
> > > erkenntnistheoretischen Showdown./ Und auch im echten Leben bleiben die
> > > Verschwörungstheoretiker immer kurz vor der Auflösung stecken ... +
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > https://www.welt.de/kultur/article207932295/Pynchons-Versteigerung-von-No-49-Blaupause-aller-Verschwoerungstheorien.html
> > >
> > > --
> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l