Maybe Daphne's backstory day to day would have neen more interesting

[matthew cissell]

Howdy folks,

Thanks to a YT channel called "Nightly Moth" (which may or may not be Bob
Dylan's) I recently saw something that jived up with Pyn's latest.
Some sleuth that likes Dylan's painting connected one of his paintings to a
scene from a film; here's the clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGBQIqI_yEs

The film is* Hammett* (1982 by Wim Wenders). As they get into the cab, the
"tomato" (played by Marilu Henner) sez to Hammett, "I thought you told me
you were a strike breaker when you worked with the Pinkertons."
He responds: "I was. That's why I quit." And then as the car drives away he
says, "Just doin my job, if you please."

I bet TP knows the film. There is something here. Can you get away from
what you were? How does the karmic balance work out? Can it?

I might point out that Hicks is the first TP protagonist that could be said
to be a violent type. When Doc blasts somebody it is not his default
setting, he's compelled to do so - a bit like Frank in AtD. There are rules
in drama. Hamlet can't just kill his uncle whenever. Of course, the reader
of ST doesn't really see Hicks busting scalps, we just know he did it in
the past. And yes his conversion moment when his beaver disappears is not
unlike Lew's moment of grace.

I'm not done with the novel yet. More later.

In solidarity. Death to the fascist machine.

mc otis


On Thu, Jan 1, 2026 at 5:08 PM jody2.718 via Pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
wrote:

> I suppose, but Hicks wonders about his change- becomes perhaps guilty
> about what he used to do, maybe even had killed some people. What came over
> him that caused him to be more sensitive or concerned?
>
> On Thursday, January 1st, 2026 at 3:44 PM, Mark Kohut <
> mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Don't just about all of Pynchon's sympathetic, identifiable -with
> characters have a conscience? esp the detectives?
> >
> > On Thu, Jan 1, 2026 at 9:14 AM jody2.718 via Pynchon-l <
> pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Not that far yet, but Hicks does develop a conscience- for some reason,
> besides being concerned about his weight...
> >> --
> >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>