the other Invisible Man....

[Mark Kohut]

Eisenhower integrated the Army before US society was.  A certain
non-stratified basic soldier democracy was the Army then, as Mailer knew.
So Slothrop ends up invisible as the war ends.....one of the unseen, the
preterite---a now invisible black man....?

And I can't forget the 1,369 bulbs with which the I M protagonist wires his
ceiling....'and the old-fashioned filament type"--which he does
by stealing from the electric company, which sorta hints at eternally,
right....like Byron....



On Fri, Jan 2, 2026 at 1:52 PM Laura Kelber <laurakelber at gmail.com> wrote:

> I think we can assume that Pynchon read the book. It seems reasonable to
> connect Ellison's invisible protagonist with Slothrop, who becomes
> invisible. The preterite don't exist in any way that really matters. By the
> time we get to Bleeding Edge, the preterite are under constant
> surveillance. But still invisible off screen, I guess.
>
> On Fri, Jan 2, 2026 at 1:32 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I'll post new thoughts on Gravity's Rainbow, thanks.
>>
>> Like the one in which I wonder how much Ellison's Invisible Man
>> penetrated TRP's mindheap of influences.
>> When I read Ellison's preface again as he spoke of the reasons for him
>>  being Invisible
>>
>> esp with that Fortrean poster here saying Slothrop was black...
>>
>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>