972
(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] VubDapple@real.lemmy.fan 32 points 2 days ago

Pynchon from Gravity's Rainbow:

"Don't forget the real business of the War is buying and selling. The murdering and violence are self-policing, and can be entrusted to non-professionals. The mass nature of wartime death is useful in many ways. It serves as a spectacle, as a diversion from the real movements of the War. It provides raw material to be recorded into History, so that children may be taught History as sequences of violence, battle after battle, and be more prepared for the adult world. Best of all, mass death's a stimulus to just ordinary folks, little fellows, to try 'n' grab a piece of that Pie while they're still here to gobble it up. The true war is a celebration of markets. Organic markets, carefully styled "black" by the professionals, spring up everywhere. Scrip, Sterling, Reichsmarks, continue to move, severe as classical ballet, inside their antiseptic marble chambers. But out here, down here among the people, the truer currencies come into being. So, Jews are negotiable. Every bit as negotiable as cigarettes, cunt, or Hersey bars."

[-] orange_squeezer@lemm.ee 7 points 2 days ago

It wasn't until I got to the cigarettes and cunts as currency that I realized this was not a particularly hardcore monologue from Gravity Falls, a popular show I had not watched, but Gravity's Rainbow. Great excerpt though.

[-] prole 1 points 1 day ago

I've read nothing by Pynchon, so I have no real context... Is this meant to be in his voice? Or is this a character in the novel speaking? Thx

[-] VubDapple@real.lemmy.fan 1 points 1 day ago

Its been years so I dont specifically recall. My guess is that it is the voice of a sort of omniscient narrator. It does seem to be a stand-in for Pynchon's perspective to some extent. It's such an exuberant novel. There is definitely a sense I recall that this (at the time) young man was stretching to the limit of his prodigious ability and wanted to show that ability off.

[-] myrrh@ttrpg.network 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

...god wants dollars, god wants cents, god want pounds, shillings, and pence; god wants guilders, god wants kroner, god wants swiss francs and god wants french francs; god wants escudos, god wants pesetas, don't send lira, god don't want small potatoes...

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] Nay@feddit.nl 14 points 2 days ago

Imo, the meaning of life is to experience as much as possible. Simple as that.

[-] Vespair@lemm.ee 7 points 2 days ago

That's the meaning you imbue life with; it's not inherent to its state.

[-] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

The meaning of life is to live.

load more comments (9 replies)
[-] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

Seems like that's how you'd get murder, cannibalism, sadism, and things like that if you don't put limits on it somewhere.

[-] socsa@piefed.social 4 points 2 days ago

On the other hand, if you go with reproduction as the main goal, then that gets you to eugenics from an uncomfortable number of very different paths.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[-] prole 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Nihilists hate this one weird trick!

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Godric@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more...

[-] Jerb322@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

What is love?

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 10 points 2 days ago

Pretty much.

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 1 points 2 days ago

Appendix can now repair other organs instead of whatever it did before.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
972 points (100.0% liked)

memes

14696 readers
4145 users here now

Community rules

1. Be civilNo trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour

2. No politicsThis is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world

3. No recent repostsCheck for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month

4. No botsNo bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins

5. No Spam/AdsNo advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live.

A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment

Sister communities

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS