About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

24 Okla. City U. L. Rev. 681 (1999)
The Law of Simulated War in Gravity's Rainbow

handle is hein.journals/okcu24 and id is 691 raw text is: THE LAW OF SIMULATED WAR IN GRA VfTY'S RAINBOW NICHOLAS SPENCER* In its treatment of war Gravity's Rainbow shares many features withpoststructuralist theory, especially that ofPaul Virilio and Jean Baudrillard. Pynchon articulates the poststructuralist notion proffered by Michel Foucault, FillesDeleuze, Filix Guattari and others that modern societies are disciplined by military structures rather than being ruled by law. Much of Gravity's Rainbow depicts the end of the Second World War as a significant moment in a process whereby military relations and realities are being extended into the post-war era. This view coincides with the arguments of Virilio, who coins the term pure war to denote how the military extension portrayed by Pynchon is inaugurated and maintained by the idea of deterrence. However, at times Gravity's Rainbow portrays the Second World War as a preparatory moment in the realization ofpractices of social control that are irreducible to war. Such control is the outcome of the reduplication of technologies of simulation. This current portrayal of Pynchon's novel accords with Baudrillard's theory of simulation. For Baudrillard, the reality of war has disappeared and been replaced by its simulation even where military conflicts do take place. In both Pynchon and Baudrillard the law that governs society is the drive towards digitality, death and simulation, which, paradoxically, is fostered by the hunger for the real. For Baudrillard it is impossible to determine whether his own concept of simulated war or Virilio 's pure war most accurately designates the workings of social power. Similarly, Pynchon uses both concepts as diagnostics of power, and as a result Gravity's * Nicholas Spencer was educated at Wigan College of Technology, St. John's College, Oxford, and Emory University. He has written several articles on contemporary American Literature, the most recent of which was an essay on William Gibson and Bruce Sterling that appeared in Contemporary Literature.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most