BE group read: CH 2

[Mark Kohut]

After going back to sleep but up at my usual time:

I actually learned what I know, what little I know, about "late capitalism'
from my earlier read, Group Read
of BE....either Pynchon has used it only once before this book, as early as
V---who has a Kindle for that?--
or else it was around the time of V that the phrase "late capitalism'
started appealing in them there rags
a lot.....

On Sun, Nov 7, 2021 at 7:53 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> I’m not following, just skimming a bit from some of these posts. But I
> hope your discussion doesn’t get short-changed by your use of labels like
> “postmodernism” and “late capitalism.”  Pointing to a text description of
> *anything* as an example of one of those isms is just lazy and
> self-defeating for a real discussion, even if it’s used as a term inside
> the text.  TV isn’t just TV, if you catch my drift.  Links within the text
> for deeper intent is a richer source IMHO.  Reference to outside text or TV
> or current life is great, but only so far as the novel provides its take on
> them (for the most part).  Authority is always a moving target.  Anyway,
> that’s my 2 cents.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Sun, Nov 7, 2021 at 7:02 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Uh, maybe, if that means the idea of bootlegging from the screen, but
>> Seinfeld got it from NYC life....
>> ....in the nineties at least, people were doing this and selling lots in
>> the streets of New York and other cities.
>> Openly enough on the streets of Jersey City where I lived when I wasn't in
>> NYC, very smilingly perky attractive Chinese-American woman in my neck of
>> JC....
>>
>> I also think TRP is satirizing academia and supposed film-makers as well.
>> Reg is just doing commercial film, everything is now commercial in late
>> capitalism.
>> As well as satirizing postmodernism and its labels.
>>
>> On Sun, Nov 7, 2021 at 6:32 PM David Elliott via Pynchon-l <
>> pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:
>>
>> >   pp. 8-9 in the PB on Reg as movie pirate - "... far ahead of the
>> leading
>> > edge of this postmodern art form" "with your neo-Brechtian subversion of
>> > the diegesis."
>> > Do you think Pynchon got the idea from the Seinfeld "Little Kicks"
>> episode?
>> > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Kicks
>> >
>> >
>> > |
>> > |
>> > |  |
>> > The Little Kicks
>> >
>> > George tags along to a company party held by Elaine. He hits on Anna,
>> one
>> > of Elaine's employees, but she isn't i...
>> >  |
>> >
>> >  |
>> >
>> >  |
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >     On Sunday, November 7, 2021, 03:21:53 PM EST, Joseph Tracy <
>> > brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
>> >
>> >  Edward Despard’s life is a fascinating bit of evidence that modern
>> > ethical ideas about racial/ethnic justice are not as restricted to
>> recent
>> > times as some argue. His complaints about the Crown's financial abuse
>> and
>> > his administative attempt at racial justice in Honduras landed him in a
>> > narrow prison and when a fellow officer visited him he looked in bad
>> > shape.The parallels to Reg seem a bit extreme but the power and
>> > ruthlessness of Ice&co soon become evident. This is the second time in
>> > Pynchon’s novels that a person with a camera is on the frontlines of
>> > ominous cultural changes, and since Vineland in the 80s the documentary
>> > (and Docudrama) has become a major force of social critique, from
>> Michael
>> > Moore to Citizen 4, few things so authoritative as seeing an event,
>> though
>> > we have also learned that editing can be pretty misleading.  Reg is
>> already
>> > shaken by what he is seeing, perhaps more than makes obvious sense. He
>> has
>> > the documentarian’s sense that he needs confirmation, grounding, solid
>> > evidence. But what this reader feels as an overall impression is fear,
>> > which Maxine picks up as "One of those funny looks Maxine by now knows
>> > better than to ignore. “
>> >   The name Gabriel Ice amplifies this subtle note of fear, particularlly
>> > for the Pynchon reader, with references to ATD’s  Vormance expedition to
>> > Iceland and the Ice monster they release, but also Gabriel and the
>> Trump-et
>> > of apocalypse.  The comic prose style that P uses gives the reader a
>> safe
>> > distance from the drama. He is cluing us to what looks like some dark
>> stuff
>> > but he doesn’t want to manipulate our emotions. It’s like a vampire
>> > appearing in the Simpsons, funny, silly but not necessarily empty of
>> > meaning.
