SLPAD - 41 -

[Mark Kohut]

Yes. What I meant is he —Levine—seems down on himself at the end. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 4, 2023, at 2:09 PM, Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Didn’t say I didn’t like him. But it takes an effort.
> 
> 
> 
>> On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 1:52 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Mike,
>> 
>> Levine comes to share your dislike, right?
>> 
>> Mark
>> 
>>> On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 1:44 PM rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I think Levine is passable. maybe it's been mentioned already, but he is
>>> Beetle Bailey, no?. his nemesis the NCO, Camp Swampy (I looked that up)
>>> 
>>> rich
>>> 
>>> On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 4:16 AM Michael Bailey <
>>> michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I’m ready to like Levine, but he’s not eminently likeable.
>>>> 
>>>> If you’re gonna smoke, flicking ashes in your helmet liner is
>>>> understandable, putting butts out in it is borderline, and dumping them
>>> on
>>>> the floor is boorish. In my humble opinion.
>>>> 
>>>> The only thing worse is putting them out on a melon rind - that’s
>>>> schrecklich!
>>>> 
>>>> Or wait, the only thing worse than that is putting them in a half full
>>> soda
>>>> can & leaving it out.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> But anyway, he does have some humor -
>>>> 
>>>> “He squeezed the orderly’s head* as he went out. ‘What’s shaking?’
>>> Capucci
>>>> said. Levine squinted into the bright heavy air outside.
>>>>               ‘Oh, the Pentagon, again,’ he said. ‘Just won’t let me
>>>> alone.’”
>>>> 
>>>> (Probably affectionately? Or at least a little less than
>>> fight-pickingly?)
>>>> 
>>>> Delusional self-exaltation is funny, when done consciously. Also, since
>>>> Pentagon is a major source of orders, it’s marginally a true statement.
>>>> 
>>>> Wearing the helmet liner - probably not regulation turnout - he trudges
>>> to
>>>> the orderly room.
>>>> 
>>>> - in a meta sense, a place incompatible with the disorderly character
>>>> traits he’s been exhibiting -
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Braced unnecessarily for more persiflage with Dugan, who’s busy typing,
>>> he
>>>> leans on the first sergeant’s desk railing & casually greets him with,
>>> “Hi,
>>>> Sarge.”
>>>> 
>>>> (One thinks of the reverse-punctilio of Hawkeye Pierce in M.A.S.H., but
>>>> Levine’s about as much like Hawkeye as Dugan is like Radar O’Reilly)
>>>> 
>>>> The idea of his isolation is encapsulated in his walk thru the company
>>> area
>>>> - he’s not in the group lining up for early chow, he’s not one of the
>>>> office workers, and he’s not in the (tiny spoiler) meeting.
>>>> 
>>>> The whole group mentality mindset seems to be lost on him, or he’s
>>>> deliberately rebelling against it.
>>>> --
>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>> 
>>> --
>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>> 
>> 
> --
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