ST ch 37 Business Plot

[Robin Landseadel]

Which is why I haven't bought into the notion that the JFK assassination is the lynchpin of CoL 49. I can see the CIA, I can see Operation Paperclip, I can see MKULTRA. Those are subjects the author was researching for the Big Book, the one where he's gonna go to the toppermost of the poppermost, or at least the literary equivalent of same. I can see all of those in Gravity's Rainbow, but in much more depth.

I also see the Peter Pinguin society which I take is something of a parody of the John Birch Society. I also take that the Nefastis machine is most likely pointing to Scientology. The Courier's Tragedy takes a stab at the Jacobean revenge play. There's lots of targets the author takes aim at, he's known as a satirist, right? It's 1964, it's California, plenty to satirize.

You want a book about the JFK assassination? try Don DeLillo's Libra.

On 05/11/2026 8:57 AM PDT Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
 
He surely knew the conspiracy theories of JFK’s death (1 which is why he picked none and 2)  which is why he also made fun —satiric fun—in all his books of conspiracy theories. 

On Mon, May 11, 2026 at 11:43 AM Corbeau Castrum via Pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org mailto:pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:
 
How dangerous would it have been for Pynchon to suggest or imply the CIA had a hand (that of the conductor) in JFK's assassination? Was it not widely suspected and discussed? Or was it his prominence as the next big thing in American writing that put him in (perceived) danger? How would he have known if it was not common knowledge?

I think the scene in GR when Slothrop discovers FDR is dead works pretty well as a stand-in for Kennedy too.