>> >   “You’re suggesting what, mob, covert ops?” “According to Eric, a
>> purpose
>> > on earth written in code none of us can read. Except maybe for 666,
>> which
>> > tends to recur.” The use of 666, appearing only this once in the novel,
>> and
>> > kinda offhand, has some serious implications connected to a digital
>> > powerhouse with connections to the government, or several governments.
>> In
>> > the book of the Revelation, which is admittedly a strange piece of work,
>> > 666 has 2 meanings; it is connected to a figure called the beast or
>> > 'anti-Christ’ and implicit in his ’name’, and it is a mark instituted by
>> > the beast's rule, a number embedded in the body that allows the
>> citizens to
>> > buy or sell and restricting those who don’t have the mark from economic
>> > transactions. This kind of system has been made dramatically more
>> feasible
>> > with digital technology and is not without proponents among the high
>> tech
>> > plutocrats. Some are nervous that the pandemiic and the idea of a
>> digital
>> > passport point in this direction. Not trying to say Pynchon sees this a
>> > prophetic situation, but he is throwing out some pretty dark imagery
>> around
>> > Ice and the implicit growth of electronic surveillance and secretiveness
>> > that got kicked into high gear after 9-11.
>> >   I don’t like John of Patmos’ book at all, the cruel gloating as God
>> > pours out his curses on an evil humanity does not appeal to me, but is
>> > there some possibility that the altered state that allowed this vision
>> > holds some inherent logic about the combination of economic and military
>> > imperialism that reached an early height of power in the Roman empire?
>> > Well, that is what is weird about ‘sacred texts’.  They look like
>> > superstitious nonsense one period and like uncanny prescience the next.
>> >  Pynchon works this territory with uncommon fearlessness and can’t
>> easily
>> > be reduced to a skilled hypertext game player for me. My own connection
>> to
>> > literature, to words, to images, is not without the quality of 'a
>> purpose
>> > on earth written in code none of us can read’ but all of us want to.
>> >
>> >
>> > >
>> > > Bleeding edge Ch 2 summary
>> > >
>> > > at end of Ch 1 Reg Despard arrives at Maxine’s office and  is brought
>> in
>> > with warmth, affection
>> > > and curious anticipation. “Do get your ass in here. Long time.”
>> > > CH 2 BE
>> > > Reg Despard’s name -  Reg by itself derives from latin for
>> > ruler/king/queen The only historic Despard I found was Edward Despard (
>> > 1751-18030 famous for contending for equal teatment of races, right to
>> buy
>> > land in Carribean, for marrying a black woman, for accusations of
>> sedition
>> > that, though unproved, bankrupted him and later for accusation and
>> > conviction for  questionable plot to kill king George 3, for this he was
>> > drawn and quartered long after that horrifying practice was in use. He
>> was
>> > a social reformer/revolutionary Influenced by Tom Paine.            Reg
>> > Despard first met Maxine on a carribean cruise.
>> > >
>> > > Reg looks considerably hammered by interval of a couple years( this
>> > would fit life of Edward Despard, but why hammered?). He is a video
>> > documentarian who began as movie pirate making camcorder videos of first
>> > run movies, duplicating and selling for a dollar or 2. He got drawn into
>> > academic scene by professor who says he is on leading edge ”“with your
>> > neo-Brechtian subversion of the diegesis.”  Soon he is shooting his own
>> > pictures and has a business making documentaries. Maxine asks what he’s
>> > there about and …
>> > > “It’s this company I’ve been shooting a documentary about? I keep
>> > running into . . .” One of those funny looks Maxine by now knows better
>> > than to ignore.
>> > > “Attitude.” “Access issues. Too much I’m not being told.”
