Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, Gilles Deleuze's Cinema, and the Emergence of a New History
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The film break: Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, Gilles Deleuze's Cinema, and the emergence of a new history Heather Pokotylo, Department of English, McGill University, Montreal August 2006 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts © Heather Pokotylo 2006 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-32547-6 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-32547-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page cou nt, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada Table of Contents Abstract and Abrégé/Résumé Acknowledgements 11 1. Ascent: Introduction - The question of film in Gravity's Rainbow 1 2. From Movement-image to Time-image: Deleuze's cinematic taxonomy 15 3. Into the "Zone": Chronosigns and the post-cinematic in Gravity's Rainbow 59 4. The "Real War": Organic Representation's Reign of Terror 90 5. Descent: Conclusions 112 Appendix A: Full text of passage from pages 471-472 of Gravity' s Rainbow 117 Bibliography 119 Abstract This thesis uses the film philosophy of Gilles Deleuze in Cinema 1: The Movement-Image (1983, trans.1986) and Cinema 2: The Time-Image (1985, trans.1989) as a methodology for examining the subject of film in Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow (1973). The first half of the thesis provides a review of the literature on the subject of film in Gravity's Rainbow, as weIl as a review of current scholarship on Deleuze's Cinema books, before providing a close reading ofboth Cinema books that summarizes and explicates the elaborate taxonomy of cinematic signs and images developed by Deleuze. The second half of the thesis uses Deleuze's cinematic taxonomy to analyze ex amples of time-images and movement-images in Gravity's Rainbow. The thesis concludes by connecting the work ofPynchon's novel to the work of Deleuze's study in a discussion of how film participates in the emergence of a new concept of history during the postwar period. AbrégélRésumé Cette thèse emploie la philosophie de film de Gilles Deleuze dans Cinéma 1: L'Mouvement-Image (1983, trans.1986) et Cinéma 2: L'Temps-Image (1985, trans.1989) comme méthodologie pour examiner le sujet du film en Gravity' s Rainbow, roman de Thomas Pynchon (1973). La première moitié de la thèse fournit un examen de la littérature au sujet du film Gravity's Rainbow, aussi bien qu'un examen de bourse courante sur les livres du Cinéma de Deleuze, avant de fournir une lecture étroite des livres de Cinéma qui récapitule et des explicates la taxonomie raffinée des signes et des images cinématographiques s'est développée par Deleuze. La deuxième moitié de la thèse emploie la taxonomie cinématographique de Deleuze pour analyser des exemples des temps-images et des mouvement-images en Gravity's Rainbow. La thèse conclut en reliant le travail du roman de Pynchon au travail de l'étude de Deleuze dans une discussion de la façon dont le film participe à l'apparition d'un nouveau concept de l'histoire pendant l'après-guerre. Acknowledgements When 1 decided on the thesis stream of my Master's pro gram at McGill University, 1 had no idea of the joumey 1 was setting out on. Although 1 always had a vision of the final destination my research would lead me to, the path that took me there was long and winding, and at times far bumpier than 1 had expected. Had 1 known this at the outset 1 am not certain 1 would have still chosen such a path, but now, surveying the completed joumey, 1 am glad that 1 did. It is a joumey that 1 could not have made on my own, and there are a number of people whose help, advice, and support have contributed greatly to this thesis. Most especially, 1 would like to acknowledge the contribution of my supervisor, Sean Camey. Sean has been more patient than anyone could ever be expected to be over the course of my writing. His comments and suggestions were always focused and thoughtful, and have greatly strengthened my argument by constantly reminding me to look beyond what Deleuze and Pynchon are saying to the broader political implications of their arguments. Furthermore, his support and encouragement during sorne of the "bumpier" stretches of this joumey have certainly exceeded what is required of a supervisor, and 1 am truly grateful to have worked with him on this thesis. Ned Schantz's seminar "Film and the Technological Uncanny," and Jackie Buxton's seminar "The Contemporary American Novel" both provided much useful background material for my research-and perhaps, more importantly, a lot of inspiration at the beginning of my joumey. Ned Schantz, by pointing me in the direction of German media studies theorist Freidrich Kittler, surreptitiously provided my first encounter with the work of John Johnston (who translated Kittler's second English publication), whose idea of the "post-cinematic" became an important part of this thesis. 1 would like to thank my parents Catherine and David Pokotylo for their encouragement and support. My father, Dr. David Pokotylo, has been especially supportive in helping me see this thesis through to completion. 1 also wish to thank the friends who have helped me along my way. Michele Jenkins and Evan Prodromou, Michelle Picard-Aitken, John Usher, and Lily Grewal have aIl provided spaces to think and write, as weIl as beds to crash on while 1 was in transit during the course of writing this thesis. John Usher and Evan Prodromou have both 11 provided an attentive ear when 1 have needed to discuss the structure of my arguments. Myra's Wright's encouragement has been welcome indeed. Likewise, the constant support from Marie-Pascale Gignac and Reiko Shimizu has gotten me through sorne difficult moments. Finally 1 would like to acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the Canadian Graduate Student' s Master' s Scholarship that was a great aid in allowing me to foeus on my research and writing. iii 1. Ascent: Introduction - The Question of Film in Gravity's Rainbow lffilm is not life but "the rapidflashing of successive stills to counterfeit movement, " what is human consciousness or even identity in the film age if not similarly illusive sequences of images? This is the question John Johnston asks in his short article from 1990, "Post Cinematic Fiction: Film in the Novels of Pynchon, McElroy, and DeLillo." This same question is one that 1 wish to address through a study of the representations of film in the Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow (1973) and a close reading of the theoretical work of Gilles Deleuze in his works Cinema 1: The Movement-1mage (1983, trans.1986) and Cinema 2: The Time-Image (1985, trans.1989). It is a question that both Pynchon's novel, in its sustained use of film, both as a thematic figure and a structuring device, and Deleuze' s insightful study beg us to ask. Yet, it is a question that is just starting to be addressed relative to the work of Pynchon. What both Deleuze and Pynchon are approaching, by different means, is an examination of a major cultural shift that takes place during the mid-twentieth century at the close of the Second World War. This shift is a shift in history, from a progressive cause and effect concept of history, characterized by the movement-image in cinema, to a simultaneous, direct, post-structuralist notion of history, manifested by the time-image. Deleuze is explicit about identifying this shift, and Pynchon is also. As one of Pynchon' s characters, Professor Ned Pointsman, thinks to himself with horror regarding his younger colleague Roger Mexico: Innocent as a child, perhaps unaware-perhaps-that in his play he wrecks the elegant rooms of history, threatens the idea of cause and effect itself. What if Mexico's whole generation have turned out like this? Will Postwar be nothing but "events," newly created one moment to the next? No links? Is this the end of history? (56) Pointsman' s vision of the "Postwar" parallels Deleuze' s identification of something new-a new approach to and deployment of time through cinema-emerging at the end of World War II.