Re: BEg2 chapter 17 (hey who’s on 18th?) Republican sins qua text

[Mark Kohut]

As Michael wrote, 'the narrowing of options" is a key phrase here. Feeds
into what America, The Republic
could have become but didn't. A Pynchon theme forever. ....I suggest that
the word "forever" is a key to why
this section is free indirect discourse. Notice that it begins with Maxine
"feeling' the narrowing then we get the narrowing.
Is there ANYWHERE else in this novel Maxine waxes like that?

And notice again, this passage is all about, almost only about, post-WW2
America, lassoing the double-meaning----you know,
folks,* Seven Types of Ambiguity* --all for richness of theme of the word
"Republican".

On Tue, Feb 8, 2022 at 4:47 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Mark Kohut wrote:
>
> “But going back to the text, Republican could easily mean and in fact with
> the sweeping histories involved
> probably does mostly mean, the US Republic......You know, as Franklin said,
> "a Republic if you can keep it"
> associatively.
>
> And the words are not Maxine's I would now say. Free indirect discourse...”
>
>
> We know from Slow Learner that (at least he sez) he doesn’t like to
> write purely to embody particular ideas; I think that means political
> ideas too.
>
> The guy has a way with words. Wrangling with the text is half the fun.
>
> The broader sense of “republic” is one possible spinoff.
>
> That particular phrase that he has his way with - “Republican sins
> forever unremitted,” popped into the list of lamentable alterations to
> the landscape - seems custom built to tease reflections.
>
> 1) as Joseph states, Republicans haven’t got a monopoly on sin
>
> 2) sins that are specifically Republican would be maximizing, rather
> than optimizing, wealth and the wealthy - and the twisting of
> discourse to choke out the ideals of fairness, accountability, common
> interest, public projects for the good of all, and social safety nets,
> which are essential and should be complementary to the pursuit of
> wealth.
>
> 3) “sin” connotes a religious standpoint; in this brief diatribe it
> seems to be used unironically.
>
> 4) forever unremitted seems to point to permanent damage? This seems
> indicative of Maxine’s state of mind - “so far unremitted” can be
> proven, but “forever” not so much. She’s pessimistically extrapolating
> based on incomplete data.
>
> 5) there’s a cluster of definitions around “remission”
>
> 6) “avoidance of penalty” is one; this could mean the actual penalties
> to our society for the success of successful Republican initiatives -
> “preemptive” aggressive warfare being the worst, but also, persistence
> of the racist filibuster, and the un-representative Congress - are
> still being exacted.
>
> 7) another definition stresses the formal granting of remission by an
> authorized priest under such conditions as repentance. The renegade
> Republican stance is unrepentant and not seeking formal remission -
> exemplified for instance by William Buckley in his “mother, but not
> teacher” article where he - though a Catholic - told the Pope where to
> take his gentle admonition and guidance.
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>