Re: MDMD: Lambton Worm

on 25/6/02 3:43 AM, davemarc at [email protected] wrote:

> Of course, one thing that makes this difficult is that
> world is not a state with a unified set of standards, law enforcment
> officials, etc.  I'm pointing this out just to underscore how complex these
> issues are.  I suspect that one reason Pynchon is relatively quiet publicly
> on these issues in a non-fiction context is that he finds them utterly
> exasperating.  Yes, he addresses such issues in his work, but he doesn't
> make a habit of writing editorials, signing petitions, appearing at
> demonstrations, etc.  Mhat many US authors did just that during Pynchon's
> formative years, so he had examples he could emulate.  But instead he seems
> to have diverged from those examples.  I'm not criticizing him for that; I'm
> just taking note of it.

I'd agree with this, and I think it's his insight and the true complexity of
the issues which motivates this reserve. Pynchon has the uncanny knack in
his fiction of being able to see things from the other fellow's point of
view. I don't think that it's possible to cram him or his work into a
ready-made political box, because the conflicting viewpoints are constantly
being given voice in the texts. The scene at home with Frenesi, Flash and
Justin in _Vineland_ (pp. 68-91) is a good example. Frenesi and Flash are
suddenly caught out because "Reaganomics" has "axed out their budget lines",
as their young son Justin puts it, fresh from watching MacNeil and Lehrer.
But the point is made quite forcefully that they were being paid by some
Justice Department "Program" as "snitches", along with an array of other
lowlifes, and that it's this slingback from the public purse alone which has
kept them just one rung up from being trailer trash. Justin's quite
enthusiastic about "all this budget stuff goin' on all the time, with
President Reagan, and Congress", and he's no slouch or villain. And the fact
that their blood money payments are cut actually gets them off their butts
and out of the rut they were in. The scene's not a simplistic anti-Reagan
screed at all.  

Although there are certainly environmental, anti-nuclear and civil rights
agendas, and things like respect and liberty which run as constants through
his work, more often than not labels like "left-wing" and "right-wing" are
demonstrated to be meaningless and arbitrary. Karl Marx is, after all,
envisioned as "a sly old racist skipping away with his teeth together and
his eyebrows up" (GR 317).

I'd imagine that Pynchon is like most other reasonable people when it comes
to politics and world affairs, judging each issue and action independently
and not being taken in by partisan extremism.

best