CoL49 group reading ch6 part 1

[Joseph Tracy]

Another element of the hunting Volkswagens is probably a kind of late reaction to, and  a reminder of,  Metzger’s earlier comment on how “most people” have put WW2 behind them, are ok with VWs and Sony radios. She is not so sure anymore it’s that simple, not everything should be forgotten. It  seems odd to me that a certain basic trend in historic events, which follows the same tendency in human behavior is rarely mentioned in our too narrow public discourse. What I am talking about can be characterized in 2 ways:1) the abused becomes the abuser, 2)  in any protracted fight enemies often become more alike and gravitate to similar tactics. Wisdom requires that we recognize this and examine our own behaviors in light of this tendency. Via OM P is reminding us of the appeal and strength of this unacknowledged reactionary tendency as it showed up in the booming postwar world of California. We may also be reminded of how it contributed to the social formation of Oedipa herself in her unexamined regard for ‘protective’ authority figures like McCarthy, and Dulles. 
  
 The tristero is in many ways a fictional metaphor for how some groups or individuals, ambitious for power, wealth and personal status will take advantage of this reactionary tendency to direct that historic.reaction to their own interests, from Lenin or Stalin’s vanguard authoritarianism to the CIA machinations on behalf of the elite. Such machinations produce unexpected consequences and off shoots( I see this in WASTE), and  we can observe this in history in anarchism, anti-war  libertarians, radical environmentalism, the Arab league, or the current break with the West of African, central and South American and Asian peoples and nations.  Just when some big shot says history is over, the shit hits the fan, lawyers guns and money start moving and new departments of Hell are opened for business.





> On Jul 27, 2024, at 5:26 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Volkswagon was talked of---see the name---as the People's Car. She hunts
> for it in America now.
> Hunting to see if postwar America is rid of bad shit (like Nazis) as
> postear Germany was.
> I have always, after my first reading of Lot 49, seen the volkswagen as the
> car Mucho finds all the
> human pathos in, in his sad reflections in that scene...
> 
> On Sat, Jul 27, 2024 at 2:15 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> There was a game called “punch-buggy” I heard of second hand, in which the
>> older sibling would spot a VW and say “punch-buggy” & punch the younger
>> sibling. Seemed kind of mean.
>> 
>> On Thu, Jul 25, 2024 at 9:54 PM J K Van Nort via Pynchon-l <
>> pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> "This is America, you live in it, you let it happen. Let it unfurl. She
>>> drove savagely along the freeway, hunting for Volkswagens."
>>> 
>>> This quote, after Oedipa leaves Winthrop Tremaine's government surplus
>> and
>>> racist memorabilia store, responds to her calling herself a chicken for
>> not
>>> hitting Tremaine over the head with a blunt object. However, the first
>> two
>>> sentences speak to what America represents as a "free" nation, that we
>> swim
>>> among vile attitudes that we allow to exist because we are "free" to
>> think
>>> as we please. Their hatred will unfurl, bringing to the light of day what
>>> would otherwise remain in the festering darkness. To accept this, she
>> hunts
>>> Volkswagens in order to relieve her distaste for this reality.
>>> 
>>> Three short sentences that capture so much.
>>> 
>>> In solidarity,
>>> James
>>> 
>>> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
>>> --
>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>> 
>> --
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>> 
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