A Little Latin, Less Greek

[Andrew Dinn]

Circ Staff writes:

> 	A question about polyglottality --	
> 	Which languages does Pynchon know, and how well does he know them? 
> Perhaps Andrew Dinn, with his impressive Wagnerian signature, could
> comment on the German in GRAVITY'S RAINBOW, and perhaps another
> Rugglophile could analyze the Spanish in V. and VINELAND.

Uhh, that's Schoenberg, actually. A-and my German is probably about as
good (that's good meaning bad, not good meaning good) as Pynchon's.
>From what I know or have been able to read/lookup/confirm from German
friends his translations, transliterations and liberties with the
language (e.g. FFFF, Bad Karma, flowing Rilke, Hubscrewer etc.)
merely confirm his mastery of and ingenuity with the English language.
I suspect Pynchon used the same technique to construct as I used to
(pardon my French) `deconstruct' i.e. no overarching theory, a lot of
borrowed experience and a certain fortuitous element in the synthesis
(read that as a credo if you want).


Andrew Dinn
-----------
O alter Duft aus Maerchenzeit / Berauschest wieder meine Sinne
Ein naerrisch Heer aus Schelmerein / Durchschwirrt die leichte Luft