Can anyone explain the whole Foppl arc in Mondaugen's Story in V? I'm confused especially by that extremely long sentence at the end of the third section: "If a season like the Great Rebellion ever came to him again..."
The flashback chapters in V. are so much harder to understand than the ones set in 1955-6
foppl luved the days of the rebellion when they got to kill nigas and drink wine and get money
condemning colonialism?
>>7837156
yea my brotha
idk i skipped those sections because historical fiction blows. that being said, i love V.
I'm 5 chapters in Crying of Lot 49, this book is terrible.
>>7837146
What was the whole deal with him saying that if there were another Great Rebellion, it wouldn't be the same. I was confused why and what had changed.
>>7837156
This isnpretty much what l remember as well, but it's been a while since l last read it.
It's supposed to paint a bleak picture of colonialism and the savage bloodlust on both sides.
>>7837267
germany was not willing to commit the same kind of genocide
>>7837267
maybe it was hinting what was to come with the jews? it's been a while since i read this one, long overdue for a reread. one of my favorites
>>7837473
Did they not with the Holocaust though? Is it supposed to be ironic?
>>7837136
I read the Foppl arc whilst studying/writing an essay on the Chinese civil war and, on that day, the living conditions for nationalist Chinese.
Was a great synergy.
>>7837590
The Shoah hadn't happened yet....
>>7837604
But this was Stencil's retelling of events. It had already referenced the Holocaust earlier when it said that the 60,000 death toll in their 1904 genocide was 1% of 6 million
>>7837250
How? It's a hilarious rendition of the classic quest arc, set against the backdrop of 60's California. If that's not enough, it's probably Pynchon's only work with interwoven feminist themes.
>>7837853
I admit, it is funny sometimes. Maybe it's just because I'm coming off of a huge Dostoevsky kick.
>>7837590
he writes "if another great rebellion ever came again it wouldnt be the same" it wasnt
>>7837941
In what way was it different?
>>7838025
well for starters there were 100 times the casualties
>>7838025
>>7837941
>>7837590
i'm not historian and it's been a few years since i read v but let me give this a shot. germany no longer wanted the image of savage colonials. i think there is something to be said for the machine-like order of the holocaust
the previous genocide as mentioned in v. was a genocide of savagery that filled the soldiers with the pleasure of killing and maurauding
i think this plays well into the book's overarching theme of modernity. a genocide that appears less savage can be hundreds of times worse.
Mondaugen is ill with scurvy and dreams and reality are blending for him. He is dreaming that he is in the days of von Trotha killing slaves and fucking slave women. His dreams are influenced by stories from Foppl and Godolphin (both colonial soldiers and he keeps confusing the two). Godolphin is confusing Mondaugen for Evan. Godolphin is also probably just added into the story by Stencil and was never in Mondaugen's actual story.
Also Vera is the one who is manipulating Godolphin to believe Mondaugen is Evan.
Namibia was one of my favorite sections of V. The image of the solitary castle in the midst of the slaughter has burrowed deeper in my memory than probably every other scene except for croc hunting in the NYC sewers.
Sort of Sade, Weimar, and Conrad wrapped up into one.
>>7837182
Bait or autismois
>>7838910
I thought it was nice, put it seemed the least tangential of all the stencilized cutaways
