For instance, Marcuse‘s take on Marx in One-Dimensional Man sits far better with Pynchon’s attitude towards technology, while the philosophy of Theodor W. 'In fact, it seems that Pynchon’s political affiliation sits more squarely with the revisionist accounts of Marx effected in the twentieth century by the loose group known as the Frankfurt School. Vineland intimates that the prime situation of the author would be “a step leftward of registering to vote as a Democrat”, but Pynchon is no pure Marxist Gravity’s Rainbow depicts Marx as a “sly old racist”, perhaps in relation to Marx‘s concept of oriental despotism, and Pynchon’s non-fiction essay, “Is it OK to be a Luddite?” does not chime well with Marx’s notions of appropriating the means of production.' Similarly, thinking about Pynchon’s political affiliation suggests the areas in which it would be possible to find a philosophy that stands to resonate more highly with his work. Rachel Owlglass’ invocation of Wittgenstein is locked within a nexus of sterility, abortion and the hypocrisy of the Whole Sick Crew. The further parody of the Tractatus song sits in the proximal shadow of SHOCK and SHROUD’s invocation of the Holocaust and Mafia’s anti-Semitic statements. Weissman, who later becomes the sadistic Nazi Blicero in Gravity’s Rainbow, decodes a transmission from the atmospheric disturbances that spells out the first line of the Tractatus. The answer to this is fairly straightforward: in almost every case in V., Wittgenstein is introduced in situations saturated by Nazism and death. So then: where and when do we get Wittgenstein? In Pynchon’s fiction, it seems to me, it is more important to look at the placement and political situation of Wittgenstein, and philosophy, than to attempt to read a parallel of purpose. 'Looking at this further, perhaps a good case-in-point is to examine the use of Wittgenstein in Pynchon’s first novel, V.

Pynchon's style 'thwarts modernist reading techniques by disallowing grand, coherent narratives of one singular truth and instead asks questions about the nature of being.' On the use of Wittgenstein in V. 'Pynchon highlights that behind twentieth-century America’s technological and economic supremacy lies the dark negotiations of Operation Paperclip and a re-embodiment of the right-wing politics supposedly vanquished in the Second World War.

V thomas pynchon review