Pynchon list

[Gillies, Lindsay]

Don mentions:
>Slothrop's predicament of
>being unwittingly caught in a plot of which he has little knowledge (at 
first)
>is a typical Hitchcock motif

Speaking of related reading, particularly americans (which of course 
includes marquez and galeano and borges):  Henry James, in two ways.  First, 
few authors other than he approach the observational density one experiences 
in careful reading of GR (like James, there's no way to "skim" pynchon, his 
voice just won't allow it).  Second, to Don's point, it is a great device of 
HJ's (and a tremendous experience for the reader) that one knows more than 
the character but less than the author.  Clearly, the Jamesian American in 
Europe is enmeshed in something way beyond their ken...HJ creates an effect 
where the reader knows that the character does not know, the reader has no 
question that there *is* this enmeshing happening, but the reader has 
absolutely no notion of its outline.  As in James, so in GR: the naive but 
not entirely resourceless American goes to Europe, frequently on an at least 
partly altruistic mission (hard to be more altruistic than s-saving them 
from those Nazis, natch), to fall prey to something larger, more monstrous, 
 and hitherto entirely unsuspected stateside.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
 -------
Lindsay Gillies                           FMR Corp.
lindsay.gillies at fmr.com         82 Devonshire Street, R22A
617-563-5363                              Boston, MA 02109
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
 -------