>> > > Reg thinks info is hidden in Deep Web, Maxi says maybe you want a
>> > techie. He already has one named Eric Outfield.
>> > > The firm who commissioned the documentary is called hashslingerz, does
>> > computer security , reputed to be expanding , making big money….
>> > >
>> > > R “ I have this tiny advance the company’s kicking in, plus I’m
>> allowed
>> > total access, or so I thought till yesterday, which is when I figured
>> I’d
>> > better see you.” “Something in the accounting.” “Just like to know who
>> I’m
>> > working for. I haven’t sold my soul yet—“
>> > >
>> > > The firm is owned by Gabriel Ice, Maxi recalls  photo of boy
>> billionaire
>> > in white, makes Bill Gates look charismatic.
>> > > “That’s only his party mask. He has deep resources.”
>> > > “You’re suggesting what, mob, covert ops?” “According to Eric, a
>> purpose
>> > on earth written in code none of us can read. Except maybe for 666,
>> which
>> > tends to recur.
>> > > Reg asks maxi if she still has concealed carry permit and if whole set
>> > up is too paranoid.
>> > > “Not me, paranoia’s the garlic in life’s kitchen, right, you can never
>> > have too much.”
>> > >
>> > > In  the course of  a talk about pay Reg suggests she looks like  film
>> > star Rachel Weisz.This leads into 5 pages of flashback to a budget
>> cruise
>> > Maxi went on at suggestion of her sex, cop, pop culture obsessed best
>> > friend Heidi Czornak. The cruise was Heidi’s  attempt to break Maxine’s
>> > post divorce depair which was causing her to drink too much and cry a
>> lot.
>> > The passengers are mostly from“AMBOPEDIA Frolix ’98,” a yearly
>> gathering of
>> > the American Borderline Personality Disorder Association.”
>> > > She meets Reg on this cruise, continues to drink heavily, meets duck
>> > stamp collectors and other amusing folk, gambles  and talks with Reg
>> using
>> > Jujubes under the influence of “Generic Undiagnosed James Bond Syndrome,
>> > whole different support group.She meets Joel Weiner ( the real??? J
>> Weiner
>> > was  an unscrupulous real estate mogul indicted many times) Occasionally
>> > forgets about Horst. This trip the budget cruise line is headed for
>> > borderline of Haiti and Dominican Republic. Her and Reg start drinking
>> > Mamajuana, a jar containing a vine soaked in rum and red wine with voodo
>> > love spell. They find room in abandoned luxury hotel and misbehave on
>> > moldering bed amidst vines and lizards.
>> > >
>> > > Back in novel’s real time Maxine asks Reg if they… He politely or
>> memory
>> > fogged by mamajuana says no. We find out somehow Weiner indirectly
>> caused
>> > Maxine's license to be revoked when she “cut him too much slack” not
>> > following evidence of fraud and offering him some “tricks of the trade
>> out
>> > of “friendship”.
>> > >  “Friendship?” Reg is puzzled. “You didn’t even like him.”
>> > > M “A technical term.”
>> > > We get more details of license removal, possibility of appeal which
>> > Maxine does not pursue.  Not sure she wants to be  “the one
>> incorruptible
>> > still point in the whole jittery mess, the atomic clock everybody
>> trusts.”
>> > > …………………………………………………………….
>> > >
>> > > Hope that isn’t too long or too short for  a summary, but still lots
>> of
>> > room for details and questions raised.  Summaries help me see the acton
>> as
>> > a whole, since Pynchon writes so engagingly in the digressions.
>> > >
>> > > comic issues- Ambopedia, academic media criticism, duck stamps, James
>> > Bond Syndrome, cheapo luxury cruises,
>> > >
>> > > serious issues- divorce; secretive powerful tech firm tagged
>> > 666/Ice/apocalyptic angel Gabriel; deep web; real estate fraud abuse;
>> fraud
>> > investigation;  moral and job independence.
>> > >
>> > > comico-serious-why hashslingerz ?
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > 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
>> >
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>