The Crying of Lot 49 Group Read 2024

[Joseph Tracy]

Of course we do not agree that Tristero as presented in COL 49 is a consistently freedom-loving force or anarchist force, but probably are in agreement that revolutionary action requires a system of communication free from imperial control. And that the rebellion against the stamp act reflected the need for freedom of communication. . We are back to a system where most printed material is taxed in various ways, and the new target for censorship is the internet. I would prefer strict libel laws ,  and more range of public debate. 

Common Sense is way more revolutionary, anti-empire and anti-authoritarian than anything I see achieving major influence in today’s America. 

> On Jul 4, 2024, at 10:46 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> If we reasonably want to extend the meaning of USPS
> to other things besides letters that go by mail, as Joseph
> nicely suggested, then I think THIS American context is
> also relevant. The Stamp Act and The revolutionary ideals of America
> assumed and embedded in Pynchon's work.....I might argue that this
> is another time when the Tristero entered Western history.
> 
> From Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American substack column:  "
> In 1765 they enacted the Stamp Act, which placed a tax on printed material
> in the colonies, everything from legal documents and newspapers to playing
> cards.
> 
> The Stamp Act shocked colonists, who saw in it a central political struggle
> that had been going on in England for more than a century: could the king
> be checked by the people? Colonists were not directly represented in
> Parliament and believed they were losing their fundamental liberty as
> Englishmen to have a say in their government. They responded to the Stamp
> Act with widespread protests. "
> 
> "In 1766, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act but linked that repeal to the
> Declaratory Act, which claimed for Parliament “full power and authority to
> make laws and statutes…to bind the colonies and people of America…in all
> cases whatsoever.” This act echoed the 1719 Irish Declaratory Act, which
> asserted that Ireland was subordinate to the British king and Parliament.
> It also imposed new taxes."
> 
> as she goes on to say, led right to the tea party acts in Boston Harbor,
> Paine's pamphlet and the beginning of the war with the Brits shooting and
> killing first, of course...
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l