Abstract

These past presents which consist of the present of a promise, whose opening toward the present to come is not that of an expectation or an anticipation but that of commitment.This article addresses Thomas Pynchon's examination in Vineland of utopian desire that gives rise to an incomplete and flawed solidarity of those fractured, victimized, hurt, and rejected by American history. Such community is the only guarantee against fascist tendencies that have permeated American politics, culture, and thinking about the future. While I claim that Vineland as a historical novel belongs to the category of cryptomimetic writing, which is best suited to do justice to America's haunted history, I believe that the emergence of...