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submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Anyone read this work? Or other Pynchon? The only other thing I’ve read by him is Inherent Vice.

It would be a little fun to sneak the symbol in a few places. Kinda reclaiming conspiracy narratives for fun. That the purpose is mystery and what could be, not actually taking it seriously.

I’d love a return to classic conspiracies - to the world of something like the Illuminatus trilogy. “Aliens kidnapped me and my wife and we did weird sex stuff” and “there’s a war between ancient aliens and draconians*. Stuff like Whitley Strieber’s Communion or that silly “Spirit Science” channel on YouTube where it’s clearly someone’s world building passion project.

Instead we live in a twisted mirror of Fowler’s The Magus. Fowler shows some really twisted erotic understandings of class - the id complex that powers “the elites are sex criminals” types of conspiracies. The desire that is counteracted by repulsion; the unstable equilibria where hatred and desire can explode in either directing. The climax (literally) of the book is forced to watch one of the young women he has been erotically pursuing enthusiastically consent to sex with a black man. It’s a deep violent insecurity, that seems to underlie the world right now.

It might be fun to fight for more of that kind of fun insanity. To chase down secretive mailmen? To follow red herring after red herring until the end?

It might be fun to leave this symbol around places. And to read Pynchon.

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[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

I've read Mason & Dixon in the past, and I am currently in the midst of reading Gravity's Rainbow. The most consistent theme in GR has been paranoia and schizoid tendency, present with many characters. There's also a lot of mention of Theys and Thems.

this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
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