Critique of mental health in Inherent Vice

The critique of mental health is that it blames the traumatized. Doc in Inherent Vice says that Coy has been going to the right wing mental institution, private because Ronald Reagan closed down all the state institutions. But he kicked heroin. But he keeps going because the right wing sorting out needs refreshers? It's not clear. Maybe he's unstable without his family? Who knows. That psychotherapy is interminable? Maybe it's a good thing to get tune ups, and follow through.

Deaths in Inherent Vice: Glen Charlock (?), El Drano (?), Bigfoot’s partner Victor Indelicato (Prussia, Puck), Rudy Blatnoyd (Crocker Fenway). Do Puck and Adrian die at the end? Not known.

How does Doc make money. He made a little money going to Vegas with Trillian, who had Puck's number. But Hope Harlingen would perhaps pay. Hard to imagine it was enough to float Doc. One person gave him a bogus credit card for payment. Yet he doesn't want money from Crocker Fenway (movie)?

It took me 8 days to read, took one day off. One of my favorite books now. I watched the movie twice, but I wish I'd waited till after I read the book, though honestly then the movie wouldn't have been as good.

Reddit has the first summary and questions for chapters 1 and 2. What is the connection with the '68 Paris Riots? I didn't know, so I had to look it up. They almost overthrew the government. Will we ever overthrow the government? In recent history in the USA, there was almost an overthrow of the election of the middle of the road politician in favor of a right wing autocratic one.

Came across this article by Pynchon: A Journey Into The Mind of Watts. Also this recent comment on IV: The Sea of Memory and Forgetfulness: Inherent Vice and the Figurations of Fossil Capital.

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Manet and Degas

Brilliant video explaining the exhibit. Go to the Met and see the exhibit! It's really quite special. In the last gallery the painting this sketch is based off of, of the execution of a Mexican president. The painting has been cut into sections, and the surviving Degas has reassembled them. NY Times review

The case for Harris

Motley Kamuka Blog endorses Kamala Harris. In general, Trump just wants to lower taxes on the rich, and do nothing, sell whatever influence he can to line his pockets. Apparently the emoluments clause in the constitution has no teeth. Harris has a set of ideas about policy that are fairly middle of the road. In most countries she's would be seen as a centrist. Spin about her radical agendas are exaggerated. I'm not sure how he got past " grab them by the pussy ", but he did and here we are. Women: Obviously the idea of giving women pregnancy tests at the borders of the state, and then if they come back and don't have a baby, they go to jail, isn't really what most women want. Pick Harris. I understand if you think abortion is murder, maybe you've been told that by the Catholic church, which has the same ideal of Buddhism that you don't kill--so follow your religion for yourself. Not everyone is Christian or Buddhist or even has a religion. Women are ...

Gravity's Rainbow Notes Franz Pokler

From pp 397-433: Franz Pokler , a German rocket scientist. He is marginally associated with early attempts to develop rockets in the 1920's. During the war, Weissmann controls Pokler, giving him routine assignments and keeping him in line by allowing him yearly visits from a girl who he says is Pokler's daughter. The girl spends the rest of the year in a concentration camp, and Weissmann's implied threat is that she will be killed if Pokler fails to cooperate with Weissmann's scheme. Weissmann's purpose is to use Pokler to make one small part for the A4 rocket. In the end, having performed his task, Pokler is released; Slothrop meets him living quietly in the ruins of a children's village after the end of the war. His daughter also survives. Wiki notes on the Franz Pokler section 397-433 Abstract of "Franz Pökler's Anti-Story: Narrative and Self in Gravity's Rainbow" by Robert L. McLaughlin. (access the article here from Pynchon Notes ) Gra...

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